Chapter 3
The memories I had buried deep in my mind clawed their way to the surface.
Nine years ago. The grand engagement hall in the ancient castle. I was the naive, fallen human noble, eternally grateful to the Nocturne clan for taking me in. I was supposed to marry Elias, the sickly, comatose eldest brother, to use my Holy Blood to extend his immortal life.
Draven was supposed to marry Lilith.
But that night, Lilith’s servant handed me a goblet of crimson blood-wine. I drank it. The next morning, I woke up in Draven's bed, both of us unclothed, with the clan elders breaking down the door, shielded from the morning sunlight by heavy velvet drapes.
To save the clan's honor and pureblood lineage, the marriages were swapped. Lilith took the supreme title of Eldest Princess, marrying the comatose brother, effectively seizing control of the inner court.
And I married Draven, branded as the scheming, desperate "other woman" who used drugs to climb into the future Prince's bed.
I stared at Draven's face. He still thinks I did it.
He ravaged my body, bound me with the suffocating Master-Servant Blood Pact, drained my Holy Blood to feed his power, and let Lilith steal my children. He justified it all with the belief that I was a calculating, vicious whore who ruined his true love's life.
He never believed it was an accident. He never suspected Lilith.
I looked at him, and for the first time in my life, I felt absolutely nothing.
"I understand, My Lord," I whispered, lowering my eyes. "I will attend the banquet tomorrow. I will pour the Blood Wine. I will make it perfect."
Lilith’s birthday banquet.
The entire Nocturne clan was gathered, their pale faces illuminated by the flickering candlelight.
I stood in the center of the grand dining hall, holding a heavy crystal decanter filled with the freshest blood.
The silver-laced wounds on my back screamed with every breath I took, but I kept my hands steady.
"More, Liora," Lilith commanded. She sat beside Draven at the head table, draped in dark velvet.
I stepped forward, forcing my numb legs to move. I tilted the decanter. The thick crimson liquid poured out.
Draven sat right next to her. His crimson eyes were fixed entirely on Lilith, his hand resting casually over hers.
I placed the decanter down and took a step back into the shadows.
Then, the air shifted.
A sudden, sharp scent of ozone and iron cut through the heavy smell of blood-wine. It happened in a fraction of a second.
A servant—a man who had been silently clearing plates near the head table—suddenly lunged forward. His docile expression vanished, replaced by a mask of pure, murderous hatred. The faint glow of a holy sigil briefly illuminated his neck.
A Vampire Hunter!!!
From his sleeve, he drew a dagger. It wasn't ordinary steel. Even in the dim light, the blade gleamed with a deadly, pale luminescence. Coated in pure silver.
"For humanity!" the hunter roared, vaulting over the table.
But his target wasn't Draven. It was Lilith.
She screamed, freezing in her seat. The dagger was aimed straight at her heart.
Draven reacted with the terrifying speed of a Pureblood Prince. His hand shot out and clamped onto my shoulder.
With brutal, terrifying force, Draven yanked me forward and shoved me directly in front of Lilith.
He didn't hesitate. There was no internal struggle, no flicker of conflict in his eyes.
Thrust.
The sound of the blade tearing through my flesh was sickeningly loud.
The silver dagger plunged deep into my right shoulder, inches from my collarbone.
Then, the silver reacted with my Holy Blood.
It was like having liquid fire injected straight into my veins. I collapsed to my knees, a voiceless scream tearing at my throat. The pain was so absolute it blinded me.
Above me, chaos erupted. The clan guards swarmed the hunter, pinning him to the stone floor and snapping his limbs in seconds.
I lay on the cold marble, gasping for air, clutching my burning shoulder. My blood pooled beneath me, glowing with a faint, golden hue before turning dark.
I looked up, my vision blurring with tears of agony. I looked for Draven. I looked for my husband.
He was kneeling on the floor, but not beside me.
He had his arms wrapped tightly around Lilith. He was checking her face, her neck, his hands trembling slightly.
"Are you hurt?" Draven’s voice was frantic, laced with a panic I had never heard in the nine years I had known him. "Lilith, look at me. Did he touch you?"
"I... I'm fine, Draven," Lilith gasped, burying her face in his chest. "You saved me."
He let out a heavy sigh of relief.
Only then did he turn his head to look at me. I was bleeding out on the floor, the silver poison spreading through my chest, my breathing shallow and ragged.
"Get the hunters out of my sight and execute him," Draven snapped at the guards. Then, he cast a dismissive glance at a nearby maid. "Pull the knife out of the Second Princess. Bandage her up."
He picked Lilith up in his arms and carried her out of the room.
He left me there.
The maid roughly yanked the dagger from my flesh. I nearly blacked out from the pain. I pushed her hands away, refusing her bandages.
I didn't want their pity.
Biting down on my lip until it bled, I forced myself to stand. I dragged myself out of the banquet hall, leaving a trail of blood on the floor.
The dark, damp corridors of the castle felt endless.
As I stumbled past the corridor leading to Draven’s private study, a sliver of light caught my eye. The door was slightly ajar.
I heard voices.
I should have kept walking. But the sound of my own name made my feet stop. I leaned heavily against the cold stone wall, holding my breath.
"You took a risk tonight, Draven," Lilith’s voice drifted out. "Pushing Liora into the blade. What if the silver had pierced her heart? If the Holy Blood dies, our supply ends."
"She won't die easily. Her blood heals itself," Draven replied. "Besides, my priority was you. I would sacrifice a thousand blood bags before I let a single scratch fall on you."
"A blood bag," Lilith chuckled, a cruel, satisfied sound. "Is that really all she is to you? Sometimes I wonder, Draven. She gave you three pureblood children. Are you sure you haven't developed feelings for your little human wife?"
There was a long silence. Then, Draven laughed. It was a dark, mocking sound.
"Feelings? For a human?" Draven’s voice dripped with absolute contempt. "Lilith, you know exactly why I married her. The Nocturne clan’s purity was fading. We needed the Holy Blood to breed stronger heirs. That’s it."
"But she still thinks you love her," Lilith sneered. "She still thinks I drugged you both nine years ago to force the marriage."
"Let her think that," Draven said coldly. "It makes her easier to control. If she knew the truth, she would have killed herself long ago."
My heart stopped beating.
"It was a brilliant plan," Lilith murmured. "Wiping out her entire aristocratic family, leaving her with absolutely nothing. No home, no backing, no money. She could only rely on us to survive."
The world tilted. The stone floor beneath my feet seemed to vanish.
"Yap. I hired the best rogue hunters for that massacre," Draven stated. "I made sure they burned her estate to the ground. She had to be isolated. A Holy Blood vessel with family ties is a liability. I needed her entirely dependent on me."
Draven purred.. "She is nothing but a womb and a blood source. Her entire existence belongs to us."
Outside in the dark corridor, I forgot how to breathe.
