Vampire & the New Kingdom

The lord of the estate, the Miss’s father, had survived, and blamed me for the Emerald heist. He ordered my arrest before the barley juice and blood had dried.

After they incarcerated me, I didn’t promise myself I would become free, as with the Miss, I would achieve it. I promised I would keep my wonder.

In the jail cell, I learned new facts. The Emerald had possessive features. The guards emptied my gut and took the gemstone. It reappeared in my pocket. They took it again. This precious treasure returned.

I learned something new from the Miss, too.

She visited me and told me of the Witch who had given her ancestors riches in the past, along with this gemstone with deep history tied to the Vampire King.

The next head of the estate had the responsibility to accept the horrid curses, as well as the pathetically meager blessings the Emerald granted.

We were to seek out the Witch who could separate me from the gemstone, who could remove the curse from the blessing.

That way, I would resolve my innocence with the Miss!

That way, I would venture the kingdom with freedom known to no man!

Because we have nothing and we desire. Because we want to tear the world apart in our hands, and reform it into a shape that will love us. Because even the moon and stars abandon us on lonely nights, but you are there.

Because we want to be the first to accomplish greatness. Because we want to see what no other person has seen. Because we want our rotten hearts to be recognized as greater.

We don’t want to climb the steps of life alone anymore. We want to drag down others, so we’re the highest standing. Because there is no death without life, and no life without death. Because the night chases the sun, and the new sun follows behind the dead night. Because we want proof of our humanity. Because we’re scared that history won’t remember. Because we are strangers to our own hearts, and must find another to introduce ourselves to us. Because there is battle before loss, because there is battle before victory, because I need you fighting by my side.

Because you taught me to fall in love again. Because I promise you, if the world ends, I will be at your side. Because, in true despair, as a mortal, I am only permitted to wish for my own salvation and no one else’s. Because, in true despair, as a mortal, I will still love you. Because in this shared mortality, if you live on, my suffering will not have been in vain. Because there is love.

Because I want to! That is freedom!

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“Gahaha! And that’s how I ended up bound to the Miss! That was about a year ago.” Corin’s laughter was lively despite us being imprisoned.

“Never have I heard a story more overexaggerated, from a person more suspect than you.”

I blew pretty strands of golden hair away, revealing the man from across my jail cell, the man I openly scorned.

This man named Corin was serious baggage. He was the reason I was locked here in the first place!

This crook preached of innocence. How vulgar. And yet, in his laughter, I heard the fullness of childhood dreams.

“You look lighter on your feet than when I first got locked up. Now you value freedom, I take it, like when ill and wishing for everyday health.”

“This is all your fault!” I was scathing. This is why humans…

“Tough bein’ a Vampire, surely. There’s nothing more unlucky than being born a female one, worse luck than a serf. So tell me, before our whole world is flipped upside down: Why didn’t you rub off your bad luck on your bullies back then?”

Because I was on a schedule to obey them long enough. Because I have to become strong enough. I didn’t give any reasons, and orated the lecture he was so prudently in need of. I did so with the same airs this world put on when it taught me to hate my fanged smile.

“Do you want us even more imprisoned? Remind me how your criminal record started? ‘The Miss’s father had you arrested?’ A trickster like you probably stole that Emerald in the first place!”

“Venerable Father-in-Law wants this family heirloom back ASAP, I can’t deny it. But between you and me, it’s more about him being gobsmacked by my relationship with the Miss. She has many suitors scrambling for her hand and falling on their faces, even now. In any case, I didn’t tell you my story for nothing. Let me hear yours.”

“I see. You’re quite the sophist.”

“Hey… The guards have a surprise coming their way too. We won’t be here long. Ah, you’ll burn me with that glare! Be nice to me!”

The muscular man across from me juggled his Emerald and caught it between his teeth as I pouted fiercely. He would keep me entertained, if nothing else.

‘I mean, who the hell wants rigid days of mediocrity? Freedom can’t be stopped. I have a Witch to find! Let’s be free!’ He went on saying.

I couldn’t quite fix my bangs with my arms locked like this. I blew aside my golden curtains again.

“...What is freedom?”

Similar to the serfs, did I have a dirt shackle I couldn’t see? Surely, as a Vampire, it was much, much darker and heavier.

If I lost these shackles, could I laugh without a trace of self-respect, all child-like and resiliently like Corin?

Would I be able to smile like my hero?

I mean, I was the child. Why was this world so cruel that it made me race to be adult-like?