Inside the apartment building, the Great Third Primogenitor lay peacefully on the large bed, dressed in an emerald-green nightgown and looking as still and serene as Sleeping Beauty.
"Mmm…"
Her eyelashes trembled slightly. Giada opened her eyes, stared blankly at the ceiling for a moment, then stretched lazily.
"It feels like I had a really good dream. So good that I almost thought…"
Giada suddenly stopped mid-sentence. It took more than ten seconds before she finally realized what was wrong. She pressed a hand to her chest, disbelief written all over her face.
"Why are they so quiet?!"
The terrifying Beast Vassals buried within the bodies of the three Primogenitors, feeding on their endless negative life force and Magical Power, creatures that should have been restless at every waking moment, had now, in Giada's perception… fallen silent.
"It's not my imagination! It only seems temporary, but for now, they really have quieted down."
She raised a hand and summoned one of the less volatile Beast Vassals inside her. Feeling how much easier it was to control than before, Giada's eyes widened.
"What… is going on? Was it that dream I had last night? Or…"
Shocked by the change within her body, Giada could not help thinking back on anything unusual she had encountered recently, something that could have calmed even her restless Beast Vassals. Whatever it was, she was going to have it.
"Was it Cid…? No, probably not. The change in my body happened after I slept, so was it still that dream?"
After thinking it over, Giada ultimately focused her suspicion on the dream she had had the night before. It made sense. For a long-lived being like her, someone who had lived for over a thousand years, dreaming at all was already unusual. But just as Giada tried to recall the contents of that dream…
"I can't remember…"
That was right. She could not remember. She clearly knew she had had a wonderful dream, yet Giada could not recall even the slightest detail of it… No, it was not that she could not remember. It was more like she could not find it. The memory was clearly there, but she simply could not locate it.
It was as if it had been mixed together with all her other memories. She had to first remember the specific contents of that wonderful dream before she could find it within her long, sprawling memory.
The problem was, if she already knew the specific contents of the dream, why would she need to search her memories for it?
Damn it. Giada's lovely face twisted at the absurd loop she had fallen into.
"Haa… Calm down. First, I need to figure out whether this only happened to me, or if the other two Primogenitors experienced it too. Then…"
"Giada-sama, are you all right?!"
Giada's thoughts were interrupted halfway through. Several female Vampires rushed in from the entrance and looked at her anxiously. Once they saw that she was unharmed, they immediately stepped back and knelt on one knee.
"We sincerely apologize, Giada-sama. We sensed the aura released by your Beast Vassal from outside, so we thought someone had broken in…"
The maid in the lead lowered her head and calmly explained the situation, only for Giada to wave her hand and cut her off.
"It's nothing serious. I was merely practicing my Beast Vassal control for the first time in a while. There's no need to make a fuss. You may all leave."
The maids exchanged glances, clearly finding it hard to believe that their lazy mistress would actually train, but they understood the meaning behind Giada's words. The lead maid simply nodded.
"Understood, Giada-sama. Is there anything else you wish to order?"
"No… Wait."
Giada had almost denied it on instinct, but something occurred to her, and she stopped the female Vampire servants who had already retreated to the doorway.
"Go investigate whether anything happened last night. Ask the other two Primogenitors as well. Also…"
Resting her chin on her hand, Giada paused there, considering whether she should continue clinging to her deal with Cid.
Something had happened to the Fourth Primogenitor, so her deal with Cid could no longer be completed. Under these circumstances, simply taking Cid away with overwhelming force…
How should she put it? Giada felt very clear-headed right now. Although she still craved blood, what she wanted even more was to understand what made Cid so special.
In a sense, her previous behavior might have been driven by desire clouding her judgment. She had lived for thousands of years without ever developing such an intense thirst for blood, so no matter how she thought about it, Cid had to be the problem.
Under these circumstances, the most rational choice would be to speak with the other two Primogenitors first, then take her time planning things out.
"Never mind. Don't tell them for now. I have a feeling that if those two learn about Cid, something troublesome will happen.
Besides… I've never broken a promise before. Emma, continue demanding certain things from the Deva Division and the First and Second Primogenitors. I need to start making preparations on my end as well."
"Yes!"
With that reply, the female Vampires immediately withdrew and began carrying out Giada's orders.
After the maids left, Giada turned toward the enormous floor-to-ceiling window, where the curtains blocked out the sunlight, and furrowed her brow.
She slowly walked to the window and drew open the curtains. Blazing sunlight fell across Giada's pale, delicate skin. Sunlight, which should have disgusted any Vampire, touched her now as naturally as anything else.
Hey, hey, hey. Wasn't this going a little too far? Not only had her rampaging Beast Vassals quieted down, even sunlight was briefly ignoring her?
Warm sunlight slipped between her fingers. As Giada raised her head to look at the sun in the sky, her thoughts drifted back to more than a thousand years ago, to the time when she first arrived on this planet.
Back then, she had not yet become a Primogenitor Vampire. She had still lived as a Deva God aboard a warship in the sky. Because of that, she had never truly cherished the feeling of living in this world, of standing firmly upon the earth.
Only after becoming the Third Primogenitor did she truly understand what torment meant. She felt discomfort, even disgust, toward the sunlight that brought warmth. She had to constantly pay attention to feeding the rampaging Beast Vassals inside her. Part of Cain's curse had become entangled with the three of them, making them feel as though the entire world rejected them.
But now, her mental state was better than it had ever been. The debuff that had always hung over her had vanished.
She could say with certainty that even thousands of years ago, before she became the Third Primogenitor, the world had never accepted her as much as it did now.
"So what exactly is capable of temporarily suppressing this curse from the world, doing something even the Great Holy Annihilator, which could alter the world itself, was unable to achieve…
Well, whatever it is, I'm definitely going to get my hands on it.
Ever since the worlds merged, everything that's appeared has been more interesting than the last."
Bathed in sunlight, Giada's emerald-green eyes seemed even deeper within the shadows.
...
"Rias, are you in a good mood today?"
While manipulating her Magical Power to eliminate the imps that kept popping up, Akeno Himejima looked curiously at Rias, who had been smiling nonstop since morning.
They had only experienced the destruction of the world yesterday. Although most of the people who died in that terrifying battle had been resurrected by that Holy Son, whose House no one knew, the destroyed buildings had not been restored along with them. On top of that, the environmental changes had caused ghosts and magical beasts to run wild, prompting Rias's family to call them back to the territory to help.
Yet at such a busy time, Akeno Himejima noticed that something seemed off about her mistress. Her frustration over what had happened yesterday was normal. Her anger at the tragic situation of her people was normal too. But that lovestruck smile was definitely not normal.
"Oh, probably… because I had a nice dream last night."
In response to Akeno Himejima's question, Rias shyly twirled a lock of her long crimson hair, touched a finger to her chin, and answered uncertainly.
"Oh? What kind of nice dream? A wet dream? Why else would you be smiling like that? Did you get yourself a boyfriend?"
Akeno Himejima released a surge of lightning from her hands and wiped out the rampaging magical beasts in front of her in one go, laughing as she tossed out the casual remark.
But to Akeno Himejima's surprise, Rias actually gave her a slightly smug look, then nodded shyly, confirming that she had guessed right.
Akeno Himejima nearly lost control mid-flight. She stared at Rias in shock, watching the faint blush spread across her face.
"Who is it? When did this happen? What's he like?"
Faced with Akeno Himejima's excited barrage of questions, Rias only smiled faintly and said nothing.
"Come on, Rias. We grew up together, and you're still keeping secrets from me? I never thought our friendship was this fragile. I'm so hurt, sob sob…"
Akeno Himejima narrowed her eyes at Rias and lifted one sleeve to cover half her face, putting on a wounded expression.
That's exactly why I can't trust you with this…
Rias still said nothing, but her eyes made her meaning perfectly clear.
"Tsk…"
Seeing that Rias had made up her mind not to tell her, Akeno Himejima dropped the act and clicked her tongue in dissatisfaction. Then her eyes shifted as a new idea came to her.
"Rias, at least give me a hint. You can tell me a little about what happened, right?"
"Um… I suppose I can do that."
Seeing Akeno Himejima's curiosity, and feeling the urge to talk about it herself, Rias hesitated for a moment before finally relenting.
"How should I put it? When we first met, it was actually nothing special. I just saw him as… a little brother who needed me to look after him."
"That sounds pretty ordinary…"
Listening to Rias, Akeno Himejima could not help commenting on the plain beginning of the story.
"It was pretty ordinary. In fact, after spending more time with him, I even disliked him a little.
I hated his attitude. It was like he thought everything in life had already been decided. When he spoke, he sounded like he had no intention of trying at all, not even of fighting for himself. It was almost like he had given up and only wanted his family to carry him upward…"
"Mm, no wonder. His personality really doesn't match yours, Rias. So what happened after that? With personalities that incompatible, unless one of you changed, I was already ready to sit back and watch the drama…"
"Akeno…"
Akeno Himejima's gleeful expression annoyed Rias a little. Why was she already hoping things would fall apart before the story had even begun?
"All right, all right. I won't interrupt. Go on…"
Akeno Himejima raised both hands and nodded helplessly.
"Like I said, I always thought of him as my little brother. Even after we got to know each other, that didn't change.
But how should I put this? I think I misjudged him.
I thought I could prove myself, but I lost to Riser.
As for him, I said earlier that I thought he had given up on himself, right? And yet, even though he was weaker than me, he managed to do what I couldn't.
The House of Gremory is a family that believes in emotions. But at that moment, I, who was so confident and thought I had everything prepared, lost.
He, however, relied on those very emotions and forced himself to hold on. In that moment, he was truly dazzling.
For the sake of his feelings, he unleashed a power beyond everyone's expectations and surpassed himself again and again. He was practically the ideal version of me…"
Rias thought back to that day, to the sight of Cid standing in front of her, being knocked down again and again, only to rise each time before finally turning defeat into victory.
Before she knew it, her thoughts somehow drifted to the dream from last night, and her face flushed red at once.
"Rias, stop smiling like an idiot. Wake up."
A hand waved in front of Rias's face, snapping her back to reality.
"From the way you describe him, he sounds like a really interesting guy…"
With a smile tugging at her lips, Akeno Himejima thought over Rias's description and could not help laughing.
"Are you laughing at me, Akeno?"
Rias's face fell. She had not expected her childhood best friend to hear her story and, instead of supporting her, make fun of her. Her expression immediately darkened.
"No, no. I was just wondering who fits all those conditions."
"Then you'd better think faster. After we calm this batch of magical beasts, we still have to deal with the territory's paperwork. We need to pick up the pace. Cid, Gasper, Koneko, and Yuuto Kiba are still waiting for us over on Itogami Island."
"…Rias, you don't need to include Kiba's name. You know he has probably already left Itogami Island by now."
For the first time, Akeno Himejima put away her teasing expression and spoke to Rias seriously.
"That won't do. All of you… are my family. Kiba was only deceived. I believe he isn't bad by nature. Sooner or later, he'll come back on his own."
Just like that day.
Rias remembered Cid collapsing again and again that day, the fury that had completely consumed his eyes, and his body held up by sheer will alone.
Rias felt that even if she could not become as strong as Cid, she could at least try. After all, that had always been the family motto of the House of Gremory.
And the first step would be locking Yuuto Kiba, who had betrayed them, in the dungeon. She could not let her Peerage Members keep making mistakes!
Yes, that was settled… Wait, was she remembering something wrong?
In her memory, Cid's body kept collapsing as he lost vitality and a large amount of blood. But apart from his weakening vitality, each fall only made him look more battered. Other than that, his body had only one large, bleeding wound.
As Rias flew swiftly through the air, that question flashed through her mind.
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