A childish voice called out from behind her.
“ Sylvie, sister!”
The next moment, a small, even softer figure than Sylvie threw herself into her arms.
Sylvie looked down in a daze. She saw a familiar little girl’s face smiling up at her.
The smile was so adorable, so full of joy… so utterly unbelievable.
It was Lynla.
Alive. Smiling. Running. Lynla.
Sylvie’s breath caught in her throat. The shock of reality froze her in place. Her emerald eyes locked onto the familiar smiling face, pupils shrinking sharply from disbelief.
She crouched down slowly. Instead of hugging the eager Lynla back, she reached out with trembling hands, touching the girl’s cheeks, pinching them gently, cupping her small face. The movements were careful, almost reverent, as if confirming that this was real.
The smile on Lynla’s face faded, replaced by innocent concern.
“Sylvie, sister… are you sad?”
“Sister is fine…” Sylvie’s voice came out choked.
“But… Sylvie, sister… you’re crying.”
In Lynla’s large, round eyes, Sylvie’s rapidly gathering tears were clearly reflected.
Sylvie said nothing. She simply pulled Lynla’s small body into her arms with infinite gentleness. Then her embrace tightened more and more, as though she could drive away the bone-chilling cold inside her chest with her own body heat.
She buried her face in Lynla’s soft hair, breathing in the familiar scent. Her shoulders began to tremble uncontrollably. A muffled, tear-filled voice escaped.
“Sister just… missed you so much…”
“Sylvie!”
From the deepest part of the room, Nia came running out. The moment she saw Sylvie, she rushed forward without hesitation and tackled both of them to the floor.
Unlike Sylvie, who tried her hardest to hold everything in, Nia cried openly and without restraint.
“Thank goodness… thank goodness… I thought you had ended up like the others…”
She sobbed and wailed, tears pouring down uncontrollably until they soaked through Sylvie’s clothes.
“Nia…”
At that moment, several familiar little heads peeked out from behind the door.
“Sylvie, sister!”
One after another, the small figures squeezed out from behind the door and stumbled toward her.
Sylvie lay on the floor, still tightly holding Lynla. More small bodies piled on top of her. She simply opened her arms as wide as she could, embracing every child she could reach, feeling their real, warm heartbeats.
It was a long time before the intense emotions finally calmed.
Only then did Sylvie raise her head and look toward Utia, who had been watching the scene with great interest.
“What exactly is going on? Didn’t you…?”
“Kill them?” Utia finished the sentence for her in a teasing tone.
“When did sister ever say I would harm them?”
“You said they had already… ‘fallen asleep.’” Sylvie quietly repeated the words from that day.
Utia’s smile grew more playful.
“Yes, fallen asleep. Literally asleep.”
Sylvie blinked twice before she finally realized she had been tricked.
“But the blood in the room…” she asked, still confused.
She had not been mistaken. The blood had been flowing everywhere, almost forming a small pool.
Utia’s eyes narrowed, a hint of cruel coldness appearing in them.
“You don’t need to know the details. But sister guarantees you—not a single drop of that blood belonged to blood livestock.”
Vampire blood.
In other words, the enforcers who had been ordered to carry out the “purification” task. Those vampires who patrolled the alleys had found Nia and the children’s hiding place, never expecting a noble to be lying in wait.
So… Utia had protected them?
But… why?
Why would Utia do this? This noble who took pleasure in cruelty and toying with her prey—why would she protect a group of lowly blood livestock? It could not possibly be out of kindness.
“…Why?”
The question slipped out, full of deep confusion. Sylvie released the children, slowly stood up, and positioned herself protectively in front of Lynla and Nia. Her emerald eyes stared fixedly at Utia’s alluring, amused face.
Lynla tugged at the hem of her clothes from behind and spoke with innocent sincerity.
“Sylvie, sister, Lord Utia is a good person. She’s the good person who protected Lynla and everyone.”
Nia’s expression was complicated, but she still nodded.
“When I saw vampires slaughtering blood livestock on the street, I ran back in a panic, trying to find somewhere to hide. The moment I got home, two vampire enforcers broke down the door.”
“When I thought everything was over, Lord Utia dealt with those two vampires and told us to stay hidden inside and not come out.”
She reached out, her warm palm gently grasping Sylvie’s fingertips. Tears still shimmered in her eyes as she looked up.
“We all knew you would come looking for us no matter what. That night we really did hear your voice… but Lord Utia told us that even if you came, we must not go out. It would only put you in danger.”
Nia’s words only deepened Sylvie’s confusion. Her eyes trembled with bewilderment and complex emotions.
“Why… did you keep it from me all this time?” she murmured, looking at Utia again.
“Because the Queen wanted to see you break down and rage.” Utia answered without hesitation.
“Don’t be fooled by the fact that she’s a vampire just like me. Her personality is far worse than mine… you should know that better than anyone. And she is extremely sensitive to human emotions.”
“Even the slightest trace of panic or falsehood cannot escape her eyes.”
Utia’s voice dropped lower, but unmistakable disgust flickered deep within her blood-red eyes.
“She enjoys watching prey collapse when they believe they’ve lost everything. She loves tasting the flavor of ultimate despair and hatred. It brings her great pleasure.”
She stepped closer to Sylvie and looked down at her as if admiring a beautiful work of art.
“If I had told you the truth back then—that your little lambs were all alive, hiding right behind that door—what would you have done? Would you have rushed in immediately? Or would you have swallowed your grief and tried to play along because hope still remained?” Utia gave a soft sneer.
“Either way, it would have been too boring. That’s not what Klal wanted to see. What she wanted was for your beliefs to be completely crushed, for reason to be replaced. She wanted to see you exactly as you are now—carrying bone-deep hatred and despair, yet forced to struggle and flee desperately for even the slightest chance of survival.”
“Do you understand what I’m saying… little one? Hehehe…”