Lonia opened the door halfway. The wind rushed in through the gap, carrying the faint, scorched smell of burning phosphorus fire from the end of the corridor.
Then, her body froze.
It felt as if someone had driven transparent nails into every single muscle of her body. Those nails did not belong to her, yet they firmly locked her bones and joints in place.
She remained in that position, motionless, with only her chest still rising and falling.
The door closed on its own.
Then, a hand pressed down on her shoulder.
The pressure was very light, as gentle as the hand that had combed her hair this morning.
“Lonia.”
Eliza's voice drifted from behind, brushing against her ear. It was just as steady as it had been in the study earlier, perhaps even gentler.
The phosphorus light flickered against the black stone walls of the corridor. The voice seemed to seep out from the gaps in the light, filtering into Lonia's eardrums, into her blood vessels, and into the muscles and bones that no longer belonged to her.
“Sister hasn't given you permission to leave yet. How can you go?”
Lonia could not move, unable to even turn her head to look at her sister. Only her mouth could move.
“What did you do to me?”
Her voice was steadier than she had expected. Perhaps because anger and fear had canceled each other out at some critical threshold, leaving behind nothing but a surreal numbness.
“I did it a long time ago.”
Eliza's hand slowly slid from her shoulder to the back of her neck. Her fingertips traced down her spine, vertebra by vertebra, as if counting the patterns on a collectible that belonged to her.
With every vertebra traced, goosebumps erupted across Lonia's back.
Her fingertips brushed Lonia's hair to one side, exposing a small patch of skin on the back of her neck. Then, the fingertips stopped there, cold to the touch.
Lonia tried to take a step forward, but her body remained absolutely motionless.
“What exactly did you do?”
“One of the effects of 『Blood』 is controlling one's own blood descendants. Lonia, your sense of self is too strong, so most of the time, I cannot control your actions. At most, I can only read your thoughts through the blood covenant.”
Eliza smiled faintly, an unconscious trace of satisfaction and indulgence creeping into her tone.
“But you are different now. Right now, you are more fragile than anyone.”
“You...”
“Lonia, I have already been very tolerant of you. Even when you stood before me, your face full of joy as you talked about that mongrel, and even when, after tossing and turning, you still decided to choose her and betray me, I never truly hated you.
Because I still felt you were just a child. Children make mistakes; they need time, patience, and forgiveness.”
Her voice suddenly dropped.
“We are family, so these things are acceptable. Father and Mother were not competent Court Heads or politicians, and their artistic achievements could hardly be called outstanding. But they were excellent parents. That is why I can forgive them, just as I forgive you.”
Her hand on Lonia's shoulder pressed down harder.
“But why can't you forgive your sister? Why must you leave?”
She lowered her head, burying her face in Lonia's hair.
The movement was very gentle. She rested her forehead lightly against the back of Lonia's head, her nose pressing slightly into the black strands of hair ruffled by the wind.
“Why did you say you have no family left? Isn't your sister still right here?”
Lonia closed her eyes.
“Why do you want to leave? You clearly know how much your sister loves you.”
Eliza asked again. This time, her voice was even lower, almost drowned out by the wind howling through the gap in the door.
But Lonia still heard her clearly.
Because the voice was right against her neck, pressed against the skin Eliza's fingertips had just caressed, much closer than the sound of the wind.
“Because I can't trust you anymore.”
The fingertips on the back of her neck paused for a brief moment.
“Trust?”
“Yes, trust. I have always trusted you all these years. You were good to me, combed my hair, taught me how to deal with the nobles of the Ten Courts, and told me how to avoid being treated like a child. I thought all of that was just you taking care of me as my sister.”
She paused.
“But you turned all of it into surveillance. Combing my hair was a way to check if I brought home things I shouldn't have. Asking me what I did outside was to verify if what I said matched what you read from the blood covenant.”
Eliza did not speak, only burying her face deeper into Lonia's hair.
“So I no longer have a sister. You can control my body, you can lock me up here, and you can keep me from walking out of this door. But you cannot force me to close my eyes again.”
Lonia's voice had been freezing cold ever since she entered the room.
“I understand now, Eliza. You are a liar.”
Silence fell over the room.
Eliza raised her face from her hair, gently turning Lonia's body around to face her, staring directly into Lonia's crimson eyes with her own.
“A liar? Yes, your sister is a liar.”
She raised her hand, cupping Lonia's cheek.
“But you stayed in the old archives all day for her, ran off to Maple Town every week for her, learned so many things you disliked for her, and did so many things you didn't want to do.”
She pressed her forehead against Lonia's. In those identical crimson eyes, Lonia's motionless face was reflected.
“Your sister has always thought... if you were willing to give those things to me, how happy I would be.”
Lonia looked into those eyes. For the first time, she read an emotion in them she never thought she would see.
Fear.
“So you won't let me go.”
“Never.”
Eliza pressed Lonia's head into her chest, wrapping one hand around the back of her head and pulling her waist tight with the other.
“Lonia, did you know? When you first spoke, you were still a baby who couldn't even walk properly. But the very first word you said was 'Sister,' and you said it with a smile.
Back then, I kept wondering why there was such a cute child like you in this world.
Then there was the first time you reached out for a hug, the first time you pestered me to put aside my duties to play with you, the first time you wore clothes made by the family tailor and asked me if I liked them...”
Her voice was sometimes gentle, sometimes joyful, and sometimes ecstatic.
“Your sister could feel the genuine happiness and joy you felt when you saw me. These things are all my precious memories, the story between me and Lonia.”
Then, Eliza's voice turned freezing cold in an instant.
“But when you turned six, everything changed.
I know the curiosity you felt when you first met that mongrel. I know the excitement when you first met that mongrel in Maple Town. I know the fear when you saw that mongrel kill the human traffickers with your own eyes.”
The arms wrapping around Lonia tightened slightly.
“I also know the frustration you felt when you realized you couldn't catch up to that mongrel, the bitterness when you realized the time you spent together was dwindling, and the pain when you finally discovered the gap between you two could no longer be bridged.”
She said in a low voice:
“Lonia, Rafina Thun, that damn mongrel, is the root of all your pain.”
“...”
Lonia struggled to argue back, but found herself unable to utter a single word.
Her sister had not permitted her to speak, so she could only listen as Eliza voiced the feelings she had suppressed all this time.
“Lonia, you are always too far from your sister. No matter what I say, you never respond to me the way you do to that half-breed.
Clearly, we are blood relatives. Clearly, we are the ones who should be closest. Yet you only want to be with her, as if the life you truly belong to is with her.”
A teardrop fell onto Lonia's head, slightly cool.
She was crying.
“But... but I was the one who came first...”
Her sister, who had always upheld elegance and pride, shed her tears before her for the very first time.
“You say your sister is a liar, and I won't deny it. I don't need you to forgive me, either. You don't need to like me, you don't need to forgive me, and you don't even have to call me sister. Just don't leave me, all right?”
She pressed her lips against Lonia's hair, her voice leaking out in fragments through the strands.
Lonia found that she could speak again.
So she forced the words out with great difficulty from the depths of her throat.
“No.”
Eliza's movements stopped.
“Eliza, you disgust me.”
Lonia looked up, her eyes trembling, filled with endless contempt and disgust.
“Where is the sister who taught me to uphold my pride? Why are you being so pathetic? Where is the dignity and discipline you valued above all else?!”
She pushed forward with all her might, shoving Eliza back a few steps.
“How are you any different from those uncles of ours?!”
Lonia growled through gritted teeth, then turned around to grab the doorknob once more.
The pressure of Rank Eight descended upon Lonia's body at that moment, crushing her so heavily she could barely breathe, robbing her of all her strength.
“Lonia, let your sister finish, all right?”
Then, Eliza gently placed her hand over Lonia's.
“Where do you plan on going now? Are you really going back to find that mongrel?”
She had already lightly wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes, restoring her expression to its usual state.
Lonia did not know if she had just been acting or if she had shown her true feelings.
She did not want to dwell on it either.
“...”
“Lonia, the node that connected you two for over a decade has been completely crushed by her. And now, no matter how you explain it, she can never trust you again.
After all, she is a mongrel orphan who has been disliked and spat upon since childhood, someone who doesn't believe in her very bones that she is worthy of love.
The only one she trusted was you, and you personally betrayed her, destroying that trust. So, there is no longer any possibility of you two returning to the way you were.”
“...”
“But Lonia, it doesn't matter if you can't go back to her. Your sister will replace the memories you created with her, bit by bit.
One day, you will completely forget that her name is Rafina. You will forget every promise between you. You will forget who gave you that broken hairpin.
Then, you will only remember the person who has arranged everything for you since you were small. Your sister. Your family. The only one who will stay by your side forever, the woman named Eliza who loves you.”
“...Why... why must you do this...”
After enduring the pressure for a while, Lonia was finally able to speak.
However, the moment she asked this question, Eliza laughed, as if she had just heard a joke.
“Why? Your sister thought she made it clear enough. No matter, let me repeat it for you.
Lonia, you are the Second Princess of the Vampire Court. You are my little sister. You will always be my little sister, until you die. Your eyes, your voice, your memories, your body—everything that belongs to you is mine.
Because my blood flows in your veins, and it has since the day you were born.
So, Lonia, I won't let you see anyone else, I won't let you do anything you don't want to do, and I will decline all the social events you don't want to deal with on your behalf. You only need to stay here. By your sister's side.”
She took a step back, removing her hand from Lonia and pressing it against her own chest.
“Your sister will share the power of 『Blood』 with you, allowing you to enjoy eternal life and stay with me forever.
Ten years is indeed a long time, but it can be made up for. Lonia, I will spend twenty years, fifty years, a hundred years, a thousand, or even ten thousand years on you. As long as you wish, your sister will stay by your side forever.
The same blood flows through us, we look so alike by birth, we have known each other since you were born, and we love each other so deeply. Lonia, you love your sister too, don't you? Undeniably, love born from blood ties and living together day and night must exist, right?”
She smiled.
“After all, a little sister is really just a wife left behind for me by Mother.”
“...Fina... What about Fina...”
Lonia asked with a tremble.
“Hmm? Why must you still think about that mongrel even now?”
Eliza sighed.
“In her eyes, haven't you already chosen your sister?”
She watched the last sliver of light in Lonia's eyes fade away, those eyes once full of passion and hope turning completely dull.
Perfect. This was exactly what she wanted.
“Lonia, she won't forgive you. But your sister is different.
No matter what you do, your sister will forgive you.
Your sister will love you forever, always treat you well, always know everything about you, and because of that, never make you angry. Forever and ever...
So, stay with me.”
Lonia stared blankly and vacantly at Eliza in front of her, making no movement.
So Eliza bent down and embraced Lonia, pulling her tightly into her arms.
Lonia remained motionless, as if she were broken.
But Eliza did not care.
They still had plenty of time.
A hundred years, a thousand years, ten thousand years, a hundred thousand years.
One day, Lonia would show her that expression again.
The expression she used to show only to that mongrel.
One day, it would belong solely to her.
Eliza Catori firmly believed so.
Rate on N.U.
