Chapter 4. You Are Inside Me
“Was that a nightmare?”
Leotiz said calmly enough.
But inside, he was quite flustered.
Waking from one nightmare only to be thrown into another was not something he wanted to experience—but right now, he found himself secretly hoping it was a nightmare.
After all, having a half-crazed woman hovering over him, breathing heavily and poised to pounce at any moment, was something that felt safer to believe was just a dream.
Yet, judging from the heat of her breath on his skin, this was far from a dream.
“Haah… haah…”
The woman was clearly in a state of intense excitement.
Her mouth was half-open, drool dripping down, giving a clear impression of her hunger and thirst.
Then, suddenly, she grabbed Leotiz’s shirt and yanked it almost to the point of tearing it, undoing the front entirely.
Her firm, smooth chest was now fully exposed. She slipped her hand between the parted fabric and caressed the back of his neck.
The sensation sent shivers down his spine. Leotiz tried desperately to move, but the woman’s grip on his wrist was faster and stronger.
She spread her legs, trapping him completely, and grinned with a horrifying, predatory delight.
“Ugh!”
Even as a woman, her vampire strength was incredible.
He gritted his teeth and struggled to escape, but it was useless.
He considered screaming, but at that moment,
“What are you doing?”
A strange voice came from behind, and the woman whipped her head around.
In that instant, psh!
With a sudden splatter, some liquid covered Leotiz’s face and upper body.
He instinctively closed his eyes, unable to identify it, but a pungent, fishy smell wafted up.
As he tried to rise, he felt a heavy weight at his feet. Looking down, there was a severed corpse lying on his body.
Beneath the bed, the head of the woman who had just tried to attack him rolled across the floor.
“I told you to lock the door.”
Camula, who had saved Leotiz at the perfect moment, frowned as she looked at the rolling head.
“What’s going on?!”
Ben, who had arrived late after hearing the commotion, widened his eyes at the mess inside the room.
“She must have been starving for a while if she tracked the scent all the way here.”
“I… I’m sorry. I didn’t manage…”
Snap!
With a swift movement, Ben’s face was turned to the side.
“Yes, I understand. You humans haven’t been seen for a long time, so it makes sense that you couldn’t resist rushing in. But…”
Camula’s voice grew colder.
“Familiar servants are the most precious asset. Especially pureblooded ones—they hold a value incomparable to yours. You know that, don’t you?”
“I’m sorry.”
Ben bowed sincerely.
“Report on the status of the blood supply by tomorrow morning. I’ll handle this matter myself.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“And bring water for a bath and a change of clothes.”
“Eh?”
Ben’s eyes scanned Camula, but there was not a single drop of blood on her—she was completely clean.
Camula noticed his glance and pointed at Leotiz.
“Not me. Him. He can’t sleep covered in blood.”
“Yes, understood.”
“Go take a bath.”
Leotiz, feeling grimy from being splattered with blood, nodded obediently.
After bathing, Leotiz returned to find Ben waiting.
Following Ben’s guidance, he was led to a different room than his usual one—and Camula was already there.
“You’re back?”
Camula closed the book she had been reading and stood as Leotiz entered.
At the same time, Leotiz turned his head.
Thanks to the cleverly placed sofa, only her upper body had been visible before—now Camula was wearing only a shirt.
Her legs stretched out beneath the shirt, half of her thighs exposed, pale and slender.
“Do you usually sleep like that?”
“?”
Startled by the sudden question, Camula looked down at herself and nodded.
“Yes, I usually do.”
“Why?”
“To save time running away.”
By wearing it in advance, she could save the time of changing clothes. A small trick from a decade of habit running away frequently.
Leotiz felt a chill upon hearing the reason.
“Then… why did you bring me here?”
“To sleep together.”
“What?!”
Leotiz’s brow unconsciously furrowed.
“You still don’t get it after what happened earlier? I said, if you don’t lock the door, I’ll pounce.”
“You meant pounce… in that sense?”
“Then what else? Did you hope I’d pounce?”
Leotiz chose to remain silent, unable to flatly deny it.
“I’ve already drunk blood. So why pounce again?”
Camula first lay down on the bed, lifting the blanket to gesture to the space beside her.
“Lie down.”
“Here?”
Leotiz followed her gesture, and Camula nodded naturally.
“….”
Leotiz stared at her for a moment, then finally made up his mind and moved toward the bed.
“Being beside me is the safest place in a den of monsters.”
“Beside that monster, are you really safe?”
“I won’t touch you.”
‘You already did.’
He kept silent as she shifted to make space beside her.
Seeing a small distance between them, Leotiz relaxed slightly.
“Don’t worry. I really won’t do anything. Won’t even hold your hand.”
She said this, lying with her back to him, as if keeping her promise.
She seemed entirely familiar with this situation.
Then a phrase she had said earlier crossed his mind:
“There were quite a few who begged to stay close to me, like you.”
Leotiz concealed a bitter feeling as he lay down.
But the softness of the high-end mattress only made him feel more uncomfortable, making sleep difficult.
Sensing his restlessness, Camula spoke.
“Can’t sleep?”
Leotiz said nothing. She turned her body to look at him.
“Shall I sing you a lullaby?”
“I’m not a baby.”
“There’s no law saying only babies can have lullabies.”
That made sense, but Leotiz still wasn’t inclined.
“May I ask something?”
Camula propped herself on her elbow, resting her head on her hand as she looked down at him.
“What?”
“You mentioned earlier that the woman had been starving and followed my scent here—what exactly did you mean by that?”
Even amid the chaos, she had caught what he said.
“You have a knack for asking odd things, but you’re actually sharp, huh?”
“Is that a compliment?”
Leotiz’ eyes narrowed slightly.
“First, vampires are divided by rank. Purebloods like me can survive with just blood; even if our heart or brain is damaged, we can revive as long as we have blood. We can go decades without feeding and still live perfectly fine.”
This explained why Camula had survived for a decade without drinking blood.
Purebloods don’t need blood to live; for them, it’s more like a luxury—like tea, alcohol, or tobacco.
They only need to drink blood to awaken their abilities at adulthood, or else they remain weaker than other purebloods—but Camula didn’t care.
Her goal was a quiet life. Abilities and awakenings were meaningless to her.
“Those below the purebloods are different. They must periodically feed on human blood. The noble class just beneath purebloods has a bit of mixed-blood. Nobles can die if they fail to feed once every few decades, but most live off blood regularly, so it’s not a concern.”
“And below that?”
“Regular vampires are even more mixed. They often show traits of other species. They must feed periodically, or they die.”
“So the servant and that guy in the forest are the same type?”
“Yes. Even among servants, there’s a hierarchy. The weak are deprived, starve for a long time, and eventually succumb to the craving for blood…”
Camula trailed off, but Leotiz understood the rest.
Survival of the fittest.
Weak die, strong survive.
‘It’s the same everywhere.’
“Everything alive follows the same rules.”
Leotiz was startled as if he had heard her thoughts aloud.
Camula smiled mysteriously at him.
Leotiz chuckled softly in response—a sign of agreement.
“Vampires really do need blood, don’t they?”
“Of course. We derive everything from it.”
Blood is a vampire’s source of power, their beginning and end.
“Not just for us—blood is like the essence of every living thing. It contains everything about that being.”
“So if Camula drinks my blood…”
Her golden eyes darkened and shifted slowly upwards.
“Then I am… inside you?”
Her eyes widened in surprise at his unexpected words, then softened. She buried her face in the pillow, and her shoulders shook slightly—she was laughing.
‘How amusing.’
In the original story, she was a stubborn loner, but speaking like this in person was far more fun.
Camula turned her head to look at Leotiz.
“Yes. You could say that.”
She took his hand and guided it to rest on her neck.
The pulse flowed beneath his fingers.
“You are inside me.”
It was a quiet night, but neither of them knew then
what tremendous events were about to unfold.
