Rip—!
As the sound of tearing flesh rang out, Sylvie abruptly opened her eyes and shot upright from the scarlet bed.
“Haah— Haah— Haah—!”
She gasped for air in large gulps. The cold air flooded her lungs, yet it did nothing to calm the heart pounding wildly inside her chest.
What lay before her was no longer the all-consuming blinding white, nor the spinning instruments that pierced through flesh. Instead, it was the dim, intimate lighting of Klal’s bedroom, the rumpled scarlet silk sheets beneath her, and the air thick with Klal’s faint fragrance mixed with a trace of blood.
“A… dream…?” she murmured. Her voice trembled slightly, as if she still hadn’t recovered from the excruciating pain of her eye being torn apart.
She instinctively raised both hands and shakily touched her face, fumbling around her eyes as though confirming something.
Both eyes… were still there.
Completely intact.
But that final frozen smiling face… that stabbing pain… that bizarre sensation of being filled and then hollowed out…
“Tessia… Why… would I dream of those things?”
The name slipped out from her dry throat with difficulty, her voice hoarse.
Those fragmented, icy scenes filled with pain and white instruments—she had dreamed of them before.
Ever since she could remember, during the long nights in Eternal Night City, she would dream of these blurry, eerie fragments. But never like this time. It felt… impossibly real, impossibly clear.
So real it was as if everything had just happened moments ago. So clear she could still faintly feel the pain throbbing in her pupils.
And Tessia… that silver-haired girl in the dream who could cry and laugh, who feared the tests, whose eyes sparkled brightly at half a candy…
Who was she?
It took a long while for her violently beating heart to slowly calm down.
Yet Sylvie still stared wide-eyed into nothingness. She curled up in the corner of the bed, wrapping her slender arms tightly around her trembling body.
…Fear.
She had never felt fear this intense before.
But… what exactly was she afraid of? Was it merely the cold instruments from the dream?
Or… or that eerie white room…
Just like on countless other nights in Eternal Night City, the chaotic thoughts were forcibly smoothed over. The fear and unease on the surface were once again buried beneath a calm expression.
She looked around and only then realized Klal was not there.
Last night she had been played with until she nearly fell apart. Her entire body was covered in those hideous bruises and marks.
Her current condition might actually be even worse than in the dream.
Sylvie supported herself against the headboard and climbed off the bed with great difficulty. Whether from excessive blood loss or some other reason, her whole body felt weak and limp. Her legs trembled uncontrollably. Someone had changed her into a white nightgown, though it was now drenched in cold sweat…
Her condition was terrible, but she knew she had neither the time nor the right to rest. She needed to tell Shiluo about the syringe.
She struggled to the door and opened it after considerable effort. The cold air from outside rushed in, slightly clearing her dazed and exhausted mind.
Sylvie forced her weak legs forward, but at that moment, a figure approached from down the corridor.
It was… Lady Tiana.
Sylvie took a deep breath, straightened her posture as best she could, lowered her head slightly, and spoke softly according to her usual etiquette. Her voice was especially frail due to weakness.
“Lady Tiana… May I ask… do you know where Master is?”
Tiana had been walking hurriedly, clearly in the middle of something urgent. The moment she heard Sylvie’s voice, her footsteps came to an abrupt halt.
She subconsciously let out a sigh of relief, her face showing open joy.
Her Majesty had flown into a terrible rage over this human girl’s inexplicable coma and had nearly dismantled the Blood Tech division. Now she had finally woken up.
But as Tiana’s gaze fell on Sylvie, that joy instantly froze. The words she was about to say caught in her throat, and her eyes filled with shock.
Sylvie’s condition was extremely poor. Her thin nightgown was soaked with cold sweat and clung tightly to her emaciated frame. Her aura was listless and weak.
None of that, however, was what caused Tiana to lose her composure.
What truly made her pupils contract sharply and her breath catch was Sylvie’s face.
Her skin… was pale to the point of near transparency.
It wasn’t mere ill health or blood loss—it was a sickly, grayish white.
And her long black hair seemed to be losing its color, slowly turning dull… or rather… becoming increasingly silver.
Sylvie, unaware of Tiana’s strange reaction, looked up and called out in confusion.
“Lady Tiana?”
The moment she raised her head, her left eye was fully exposed under the dim yellow light of the corridor lamps.
The left eye—which should have been the same dark red as the right, a human eye that was always empty yet at least somewhat clear—was now glowing with a deep, eerie crimson luster.
It looked just like…
Just like a vampire’s eye…
“Her Majesty… is currently handling some urgent matters. I’ll bring her over right away.” Tiana’s voice sounded dry. She took half a step forward almost imperceptibly, as if wanting a better look, or to confirm whether the strange crimson glow was merely a trick of the light.
“How can I trouble Master to come find Sylvie? There’s no need. Sylvie will go look for—”
“Your priority right now is to return to your room and stay inside. Do not come out.”
Before Sylvie could finish speaking, Tiana pushed her back into the room without explanation, glancing left and right as if checking whether anyone else was nearby.
This bizarre behavior left Sylvie confused.
“Sylvie’s body is fine. We can’t disturb Master over… something so small…” she tried to explain, her voice weak but stubborn.
“Besides… Sylvie has something important to—”
“Is there anything more important right now than the way you currently look?! How did you wake up and nearly change your entire race?!”
Although Tiana’s heart churned with overwhelming confusion, she was certain that no one else could see Sylvie in this state, or it would cause major trouble.
Moreover, the girl herself still hadn’t realized what she looked like.
She needed to inform the Queen immediately.
“Listen carefully, Sylvie! Until I return, you absolutely must not step out of this room! Stay right here and don’t move! This is… an order! Yes! This is an order I’m giving you!” Tiana said sternly.
“Order…” Sylvie repeated softly.
Her eyelids lowered. She stopped resisting stubbornly, her arms falling limply to her sides as she obediently stood in place.
“Sylvie… understands.”