-Hehe, Kasia! Look at this!

I recalled a memory from when I was younga page out of a faded album that I could barely remember.

It was a memory of giving a small crown made of wildflowers from the garden as a present to my sister.

-Oh my, its so pretty.

My sister, who was born with a fragile body, received the small crown of flowers as she rested in her wheelchair.

She affectionately stroked the crown and then gently placed it on top of my head.

-I made this for you!

-No. I think it looks much better on you, Bella.

-Really?

She patted my crowned head with a smile on her face.

I wonder if she was already aware at that point that she would never wear such a crown

-Hehe. You're the best in the world!

I sat on her slender lap and smiled brightly.

-My little princess, you shouldn't hurt your sister.

-I'm not hurting her!

My father approached the garden.

His sweet smile and his hand as he patted my head were warm like sunlight in spring.

-It's fine, Father.

-Kasia?

-I want to be with Bella for a little longer.

Kasia embraced me with her fragile arms.

-There probably won't be much time we can spend together like this.

-Kasia, are you going somewhere?

-Fufu, no.

I couldn't understand what my older sister was talking about when I was young.

All I did was rub my cheeks against her because I loved how my sister hugged me so affectionately.

A page of the faded photo album turned and unfolded the next.

'No.'

I desperately reached out, but I couldn't stop the page from turning over.

'Stop'

I crouched down and plugged my ears like a young child.

However, no matter how hard I tried, the voices seeped in.

-Why?! Why?! Why does Kasia have to be exiled from the family?!

-Its the rules of the Household.

-So what about some stupid rules?!

Crash!

I threw an expensive ceramic and cried out in a desperate attempt to prevent it.

My father chewed his lips and shouted at me.

-They aren't stupid rules! It's a tradition that has been followed for several hundred years and has protected the prestige of the 'Colagrande' name!

-I don't need it! Hurry up and bring back Kasia!

-I already told you that's impossible!!

My father shed tears with a distorted expression on his face.

-I didn't chase out Kasia because I wanted to!

-Then why?!

-If If we do not follow the rules, the tradition of the Colagrande Household disappears! Those from the collateral line will chew away at us like starving hyenas!

I saw my father trembling as he hugged me.

-Then we just need to leave this stupid household! All I need is Mother, Father, and Kasia!

-

My father's expression grew fierce when he saw me cry out.

Slap!

My head turned.

I tasted blood from my torn lips.

-Leave the household? Whose money do you think was used to buy the clothes you're wearing? What about your luxurious food? No, what about this property you're currently standing on?!

-That's

-Everything! Its all the wealth of the Colagrande Household that has been accumulated over several hundred years!

My father shouted at me in a desperate manner.

His kind and charismatic nature was nowhere to be seen, and all that was left was a shabby middle-aged man that was scared of losing his authority.

''

With the taste of blood spreading through my mouth, another page of the faded album was turned.

Starting from the door leading to the Demon Realm on the North Pole, the world was covered in monsters.

I met the celestial of a Black Star during my journey to find my sister.

After obtaining the stigma of Hirudo, my thirst made me spend my days ravenously coveting blood.

'Stop'

While my throat dried out, I barely managed to learn how to control my impulses.

I'm not sure if it was the Black Star's curse or blessing, but I grew at over quadruple the speed of others once I succeeded in controlling my impulses.

Like that, I returned to the household.

-Is-Isabella? Y-You were alive?

-Fufu. Yes, Father.

I quickly took over the household with the powerful stigma of Hirudo and the Black Star Organization under my power.

I subdued the members from the collateral line that were becoming arrogant and crushed my father's authority.

Once I found my sister, convinced my father, and everything belonging to the Colagrande Household fell into my hands I believed that maybe just maybe there was a chance to return to the first page of the faded albu

"Ah!!"

Isabella got up while exhaling a rough breath.

She saw a small puddle of sweat between her breasts that had accumulated over the night.

"It looks like I've been pushing myself too much lately."

Isabella sighed as she looked down at her white negligee that was drenched with sweat and stuck to her skin.

It was her first time getting sleep since the incident at San Fruttuoso a week before. It appeared to be the reason for her nightmare.

"Ugh!"

Throb

She frowned as a pain that felt like knives digging through her bones surged through her chest.

She opened the drawer beneath the shelf next to her bed and chugged down a pack of blood.

It ran down her elegant neck and dyed her white negligee red.

"Fuu."

The pain was, to an extent, reduced.

Isabella extended her arm and fumbled it around the left side of her chest.

The stigma of Hirudo had faded out in several small spots and looked worse than it did a week prior.

'Blood packs aren't enough anymore'

She needed bloodnot just any blood, but fresh blood that had a high density and purity of mana that was on at least the level of a high-rank Awakener.

"Sigh."

The fresh blood of a high-rank Awakener? There was no possible way of obtaining it other than hunts.

Isabella clenched her negligee as she contemplated.

If she started hunting, her impulse for blood that she was barely holding back might run wild. However, that didn't mean that she could continue staying as she was.

The stronger the curse got, the stronger her thirst for blood would also get.

"I should start my day."

Once again, she had busy schedules piled on top of one another.

After getting off her bed, Isabella took off her blood-stained negligee and changed into a white one-piece that she wore often.

Her eyes suddenly darted to the drawer underneath the shelf. Inside was a photo she took with her sister, mother, and father when she was young.

In the photo, she was smiling brightly like she couldn't be any happier.

""

She carefully took out the old photo and cleaned it with a towel.

Her sister had gone missing, and her mother lost her life to the gate incident. In addition, her father was desperately holding onto what little authority he had left and had been opposing her for years.

"Haha. Looking at it like this, our family really couldn't be more dysfunctional."

Isabella turned around with a smile of self-mockery.

After she finished tidying herself up, she started moving to take care of the day's busy schedule.

While she was walking down the hallway of the spacious residence, she stopped in front of a certain doorit was the door to Ohjins room.

"Ohjin."

She recalled the night she shared a bottle of wine with him. As she did, her chest strangely felt excited, and energy returned to her tired body.

Isabella smiled faintly and put her hands on her beating chest.

'I didn't think it would turn out like this.'

At first, she approached him because she was drunk on the smell and taste of his divine blood. However, the closer she got to him, and the more she got to know about the man named 'Gwon Ohjin' something made her attracted to him.

'They're useless emotions.'

Isabella was going to knock on his door but stopped herself with a bitter smile.

She couldn't waste their time for the simple reason of wanting to see his face.

After turning around, Isabella began her paperwork without being able to eat breakfast.

There were documents on how they would compensate the survivors, documents for approval of over a dozen protection centers, and even encrypted documents from the Black Star Organization.

"Sigh."

It wouldnt have been as bad if at least Roberto was available.

After she took care of around half the mountain of documents

"Mmh!"

Isabella stretched her back.

Her plentiful breasts pushed against her one-piece and displayed their overwhelming presence.

'Time flies by fast.'

She checked the time, and it was nearly midday.

It was time to move on to her next task.

"Let's see next up is the news conference and the interview."

Normally, Roberto would have organized the schedule and informed Isabella, but he couldn't because she had sent him to monitor the "Sword of Justice.

Isabella clicked her tongue and checked what was after that.

* * *

Translator - Maccas

Proofreader - ilafy

* * *

"Come to think of it, I didn't receive a report from Roberto today."

She momentarily forgot about it because of her disturbing dream, but she would normally receive daily reports on Damien Salvator's movements and whereabouts every morning.

Strangely, there was no contact at all that morning.

"What's going on?"

Isabella furrowed her brows and contacted Roberto.

Beep, beep, beep

His phone was turned off.

Even when she tried sending waves of mana that could only be detected by a communication star relic or an Awakener of Lyra, the result remained the same.

""

Uneasiness ran down her spine.

Isabella narrowed her eyes and cautiously started moving.

When she tried to leave the residence

Rumble!!

a protective barrier that was prepared for terrorist attacks descended and blocked the entrance.

"What?"

Isabella turned with a bewildered expression.

Rumble!

The ceiling of the residence collapsed, and concrete debris poured down like rain.

"Ugh!"

Isabella furrowed her brows and dodged the debris.

The hazy gray dust and pungent smell were unpleasant enough on their own, but what bothered her more than anything was the scorching sunlight that shone down from the collapsed ceiling.

"Ah, ugh."

Throb

The curse of the Forbidden Purple Enclosure that was eating away at her stigma began to run wild as she was exposed to direct sunlight.

"Huff! Huff!"

Insatiable thirst burned her throat.

Blood, blood, blood!

She needed fresh blood flowing through a living humans veins to quench her thirst.

If she just grabbed someone, choked their throat, sank her fangs into their carotid artery, and gulped down their blood

Just

Would her tongue melt at its sweetness?

Would it dissolve her brain with bliss?

"Huff, argh, ugh."

She clenched her chest and suppressed the boiling urge.

At that moment, a sharp smell of blood flowed into her nostrils from beyond the rubbleit was the familiar scent of a blood pack.

"Where?"

When Isabella instinctively began searching for the blood pack among the debris

Is this what youre looking for?

Paulo revealed himself from the wreckage.

With a sly smile on his lips, he tilted the blood pack and splashed blood all over the floor.

"Father?"

Isabella looked at Paulo with a confused expression.

"Father? Did you just call me father?"

Paulo furrowed his brow and gave her a cold glare.

"How dare you call me father with those disgusting lips."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Your true identity has already been exposed, you dirty witch."

""

Dirty Witch.

Those words from Paulos mouth left a deep wound in Isabella's heart.

Isabella looked up at him with bewildered eyes.

Since when was my true identity revealed?

"Isabella Colagrande"

Thud, thud

A young man walked out from behind Paulo.

"I will punish you."

The young man with messy brown hair who gave off an innocent impression glared at Isabella with eyes containing bloodlust that didn't quite match his rustic appearance,