– BANG!!
As the previously closed reception door swung open, Charlotte Holmes entered the room in haste. A brief silence thus permeated the room with her entrance.
"…You're here, Charlotte."
"It seems that the client has already left."
Soon after, Mycrony began swiftly fixing the buttons of her disheveled blouse, while Isaac Adler averted his gaze in a rush while wiping the corner of his lips.
"What on earth…"
Charlotte posed a question looking at Mycrony while scrutinizing them intently.
"…What were you two doing sitting together like that?"
"Mr. Adler expressed his wish to join the Diogenes Club."
"So, we were just filling out the membership application Miss Holmes."
Their responses flowed naturally, akin to water.
Even if the one asking was prone to bouts of paranoia, their answers were convincing enough for an individual to nod in agreement.
"...…."
Had her sister not been blushing up to her ears and wearing an expression like that of a girl she'd never seen before with clear bite marks on her neck, Charlotte might have unconsciously nodded as well.
"What's wrong?"
The flustered Adler, who had been stared at intently by Charlotte for quite some time, tilted his head and asked her the question when she approached him.
"…Miss Holmes?"
Charlotte, grabbing Adler's arm and pulling him up from his seat, ushered him out of the room, not replying to his words.
"Stay there for a moment."
Leaving that command, she quietly closed the door.
"...."
Back in the silence of the room, Charlotte, who had been staring intently at her sister, began to speak in haste.
"You orchestrated people to sneak me out didn't you, sister?"
To which Mycrony just silently nodded.
Seeing her sister's face still flushed with heat, Charlotte posed a question in a cold voice with a furrowed brow.
"In here, what exactly did you do with Adler?"
At that question, Mycrony went wide-eyed and shifted her gaze for a moment.
"…Charlotte."
She began to whisper in a soft voice, resting her chin on her hand…
"I never imagined I'd have to say this to my adorable and beloved younger sister…"
Recalling the most intense moments of her tasteless life.
.
.
.
.
.
"Hmm…"
Up until the moment Isaac Adler leaned in, Mycrony felt nothing out of sorts.
The unfolding events were merely one of the dozens of scenarios she had played out in her mind.
'Even so, I probably won't feel anything.'
However, even if it was Isaac Adler who had half the women of London under his grasp, she was sure that he couldn't satisfy her.
Because just like her sister, Mycrony Holmes too bore a 'curse'.
"I'm sorry, but I'm already married to England."
Because of that curse, Mycrony could not easily feel stimulation or amusement in anything. In other words, she was born with inherent apathy and anhedonia.
The only things she had genuine interest in were her beloved homeland England and her adorable younger sister— Charlotte.
By managing an entire nation like England and forcing herself into its busy routine, she could somewhat alleviate her boredom and apathy.
And observing her sister, an entity that was somewhat on par with her on the scale of intelligence was quite an intriguing pastime.
"That's why, regrettably…"
Hence, for her… Isaac Adler was an obvious target for elimination.
Although they were nearing a state of ennui, Adler was still a threat to the interesting state of England.
Moreover, just a few days ago, he had even bewitched her only adorable and beloved sister.
Truly, he deserved the nickname of the fox that ensnared London— the quintessential playboy.
She had given him a chance, a mere 5 minutes in the hope that maybe he could entertain her as well. But watching his actions, she felt the conclusion was already evident.
"The methods you've always employed will never work…"
It meant that a man named Isaac Adler would vanish from London today.
"You should be my blood bag."
"Pardon?"
However, her conclusion which seemed undoubtedly unchangeable…
– Sigh.
"...?"
Unexpectedly, the moment Adler, with his eyes dyed in a deep shade of red, bit into her slender neck… the conclusion she had drawn slowly began to crumble.
"What are you doing right now, Mr. Adler?"
"...…."
"For a kiss, that was quite aggressive…"
With Adler still holding onto her neck and gazing up at her, Mycrony questioned him with a composed expression on her face.
"…But."
A brief look of surprise flashed across her face.
"....?"
She felt a tingling sensation running along her neck. Soon after, she began to distinctly feel Adler's sharp teeth buried deep into her skin.
'What is this?'
Simultaneously, she began to feel a prickling pain spreading from her neck, coursing through every nerve in her body.
That sensation was something Mycrony had never felt before in the entirety of her life.
"Huh."
For others— drugs potent enough to incapacitate the brain, pain intense enough to extract any information, even a drug reputed to offer visions of the afterlife…
None of these ever managed to elicit any emotion or sensation from her no matter what she tried.
"Ahem—"
However, Adler's act of vampirism— sinking his teeth into her neck and then drawing blood with his eyes closed…
For the first time in her life, his brutish act was able to provide Mycrony with 'stimulation'.
"Now, just a moment."
Like a machine with a malfunctioning intricate logic circuit, the previously rigid Mycrony quickly regained her senses and pushed Adler away.
– Slurp.
Adler. stealing a lick of the blood that flowed down her neck, calmly met her gaze as he wiped his mouth with his sleeve.
"What… did you do?"
"I drank your blood."
"I know that. But why…."
"…Are you asking why you felt 'stimulation'?"
As Mycrony quietly nodded, Adler replied in a soft voice.
"Recently through some method, I became a genuine vampire. I can bestow upon those I bite my mana and vampirism."
"…Vampire."
"And by adjusting the concentration, I can also maximize the sensation of the bitten area."
His eyes were still shining with a red hue.
"To explain the principle, think of it as temporarily becoming a vampire, subdued by my weakened mana when bitten."
"...…"
"No matter how cursed a body is, it tends to obey its master's commands."
"…Is such a thing even possible in magical terms?"
At this strange method she hadn't even considered, Mycrony tilted her head to the side, confusion and doubt evident in her eyes.
"Infectious code… infiltrating mana to seize control of the other. It's a strategy I've contemplated since long ago."
"Unless one can create new magic, such a method would be impossible…"
"You talk a lot, don't you?"
But before she could finish speaking, Adler leaned in once again.
"Just be a good little blood bag."
"Wait a moment…"
Mycrony reached out towards Adler whose eyes shone in an ominous light but her hand was effortlessly seized by his own.
"Wasn't it you, Miss Mycrony, who said not to discriminate in means and methods?"
Thanks to her naturally frail constitution, having never exercised in her entire life, and with the few nutrients she occasionally consumed gathering mostly in her breasts, she had no way of shaking off Adler's hard grip.
"…..!…..!!"
Moreover, the agents outside seemed to be in frantic chaos, unaware of what was transpiring inside the room.
"Hold on… ugh."
At that moment, as her vision wavered from the unexpected turn of events, Adler's fangs found the other side of her neck.
"…ahhh…"
With both her hands captured and Adler leaning over her, Mycrony couldn't help but close her eyes without any resistance while having her blood drained by the boy.
'…It hurts.'
A girl with severe anhedonia who had wished to feel even a single sensation throughout her life.
'So this is what pain feels like.'
To her, the pain of the bite, enough to make most people scream in agony, felt like an unstoppable torrent.
– Shiver…
'…I never knew it would be this perilous.'
Swept away helplessly by that torrent, her mind, for the first time in her life, whited out and came to a halt.
No drug or hallucinogen had ever replicated the pure stimulation that now dominated her entire being.
"Ah… uhh…"
And so, Mycrony, caught in the throes of this overwhelming sensation, gasped for air for what felt like an eternity.
– Rustle…
"…..?"
She began to blink slowly, feeling a sudden emptiness at her neck.
"...…"
Adler, after licking his lips and lowering his head, looked directly into her eyes.
"Five minutes have passed, Miss Mycrony."
With a dazed expression, Mycrony looked blankly at Adler, absorbing his words with all her being.
"…Have you now come to understand why you cannot kill me?"
Still gripping her arms, Adler added those words, prompting the previously hidden glint in Mycrony's eyes to emerge once more.
"I'm sorry, but I'm neither convinced nor satisfied."
A cold voice then flowed from her lips.
"…However."
Just as Adler, hearing her tone began to close his eyes in resignation.
"Five minutes haven't passed yet."
Once again, her quiet meticulous reasoning began to fill the air.
"...…."
Adler, looking perplexed at her statement, lost words upon seeing the time on the clock she pointed to.
"It's only 12:10."
"...…."
"There's still about 55 minutes until 1:05."
While naturally, she should've been averse to the pain, for the first time in her life, Mycrony wasn't in a position to shy away from this sensation…
Regardless of what might come later, she wanted to be submerged in that intense stimulation right now.
"But continuing to bite might endanger your life."
"Why so?"
"Your skin is so delicate that even if I bite the sturdiest part of your neck, your blood vessels might not hold up."
To her surprise, Adler started to explain himself— beads of cold sweat forming on his brow in the process.
"Then, I suppose you can just avoid the lower part of the neck."
"Excuse me?"
However, the determination of a woman experiencing immersion for the first time in her life was more terrifying than one might think.
"I never thought my ample flesh would come in handy."
Just like her younger sister had been helpless to it before her.
– Rustle…
Charlotte entered the room after a brief moment from then.
.
.
.
.
.
"…Your boyfriend is quite something."
Mycrony, coming out of her reverie and fully opening her eyes for the first time in a long while spat out a sentence that seemed almost unbelievable coming from her.
"What?"
To Charlotte, who momentarily wore a stunned expression, Mycrony added in a faint voice.
"I want to try it too."
"…You've lost your mind."
The dark gazes of the two sisters silently intersected in mid-air.
.
.
.
.
.
Outside the reception as the tension eased and I felt deflated, a welcome message popped up before my eyes.
[– Probability of Assassination — 69% → 33%]
"Huh?"
Judging by that, it seemed I was quite adept at thinking on my feet.
[Warning!
– Probability of Confinement — 40% → 60%
– Probability of Abduction — 25% → 50%]
"…Oh."