In the dim and empty restaurant, Colin cautiously unbuttoned his shirt and examined the wound on his chest by the candlelight. The wound had not yet healed, and he hadn't done anything to treat it. However, not a drop of blood flowed from it. That's because he could now control the blood in his entire body. Perhaps, this was one of the abilities of a vampire.
Colin pressed the sides of the wound and gently pulled them apart. "Hiss!" A tearing pain made him inhale sharply. Nevertheless, Colin felt somewhat pleased. It indicated that his nervous system was still functioning well. It made him feel that the difference between him and ordinary people wasn't that significant.
The wound opened up into a small hole, and through it, Colin could clearly see his own heart. It had stopped beating. Well, that was a little more than a slight difference from ordinary people. Colin felt somewhat melancholic. "Ah..."
Letting out a sigh, Colin released his grip, allowing the wound to slowly close together under the tension of his muscles. Since there would be no bleeding, there was no need for bandaging. He just needed to observe how long it would take to heal—if it would heal at all.
To be honest, when Colin woke up this morning and found a dagger stuck in his chest, he panicked for a while. At that moment, he thought he might be the most failed time traveler in history—dying right after arriving. However, he soon discovered that he couldn't die... even with his heart pierced. As for who stabbed him in the heart, Colin currently had no clue.
Through inheriting the memories of his predecessor in this time travel, Colin hadn't found any information about who wanted to kill him. However, he already had some ideas on how to lure out the hidden assassin. But there was no rush. What interested him more was the new body he seemed to have inherited, resembling a vampire.
Buttoning his shirt back up, Colin shifted his gaze to the last piece of food on the long table—garlic. It was said that vampires were afraid of garlic. In his previous world, Colin didn't know much about vampires beyond what he saw in novels and movies. Moreover, he had no idea what rules vampires followed in this world.
There was no choice but to experiment slowly. Colin cut off a tiny piece of garlic, the size of an ant, with a dining knife and cautiously put it in his mouth. "Urgh!!!" Colin promptly spat it out onto the floor. It seemed that the vampires in this world were also afraid of garlic.
"Master Colin, are you alright?" The maid guarding outside heard the commotion and hurried in to check. "I'm fine... urgh!" "Master, you seem to be sick. I'll go find Father Miguel..." "No!" Colin was startled at the mention of a priest and quickly interrupted, "No need... I'm fine..."
"Really? But... but you look really pale today, and now you're vomiting..." "I said it's not necessary!" Colin rubbed his stomach, forcibly suppressing the urge to vomit, and glared at the maid at the door with a fierce gaze. Seemingly frightened by Colin's stern look, the maid didn't dare to insist and could only leave with a remark of "Take care of yourself" before hastily departing.
"Huff..." Colin let out a sigh of relief, leaning back in his chair, gasping for breath.
A vampire seeking a priest for medical treatment?
That's absurd!
Although the priests in this world may not necessarily have power over vampires, Colin didn't dare to risk his life to find out.
At least not now.
Perhaps in the future, after he had made sufficient preparations, he would venture into the world of churches and test their reactions.
But definitely not now.
After a while, Colin finally calmed down.
He picked up a quill pen and continued writing on the parchment:
[Aversion to garlic, ingestion causes vomiting.]
Feeling the changes in his body, Colin added to the paper:
[But not fatal.]
Staring at the blocky characters on the parchment, Colin furrowed his brow.
Something was not right.
Colin looked at the garlic in front of him and suddenly realized that he had only ingested a very small piece...
It was a dosage issue.
A small amount might not be fatal, but if he ingested too much...
Colin's face turned slightly green as he looked at the whole garlic bulb in front of him.
He didn't want to try again.
Forget it, he'll just stay away from garlic in the future.
After some hesitation, Colin decided to terminate this dangerous experiment.
He rolled up the parchment and put it in his pocket, then got up and left the dining hall.
The maid waiting outside the hall quickly bowed and greeted Colin.
"Tidy up," Colin glanced at the maid who was looking down, "don't tell anyone about this."
"Yes, young master!"
Walking through the dim corridor, Colin returned to his bedroom.
It was still early, so Colin sat down at his desk.
On the desk lay a book - "Chronicles of the Glorious Empire."
Colin had read this book when he was young, but his memory of it had faded.
Now, after crossing over, in order to better understand this world and find any traces of vampires that may have existed, Colin decided to study it again.
However, it was all in vain.
There was no mention of vampires in the book at all.
Fortunately, Colin didn't leave empty-handed. He reviewed the history of this human empire.
Over fifteen hundred years ago, the legendary Paladin, Gana Lorenzo, who served the Radiant Lord, unified the human race and established the Glorious Empire, becoming its first emperor.
To resist the foreign enemies surrounding the empire, Gana ennobled six Paladins as Dukes, assigning them to guard the four directions and continuously expand the territory.
After thousands of years, only four of the original six Dukes remained.
Colin's current location, the Northlands, was the territory of Duke Hilde, one of the four Dukes.
The Northlands used to belong to the troll race, but they had long been driven by the Hilde family to the frigid Skyreach Glacier in the far north.
The resentful trolls were determined to reclaim the fertile land and launched a southern invasion almost every year.
This year was no exception.
Colin's father, Baron Angre, was currently on the front lines of this war.
As the night grew darker, the candle on the desk was extinguished, and the bedroom became quiet.
Only the sound of Colin's steady and faint breathing could be heard, along with the distant hooting of an owl outside Grey Castle.
When the clouds covered the moonlight, a shadow suddenly appeared at Colin's bedside.
He looked at the sleeping Colin, a puzzled expression crossing his face.
Because he clearly remembered that last night, he had plunged a dagger into Colin's chest.
Why wasn't he dead?
The shadow was perplexed, but it didn't hesitate.
Silently withdrawing the dagger, it slowly positioned it just above Colin's chest.
At that moment, he suddenly recalled someone telling him:
Although the hearts of the majority of people are on the left, there are a few whose hearts are on the right.
So, this time, he subtly moved the dagger to the right.
Sshh!
The dagger ruthlessly stabbed into Colin's chest.
Intense pain jolted Colin awake, about to scream, but his mouth was forcefully covered by a large hand.
"Mmm... mmm... mmm..."
Colin stared in terror, his eyes wide open, fixed on the assassin before him.
He recognized him!
After a moment, Colin's struggle gradually subsided.
However, the shadow remained vigilant.
He waited for a full ten minutes before removing his hand from Colin's mouth.
Then, he pulled out the dagger from Colin's chest and delivered another strike to his throat.
Now, you should be dead.