*** *** *** *** ***
Rigel seemed intent on claiming compensation for the six years he’d been unable to feed on her.
Though she clawed at his back with her fingertips, he showed no intention of releasing her. It wasn’t even clear if he was in his right mind anymore.
Terzia briefly lifted her eyelids but quickly shut them again, the pale moonlight was too harsh for her eyes.
The throbbing pain in her neck was gradually growing duller.
Not just the pain but all sensation throughout her body was following suit.
“Rigel…”
Though she called his name weakly, he remained unmoved.
Rigel was, by nature, a neat and quiet feeder. He neither lapped at blood greedily nor cruelly aggravated the wound to prevent clotting.
He took Terzia’s breath away slowly but surely.
Even as all other sensations grew dim, she could hear with crystal clarity the sound of him consuming her from so close. It was just like a human drinking water, the steady sound of liquid being swallowed.
While music and people’s voices echoed faintly beyond the curtain, only that sound remained slow and clear.
With each movement of his throat, some part of her body would twitch. The world kept spinning dizzily.
Her arms had already gone numb. Her legs were gradually growing weak, making it impossible to stand straight. Terzia barely managed to stay upright, supported by Rigel’s arms—one cradling her neck, the other firmly around her waist.
Rigel was the predator with an iron grip on his prey, and Terzia was that very prey, dying with fangs in her throat.
‘You bastard. You terrible, terrible…’
What little feeling remained in her fingertips was growing increasingly cold. Not a good sign.
Terzia’s lips moved once more.
“I really can’t… take much more…”
Again, there was no response.
From long experience, she knew what was happening even without seeing it. The sharp fangs firmly embedded in the small scar on her neck, the lips strongly sucking at the blood that welled up, the throat swallowing what was drawn out.
This being that lived by drinking the blood of living things on earth, a creature that defied any known classification.
Terzia feared Rigel when he fed. There was no other time when she felt more acutely that he wasn’t human like her.
While Rigel Arfair was generally gentle and kind, in moments like these he became a reaper who mercilessly devoured her life with an unfamiliar face. A ruthless executioner who could guide her to the other side of life at any moment.
Was Rigel really planning to consume her entirely this time?
But everything was gradually growing dim.
Terzia barely managed to open her eyes and clutch at his clothes, but her pale fingers just slipped helplessly away.
If she couldn’t stop this, she wished she would at least faint.
But in the next moment, as if by magic, Rigel’s movements stopped.
The black hair touching her jaw and cheek shifted as he removed his lips from her neck. Unsightly blood trickled down beneath her collar.
Rigel wiped the blood from her skin with his thumb.
“Still the same. The way you make me lose control.”
He licked the blood from his fingertip and smiled with satisfaction. His once dark red eyes had transformed to a bright scarlet.
Rigel called to her tenderly.
“I missed you, Thea.”
Terzia couldn’t respond. Her head was too dizzy and her vision was spinning so violently that she couldn’t possibly open her mouth.
‘I think I’m going to be sick.’
Rigel kissed her forehead lightly, as if trying to soothe her. Terzia was still half-embraced in his arms.
He pressed on the wound to stop the bleeding and asked.
“Does it hurt?”
I’m cold. My head hurts. But all that escaped her parted lips was a trembling, short breath.
Rigel partially released her, as if trying to assess the condition of the unresponsive Terzia.
But her body, already drained of too much blood, collapsed the moment it lost its support.
“……!”
A sharp chill cut into Terzia’s skin. The world lurched violently once more.
“Thea, Terzia?”
She felt two arms pulling her back into an embrace as she crumpled.
The last thing to touch her darkening vision was a pair of bright red eyes, wide with alarm.
And finally, the blackout she’d been desperately hoping for arrived.
*** *** *** *** ***
When she came to, it was late into the night, nearing dawn. At some point during the long darkness, Terzia had faintly regained consciousness.
She wasn’t sure if it was simply time to wake up, the creeping chills running through her body, or the constant gaze watching her from nearby, but regardless, Terzia opened her eyes. The surrounding darkness was so complete that it wasn’t much different from keeping her eyes closed.
But there are things in the world you can sense even without seeing. Terzia easily noticed the presence sitting beside her like a shadow.
Would her voice work? She tested it by opening her mouth.
“Rigel.”
Her voice was hoarse and cracked, as if it didn’t belong to her, but she managed to speak clearly enough. The response came half a beat late.
“Yes.”
Rigel exhaled slowly. His breath was long, as if he had been holding it in for a while.
“You’re finally awake.”
Terzia, still groggy, slowly pieced her memories together. She couldn’t recall a single moment after she had fainted.
“What day is it today?”
“The fourth day of the fifth month.”
Terzia sluggishly calculated the date. The fourth day meant it had already been three days since the Day of Verdure. So she had been unconscious for three whole days without waking even once.
‘Why three days…’
The question was quickly answered.
“Hemorrhagic shock. You’ll need a few more days of rest to recover properly.”
The absurd explanation left Terzia speechless. Not once, even six years ago, had she ever gone into shock.
Rigel admitted it plainly.
“I overdid it. It’s been a while, so I guess I went too far.”
It wasn’t so much an admission as it was a calm statement of fact. At the very least, he seemed aware that he had gone too far.
But that was little comfort, given Terzia’s current state.
Her hands and feet were cold from the chills. She tried to move her hand to pull the blanket up, but she couldn’t even twitch a finger.
“Can you pull the blanket up for me?”
The soft blanket was immediately pulled up to her nose. From beneath it, Terzia mumbled.
“My father?”
Surely Rigel hadn’t told her father the truth about the hemorrhagic shock. There wouldn’t have been any visible injuries severe enough to explain such blood loss.
Aside from the faint scar on her neck, Rigel left no noticeable marks when he fed. By nature, he was a very elegant and refined eater.
“The Count seems to have been handled well by Dr. Houdane.”
Handled well. It was a phrase she hadn’t heard in a long time.
Though Rigel wore the guise of a human, as a top predator in the food chain, he occasionally used words that humans wouldn’t normally employ.
Since it was more of an unconscious habit than a deliberate choice, Terzia didn’t bother pointing it out. It would only lead to a pointless argument.
“Have you been starving yourself or something?”
Rigel, who had been silent, let out a low chuckle.
Having quenched his thirst, he seemed to have regained his composure. The emotional turbulence he had shown when Terzia first woke up was now completely gone.
“…You bastard.”
“I suppose I am, a little.”
“Shameless bastard…”
Terzia burrowed deeper into the blanket and muttered softly.
“Apologize.”
“I’m sorry.”
Whether or not he was truly sorry, Terzia couldn’t tell. Rigel wasn’t a being capable of feeling regret or guilt in the first place.
He was detached and indifferent about everything. While he could memorize human norms and principles, he couldn’t truly understand them emotionally. His words and actions were based on the human notion that ‘if you almost kill an innocent person, it’s customary to feel sorry,’ something he had learned over years of observation.
Even then, he wouldn’t recognize it unless someone pointed it out first. Since he never experienced the physical or emotional pain humans did, he couldn’t understand or empathize with it.
Of course, that didn’t mean Rigel Arfair was incapable of feeling emotions. It was simply a matter of ‘standards.’
But in the end, the world he currently lived in was a human one. At twenty-five, he still hadn’t fully adapted to society, and in that sense, Rigel hadn’t changed at all.
Words she hadn’t filtered tumbled out of her mouth.
“I told you to do it without hurting me. Why did you refuse? You said there was a way.”
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