The moment Cinderella left, his sister regained her momentum, she pouted her lips and stomped over to stand before her brother, even ignoring her mother that was standing beside her.
"Brother!–"
"You told me you would come back earlier this year. You've been at the academy for so long, there wasn't even a single letter from you. I wouldn't even know if you were dead."
His mother let go of her grasp on his hands and gently stroked the top of his hair, she didn't reprimand him for not sending a letter but the faint tearful smile and gentle eyes would give anyone the illusion of a gentle mother who loves and worries for her children. "Celia, your brother has just been busy over the past two years, it's not easy studying in another Kingdom."
Xie Mian sat on the large bed casually. His posture was laid-back and lazy, there was no anxiousness of being in a new world, instead, he seemed quite bored of the people in front of him.
His sister, seeing that he ignored her leaned over and shook her hand in his face. The moment she got close, Xie Han immediately felt like sneezing. He didn't know what kind of perfume Celia used, it was like a mixture of overpowering rose petals, sweet frankincense, and thick benzoin, the fragrance reminded him of a dead garden, sweet with a hint of bloody decay.
Without acknowledging either of the two, he spoke coldly, "I'm tired." This was a hint for them to get out.
With surprising obedience, his family immediately nodded their head and reassured him to have a good rest, before walking out and leaving. Nailu who had been serving Xie Han for a long time was sensitive enough to sense that he was in a bad mood.
"Host, why are you unhappy?"
Xie Han didn't answer but instead picked up the cat and slowly moved from the bed. Snow white feet stepped on the fluffy red carpentry, ignoring the heavy bloodstains, and stood before the window.
The light of dusk shone on his face and the black cat looked up at its host and seemed to look through the countless time nodes and travel back to the past. The lord's long back hair scattered in the wind like strands of woven silk, the pale bone ornaments swayed on the lapels the intricate black priestly robes.
The thorny vines wrapped around his wrist, and in his palm, a strange purple rose bloomed. And his eyes weren't black they were like blood, and it seems that there is a sea of dark roses blooming in it, and it also seemed to carry the dead souls of the rivers Styx.
Xie Han licked his lips gently, the sharp tiger's tooth peeking out from his open mouth. His body suddenly leaned precariously out of the open windows, the blond hair scattered on his cheek and he bent down and plucked something growing from the window side.
The two fingers holding the dead daisy were slender and fair, his translucent fingertips still stained with blood, coating the yellow petals a faint red. In the sunlight at dusk, the scene had an oil painting-like texture.
"Let's plant a garden?"
"Host?"
He let go of the daisy and watched it fall to the ground below. He has already made up what he wanted in the garden. He would plant multiple seeds and water them every day. Many of these flower species would grow up and bloom at his windowsill.
Maybe they would grow into roses, their green leaves and red flowers covered with a layer of gold in the shimmering light; maybe they would be tulips, colorful and neatly arranged in the flowerbed; or oriental flowers, he didn't care.
He looked outside at the sky and in the evening dusk, a group of pure white pigeons formed an arrow as they flew in the sky, his eyes flashed with mirth. The unhappy emotion in his heart was quickly swept away by thoughts of the future.
"Do you know why I made you take the form of a cat for this world?"
Nailu shook its tail and hesitantly said no,
He laughed, "Then you'll find our later."
"What do you think Cinderella will do if she doesn't have her golden fingers anymore."
"Tell me what caused the collapse of this world."
"The addition of the two opposing factions, the holy temples, and the demonic forces."
"Originally the only magic elements in this world were isolated to Cinderella's case, but due to an error in the world's fate, these two forces that weren't supposed to interfere in the world's trajectory grew exponentially. "
'The Kingdom where Cinderella's prince ruled eventually became just a chess piece in the game between the two factions and was eventually destroyed and the royal family bones burnt to ashes by the first elder of the blood clan in anger."
"The source was traced back to Cinderella who had connections to the pope of the Holy Temple and the prince of the blood clan. She helped in increasing the power of these clans by using the Kingdom's resources."
"But the next generation of royals, Cinderella's descendants had radical beliefs and supported the Light temple over the dark forces."
Xie Mian's eyebrows lifted, arrogant as the blood solidified on the edge of a blade.
"It's a bit difficult to interpret the relationship between the two factions but it was known that. Cinderella's descendant is a queen called Nalain, a devout follower of the Temple of Light."
"The kingdom could not tolerate the existence of dark creatures, and because of her beliefs, she carried out a thorough cleansing campaign across the country. She offered huge rewards, set bounties, and carried out large-scale hunting of the dark creatures."
More exciting things were yet to come.
"Not only that but if the citizens were reported to be contaminated with dark elements, their entire families would be slaughtered and their bodies hung on the city gates. I don't think I need to say more about the level of conflict between the two camps that reject the darkness to the point of raising a butcher knife to their kind. "
"And then?" Xie Han asked in a low voice, his long eyelashes dyed with boredom, "This kind of rule, this kind of slaughter, this queen's kingdom is destined not to last long, or even to die in her generation."
The black cat nodded, indicating that he was right, but then slowly shook his head.
"Humans have a very strong tolerance, especially for those who believe in the temple. In the eyes of many people, this purge is a manifestation of the queen's and kingdom's beliefs. They are completing the trial of God and proving their purity. The person who died will surely ascend to the kingdom of heaven."
"The tensions between them sparked a bloody war that lasted decades."
"This war was ended when the elder of the Blood Clan woke up and slaughtered all the citizens of the city. Except the damage had already been done, the balance of light and darkness was destroyed and the world collapsed."
"In order to prevent this, the protagonist has to be changed. As long as we can solve it, the catalysis of the evil stepsister's resentment can be used to counterattack Cinderella's luck. "
The cat glanced at its host next to him, Xie Han's eyelashes drooped down, covering half of his sky-colored eyes, only the light in his eyes seemed to fluctuate.
"She stepped on a few boats and it overturned, and in the end pulled everyone into the waters as well."
It didn't understand and Xie Han didn't need it to understand. The clothes that had been stained with blood were changed and he put on a clean set of clothes.
A delicate and intricately embroidered robe.
He lowered his head and slowly wiped his hands, his slightly curly blond hair clinging to his slender neck, giving him a mysterious and aristocratic smell.
In the corner of his eyes, he caught sight of a box placed carelessly at the door. The box as a whole had a black design with intricate hot silver flower patterns engraved on it. After opening it, a delicately shaped perfume bottle was revealed.
The perfume bottle itself is made of crystal. The body of the bottle is black-gray transparent crystal, with green crystal vines intertwined on it, and delicately carved dark red crystal roses bloomed on the vines.
He lifted the letter inside, in bright and bold front it read, To: Xie Han. From: Duchess Victoria, Your fiancé.
***
He woke up.
The ice crystal on his tongue began to melt, and the blood of the man frozen in it flowed again. The blood gave him strength, so the ancient being trapped in the glass coffin woke up after a long slumber.
And under him, the moist and fresh star-moon roses were scattered as if they had just been picked.
Surrounded by the silence that could only be found deepest night, he gradually felt his bodily functions start up again. A heartbeat thumped slowly on his chest and the deadly pallor of his face gradually stained with a red glow.
The first sense to be restored was his sense of touch. With rapid speed his other senses activated inside his body, the delicate fragrance of flowers rushed into his brain, the heavy heartbeat skipped a beat as if sensing a familiar presence.
Of course, this heartbeat was not his. He had been lying in this coffin for so many years, and the physiological functions of human beings had long since died, leaving only the empty and dead body that belonged to him.
No body temperature, no heartbeat, immortality, like a curse.
He is a vampire.
This distant racial name made his eyes tremble. In the silence, the ancient being opened his eyes. The cold distant green seemed to sense something and his head stiffly moved to the beating heart clenched in his hands.
His destiny has arrived.