'Allison… Allison…'
Timothy continued calling out her name, but there was no reply. She was gone… once again.
His mind went further adrift. Every thought seemed to be fleeting. He couldn't think about something in particular for longer than a second.
'Just… what on earth is happening? Everything just feels like a dream…'
Glurgh… Glurgh…
'I can't… I can't feel my body but I know I'm a liquid space… it's warm… ugh… I feel sleepy…'
…
'Mmm… I'm awake… ugh… I wonder how long I've been asleep… but what's… what's that sound? It's the… the sound of a person… a man… and it's a language I can't quite recognize…'
Muffled sounds of screams, shouts, and frustrations seemed to enter Timothy's nonexistent ear.
'And… a… woman? She sounds really close to me… and… and… she seems to be… crying?'
'I can't… quite recall… all that's happened… and I feel… so… slow…'
His mind sank back into the drifting pitch-black sea.
'Allison…'
…
'What's this? Ha? I'm awake! I-I was lucid dreaming! Wait… my mind isn't so sluggish anymore!'
Feeling refreshed and energetic, Timothy's mind sprung awake!
He felt like he had been in a deep sleep, and had not been allowed to wake up for the last… well, for a really long time.
'I… I can feel my legs! Wait, legs? Why? Damn, everything is still dark and this space feels too cramped! My position is… so uncomfortable! If only, ugh, I could just… stretch!'
"Ahhhh!" A female's scream resounded in Timothy's ears.
'Who! Who was that?!'
"The baby! Argh! It's the baby!" The lady said, followed by sounds of numerous hurried footsteps.
'W-W-Wait wait wait—'
Was he hearing correctly? Did the woman just scream and say something about a baby, exactly when he stretched? Timothy dearly wanted to believe this was just a very scary coincidence.
"She's about to deliver!"
'Huh?! Don't… Don't tell me…'
"Gently lay her down! Get me hot water!"
'It… It can't be! No! No! No! Please don't do this! I won't allow myself to face this sort of humiliation!' Timothy wiggled about.
"Ahhhh! The baby is coming out! Aaahhhh!"
"Puuuuussshhh!"
'Noooo!'
"Puuuuussshhh!"
Two seconds later, a scrawny-looking midwife held the bloodied baby in the air and immediately gasped for air when she noticed the heart of the child had a golden glow, "H-Holy Mother of Life! The… the child is cursed!"
'Huh? Cursed?!'
"What?! No! Hand me my child! I said, hand him over!" The child's mother screamed.
The assistant midwives held the mother back while yelling at her to rest.
The scrawny-looking midwife took the child out of the delivery room. The child's eyes were still closed so she raised him but the heel and spanked his butt.
'Ouch! That hurt you vile woman! Are you out of your mind?!' He let out a loud cry.
An assistant midwife came out and said, "Madam is resting. Is… the child female?"
'Huh?! What did you just say?! Y-Y-You better be joking or else—'
"Oh, it's male. Its penis is so tiny it was hard to notice." She added.
'Oh, no… 'tiny', you say… I envision a hard life ahead of me...'
Timothy sobbed inwardly.
The scrawny midwife cleaned the baby and opened the door to see a middle-aged man of noble bearing waiting anxiously.
She bowed slightly as she uttered, "Your Grace, a male child it is. And… he is cursed! What shall we do with it?"
'Ho-Hold up! Why did you say that… like throwing me into the trash can or worse is part of the options…'
The man looked at the child with an expression filled with disgust. He said, "Take the bastard to Mary, let her witness the disgrace she has wrought. After all, it shall be the last time she sees… this thing."
'Bastard? So I am born out of wedlock? Oh well, it's not like it's the first time. Hmm, but with the way he speaks… am I going to be executed or something?'
"Yes, Your Grace."
The scrawny-looking midwife went back into the delivery room.
Following Duke Lurgan's order, she handed the bastard child to the mother and said expressionlessly, "Your Grace, you gave birth to a healthy boy."
The mother, Duchess Marybeth, quickly snatched the child from the midwife.
"How dare you call my son cursed? He is a blessing from the Holy Mother!"
She turned her attention to her child and smiled. Her smile radiated the loving kindness a mother had for her child. She added, " He shall be a resolute protector, a defender of the vulnerable. I shall name him… William."
'You! Woman! Put me down now! I've been isekai'd but that doesn't mean I'm going to accept any more of this humiliation. And my name is Timothy Mc– Wh-Wh-What are you doing?! Don't you dare–'
Something soft had invaded William's lips.
Marybeth chuckled as she nursed her newborn child.
"Such an energetic boy."
…
Outside the delivery room, an assistant midwife in a nun outfit quietly locked the door leading out to the hallway.
No one noticed her actions.
Duke Lurgan had left to attend to certain matters long since he saw his wife's misbegotten son. After all, he had done his best. If not for his and his wife's social status and responsibilities that transcended such issues, he would've long divorced her immediately after he realized she had conceived a child that wasn't his.
The nun entered the delivery room and stood in a corner, observing. She smiled, her eyes glowed a bright red color as she raised her hand slightly. Her fingernails extended, becoming sharp and pointy.
In an instant, she appeared behind the scrawny-looking midwife with a devilish smile on her face, revealing her incisors. They were longer and sharper than normal.
Then, he bit into her fellow midwife's neck!
"Ahhhh! A-Aurrghh…"
The scrawny midwife let out a shrill cry before her eyes lost their light and her body, drained of every drop of blood.
Duchess Marybeth screamed at the tip of her lungs at the horrible sight in front of her.
'Mm? What's happening?! Why can't I still open my eyes?!' Timothy used all his strength and managed to open a tiny slit of his eyes.
The other midwives saw the ensuing situation and froze on the spot, not knowing what to do. Their fellow sister had blood dripping down her mouth, with blood-red eyes and veins popping out on her neck, face, and arms.
"V-V-Vampirrreeee!"
One of the nurses screamed, alerting those outside the room.
At that moment, Duke Lurgan has already returned.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
He yelled, "What's going on in there?! Open this door immediately!"
Duke Lurgan shook the double wooden door handle but the door didn't open.
The delivery room was illuminated by several candles and a fireplace. It had beautifully decorative furniture, a mirror, and wardrobes. The walls were made out of bricks and a large portrait painting of a lady in a formal dress hung on the wall, although the painting wasn't fully visible due to the inefficient lighting.
The bed Marybeth laid was a queen-size traditional canopy
With blurred vision, William could see a lady in a white nightgown with porcelain skin, long dark hair, and tired brown eyes with dark circles beneath them.
'This is… my mother?' thought William.
Her face was frozen with her attention away from him. She held him tightly in her arms as they shook uncontrollably.
William turned his head in the direction she was looking.
A woman in a nun outfit attacked the other midwives, slashed one's neck with her claws, ripped another's heart out of her chest, and drained the other of her blood—turning her into a dried husk of flesh.
'The heck?! I-I-Isn't this too early?! I've just been born, what on earth am I witnessing?! Am I… am I going to die again?'
The screams of the innocent nuns reverberated through the walls of the room and beyond.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
"If you hurt my wife, I swear to the Bright and Golden Sun I will burn you and everyone you've ever known to the ground!" Duke Lurgan yelled, spewing out multiple threats afterward.
As the vampire nun finished draining the blood from the last midwife-nurse, she let the body crumble to the ground and licked her lips seductively.
"Ah, I haven't had such a meal in ages," she said, chuckling as she took careful strides towards the Duchess.
'Uhm, as an isekai, shouldn't I have a cheat of some sort? A system or maybe a certain perk, right? A-Anything that can get me out of this alive is ok…' William begged.
Marybeth frantically moved to the other side of the bed, in an attempt to get away from this monster.
"S-Stay back! If you hurt me or my son it won't end well for you!"
The blood-soaked lady chuckled some more, before saying, "It does not matter. My task is to kill the child anyway. I would have still never gotten away if I killed only the child. So I might as well enjoy myself right before I die… right?"
"P-Please… I have children that need their mother…"
"And? Do you know how many poor children that need their mothers that die out of complications at delivery? Heh, do you know what it means to have your child die out of starvation because you could not provide?
The nurse shook her head. "All you nobles can never understand what your subjects go through. You have it in your power to change things for the better, but no. You have to keep them that way because it benefits you. You do not deserve one's pity. Ha, not like I was even going to give it."
She grabbed Marybeth's leg before she could run any further, making the latter whimper.
Mary nodded profusely. "Y-Yes, we are the problem. I am part of the problem. T-Take my life. Spare my son, he knows nothing…"
"Mmm, such isn't possible. He smells… extra tasty. But as his mother, I can let you watch him shrivel up as his juicy blood flows down my throat..."
The vampiress licked Mary's neck and helped place her hair behind her ear, letting her neck show.
"No! Please!" Mary jolted up and tried to run but she fell to the floor. Her legs were still weak due to childbirth.
However, despite her fall, she shielded William from getting hurt.
"Urrgh!"
The vampiress had slashed Mary's back, ripping her nightgown and staining it with the Duchess's own blood.
She walked closer. "Oh oh, don't run, Your Grace. I cannot guarantee it will be painless but it will be over before you know it, okay? Hmhmhm…"
'System! Cheat! Ten thousand sign-in points! Aren't you there?! I bet this is the best time for you to activate, don't you think?' William begged some more.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
"Vampire! Please! I will give you anything you want! Please! Just don't hurt her!" Duke Lurgan pleaded.
He contemplated going to call for help, but knew help wouldn't arrive until after the deed—whatever it was—was done. With all the screams, help was most likely already coming.
Duke Lurgan didn't come with guards to this room, nor were any assigned to guard Duchess Marybeth because of the nature of the situation. Her wedlock was something he never wanted the world to find out.
"You hear that, Your Grace? Your loving husband that couldn't look at you because of your unfaithfulness is now begging me to spare your life. Ah, there's nothing more than having a meal filled with the screams of the on-lookers."
The nun said before letting out a burst of wide, ear-screeching laughter. This type of laugh invoked a sense of dread in the ears of its listeners.
Duke Lurgan outside the bedroom felt this, and Marybeth too, did.
She crawled on her hands in the direction of the door. "Edward!" she screamed for her husband.
"Mary!"
The Duke threw his body at the door, but he wasn't strong enough to make a dent in it.
"I've spent too much time. It's time for the closing scene."
The undying monster stood over Duchess Marybeth and raised her sharp claws into the air.
William could see the vampire and the viciousness and cruelty in her wide, ecstatic smile.
'Please! How on earth will I find Allison if I die immediately after I was revived?! I-I need to survive! I need to survive!'
William's suddenly chest heated up, but it lasted only for a split second before…
Woosh…
A gust of wind blew in from the window. The vampiress… her head was missing!
A man with grayed-out hair sporting a red double-breasted suit with an M-insignia on its chest, a white cravat around his neck, and heavy leather boots that fastened over his black trousers held a slim sword in his right and the vampire nun's decapitated head in his left.
He turned his head to the Duchess and sighed.
"It appears my tardiness was costly…"