Three Days to Ash

Damien felt a wave of dizziness, as if something had just struck his Blood Core.

The formidable Prince actually staggered, catching himself on a cold marble pillar to keep from falling.

When he had personally uttered that cruel declaration of banishment, a fierce backlash had scorched him like the midday sun, inch by inch.

But his intense pride and anger had blinded his reason.

He told himself this pain was Seraphina's fault.

It was her weakness and incompetence that were causing him this torment.

But he still didn't understand what was happening to him and could only unleash his power in a fit of rage, shattering the nearby floor-to-ceiling window.

The sound of shattering glass erupted behind me.

Shards of glass scattered across the floor, glittering in the moonlight.

Damien stood before the shattered window on the second floor, his eyes blazing with fury.

"Seraphina!" His voice trembled. "You get back here!"

I stopped and looked back one last time at this place I had once thought was my home.

The moonlight fell on the manor's walls, making it look exceptionally cold and desolate.

"Whoever regrets this decision will be condemned to the eternal torment of a sundered Blood Core."

The moment I pushed open the heavy wooden door, a biting night wind rushed into my clothes.

It carried the scent of freedom and the premonition of my demise.

Damien stood by the window, watching Seraphina leave. He heard her final words and shuddered.

He knew she was weak. Running out into the night, she might be targeted by vampire hunters.

He wanted to tell her that his words of banishment were spoken in anger, that he hadn't meant for her to leave.

He instinctively wanted to chase after her, but Isabella turned and gave him a sweet smile.

"Your Highness, isn't it for the best? When she has nowhere else to go in this cruel world, she'll naturally come crawling back to you."

"By then, my dear sister will finally understand that without your noble protection, she is nothing but dirt beneath your feet."

Hearing this, Damien felt a strange wave of irritation.

He forced himself to halt, but no one noticed that his tightly clenched fists were trembling from extreme restraint.

Sharp nails dug deep into his hard palm. Crimson drops of Noble blood dripped from between his pale fingers, hitting the cold floor.

I dragged my heavy suitcase and found a dilapidated motel on the edge of the city center.

The air was thick with the acrid smell of bleach and cheap tobacco.

The wallpaper was peeling, and the carpet was covered in stains.

But for me, an exile, this was the only sanctuary I could find.

At midnight, the searing pain of Bloodline Depletion ripped me from my nightmares.

The agony was like thousands of poison-laced steel needles stabbing relentlessly into my bone marrow, especially at the scar over my heart, a wound I had carved myself.

Every breath was a torment.

I curled up in agony under the thin sheets, centuries of memories flooding my mind.

It was shortly after Isabella had been adopted. She began to take an "interest" in my daily diet.

Every time I drank the blood supplements she personally delivered, I would feel a tearing, burning sensation in my veins.

The pain caused me to faint frequently during combat training and even cough up black blood.

Everyone thought I was just naturally allergic to a component in the synthetic blood plasma.

Only now did I understand that it was high-purity vervain, diluted with water.

"Seraphina is too fragile. She can't even absorb the most basic energy," the alchemist had sighed.

And Isabella was always the first to rush over. "Sister, don't scare me! I'll go get you some painkillers."

Then there was a routine border patrol where I was ambushed by vampire hunters in a meticulously planned attack.

My patrol route had been leaked.

I was cornered in a dead end, hit by several ultraviolet bullets, and left to die in a sewer for an entire night.

When Damien's personal guard found me, I was in a deep coma, my body covered in charred, rotting flesh.

Isabella's eyes were filled with tears. "It's all my fault I didn't protect sister better. I should have found her sooner."

She became the hero, and I became the burden that needed saving.

The worst part was the so-called healing blood.

Whenever I was injured and weak, Isabella was always the most eager to take on the task of caring for me.

She would personally mix the blood for me and gently feed it to me.

I thought it was a sign of sisterly affection.

But I only grew weaker.

Thinking back now, those blood packs must have been laced with a fatal poison.

It had been corroding my bloodline, bit by bit.

Everyone, including myself, thought I was born unfit to be Kindred.

It turned out I had been slowly poisoned for centuries by the "family" I trusted most.

Meanwhile, in the CEO's office on the top floor of the Nightfall Group building.

Damien sat behind a large ebony desk, but he couldn't read a single word.

The agony transmitted through their blood vow was driving him to madness.

"Damn it!" he shot up, sweeping the documents off his desk.

He had an intense urge to find Seraphina immediately, to make sure she was safe.

But his pride wouldn't allow it.

He needed a reason.

When the message came through our bond, the excruciating pain it carried almost made me lose consciousness.

It was from Damien, his tone as cold as frost.

"Seraphina, come back and apologize to Isabella at once. Don't think running away will solve anything."

I didn't reply. I was too weak to even muster the strength to respond.

I just wondered if he felt even a sliver of concern.

But that didn't matter anymore. My time was running out. I had maybe one day left.