Chapter 5: Arrested by soldiers.

She heard the knocking. The originally noisy room fell silent in an instant. They had no friends who would come visiting, so it was obvious what kind of person would be knocking on their door at this time.

For a moment, all three of them didn’t know what to do. This only angered the people outside. They stopped knocking and instead kicked the door open violently with one foot.

Sylvia’s heart skipped a beat, then began pounding wildly. Almost instinctively, she stood up and positioned herself in front of her daughters.

Her gaze locked tightly onto the shabby wooden door that now tilted inward.

Outside the door stood not the expected neighbors or occasional passing thugs looking to extort money.

Instead, two tall figures that almost completely blocked the doorframe stood silhouetted against the dim night.

They were clad from head to toe in heavy metal armor the dark color of congealed blood. Intricate and eerie patterns of thorns and bat wings were etched across the plates, with faint blue glowing runes embedded at the joints. Every movement produced a low, icy sound of metal grinding against metal.

The visors of their helmets were lowered, revealing only two crimson points of light that held no trace of life or warmth.

They were undead soldiers of the blood clan—and elite personal guards of a countess at that. Their identity was unmistakable from the unique emblem of a pale moon rose on their armor, the symbol of the Ilena family.

Sylvia had once seen them from afar escorting the countess. Back then, she had only thought them cold and imposing. Now, facing them directly, she felt a terror that could freeze the soul.

There was no questioning. No announcement.

As if they had stepped not into a home, but into an insignificant livestock pen.

The soldier on the left swept his crimson gaze across the room and instantly locked onto Sylvia. He strode forward with heavy steps, heading straight for her. A large hand covered in a metal gauntlet reached out.

His target was clear: to seize Sylvia.

“Mom!” Aelia screamed loudly.

Fear did not make her retreat. Instead, it awakened her instinct to protect her mother.

Aelia leaped up from the stool so forcefully that she didn’t even notice the unfinished slice of bread falling from her hands.

Her small body exploded with astonishing speed. She rushed forward and wrapped both arms tightly around the soldier’s cold, armored forearm that was reaching for Sylvia.

“Let go of my mom! Give my mom back to me!” Aelia’s voice rang out exceptionally loud.

The soldier’s movement didn’t pause for even a fraction of a second.

To him, a child’s strength was no more than an ant trying to shake a tree. He didn’t even lower his head to look at Aelia, merely growing slightly irritated by the obstruction and noise.

The right arm that Aelia was clinging to suddenly lifted and swung outward. It wasn’t a precise attack aimed at her, but more like casually flicking away an annoying mosquito.

Yet that casual swing, to ten-year-old Aelia, felt no different from being struck by a heavy iron rod.

“Aelia!” Sylvia’s soul nearly left her body in terror.

In the instant the soldier’s arm swung, an unknown surge of strength erupted within her. Her body, weakened by blood loss and exhaustion, moved with unprecedented speed as she lunged forward—not toward the soldier, but toward her daughter.

She used her own body to shield Aelia completely from the swinging metal arm.

“Bang!”

A dull thud rang out.

The heavy edge of the metal gauntlet smashed brutally against the left side of Sylvia’s forehead and temple.

Her unprotected human skull collided directly with the cold, hard armor.

The world in Sylvia’s senses twisted and shattered instantly. Excruciating pain erupted like a volcano from the point of impact, sweeping through her entire head. Her vision was flooded with scorching red, followed by boundless darkness and flashing golden stars.

Blood spurted out, flowing down her temple, eyebrows, and cheeks, blurring her sight and soaking her silver hair and pale face.

Sylvia staggered. The room spun violently around her. A loud buzzing filled her ears, almost blocking out all sound.

But her arms instinctively reached behind her, groping and trembling until they found Aelia’s small hand, which had gone stiff with fright.

“…Mom… is fine…” Sylvia opened her mouth. Her voice was as hoarse as a broken bellows, each word carrying the metallic scent of blood and intense pain.

She tried to force out a reassuring smile, but the warm blood covering her face and the uncontrollable twitching of her muscles only made the expression look even more broken and horrifying.

Dizziness and agony crashed over her consciousness like black tidal waves.

She struggled to keep her eyes wide open, wanting to see if her daughter was unharmed, but her vision contained only swaying, distorted color blocks and red.

The soldier seemed completely indifferent to this small interruption. He merely glanced at the blood gushing from Sylvia’s head, his crimson eyes showing not the slightest ripple.

He extended his other hand, grabbed one of Sylvia’s arms as if lifting an inanimate object, and the second soldier stepped forward to cooperatively seize the other arm.

Immediately after, Sylvia’s feet left the ground. Blood from her forehead slid past the corner of her eye and dripped onto the floor, leaving intermittent dark red trails along the path she was carried.

In Sylvia’s final blurry vision were Aelia’s face twisted in extreme terror, mouth wide open but unable to make a sound, and Sophia’s tightly clenched fists. In those usually calm, deep-pool-like black eyes, there burned a clear, icy, and intensely powerful hatred for the first time.

Then everything blurred and spun together into a painful chaos.

“Mom!” Aelia burst into tears. Sophia immediately stepped forward and covered Aelia’s mouth.

“We’re in the slums. Making such loud noises at night might attract ill-intentioned demons. Aelia, calm down.”

Aelia looked at Sophia and saw that she was biting her lower lip hard. The originally soft pink lips had been bitten until they were mangled and bloody, with blood dripping from the corner of her mouth onto her worn clothes.

“Mom will be fine.” Sophia stroked Aelia’s hair and forced out comforting words through gritted teeth.

“Mm.” Aelia stopped crying, but the fierce fire in her heart—the desire to become stronger—burned even more fiercely.

……

After an unknown amount of time, the soldiers finally stopped walking.

Sylvia was thrown down roughly. Beneath her was cold, hard stone flooring that jarred her bones painfully. The impact aggravated the wound on her head, causing her to let out a muffled groan as she nearly lost consciousness completely.

Her eyelashes were stuck together with congealed blood, greatly obstructing her vision. Enduring the pain, Sylvia slowly pried apart the blood-matted lashes.

What greeted her eyes were familiar tall, cold black stone pillars, grotesque tapestries on the walls depicting ancient blood clan hunting scenes, and the ever-present strange scent in the air—a faint mix of blood and luxurious incense that could never be dispelled.

Everything told her that this was the residence of Countess Ilena.

Ever since Ilena’s fiancée had arrived, Sylvia had stopped coming to the countess’s mansion to sell her blood.

Now that the soldiers had brought her back here, what exactly was the reason?