TPA 27

Chapter 27

Venus of Fresh Blood (1)

The terrified woman was stripped of her clothes by the maids with brutal force and rolled naked across the floor.

She struggled wildly, her eyes darting back and forth as if searching for a way to escape. But in truth, escape was nearly impossible.

There was no way she could shake off the ten maids surrounding her, and even if she somehow managed it, she knew she would only be slaughtered by the beautiful monster calmly preparing her bath.

“P-Please… please spare me! P-Please… I beg you…!”

Spare me.

At this moment, those words were utterly meaningless.

As if acting on instinct, half out of her mind, the woman continued murmuring her plea for mercy while being locked inside a metal coffin placed beside the bathtub.

Rizé leisurely stepped into the tub and sat down. The maids activated a device attached to the machine.

Because a gag had been forced into her mouth, no screams could be heard. Instead, blood poured through the many holes drilled into the coffin and flowed into the bathtub.

“Hmm, as expected—young girls smell the best.”

The bathroom was filled with the stench of blood. The maids felt sick to their stomachs, but none of them showed it.

Rizé savored the smell of blood, her face glowing with ecstasy. She drank the blood flowing into the tub, rubbed it over her body.

“Wonderful. Young girls’ blood really is the best.”

A vivid smile spread across her beautiful lips. The madness in her expression was chilling, and the maids squeezed their eyes shut, desperately trying to avert their gaze.

Who would imagine that the angel descended from heaven was in fact a demon wearing an angel’s guise?

Who would believe that the rumors whispered among the people were truly coming to life? That every day, countless women’s bodies were being dumped into the riverbanks below the castle?

The beautiful Venus of the mortal world was once again going mad, intoxicated by blood.

“You may leave now. Good work, all of you.”

As if they had been waiting for those words, the maids fled the bathroom in a panic.

Left alone, Rizé washed her body in the bloodstained water, laughing slyly.

“Beauty truly is the greatest blessing…”

She slowly raised her head and gazed up at the ceiling, her eyes settling into a calm stillness.

She had endured everything with a single obsession—to obtain a beauty no one could ever disregard, eternal youth that could never be ignored.

What had allowed her to survive that long, hellish life was none other than her desire to become beautiful.

Now, no one ignored her. No one humiliated or criticized her. She had realized far too late that this was what happiness felt like.

‘I must become more beautiful. More than I am now…’

If it meant becoming even slightly more beautiful, she could wring the blood from thousands of young girls and drink it without hesitation.

Alone, Rizé continued washing herself in blood, laughing obscenely.

And that laughter went on for a long time.

At daybreak, Glam went to see Libido to report on Misa’s business trip.

He entered the room tense, but Libido’s response was disappointingly flat.

“Alright. I understand. You may go.”

He merely acknowledged that he had sent her away on business.

Glam had expected him to ask where she was going or what incident she was investigating, but Libido asked nothing at all.

“Are you still standing there because it bothers you that I’m not asking anything?”

“No.”

In truth, Libido already knew that Misa had bought two train tickets at Lantern Station early that morning.

If she was traveling by train, the destination could only be Cheite, the Marquis of Ferentz’s territory—where Rizé was.

The reason she chose that place as her first destination was obvious. Rumors were currently circulating there, and reports of bodies being seen near the marquis’s estate were pouring in nonstop.

Visiting under the pretense of an investigation was a perfectly plausible excuse.

“I don’t think I’ll be able to come here often for a while.”

“Why is that?”

“I’m busy. So while I’m away, I want you to take full responsibility for things here.”

“What kind of work is it?”

Libido stopped looking at the documents and slowly raised his head.

He stared at Glam for a moment, then let out a small chuckle and turned his gaze back to the papers.

“You’re quite suspicious.”

“……”

“I have a project I’m pushing forward. I’ve got appointments with investors. Is that enough of an answer?”

If you don’t trust me, you can always dig into it like you usually do. That’s your specialty, isn’t it?

At those words, Glam’s eyebrows twitched. After a brief moment of agitation, he forced his expression to remain calm and left the room.

Once Glam was gone, Libido leaned back slightly in his chair.

“So… you’ve decided not to run away, even after being that shaken.”

The real reason he had invited her to the ball was to show her just how absurd the path she had chosen was.

He wanted her to see the head of the beastkin ruling as a queen consort of a human nation—purely out of amusement.

Humans tended to avoid and flee from things beyond their capacity to handle.

When he heard that she had refused her mother’s restrictions and returned without compromise, he had been unsure.

He had thought it was likely nothing more than a momentary burst of reckless emotion.

Even the confidence she had shouted at him yesterday felt the same.

Fear had been unmistakable in her eyes.

“And yet she’s jumping in, fully aware that it’s impossible. Reckless.”

It was a foolish, pitiful choice.

And yet, a smile of delight crossed Libido’s lips.

Nine out of ten people would laugh at her. How could a mere individual bring down a massive organization? It was absurd. Libido agreed.

It was reckless. It was impossible.

And yet she hadn’t run away. She hadn’t compromised. She had chosen to face it to the very end.

“She’s an impressive human.”

He meant it sincerely.

At the very least, Libido respected the choice she had made.

That kind of unwavering conviction wasn’t something just anyone possessed. Human will was usually something that bent and broke with ease.

“Now then…”

Would she endure?

Or would she snap and shatter?

Smiling, Libido picked up the phone and called someone. A click sounded, followed by a voice on the other end.

“I’m calling to let you know that I’d like to change the meeting location.”

This should be interesting.

He was certain that the small woman would end up causing quite a stir.

And he had no intention of missing such a spectacle.

Before the train departed, Aroma rushed to the station and placed something into Misa’s hand.

It was a perfume she had made herself.

“What do you think?”

“Your scent is definitely masked by the perfume. Even most beastkin would have trouble distinguishing it—your natural scent is barely detectable.”

The perfume Aroma had made concealed Misa’s natural body scent.

Even after becoming a beastkin, Aroma’s innate talent as a perfumer seemed intact. The perfume she had spent an entire sleepless day creating worked perfectly.

“She’s more meticulous than she looks.”

“Aroma’s dream was to become a perfumer. She always had a natural talent for distinguishing scents.”

“She extracted my pheromones directly to make this. It’s very well done. I can see how much effort she put into creating something that could mask a scent as deadly to beastkin as yours.”

“I didn’t show it, but I’m worried about leaving Aroma alone. Once she’s separated from me, those urges will flare up again. I don’t know if she’ll be able to endure.”

“She’s strong-willed. That’s why she’s held on this long. She won’t collapse easily.”

“But why is it, I wonder. Why do you, Aroma, and even I end up being affected physically because of me?”

“Who knows? You must have something special about you.”

The train, which had been stopped to board passengers, sounded its horn and began moving again.

Gull gazed out the window and murmured quietly.

“It’s changed so much.”

“There’s a thousand-year gap between your time and now.”

“Sometimes, seeing things like this makes humans frightening.”

“Why?”

“Because they never stop.”

For a thousand years, Gull had done nothing.

But in that time, humans had accomplished so much.

“Maybe Lena’s plan will be thwarted by humans.”

“Hm.”

“Humans are already developing weapons to oppose beastkin.”

“True. Humans can’t defeat beastkin with their natural strength alone—the physical difference is overwhelming. But because of that, they’ve created weapons capable of opposing beastkin, and they’re still developing them. That’s probably why they’ve managed to hold out this long.”

It must have taken Lena a long time to become queen. But from the moment she ascended the throne to now, the time must have felt absurdly short to her.

“When you think about why Lena wanted to become queen, the answer becomes clear. Maybe she, too, felt uneasy about humans. To suppress their gradual resistance, to create more beastkin, she probably thought infiltrating their ranks and seizing power came first.”

“Yes. Many things have changed, but human nature hasn’t.”

Power.

An authority created among humans themselves. It gave rise to hierarchies among people—and those hierarchies had yet to crumble.

“Whether then or now, their selfish, materialistic nature—trying to suppress others through force—seems unchanged.”

“We’re all human, yet our status is decided at birth. Do you think terms like ‘gold spoon’ and ‘dirt spoon’ came from nowhere? The class system is deeply irrational and unfair, yet it won’t collapse easily. It’s been with humans for too long.”

Wealth and power are inherited.

People marry within their own class to preserve their influence, and that has proven to be an extremely effective way to maintain power.

The nation’s systems all work in their favor, because those systems were created by the very people who benefit from them—the entrenched elite.

“Still, most people can’t even recognize how unfair the system is. Or even if they do, there’s nothing they can do about it. They’re weak.”

Unfortunately, that was reality.

“In the Ferentz Marquisate, the marquis’s authority is absolute. Just look at how all the apostles have become lords governing their own territories. Within their domain, a lord can do anything.”

Future beastkin would also take their places among the ruling elite, one by one.

“Lena might turn the king and all the elites of this country into her people—into beastkin. No, she definitely will.”

The world isn’t moved by the many.

“It’s moved by the tiny minority who hold power.”

“You understand reality all too well.”

“It’s because of everything I went through after my mother died. It was all unfair. This country shows no consideration for the weak. I’m a woman, an orphan with no parents or relatives—among the weak, I was the weakest. Becoming a hunter took enormous effort, and I ran into far more walls than that.”

“It couldn’t have been easy.”

“No. No one valued me as a person. They looked down on me, criticized me, saying, ‘What could an orphan girl possibly do?’”

“But you became a hunter in the end.”

“Yes. I decided to prove it myself. I hunted many beastkin and delivered their heads to the Investigation Bureau.”

She had nearly died countless times, faced danger after danger—but she survived and proved herself.

“That even as a woman, even as an orphan, I could do something. That I wasn’t incapable.”

Glam, who had recognized her talent back then, granted her the right to take the exam. As a result, she passed at the youngest age ever, earning the title of the youngest female hunter.

“After experiencing all that injustice, I made a vow. I would never compromise with any injustice I believed was wrong. The moment I did, I’d become the same as the people I despised and loathed.”

“……”

“If that happened, I wouldn’t have the face to meet my dead mother.”

That was why she had no regrets.

About her current choice, her current decision.

“I will never compromise with my mother’s murderer. Even if a blade is pressed to my throat, even if my flesh is torn from my body.”

“Alright.”

“I want to believe I’m right. Even if everyone else says I’m wrong, even if they say it’s impossible. I want to believe that things can change.”

“Listening to you makes me curious about your mother.”

Misa, who had been looking out the window, turned her gaze toward Gull.

She smiled at him proudly.

“She was the greatest person in the world.”

A faint smile appeared on Gull’s lips.

“I thought so.”

Though Gull had never met her mother even once, he could tell. She must have been someone just as strong and principled as Misa.

That was why her daughter had grown up so upright.

“Oh—we’ve arrived.”

Before they knew it, they had reached Cheite, their destination.

Surrounded by dense forests and numerous valleys, Cheite was famous as a resort for forest bathing and was bustling with tourists.

As they stepped off the train, a dazzlingly clear sky greeted them.

“It’s really as clean and beautiful as I’d heard.”

“Whether it’s just as clean on the inside is another question.”

Agreeing with Gull, Misa grabbed his hand.

“Shall we go, then?”

“Yeah.”

It was time to step into the dazzlingly beautiful and peaceful den of predators.

“She’s moved…?”

“She bought train tickets at Lantern Station. The estimated destination appears to be Cheite.”

“Why am I only hearing this now? I told you to report even the slightest movement immediately.”

At Lena’s low, pressing question, the soldier hesitated and bowed.

“Well… the ones assigned to surveillance all passed out at once…”

“…Gull’s doing.”

If they had left early in the morning, they would have arrived in Cheite by now.

Lena clenched her teeth, pressing a throbbing temple.

‘Just a mere human…’

Why did this irritate her so much?

Why did she feel so uneasy, even while being certain that a single human woman could do nothing?

‘Is it because of her eyes?’

“What should we do? Shall we pursue her to Cheite and capture her?”

After a moment’s thought, Lena shook her head.

“Leave her be.”

“Understood.”

No matter what she did by going to Cheite, Lena knew there was nothing she could do or uncover.

It would be better to leave her alone. She needed to realize for herself just how high a wall she was trying to climb.

“Send word to Cheite. Inform Rizé of the situation as well, immediately.”

“Yes.”

After the soldier left, Lena slowly rose from her seat.

She walked to the window and flung it open.

‘Gull…’

In the end, you’ll realize it.

You’ll come to understand just how powerless humans are, and how weak and foolish that human woman you chose over me truly is.

And then you’ll return.

Your long wandering and rebellion will only serve to prove your love for me. We… whether then or now, still love each other.

Only the circumstances around us have changed.

‘Come back soon.’

As a fierce wind blew in, she let her deeply buried feelings slip free, longing desperately.

For a true reunion with her beloved.

For the days they would share again.

He would return. Eventually.

Lena was certain of it.