The vampire heiress is two-faced

Page 134

...

...

Ludwig remained silent, utterly silent.

After a long period of contemplation, she finally understood.

...

The silver-haired queen embraced her daughter, gently stroking her magnificent silver hair, which was just like her own.

"...I'm sorry, Lochina, you're absolutely right. As a mother, it's really a dereliction of duty of me to need my daughter to comfort me."

She smiled and wiped away the tears from the corner of Lochina's eyes.

"Don't cry, sweetie. After Mommy finishes her last shift as Queen, she'll go back to that beautiful, eternal paradise..."

"I am waiting for the brave Lochina and the capable older sisters to cure my incurable disease."

She looked up and smiled at Ruo Keke.

"Right?"

Coco smiled with relief:

"Ah."

It seems that even someone as disheartened and contemplative as Hilliot, who was determined to die, can find renewed strength in the face of the power of family.

But this also means that Lochina has truly become her only weakness—

If Lochina were to meet with misfortune, the already fragile and no longer eternal Eternal Queen would likely collapse even more completely.

"Lochina, don't do anything reckless."

If Coco squats down and pats her head.

"You're still young, so let your older sisters do things first. You don't want your mother to worry about you, do you?"

Lochina nodded obediently: "Okay, maid sister."

Then, she looked at her mother with a smile.

"Lochina won't do anything to worry everyone. Please rest assured, Mother."

...

...

After a while.

The two finally managed to send Lochina back to rest, and secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

She spent her days studying in the vampire private school set up for her, and now, after all this time stalking Ruo Keke, she was naturally very tired.

Now, "Ludwig" and Coco are finally getting to the "main topic" of tonight's meeting.

The silver-haired girl pulled out a shiny metal key, the same one found on Kane's body in the King's Tomb, which was said to lead to the "truth".

However, the door that it could open was only vaguely mentioned by Kane in his suicide note as being located in Mona Castle.

Ludwig was not as familiar with the castle as Hilliot, so one of the reasons she gave for exchanging bodies was "to find a place to use the key."

“‘Let me, who knows the castle better, find the truth for her.’ That’s what they say, but even I don’t know everything that ‘Kane’ left behind.”

The silver-haired girl sighed softly.

"So, Coco, the reason I called you here for a secret meeting tonight is this."

"Someone suggested to me that you've cleaned every corner of the castle, so Coco, have you discovered anything?"

If Coco looked troubled: "You said 'discovered'... but I have never heard of a person named 'Kane'."

Ludwig then realized:

"Oh... I remember now, the vampires of this era don't seem to have heard of the name 'Kane'."

"In this day and age, he should be called by you..."

"Dracula".

Chapter 145 No

The Legend of Guaranteed Authenticity

Five hundred years ago, the vampire queen disappeared from this world. The reason for her disappearance was that she was only trying to make an absurd bet with the Holy Light Church of humanity.

The vampires, seduced by the promising future promised by the church, and with the will of the people in their favor, the queen coldly agreed to this absurd bet and happily slept in her specially made black coffin.

Five hundred years later, the eternal vampire queen awakens in this "civilized age" ruled by humans.

Before she left, she dissolved the vampire council and, in accordance with the treaty that was destined to be torn up, completely dismantled the vampire royal court, which was based at "Mona Castle".

The vampires disappeared into the vast sea of ​​humanity, embarking on a five-hundred-year period of suffering where they were manipulated and controlled by humans.

These are all well-worn facts that need no further elaboration. But even after the Vampire Queen dismissed everyone, one loyal old minister chose to disobey her decree at the last moment—

He sealed the castle away, using the dark magic of the vampires to transform it into a haunted house that no living person could enter...

With the disappearance of the vampires, and hundreds of years after the castle was deserted, people gradually forgot the fact that the vampires had once occupied this place.

Thus, the legend of "Dracula" gradually emerged at this time.

The root of the problem lies in the fact that, near this abandoned castle in Romania, there have been several sightings of a lean man.

Rumor has it that he wears a black cloak, has white hair and beard, crimson eyes, and bared fangs; he brings any human who strays into the castle or even the surrounding area into the castle, feasts on them, and then throws the scraps into the castle's bottomless sewers...

The eerie legends that had haunted the castle for decades only subsided after German soldiers who invaded during the war sent men to clean it up.

However, the legend of Dracula has long been deeply ingrained in people's minds, and many literary creators have used it as a subject, making the vampire legends, which have been "demonized," "beautified," and "uglified" countless times and distorted beyond recognition, popular again in this civilized modern society.

And no one cares about the origin of all this, or the truth behind it all.

...

"What? Kane... is the infamous Count Dracula?"

Coco found it hard to believe that these two things were actually connected.

Ludwig chuckled.

"Ah, that's right. History is a little girl who can be dressed up however you like, and in the years of war and word of mouth, the truth will inevitably be distorted. In Eastern terms, it's like 'three men can make a tiger.'"

...

Kane, who is regarded as the progenitor of vampires in many legends, is not as outlandish as he seems, but he is by no means a nobody either.

He was not only the true form of "Dracula," but also held a prestigious title within the Vampire Council over 1,500 years ago—

"Chief Vampire Craftsman".

He custom-made the Queen's bed—the Black Coffin—and in addition, he crafted everything the Queen needed, including the throne. From clothing to daily necessities, he provided everything.

He not only served the Queen, but also meticulously crafted everything from the castle's decor to the vampires' custom-made gowns, and even the carving of a small goblet. Chief craftsman Kane could do everything perfectly.

He laid the foundation for the vampires' current style, which is based on red, black, and gold, and features an exaggerated, visually striking dark gothic aesthetic, so that anyone who sees the vampires for the first time can immediately recognize them as the irresistible leader of all demons—the Dark Night Vampires.

And this isn't even what Chief Craftsman Kane is best at.

From forging vampire weapons to improving blood curses, and even designing exquisite and ingenious mechanisms, everything is under his control.

This great vampire scholar served only the vampire queen from beginning to end, dedicating the rest of his life to her.

...

"For thousands of years, I have long lost interest in this world, and I have only looked at it seriously a handful of times."

"Looking back now, Kane really did a lot."

The silver-haired girl closed her eyes, as if searching her mind for all the impressions this loyal minister had left on her.

“A thousand years ago, after the fall of his country and the destruction of his home, Kane, who was wandering in a foreign land, was encountered by me when I had already fallen into the vampire queen.”

“He knelt at my feet and begged me… to take him with me to avenge the empire that destroyed our homeland.”

"At that time, I readily agreed."

"But after I avenged the empire, nothing else could remain in my sight. Thus, I neglected his unwavering loyalty for over a thousand years..."

The woman who was once a queen is now filled with regret.

“In the five hundred years since I left, he has obviously stayed in this castle, managing it until nearly a hundred years ago, when he disappeared after the war. Torre has no way of finding out where he went.”

Ruo Keke pondered, "Later, we actually found him in the tomb of King Carlos deep in the snow-capped mountains."

The silver-haired girl nodded gently:

"Yes. Nearly a hundred years ago, just like the past memories of the owner of this body, 'Ludwig,' the history that should have existed was completely torn away at that strange point in time, becoming a blank as if it did not exist, leaving no trace."

She looked at the key in her hand.

"He said this key leads to the truth. If the truth is located in this castle... where exactly has he hidden his 'treasure'?"

As Coco pondered, a possibility flashed through her mind.

"Your Majesty Ludwig, based on what you said above, is it possible that he would hide this secret truth in his workspace? After all, people are used to hiding secrets in familiar places."

The silver-haired girl was stunned.

"Well... to the best of my memory, Kane did indeed spend at least five hundred years of his life working in his workshop over the course of a thousand years."

She lifted her skirt and walked down the steps.

"Coco's suggestion is good, let's go check it out first."

The brown-haired maid bowed: "Yes."

. "

...

...

Clearly, even though the castle still stands, many things have changed over the centuries.

The side room, once the "Chief Craftsman's Workshop," had been renovated into a guardhouse for human security personnel during the decades of human rule. After the vampires took over, they continued its original function, using it as a guardhouse for the castle guards.

Upon seeing the princess enter, the guards immediately stood up and bowed.

"Your Highness Ludwig!"

Although these guards did not know that she was already the queen, they still did not neglect her as a princess. This is a microcosm of the strict hierarchical system among vampires.

She mimicked Ludwig's tone, speaking in a light and lively manner:

"Hello everyone. I noticed the guardhouse was quite dirty and messy when I passed by last time, especially with a lot of human belongings left behind. I brought my personal maid along, hoping she could help you clean it up."

The guards were flattered: "This, this won't do, Your Highness!"

Ludwig smiled and said, "It's nothing. Okay, you can go out now."

...

After dismissing the guards, Ruoke locked the door from the inside and cut off the surveillance in the room.

“The surveillance has been temporarily turned off,” Ruo Keke said. “Your Majesty, what do you mean? Can we—”

Unexpectedly, "Ludwig" had already crawled under a table.

After some fumbling, she removed a loose brick. Unsurprisingly, a keyhole appeared deep within the groove behind the brick.

The silver-haired girl said smugly, "Hmph, just as I expected."

Coco exclaimed in surprise, "Huh?!"

...

The silver-haired girl stood up and patted her skirt:

"What's so strange about that? Are you trying to say, how would I know the keyhole was here?"

She smiled with a hint of smugness.

"Kane has been with me for over a thousand years. If I can't even figure out some of the thought processes of a thousand-year-old minister, then what's the point of my life?"

“Even if I ignore and neglect him, that’s still a thousand years… Perhaps, little Ludwig thought of this, which is why she specifically asked me to find the truth.”

In front of the dressing mirror in the guard room, the silver-haired girl gazed at "Ludwig" in the mirror.