Moria’s fingers suddenly tightened, the chain digging a deep red mark into Su Ling’s neck.
In the shadow cast by the Goddess statue, the Blood Clan Queen’s face displayed a kind of morbid fervor.
“Do you know how many human newborns there are each year?”
She dragged Su Ling to the base of the statue, leaning down slightly, her hot breath spraying against Su Ling’s ear. Her voice carried a chilling madness.
“Under such harsh living conditions, they still multiply exponentially. Their reproductive ability is like mold growing wildly in a cellar—dark, damp, yet possessing a vitality so stubborn it’s infuriating!”
Su Ling was startled by Moria’s expression.
Moria suddenly straightened up, her scarlet skirt sweeping across the ancient marble floor with a harsh scraping sound.
“While we, we noble Blood Clan, can only barely survive, our numbers dwindling instead of growing.”
Moria turned to face the towering Goddess statue, her voice suddenly rising, echoing through the empty garden.
Su Ling felt the chain around her neck tighten even more.
“At this rate, one day, humans will become stronger than the Blood Clan, and we’ll be forced back into the shadows, just like the catastrophe we endured a thousand years ago!”
Suddenly, the bodies of the twelve statues began to glow faintly.
The two of them were enveloped in a crimson halo.
An explosion came from the distant city wall, the firelight illuminating Moria’s pale jawline.
“Su Ling, what do you think we’ve relied on to maintain three hundred years of rule?”
She traced her fingertip across the runes on the pedestal, dust falling in clumps.
“By constantly drinking human blood, by using the Blood Sacrifice Ritual to increase our clan’s strength—blood is the foundation of the Blood Clan’s survival, the only power we have to defeat you!”
Su Ling suddenly struggled violently, the chain scraping harshly against the stone slab.
She knew all too well what Moria meant by “power”—those Blood Livestock thrown into the feeding grounds, the dried corpses hanging from the city walls, the refugees shot like prey in the arena by the nobles…
“You finally understand?”
Moria savored Su Ling’s twisted expression.
“Still lost in Sista’s ‘justice’ dream? That woman is a traitor to the Blood Clan! Her cowardly compassion is destroying all of us! Destroying the entire Kingdom of Ansels!”
The garden ground began to tremble slightly.
A crash came from the southeast corner as a building collapsed.
A soldier from Ansels stumbled in, his armor covered in blood and dirt.
His face was covered in blood, his voice hoarse as he reported the frontline’s collapse.
Moria’s fingers paused briefly, then slowly clenched.
First, shock—Sista had actually breached Hailuosen Castle?
Then, anger—how could those lowly rebels win?
Finally, she just sighed softly, as if she had long expected this outcome.
Lost again.
Once again, losing to Sista.
Just like back then, when Chris poisoned Sista’s biological mother—King Steyat’s most beloved wife, Hina Relan—just to gain the Queen’s position.
But even so, Steyat’s gaze had never truly lingered on Chris.
His heart was always filled with the shadow of his dead ex-wife.
Just like later, when Moria studied statecraft diligently and became skilled in political maneuvering, the ministers would still whisper behind her back:
“If Her Highness Sista were in charge, it wouldn’t be like this.”
This world was like an invisible cage.
No matter how hard she struggled, fate’s chains would always drag her back to the starting point.
She longed for freedom.
Freedom of power, freedom of desire, freedom to act without restraint.
Finally seated on the throne, she thought she could rule the kingdom as she pleased, but she hadn’t expected the rebels’ iron hooves to have already trampled the city gates.
No.
She couldn’t lose like this.
Moria turned to look at Su Ling, her eyes glowing red.
She wanted revenge against the woman who had stolen her freedom.
Since Su Ling was Sista’s most precious treasure, she would personally destroy her, forcing that woman to make the most painful choice.
The chain suddenly snapped taut.
Moria grabbed Su Ling and yanked, her five fingers digging deep into her collar.
Her scarlet pupils contracted in the darkness.
She bared her sharp fangs and bit fiercely into Su Ling’s neck—
“Ah—!”
Agony exploded.
Su Ling’s scream tore through the night.
The force lifted her off the ground, the back of her neck slamming against the relief carving on the statue’s pedestal.
This was different from the sting of being bitten before; it was a corrosive burning sensation.
As if something cold was being injected into her veins through Moria’s fangs.
Her vision began to blur, her consciousness tearing apart like shredded paper.
Memories flashed like a lantern show in the darkness.
In Hailuosen Castle, maids laughing around the hearth;
By the rebels’ campfire, young soldiers humming out-of-tune songs;
Phil’s focused profile as she mixed medicine in the medical room;
Tii’s hands that always gently stroked her head…
And Sista.
—Where was Sista now?
Su Ling felt like she might be dreaming.
In her daze, she saw a familiar figure desperately running toward her through the towering flames.
Black hair disheveled, crimson eyes blazing, a blood-stained rapier cutting through the thick smoke.
That voice was heart-wrenching, piercing the gradually sinking darkness.
“Su Ling—!!!”
Sista stepped on the burning embers and charged into the garden.
She saw Su Ling’s body being lifted by Moria’s single hand.
Moria used a silver dagger to cut her own fingertip, a drop of blood seeping into the pattern on Su Ling’s forehead.
As the incantation whispered, dark red markings began to writhe, like countless snakes intertwining under Su Ling’s skin.
In no time, dark red vine-like patterns spread from the girl’s neck across her entire body.
Every line looked like the trail of blood rushing beneath the skin.
“How dare you…”
Sista’s voice trembled.
“How dare you use forbidden art to pollute a human…”
“Sista, you finally came.”
Moria released her grip with a grim smile.
Su Ling’s petite body suddenly collapsed onto the stone slab, her skirt stained by drops of blood from her neck.
But Moria paid no attention to that.
She stared straight at the sword Sista pointed at her, hatred and madness intertwined in her eyes.
“You think you’ve won already? Hahaha, my dear sister.”
“Even if you’ve blasted open the city gates, even if your army has occupied this land, I won’t let you win so easily.”
“Let me put an end to this farce!”
“Look—if you keep going your own way, your beloved human maid will become the perfect vessel for the Blood Curse.”
Those crazy, sharp words were like blades.
Sista couldn’t listen to another word.
She finally couldn’t control the surging grief inside her and rushed forward to hug Su Ling tightly.
The silver-haired girl twitched slightly in Sista’s arms.
Dark red patterns had already crawled across half her face.
Tears had unknowingly stained the corners of her eyes.
Her unfocused pupils reflected Sista’s face.
“Your Highness… is that you?”
“You… finally came…”