"Request, you say?" Souichiro's lips curled into a smug grin, his crimson eyes gleaming with mockery. His voice carried that sickly-sweet condescension Yuuna had always despised. "Do you seriously think Father would humor you after you abandoned the Great House? Bold of you to even show your face here. Well..." He leaned back lazily, his grin widening. "I might call for him, but on one condition—you agree to marry me."
"I won't marry you," Yuuna said, her voice sharp and unyielding, slicing through his words like a blade. There was no hesitation, no crack in her tone.
The Sarushima family had always been poisoned by their own traditions. For generations, they had clung to their twisted notion of purity—a family of Noble Vampires, obsessively intermarrying to preserve their so-called "perfect" lineage. Marriage within the family was their sick way of ensuring their blood remained untainted. It was a fucked-up custom that had persisted for centuries.
