The moonlight bathed the mansion in a cold, silvery glow, as if the night itself had come alive. Renee stood at the edge of the balcony, staring up at the moon as if searching for something in its pale light. She had no memories—nothing but fragments, whispers of a life she couldn't remember.
"The moon is beautiful, isn't it? " Her voice was soft, the words more of an observation than a question, but she turned to Vincent, hoping he might say something, anything that could anchor her to the present.
Vincent, leaning casually against the stone railing, seemed lost in thought. His gaze was fixed on the moon, his lips curling into a faint smile. "Yeah..." he murmured, though his voice lacked the warmth she had expected.
But as the silence grew, a tension stirred in the air, one that wasn't just from the night. She could feel it—an energy, a weight, as though his thoughts were miles away, lost in something darker.
"But... there is something more beautiful than that," he whispered, almost to himself. His eyes shifted to her then, locking with hers, and for a moment, the world seemed to fall away. There, in the quiet of the night, he wasn't just a carefree lord of the mansion—he was something deeper, something that Renee couldn't quite grasp. His gaze lingered on her, his eyes filled with an intensity that made her heart race.
Renee's fingers curled around her notebook. She didn't speak. She couldn't. But she needed answers. 'Vampire? You're joking, right? ' she wrote, the words trembling slightly as she showed them to him.
Vincent chuckled softly, his eyes softening as he read her note, but something about his smile didn't quite reach his eyes. "You really are annoying, " he teased, but there was no bite in his words—only a quiet sadness that Renee could never fully understand.
The question lingered between them, unspoken: What was the real Vincent? He wore a mask, that much was certain. Sometimes, he was playful, carefree, even charming. But other times—especially when he thought no one was looking—his eyes betrayed him. There was a depth to him that scared her. A sorrow that seemed too heavy for someone so young.
"Look, Renee! " Vincent's voice pulled her from her thoughts. He held up a plushie, grinning like a child. "Isn't it cute? "
She couldn't help but smile, the simplicity of the moment warming her. But even as she felt her smile grow, her heart twisted with confusion. Who are you really, Vincent?
Vincent's grin faltered, and his expression grew serious. "But I love that side of you. I want to understand you better. I want to ease your pain, to be the one who tells you it will be okay. I want to share your burdens." He paused, his eyes darkening. "But... you know... our love is forbidden. "
Renee's heart fluttered in her chest. Forbidden. It was the word that hovered between them, the invisible wall neither of them dared to cross. He was a vampire, an immortal being born from the darkness, while she was nothing more than a fleeting human, bound by time, her existence fragile and uncertain.
The silence stretched out between them, thick and uncomfortable.
Vincent pushed himself off the railing, his posture lazy, but there was a certain gravity to his movements that betrayed his carefree appearance. "Now that we've made a Master-Servant contract, you're my Master, and I'm your Servant. Our souls will be bound together for all eternity. " His smile was playful, but Renee could see the unspoken truth behind his words—the weight of a pact that neither of them fully understood.
'You said you love my smile ' she wrote, her pen moving faster than her thoughts. 'But you never say what you feel. What's really inside of you? '
Vincent's grin faltered again, and he looked away, hiding the anguish that flickered in his eyes. "Sorry, Renee. Meeting me has just made you sad, hasn't it? " His voice dropped low, almost a whisper. "Say, would you like to forget about me? "
The question hit her like a punch to the gut. Forget about him? How could she even consider that? He was the only constant in her fractured world, the only piece of her past that still had meaning.
Renee shook her head fiercely, her pen scratching against the paper as she wrote, her heart racing. No, I don't want to forget. I can't...
Vincent's lips curled into a bittersweet smile as he stepped closer, his eyes meeting hers with an intensity that made her breath catch in her throat. "I can't bear to lose you again, " he whispered, his voice thick with emotion.
Her heart clenched. She didn't understand why he felt this way. She didn't know what had happened between them before, what connection they shared. But she knew one thing for certain: I can't leave you, either.
As their eyes locked, something deeper stirred between them, an unspoken promise, a bond that neither of them could break. The red strings of fate that tied them together were unshakable, eternal, no matter the trials or challenges they would face. In every life, in every rebirth, Renee knew one truth above all else:
She would always love him, even if the world conspired against them.
Even if their love was forbidden.