The Moonreaver Dimension.

A Nightmare realm that had been crafted specially by the architects in the Moonreaver House, the inventors of the Nightmare realm. Few humans could ever step foot in the Moonreaver Dimension, and those that did rarely came back with their souls intact. Therefore, there was very little known about this mysterious place.

Was it the same as the other Nightmare realms that most Vampires resided in? How big was it? Did it have a climate of eternal night? Very few humans even knew that this place even existed!

And therefore, when I’d finally got to peek behind the curtain…

“Wow…”

The moment I stepped out from the Warp Gate, the first thing I was greeted with was a blanket of stars. The constellations of the night sky twinkled in their celestial splendour, bringing forth an astral comfort that only beings of the night could enjoy. The climate here was different as well. Coming from a place where the heat of Summer never came, the slight warmth and humidity of the Moonreaver Dimension slowly got my blood pumping.

And the most intriguing aspect of this foreign dimension… was the ever-glowing Blood Moon hanging above our heads.

By my calculations, it shouldn’t be the Night of the Blood Moon yet. Heck, it’s only been less than two months since the previous Night of the Blood Moon! And thus, for the Blood Moon to appear right before my eyes, there could only be one explanation… It was a fake.

I walked forward and closed my eyes, taking in the new environment with my enhanced Vampiric senses. It has been a while since I’ve experienced Spring, as I’ve only experienced Winter since turning into a Vampire. The temperature was just beneath fifteen degrees celsius, the perfect temperature for a Vampire to thrive.

Thick fragrances of grass and soil tackled my sensitive nose as the sweet sounds of crickets echoed through the night. The soft spring breeze and the sweetness of the everlasting moonlight bounced off my body to give me an odd radiation effect. Empowered by the Blood Moon, my blood started to boil, and I could feel my entire soul slowly strengthening by the second.

It truly was a surreal experience…

“Young Miss, you’ve finally returned!”_-.

My self-indulgence was quickly cut short by the anxious voice that called out to us. Breaking free from my stupor, I glanced down from the elevated platform and saw a plethora of Vampires staring at me. Some of them were True Vampires, while others were Blood Servants. However, regardless of their identities, they all wore similarly white robes to show their uniformity. They were most likely technicians who serviced the Warp Gate, much like how air traffic controllers worked.

And in the middle of all those technicians was a young female True Vampire who wore a butler’s uniform. Though, unlike Variel and Luminita, the woman seemed less professional just based on her flustered look alone.

“How could you disappear like that, Young Miss?! Are you trying to give me a heart attack?!”

“Didn’t I leave a letter?”

Lilith tilted her head while scratching the bottom of her chin.

“Yeah, you did! But it’s not the same! How would I have known if it was really written by you? Someone might have kidnapped you and forged your handwriting!”

“Do you really think that someone could kidnap me?” The blonde stunner scoffed while impeaching her servant’s words. However, her face quickly turned as she saw tears streaming down the female butler’s cheeks “O-Okay, I’ll inform you personally next time.”

“There’s still going to be a next time?!”

“H-Haha…”

Lilith let out a restrained laugh, not willing to give any promises. Looking at the two’s dynamics, I could guess how much of a troublemaker Lilith truly was.

“Ah, let’s give some introductions! Jin, this is Lisa! She’s my personal servant and assistant!” Desperately trying to change the subject, Lilith pointed toward me and spoke. “Lisa, you know Jin, right?”

“Oh, so this is the legendary Jin…”

Legendary? What did she mean by that? Fortunately, my question would be answered without me asking.

“I’ve heard many stories about you from the Young Miss.”

“Oh? What kind of stories?”

Lisa’s pale complexion turned a little excited as she happily recounted the vast amounts of information that had been stored in her mind.

“Even though the Young Miss is a once-in-a-lifetime prodigy, she says that she pales in comparison to you. It didn’t matter if it was control over magic or simply the ability to understand theories. She said that she’d never beaten you once when you were children.”

Oh? Did that happen when we were younger? The only clues I had were from the recurring dreams that resurfaced when I slept. And from the conversations that Lilith and I shared in the past, it did seem that I was more of the teacher than the student. As for magic… yeah, I can’t remember if we competed in the past. But one thing was for certain, if we competed now, Lilith would wipe the floor with me in a heartbeat.

“She’s overstating it… I’m not that impressive.”

“Haha, you don’t have to be that humble. The Young Miss even said that she wouldn’t have created a pocket dimension and Nightmare realm that young without your guidance!”

Wait, I gave her guidance on that? Jesus, what on earth was I doing as a child?! Was I seriously that smart?

“Because of that, the Young Miss has rejected dozens of engagement proposals, even though they were from the top talents in the Vampiric World! She famously said that only one person was fit enough to be her Bloodmate, and the rest of the men just couldn’t compare! In fact, the Young Miss yearns for you so much that at night-…”

“Alright, that’s enough!”

As I contemplated my prodigious talent, Lilith was busy scowling in an adorable frown. She glared at her servant, who seemed to say one word too many, and angrily tapped on her forehead. Placing both hands on her hourglass waist, the blonde beauty looked down at Lisa, who was crouched down and rubbing the red mark on her head and asked:

“Did anything significant happen during my visit to the Everwinter Estate?”

“Ouch… Young Miss, I get that you’re hiding your embarrassment, but did you really have to hit that hard?”

“If you’re going to ignore your mistress’ question, maybe I should give you another red mark?”

“N-Nope! My head is as clear as the night sky!”

Lisa abruptly stood up and gave Lilith a firm soldier’s salute. What the hell? Are they performing a comedy routine? Still, I was glad to see this side of Lilith, a person that, with each passing day, my heart begins to gravitate toward.

“The Bloodborne House has sent an envoy to the Gravemind House. It seems like they are planning to join forces against the Church’s Exorcists who have been pestering their operations in Germania.”

“… An alliance against the Holy Church?”

That came as a surprise. While it was true that there was a ceasefire between the Vampires and Humans, that didn’t mean that skirmishes wouldn’t exist. In particular, the Holy Church found Vampires too vile and an existential threat to society. Should the threat of the Outer Demons vanish tomorrow, the Holy Church would point their blade at the Vampires within a blink of an eye.

Honestly, I wished to learn more about the intricacies between the Holy Church and the other Vampire Noble Houses, but Lilith was more concerned about other matters.

“I’m not interested in external affairs. Tell me… Did he find out?”

Lilith gulped as her voice skipped an octave. She tried hard to hide it, but her body shivered slightly at the mention of this ‘him.’

“Lord Sirius has yet to be informed and is still working on the commission for the Eastern Nightmare realm. You can rest assured, Young Miss.”

“Thank goodness…”

Hearing the news, Lilith’s face regained its colour, and her chest exhaled deeply. Evidently, she was afraid of this Lord Sirius, and I didn’t know why yet. I turned to Variel, who was helping Luminita transfer our luggage to the car sent to pick us up and asked:

“Who is Lord Sirius?”

“Lord Sirius is the current head of the Moonreaver House,” Variel happily replied to my question. “Although he’s one of the youngest clan leaders, the man is widely respected due to his ability to fuse old and innovative ideas together. He’s the one who linked the Nightmare realms together using Warp Gates and the man responsible for the high standing that the Moonreaver House has.”

“Hoh…”

So he’s the head of the family. I’m guessing his stature should be similar to that of Matriarch Innocence. I guess it made sense for Lilith to fear such a person. However, Variel continued with a caveat that I could never anticipate.

“He’s also Mistress Lilith’s blood-related elder brother.”

“What?!”

Now that’s a surprise… Irina’s elder brother was a bum, and I’d imagined Lilith’s sibling would be much the same. However, contrary to my expectations, the man was the fucking leader of the Vampire World’s most influential House!

“Is that why Lilith was so afraid of him?”

“Haha… That’s not entirely the case…”

Variel scratched his cheek with a coy smile. His eyes spun a little before he finally started to spill the beans.

“You see… Mistress Lilith is Lord Sirius’ only sibling. Even though Lord Sirius is a thousand years old, his parents never made another sister for him. And when Mistress Lilith was born, their parents basically left her in his care while they went into hibernation.”

What’s with Vampires and going into hibernation? First, it was Irina’s parents, and now it was Lilith’s… Were their lives so boring that they had to sleep constantly?

“And since Lord Sirius didn’t have a child of his own, he raised Mistress Lilith as if she was his own daughter. He spoiled her rotten and had famously said that anyone who wishes to get her hand in marriage would have to step over his dead body.”

Wait a minute… Does that mean?

“Lord Sirius is a kind and magnanimous man, but when it comes to his precious little sister, he has created a mountain of corpses. That’s why…”

Variel looked at me as if I had just contracted terminal cancer and shook his head sadly. The butler didn’t continue his sentence, but his expression told me a thousand words. He was basically writing my eulogy at this point.

Ah, so after surviving the Matriarch of the Everwinter House, I have now come to challenge the leader of the Moonreaver House that had a sister complex. It really is one thing after another…