Rose

I am a monster, and I have been hiding in the shadows for twelve years.

In the apocalypse, she turned into a zombie. Those who had previously admired and respected her fled, and even the scientific research she had dedicated half her life to used her as a new experimental subject.

But I was happy about it. I put an exquisite collar on her, wrapped the chain around her neck, and led her home.

When she smells my scent, her eyes gradually redden, her chains rattle, and her golden hair turns snow-white, making her look like a beautiful elf.

"Don't bite yet, senior, be good."

The zombie's instincts seemed to make her constantly avoid getting close to me.

"Damn zombie instincts, how dare they defile my senior's body."

“Sheridan, Link gave me hope to live this past year. I’m pregnant with his child now. He’s been malnourished since he was a baby. Could you be a little more generous and give him half of your food?”

"To quell the rumors, give him the commander's authority as well! Consider it proof of your tolerance, and that way everyone will accept our family of three!"

Looking at my fiancée, who was heavily pregnant and had a saintly glow on her face, I felt a wave of nausea wash over me.

Five years of entrusting each other with life and death have resulted in this scene.

Alright, I'll grant your wish.

Without arguing or making a scene, I readily signed the power transfer agreement, removed my epaulets, and walked without looking back into the underground forbidden zone that everyone feared.

There, a crazy witch with a morbid possessiveness toward me is imprisoned.

Sylvia thought that after I relinquished power, I would only be able to kneel in the mud like a stray dog and watch them be affectionate.

But she had no idea that I was the one who had the safety net for her throughout the entire city!

After losing my protection, the system completely crashed within a few days.

That freeloader completely dropped his pretense, not only beating her half to death with domestic violence, but also attempting to invade her private space.

When she crawled to the gate of the restricted area covered in blood, crying and begging me for forgiveness and to save her life.

I was being held in the arms of that aloof witch, watching the pretty boy who had come looking for me:

"The experiment actually spoke, darling..."

I disguised myself as a cripple, just wanting to give the deaf-mute Emma a home.
But a werewolf cut her hand, saying they'd sell her to a pervert club.
I crushed the werewolf young master's wrist.
I thought endurance would always see me through, until I watched the boss who took me in get beaten to death on his knees to keep my identity hidden. In that moment, Chicago's sky turned blood-red from my rage.

Deep in the Appalachian Mountains, there stands a Gothic manor.

That is where my family lives.

Every twenty years, we invite an "outsider"—a man not of our blood—to be our guest. They all share one thing in common: each is steeped in wickedness.

Ron was the eighteenth. And he was the key to whether I would successfully shed my skin.

He believed he had come only to inherit a fortune.

He did not know that the altar in the basement was already prepared.

And our family's tradition is to awaken the blood of Lamia within us—

using the heart of the wicked.

I am originally of royal vampire bloodline.
But because of one sentence from my adoptive father, I hid in the human world for decades.
The Church called me a "filthy heretic" because vampire blood flowed in my veins.
Yet they burned a blind girl to death, her crime being that she "couldn't see."
They burned an old blacksmith to death, his crime being that he wanted to learn medicine.
They burned a young mother to death, her crime being that she refused to be violated by the captain of the holy knights.
Bathed in holy light, I realized for the first time—
The demons... are in the light.