Chapter 28: I prefer Liliya now

Liliya couldn’t quite grasp what Rosalia had just said.

Maybe it was that last lingering bit of male thought in her subconscious acting up, or perhaps she had sensed the hidden implications in Rosalia’s words.

Her mind went completely blank, unable to process Rosalia’s meaning.

At a loss, she could only clutch her still aching lower abdomen, lift her head, and look helplessly at Rosalia.

Rosalia seemed to delight in seeing Liliya like this. She smiled dreamily, gently ruffling Liliya’s hair, then walked to the drawer, opened it, and took out a sanitary tampon before returning to Liliya’s side.

Even though magic could replace technology in many ways, the development of this world still lagged behind her previous life, so there were no things like the sanitary pads found on Earth.

Liliya watched as Rosalia came to her holding the white cotton-like item, lifted her own skirt in front of her, revealing silk underwear already stained dark red, and pulled it down.

A new, different kind of shame made Liliya close her eyes.

She couldn’t bring herself to look, even though Rosalia had already explained that this was merely a natural physical reaction.

Still, she felt embarrassed and struggled to accept it—especially when Rosalia picked up a towel and wiped the blood from her legs. Her body trembled.

This body had been designed by Rosalia to be sensitive; now, with Rosalia’s touch so close to her most sensitive spot, how could she possibly have no reaction?

The soft sounds of towel against skin seemed to be amplified in Liliya’s ears. She pressed her lips tightly together, finally managing to force out a sentence: “Lady Rosalia… why not use magic?”

Magic truly was convenient. With the right spell circuit, all the grime on Liliya’s body could be cleaned in an instant—there was no need for Rosalia to wipe so carefully like this.

Since becoming a vampire, Liliya had grown especially sensitive to blood.

She understood just how revolting this “bad blood” was to vampires; that’s why she felt she was ill, grievously so, to the point of having a terminal disease.

But Rosalia showed no hint of disgust.

On the contrary, she was quite happy to help Liliya clean her body, even spreading Liliya’s legs, not relying on her senses but using her eyes to wipe away every trace of blood.

Liliya only felt even more embarrassed.

“Because… I like taking care of you, Liliya. I like watching you grow up.”

But Rosalia didn’t say everything.

Long, long ago, she had hoped that she and “Liliya” could have a child together—a symbol of their love, an extension of their lives.

But things changed: “Liliya” rejected her for being too young, and when she finally grew up, the man she had promised to be with was already roasting on a spit, flames burning his flesh with a repulsive stench of sulfur.

He never glanced at the crowd below. Not even a scream left his lips as he was burned to ashes; with magic at play, not even his corpse remained.

Since then, Rosalia had come to hate humans. She stubbornly used forbidden spells to keep him in this world, searching for him from time to time, wanting to keep him by her side.

Back then, “Liliya” had despised her for being too young, but Rosalia now did not.

She was eager to plant her own seed inside Liliya, to watch this girl’s belly swell, and ultimately give birth to a child belonging to both of them.

It was a mischievous desire to see the man who once rejected her ultimately bear her child.

Perhaps at first it had truly been nothing but a harmless joke; the original Rosalia wasn’t as obsessive as she was now—she could still sympathize with Liliya and cared for her well.

But two thousand years’ worth of experiences could drive anyone mad. That initial prank had become part of her obsession.

If she hadn’t feared pushing Liliya too far and ending this life too soon, perhaps from the very start she would have placed her seed in Liliya’s womb.

Liliya could only mutter these words she couldn’t fully understand. She saw that Rosalia had finished cleaning all the blood from her body and had brought over the white sanitary tampon.

In the end, she stopped Rosalia’s movement, her voice tinged with shame so intense she wanted to die: “Lady Rosalia, let me do this myself, please!”

“Didn’t you say you thought you were sick, Liliya? How could you manage this on your own in such a state? Besides, I never find it troublesome to care for you. And I’ve told you, you’re special—there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you.”

Rosalia grinned, watching Liliya’s cute reaction, brushed aside the little hands trying to cover herself, and inserted the sanitary tampon.

Her lower abdomen was suddenly filled; the strange sensation made Liliya instinctively squirm. Her eyes grew misty with tears, and her lips were bitten so tightly they broke the skin.

She didn’t know why, but this act felt so humiliating. She couldn’t help thinking—

But what exactly was she thinking?

The surging emotions in her body told her all she wanted now was some comfort. At this moment…

She truly was a girl.

She would regularly have such discomforts, she could bear children…

Suddenly, she wanted to cry. Tears spilled uncontrollably. She had clearly already forgotten the fact that she had once been a boy, yet some faint, lingering emotion still influenced her.

Now, amplified by hormonal chaos, it had turned her into this fragile state.

Some things, once changed, really couldn’t go back—they were now irretrievable.

In this magical world, body and soul influenced each other. After nearly three months, Liliya’s soul had completely transformed into that of a girl, which was now reflected in her body’s first menstruation.

At this point, Liliya had no ordinary way of returning to her former self. Unless she wanted to endure the entire initial process all over again—which was nearly impossible.

In this world, only Rosalia could perfectly alter the structure of the soul. Even Rosalia herself had only mastered turning a boy into a girl, as this was intricately connected to the vampire Transformation Ritual.

She herself was a girl, so she could only turn boys into girls.

Liliya, of course, knew nothing of this. She could only cry, mourning what her subconscious sensed.

Rosalia’s joy was only heightened by Liliya’s appearance. She knew Liliya could never turn back—at least not until she returned to the river of souls once more. Until then, Liliya would remain as she was.

What Liliya didn’t know was that the Pet Mark Rosalia had imprinted onto her soul had now fully solidified as her soul’s transformation was complete.

Rosalia rejoiced, letting that emotion show openly on her face. She had no qualms about it; after all, she was the master. She needed to guide Liliya’s feelings and help her not fear her current state.

She wanted Liliya to love herself now, because this was the form Rosalia loved.

“If you’re afraid of how you look now, Liliya, then just think of me, all right?”

“Think of Lady Rosalia…?”

Liliya looked up in confusion, still lost in her grief and not yet understanding Rosalia’s words.

“After you became like this, Liliya, I only like you even more.”

Such frank words as always.

Rosalia disliked twisting words. Her feelings for Liliya were always expressed so directly. She stroked Liliya’s head, pulling her into her embrace, her free hand gently patting Liliya’s back.

She comforted her, soothing Liliya with such tenderness, telling her that what she feared was actually nothing scary at all—indeed, it might even be something others could love.

Most of the time, Rosalia brought Liliya this kind of reassurance. Liliya sniffled, then broke out crying without restraint, like a child.

After finally calming down, Liliya pulled away from Rosalia’s arms, face flushed, and wiped her tears away haphazardly.

Now she felt both shy and comforted, the strange sensation in her abdomen making her press her legs together.

“Don’t move around, Liliya. At a time like this, you can’t just move about, or there’ll be more blood. Besides…”

“If you’d like, once your period is over… I can help you, Liliya?”

Liliya’s shyness finally overwhelmed that sense of comfort. Blushing furiously, she wanted to push Rosalia away, but she couldn’t bear to leave that warm embrace.

She could only rest her hand softly on Rosalia’s softness, too timid to say a word.

She understood what Rosalia meant now. She had come to understand it in recent days.

On that day when something almost happened between them, she had done something similar to herself.

That kind of thing was enough to vent her pent-up emotions, and it made her mind feel strange—but, all in all, it was an extremely pleasurable thing.

Yet she also knew that it wasn’t something as ordinary as eating or drinking water.

At the very least, things that happened between two people shouldn’t be so commonplace.

She had already accepted Rosalia’s existence, but to calmly go further with her was still too much to accept.

Otherwise, things between her and Rosalia would have gone much further that day.

“Then let’s just treat it as a joke.”

Rosalia’s joyful look faded slightly.

Not yet.

How long would it take before this girl could fully accept her?

Impatience crept in again. She wanted to speed things up by other means, to make this girl trust her more.

But trouble always comes sooner than expected.

An unwelcome person arrived.

***

Arrived at her domain—and yet, Rosalia couldn’t ignore her completely.

It was that woman who had turned her into the Vampire Progenitor.

How hateful.

She felt a wave of revulsion, and, unable to restrain herself, pushed Liliya down. As Liliya’s face filled with panic, Rosalia kissed her, using this act to drive away the nauseating feeling in her own body.

Liliya had no idea why Rosalia was doing this. But after the initial panic, she gradually relaxed, her gaze becoming hazy.

She didn’t even notice something.

Her body was more familiar with Rosalia’s touch than she imagined—indeed…

Her body was responding, actively matching those actions.

She didn’t realize it; she only thought Rosalia was doing this because she believed Liliya was still scared, trying to comfort her with this gesture.

That was simply what she thought.

The feelings bubbling in her heart made Liliya yearn for more.

Though, that feeling wasn’t very strong.

For Liliya, that was not a good thing.

Or perhaps—It was, in fact, a good thing.