“The situation inside is highly complex. The old emperor of the Havaron Empire wanted to pass the throne to you, while your biological mother...”
“The current empress of the Havaron Empire, Leonora, wants to kill you.”
Mira’s tone was incredibly complex. Even a tiger would not eat its own cubs, yet Leonora was willing to ruthlessly slaughter her biological son for the sake of the throne.
To save his child, that man had gone to great lengths to find the Church, entreating someone to bring the child to the Holy State.
Coincidentally, she had been in Havaron at the time and maintained a good relationship with the local priests of the Church, so the man had approached her.
Mira did not know the man’s identity at first, not until he uttered the child’s name—Lucrezio Borgia—did she realize he was actually Leonora’s imperial consort.
And a few years later, because he had let the child of the devil escape, he was sentenced to death by burning and died at the stake.
After listening to her recount the series of events from back then, Lu Li could not find peace in his heart for a long time. At the same time, his disgust toward that mother he had never met grew even stronger.
“So, what are you trying to gain by telling me all this?”
He stared indifferently at the woman, his tone icy. “Is it to sow discord between the Holy State and the Havaron Empire, or...”
He stopped there.
There seemed to be no need to sow discord between the Holy State and the Havaron Empire; the two sides were already locked in a fierce, chaotic struggle over Northland, and the outcome of this war would shape the future direction of the entire continent.
Whether the Holy State would reclaim its position of dominance or the Havaron Empire would experience a powerful rise was still entirely unknown.
“No.”
Mira shook her head. She looked at the boy and said softly, “I only wanted to fulfill a father’s request. He wanted me to tell you that he loved you deeply.”
Lu Li’s pupils dilated. He could not describe his feelings at this moment, only that the soul within his body seemed to be trembling slightly.
He could not distinguish truth from falsehood in Mira’s words. Perhaps he really had been cherished and loved once, or perhaps it was all a lie fabricated by Mira.
Yet undeniably, at this moment, Lu Li was genuinely swayed by that bittersweet emotion of recovering something only to lose it again.
“I understand,” the boy murmured, lowering his eyes as his voice grew raspy. “If that is all you have to tell me.”
“Furthermore, there is one more thing,” Mira spoke again, this time with a hint of sincerity in her voice. “I hope Your Holiness can grant me release.”
Lu Li was stunned for a moment, then looked up again at the woman bound by chains. Her face showed not a single trace of jesting, but was instead filled with solemnity.
The word “release” was far too heavy, and he was somewhat unsure if he had misheard.
Although vampires had been branded as heretics in history, that was over a thousand years ago. Besides, it seemed the Bureau of Heresy Inquisition had no intention of executing her.
So, had she simply lived too long and no longer wanted to go on?
“And the reason?”
Lu Li was not sure if the vampires in this world were also immortal, but looking at the woman before him, it was probably close enough.
“Too tired.”
“Too tired?”
Lu Li had never expected this to be the answer. The reason she wanted release was not because she had lived long enough, but simply because she was too tired?
Seeing his skepticism, Mira could not help but flash a bitter smile.
“Your Holiness, you must know that a human life always comes to an end.”
“Like a rubber band being pulled continuously in one direction, growing thinner and thinner, until it snaps completely.”
Lu Li understood her meaning and nodded slowly, gesturing for her to continue.
Mira sighed and continued,
“Though a vampire will not die of old age, the substance of our lives does not increase.”
“It is still like that rubber band. This time, even though it won’t snap, it only grows longer and thinner as it is constantly stretched.”
“And as long as it doesn’t break, it will keep stretching, getting longer and thinner forever.”
She could feel her existence scattered across every corner of time. Today, tomorrow, the day after... with each day that passed, a part of her was left in the past.
This feeling tortured her, but such days would continue indefinitely until death finally came.
Lu Li narrowed his eyes slightly. He could sense no malice from Mira, but instinct told him that this woman was hiding something else from him.
So he asked, “Are you willing to die now? Just leaving ‘him or her’ behind?”
“What ‘her’? What are you talking about? Who is she?”
Mira furrowed her brows slightly, wearing a look of confusion, as if she truly did not know who the “him/her” Lu Li spoke of was.
An old fox who had lived for over a thousand years was indeed different, showing not a single slip.
But this very reaction only made Lu Li more certain that a second vampire existed in this world.
Mira asking him for release might indeed be because she was too tired of living, but she definitely also intended to protect the other vampire.
“Since that’s the case, I grant your request.”
Lu Li’s expression remained unchanged as he spoke calmly. “But before that, I will order the Bureau of Heresy Inquisition to search the entire city, track that fellow down, and send you both to meet the Lord together.”
Mira’s expression shifted slightly. This was exactly what she feared most.
Upon learning that the source of her blood was actually a spy of the Havaron Empire who had even stolen a new weapon from the Logos Foundry, she had immediately chosen to silence them permanently.
But with the spy dead, the Holy State would certainly not let the matter rest, and she would eventually be dragged into it.
“Julia said the spy was turned into a mummified corpse. You shouldn’t have drunk a single drop of her blood, right?” Lu Li looked at her with a scrutinizing gaze.
He had noticed something amiss ever since he stepped through the door. Despite her best efforts to feign normalcy, Mira was simply too weak, as though she had been starving for a very long time.
The same went for the way she looked at him and Julia; it was not just observation or recollection, but also harbored a certain longing.
“I didn’t expect that, in the end, the one I couldn’t hide from would be you.”
Mira let out a bitter laugh, feeling that the child before her possessed an insight into the human heart that was as terrifying as a devil’s.
For a moment, she could not help but feel that the moniker “child of the devil” suited him perfectly.
“A few years ago, I saw a child in rags in the Outer City. She was dying...”
As soon as Mira spoke, Lu Li was stunned, clearly not having expected such a development.
“In over a thousand years, I had seen such sights more than once. I knew I couldn’t save her, so I never stopped.”
“But in the dark, as if guided by fate, she crawled to my feet.”
Mira paused as she spoke, gazing quietly at the young boy clad in his holy robes.
“Do you believe in fate?”
Rate on N.U.
