…So troublesome.
She silently repeated it in her heart.
The rain was still falling, but it seemed to have lessened a bit, and the thunder was gradually subsiding.
Sylvie exerted effort to move the unconscious Dill off her body, rubbed her somewhat sore wrists from being pinned, and then dragged her to the wall, letting her lean there.
She first roughly checked this human woman’s injuries—this glance revealed more than she expected, truly surprising her.
Her wounds were far more severe than they appeared on the surface. Besides the most shocking twisted and broken wrist, Sylvie also noticed her abdomen was caved in, as if someone had kicked her viciously, breaking who knows how many ribs.
“She can still be alive—truly tenacious,” Sylvie silently evaluated.
Such injuries on anyone else would have ended them long ago…
And worse, didn’t she know the vampire domain was very cold? Coming in just shorts and a chest wrap.
Blood loss, combined with the icy rainwater soaking her entirely, had made her body temperature nearly match that of a vampire’s. Even if she didn’t bleed to death, in a little while, she’d freeze to death here.
What an idiot…
She couldn’t reconnect the broken arm, but no matter what, she had to stop the bleeding first.
She looked around and found no usable fabric for bandaging… Her eyes slowly shifted to her own cloak.
Hazy consciousness spread through the cold, damp darkness… Pain and chill wrapped in endless fatigue and despair.
Rip…
In her daze, she vaguely heard the sound of fabric tearing from the outside world, followed by a pair of cold hands wandering over her body, touching.
The movements were gentle, careful, yet unhurried.
Her consciousness was like sinking in the sea, slowly and laboriously surfacing.
Until the pain was still omnipresent but much more bearable than before, and the cold had receded slightly.
Dill struggled to lift her heavy eyelids; her vision was still blurry, like covered in a thin mist. At this moment, the rain had stopped, and the silver moon once again enveloped this corner of Eternal Night City.
And in the hazy light and shadow, that small figure was squatting in front of her, seeming to have just finished the final bandaging and about to stand up and leave. The figure had her back to the faint light, her outline slender, her black hair under the dim light as if carrying its own subtle glow, turning silver…
Silver hair…
…Not the eerie silver of vampires, but softer, like the color of moonlight settling down…
Like…
Like Little Wind.
Intense longing, the torment of pain, the hallucinations from blood loss—in this moment, twisted and intertwined, shattering Dill’s already fragile sanity.
Her pupils contracted sharply, locking onto that hazy outline. Her dry, cracked lips trembled, almost unconsciously calling out the name lingering in her heart.
“…Lit… tle… Wind…?”
Tears instantly filled her eyes, blurring her already unclear vision, yet making that familiar outline more tangible in the teary light.
Sylvie had just finished the last bit of tidying up and was preparing to stand and leave when she suddenly heard the person seem to say something. She turned her head, meeting Dill’s eyes filled with tears—dazed yet brimming with some intense emotion.
That trembling hand was already inches away, cold fingertips gently, tremblingly touching her cheek.
“…It’s really you… Little Wind… I’m sorry… Sister… Sister didn’t protect you… Sister can’t go back…” She sobbed incoherently, her voice hoarse, filled with endless guilt.
“Why are you here… It’s so cold here… So dangerous… Hurry… Hurry and leave…”
Sylvie quietly squatted there, letting that hand caress her face, feeling the tremor in the fingertips, watching her own reflection in those tear-filled eyes.
In her emerald eyes, that momentary astonishment slowly settled, returning to her usual calm, but beneath that calm, something seemed deeply touched.
She didn’t explain, didn’t push away, didn’t even make a sound.
She just used those eyes—calm to the point of near lifelessness—to quietly watch this human woman before her, who had mistaken her for a loved one and was breaking down in tears amid hallucinations.
“Can Sister… Can Sister hug you…” A broken smile squeezed onto her face as she requested in a humble tone.
Sylvie was only stunned for an instant, then nodded.
Dill’s smile grew even more joyful. She opened her arms, gently, carefully, even fearfully encircling Sylvie’s neck, as if holding a fragile, precious work of art.
Sylvie didn’t refuse, instead opening her arms as well, actively pulling this human—on the verge of shattering—into her embrace.
In her arms, the girl’s body heat… scorching and real.
Even the fresh scent from her hair was so familiar… It was Little Wind… It was Little Wind, no doubt!
Dill’s body trembled, whether from the torment of intense pain or the ecstasy soaked in the longed-for reunion.
She extended her only intact hand, gently stroking Sylvie’s head.
In a murmur-like whisper, she confided.
“…Outside… It’s scary, right? Vampires… Those monsters… Did they bully you?”
“Don’t be afraid… Sister is here… Sister won’t leave you again… Never again…”
Her voice grew lower and more mumbled, yet the strength in her arms stubbornly tightened, as if wanting to merge the person in her embrace into her bones and blood, fearing that one loosen would make the girl leave her again.
Sylvie raised one hand, mimicking Dill’s action, slightly stiffly patting her trembling back gently, as if responding to this strange yet unusually fervent emotion.
This subtle movement seemed to give the near-collapsing Dill immense comfort. Her whole body shuddered, then relaxed a bit, burying her face deeper into Sylvie’s neck, letting out a satisfied, heartbroken sob.
“…Little Wind… My Little Wind…”
Until Dill’s strength was exhausted once more, her arms slid down limply, her body falling back against the wall corner, eyes tightly closed, breathing gradually weakening, as if sinking into a deep sleep again.
Only then did Sylvie slowly stand up.
She stood there quietly, head lowered, looking at the woman immersed in longing and unconscious, silent for a very long time.
Finally, as if compromising, she let out a helpless sigh.
…How can I leave now?
…
“…”
She didn’t know how much time had passed when Dill finally struggled to open her eyes again. Though her vision was still somewhat blurry, it was much clearer than before.
She laboriously lowered her head and saw that the bleeding wounds on her body had been bound one by one with black fabric—even her broken arm had received simple bandaging.
As Dill was slightly dazed, from beside her, that familiar, toneless childish female voice came again.
“Awake?”
Dill jolted in surprise, only then seeing that the blood livestock girl was squatting by her side, staring unblinkingly at her with those serene emerald eyes.
She instinctively wanted to get up and warily distance herself, but just as she tried to prop herself up, the intense pain made her suck in a cold breath.
“Ah, your wounds have just been treated. I advise you not to move around, or the blood will seep out again,” Sylvie said, then added.
“The rain has stopped. Without rainwater to dilute the blood scent, it could attract vampires…”