“If you haven’t squandered all the insurance money and deposits within a year, that money should resolve any reasonable settlement. Don’t call about things like this in the future.”
Though my stepmother shouted something from the other end of the receiver, I didn’t even pretend to hear and pressed the call end button as is. And I turned off the power too.
I felt something cold and hard heavily in one side of my stomach.
It didn’t hurt. I was just creeped out that something like this was inside me.
I have no memories of being loved. Disregard, coldness, and invisible discrimination. Even while being hurt, I had to pretend I wasn’t. Despite that, I still hadn’t been able to cut off my lingering attachment. Because she was the first person I wanted to be loved by.
“Lee Unhyuk.”
At Rashanin’s call, I raised my head. He was looking at me with a strange face.
“What is it?”
Even to my ears, the voice without emotion was cold.
“Do you know what your face looks like right now?”
“Terrible, I’m sure. I’m sorry.”
My heart had frozen cold. So my voice and face would be terrible too.
“Like a sharp blade.”
It was a cryptic remark. I quietly looked at Rashanin. The man who had an inscrutable expression smiled ambiguously. As if somewhat pathetic.
“Woman, family, money. Wherever you go in the world, it’s a combination that causes conflict.”
“…!”
“Why so surprised?”
“How did you know?”
“Your voice, expression. And the rest is intuition, but your mother?”
The guess was so accurate it was creepy. It seemed like mind reading rather than intuition. I nodded slightly.
“Stepmother.”
“Family is sometimes far worse than strangers.”
Rashanin still spoke mercilessly. As he said, there are times when family is worse than strangers. All the more so because they’re family, not strangers.
“I thought I cut ties, but they won’t be cut.”
The words from my heart came out without me knowing. Bad family history wasn’t something to blab about to others.
As I stiffened my face, Rashanin let out a chuckle.
“If relationships went as one wished, the world would be a very good place to live.”
“I suppose so.”
“Living as comfortably as you please is the wisest action. Without regrets, without lingering attachments. Make decisions resolutely. I, who’ve lived long, guarantee it.”
My mood was a mess, but listening to him talk about having lived long with such a smooth face was funny.
It was probably meant as consolation in his own way.
It was behavior that didn’t suit Rashanin, but still, my mood improved just a little bit.
“As comfortably as you please, without regrets, without lingering attachments, resolutely. Don’t you know those are the most difficult things?”
“Not particularly difficult.”
“Not difficult?”
“Yes. Not difficult. Rather easy. You just don’t want to do it.”
“…?”
“Because the conscience that whispers you should live virtuously hurts. So most people choose to suffer mentally.”
I had nothing to say. To tell me to abandon my conscience.
“I’m saying you’re good. Enough to listen to your conscience’s voice and agonize over it.”
Listening to conscience, being good—these were clearly compliments. Should I be embarrassed by this?
No, I’m really embarrassed though.
“I’m complimenting you, so you don’t need to make that disbelieving face. Anyway, that’s all I have to say. I should get up.”
“Pardon?”
“It’s raining.”
No sooner had he finished speaking than the sky suddenly darkened and raindrops began to patter down.
Wiping the rainwater running down my face, I let out a sigh.
*
The rain didn’t look like it would stop easily, so we eventually decided to return to the hotel.
The vampire who declared he had no conscience was incredibly famous at the hotel. It was natural since he was a long-term guest of the Presidential Suite at Korea’s only 6-star hotel, and official and unofficial requests for convenience had come from the Russian Embassy and the Korean government. In addition, the fact that his identity was shrouded in mystery seemed to arouse the curiosity of hotel staff.
They couldn’t know what he was doing in Korea, no visitors came, he showed off his handsome face and selfish body at the hotel pool but didn’t even have a woman’s shadow following him—especially since he didn’t even glance at women who approached him—so it was natural for everyone to find it strange.
Anyway, finishing the day’s schedule and returning to the hotel to enter the lobby, people’s gazes would concentrate as a matter of course, and it became normal for the hotel manager to personally approach and greet us.
But today the feeling was different. Upon entering the entrance, gazes gathered as yesterday, but a strange tension flowed.
Normally, Rashanin would cross the lobby toward the elevators without even glancing whether people were looking or not, but he stopped for a moment. Standing next to Rashanin, I checked the face of Manager Ko Chang-seok approaching with quick steps from across the lobby. He was extremely tense.
Wondering what was going on, I tilted my head, then my gaze was stolen by a woman of marriageable age who appeared behind the manager.
She was an incredible beauty. Her gorgeous blonde hair was tied firmly behind her head, making her small face look even smaller. Though slender in build, the dignified force felt from her walking confidently in a glossy white pantsuit was noble. Just like Rashanin.
Huh? She really resembles Rashanin. The blonde hair, the sculpture-like face, the atmosphere—she was similar to Rashanin.
Could they be siblings? Then a vampire?
I quickly checked Rashanin’s face. He was continuously watching the woman approaching this way with an ambiguous smile. I could tell just from his eyes. They definitely knew each other.
Manager Ko Chang-seok, who came before us first, greeted us saying we came at a good time.
“There’s a guest looking for Rashanin-ssi. She says she’s his fiancée, but since it couldn’t be confirmed, she’s been waiting.”
Fiancée? As I was surprised at the unexpected word, the woman who had walked slowly stood right next to the manager.
“Guten Tag, Herzog zu Tula.”
(“Hello, Duke of Tula.”)
Her voice was chillingly beautiful. Manager Ko Chang-seok retreated in panic. Toward the woman like a rose in full bloom, Rashanin also smiled.
“Lange Zeit nicht gesehen, Prinzessin Elisabeth.”
(“Long time no see, Princess Elisabeth.”)
I understood that they greeted each other in German and also caught the woman’s name. Elisabeth.
Elisabeth didn’t erase her bewitching smile that seemed soul-stealing and took one step closer to Rashanin. The surroundings became quiet before one knew it in an atmosphere as if they might kiss.
Surely they wouldn’t do that in a crowded lobby like this? Though they’re both attractive men and women, they resemble each other enough to be mistaken for siblings so there’s a slightly incestuous atmosphere, I was thinking such improper thoughts in my head when Elisabeth, without any warning, punched Rashanin in the abdomen with her fist. A loud thud rang out from how hard she hit.
Good heavens.
In a state of being unable to assess the situation at all as to what was happening, Elisabeth threw a punch at Rashanin’s face as is. This time Rashanin didn’t just take it either. He grabbed the flying wrist and tried to twist the arm, but Elisabeth resisted with strength. Rashanin was the owner of monstrous strength who could lightly throw an adult man. But seeing her withstand that, she was definitely a vampire too.
“Dummkopf!!”
(“Idiot!!”)
Elisabeth, who let out a short cry that clearly sounded like cursing, pulled out her wrist and leaped back. Then she took out something elongated attached to her pants belt. It was a silver stick the size of a span.
I didn’t know what that was, but I didn’t have a good feeling. As if to confirm that, Elisabeth unfurled the silver stick with a swoosh, transforming it into a thin, long stick the length of an arm. When Elisabeth held it like a sword and took a stance, the sound of people briefly swallowing their breath could be heard here and there. The spectators who had been watching the incident with interest realized this wasn’t a love affair between beautiful people. And I was the same.
“Elisabeth! Hoer auf!”
(“Elisabeth! Stop!”)
Rashanin called Elisabeth, but she smiled coldly and charged at Rashanin as is.
That was as far as it went. My eyes couldn’t follow Elisabeth and Rashanin’s movements. The moment I thought the two vampires clashed and a fierce sound rang out, Elisabeth and Rashanin’s positions had switched.
Elisabeth stood flawlessly holding the stick, and Rashanin’s left suit collar fluttered as if cut by something sharp. Blood spread from the shirt inside.
Rashanin calmly stroked his chest, checked the blood on his hand, then grinned showing his teeth. It was a smile that was fierce beyond chilling. I’d encountered his various smiles until now, but this time it was on an entirely different dimension.
He had become serious.
“Rashanin-ssi!!”
