Chapter 1

After sleeping for a thousand years, I was awakened by the faint pull of a bloodline bond.

Following that bond, I returned to my domain—the Saint Laurent Castle of the Dark Moon.

As I stood outside the massive gates, looking at the luxurious arcane vehicles lined up before the castle and the brilliant magic lights flashing beneath its vaulted dome, I felt a surge of satisfaction.

"It seems my descendants have ruled the empire well. They have not disgraced my name."

I straightened my collar and walked forward with measured steps, ready to return to the home I had been away from for a thousand years.

"Stop right there. Lowborn vampires are not allowed anywhere near this place!" Two guards blocked my path. "Tonight is the blood-slave auction hosted by the high lords. If you don't have an invitation, get your sewer-rat ass back where you came from!"

I need an invitation to return to my own home?

I looked at them coldly and spoke the family name that had once made the entire vampire race fall to its knees in terror.

"I am of House Ventrue. This castle, and this entire territory, once belonged to us."

At the mention of that name, the two guards burst out laughing. "Ventrue?! That worthless family lost its title a hundred years ago, and its lands were carved up by the princes long ago! Your branch of the bloodline isn't even fit to shine our shoes now! And a rat like you still dares to speak that cursed name?"

"Since you're already dead either way, here's the truth—your House Ventrue's last pureblood little rat is inside right now, up on the final showcase platform, being auctioned off as a blood slave tonight!"

I could hardly believe what I was hearing.

My empire had been stolen?

And my only pureblood descendant in this world had fallen so low that he was being sold as a blood slave?!

My body moved like a streak of shadow. Before either guard even realized what had happened, I passed straight through the heavy barrier and stepped into the great hall.

Inside, a crowd of elaborately dressed vampires was indulging in wild revelry within the castle that belonged to me.

My sacred, untouchable throne had been torn down. In its place stood a massive black obsidian auction stage, and upon it sat a barbed iron cage forged from holy silver.

The moment my eyes landed on the center of the stage, my pupils contracted sharply.

Inside the cage was a frail silver-haired boy in shackles.

A single thin scrap of cloth was draped over his body. Around the pale neck that should have borne the family crown was a crude dog collar carved with anti-magic runes.

Through the bloodline bond, I recognized at once that he was my descendant.

"My honored lords, feast your eyes on tonight's grand finale!"

On the stage, the auctioneer gave the dog chain a vicious yank, then grabbed the boy by the chin and forced his face up, showing him off to the crowd like livestock. "The last surviving remnant of the former royal House Ventrue! Just look at this incredibly rare quality! Whether you keep him chained in a dungeon and slowly bleed him as your personal living blood bag, or drain him dry to refine high-grade pureblood elixirs, this is an absolute treasure you may never come across again!"

"Opening bid: five thousand blood diamonds!"

"Ten thousand! My estate could use a new watchdog!"

"One hundred thousand! I'm taking him back to my dungeon, ripping out all his teeth, and turning him into a living blood bag!"

I stood below the stage, and the air around me had long since frozen solid with my arrival. But these insects, drunk on their own revelry, noticed nothing.

Holding back my killing intent, I walked to the foot of the platform.

"Let him go."

The roaring hall fell silent for a moment at the sudden voice. Hundreds of crimson eyes turned toward me all at once.

As the vampire progenitor who had once forged the order of the night, I looked at the hundreds of high-ranking members of my kind gathered in the hall and, in the end, chose to delay crushing them where they stood.

Vampires do not reproduce easily. I had no wish to begin my first night after awakening with a merciless slaughter that would cripple my own kind.

I concealed every trace of my aura and stepped forward. "I am a distant elder of the boy in that cage. I heard he had fallen on hard times, so I came to take him home."

I reached into my pocket.

Inside were a few Origin Crystals that had lain with me through a thousand years of sleep, their power so tightly contained that they looked dull and gray.

They were probably the only things on me now that could still pass as currency.

"This is everything I have. I hope it will be enough to buy his freedom."

The auctioneer adjusted his monocle. "An elder? Buy his freedom? My God, are you here to make trouble?!"

"Pfft... hahahahaha—!"

The noble vampires below the stage erupted in mockery and laughter.

"House Ventrue has been nothing but lowborn trash for ages. Look at that idiot—he still thinks he's royalty!"

"What a waste of time." An earl smashed his wineglass down on the table in irritation. "What does this mongrel think this place is? Has all security at the Saint Laurent black market been pulled? You're really letting sewer garbage like this walk in and waste our time? If you can't even handle a farce this pathetic, then tonight's auction has been a complete disappointment."

A sheen of cold sweat broke out across the auctioneer's forehead, and he immediately plastered on a fawning smile.

"My deepest apologies for disturbing your enjoyment, my lords!" The auctioneer bowed deeply, instantly seizing the chance to entertain the nobles. "Since this filthy lowblood bastard has offended your eyes, allow me to make it up to you. I guarantee the next part of the exhibition will be to everyone's satisfaction!"