Chapter 2

Isolde moved into the castle.

She walked straight to the deepest part, to the room Caelan and I shared, and glanced at the coffin where we slept together.

“So Claire has been sleeping beside you all these years?”

She slowly walked over, her fingertips brushing lightly along the edge of the coffin before she turned back to Caelan.

“I like this room. Can I stay here?”

Several servants nearby instinctively looked toward Caelan.

He didn’t refuse.

I could feel his gaze fall on me, but he said nothing.

From that day on, the castle began preparing for their engagement ceremony.

Blood roses. Pureblood ceremonial gowns.

Caelan never involved himself in any of it, so the servants could only come to me for confirmation.

I lowered my head and looked at the ancient family crest embossed on the invitations. The bride and groom printed inside were her and him.

When I looked up again, Isolde was already directing servants across the grand hall.

“I don’t like this color. Change it. Redecorate the east corridor. The chandelier in the banquet hall looks outdated.”

Those had all been things I picked out myself, little by little.

The servants looked at me.

“Give them all to her,” I said softly. “I don’t need them anymore.”

For the past five years, Caelan drank my blood at this exact hour every night.

But tonight, when I pushed open the study door, I saw Isolde sitting beside him, silver hair falling across his shoulder.

“Do you remember?” she asked lazily, resting her chin in her hand. “The first time you learned horseback riding, you almost threw me into the lake.”

Caelan let out a low laugh.

“You were too stupid. You were terrified of heights but insisted on riding anyway.”

Isolde turned toward me.

“Claire, did you know? Caelan had a terrible temper when he was younger. Other than me, no one dared get close to him.”

She paused briefly. “So I’ve always been curious how he managed to get used to having someone else beside him these past few years.”

I stood there quietly. “He doesn’t need me anymore.”

Caelan didn’t speak. He only watched me, as if observing something.

I gathered my books together, calm in a way that even felt unfamiliar to myself.

For a moment, I almost drifted into a daze.

Was it possible that after five years of having my blood drained, I had started becoming more like a vampire too?

Without love. Without hate. Unable to feel pain anymore.

I turned and walked out of the study, gently closing the door behind them.

It was deep into the night. The new room was old and worn down, but at least I could sleep in a bed like a human being again.

I never actually liked sleeping in coffins.

I only liked it because Caelan was inside them with me.

Vampires were cold by nature, but whenever Caelan held me, he always pulled me tightly against his chest.

That feeling I used to cling to no longer existed.

The door opened.

Caelan stepped into my room and climbed onto the bed beside me.

“It’s not safe lately. Don’t leave the castle. Too many low-level vampires are watching your blood.”

He reached over and pulled the slipping blanket back over me.

In the past, moments like this always made me soften.

I would mistake them for love.

But now I finally understood. Caelan had never lied to me.

The thing he protected had always been his blood source.

In the darkness, his cold breath brushed against my neck.

The instant his fangs touched my skin, my body softened instinctively.

Caelan noticed the slight tremble in me and let out a low laugh.

“What are you afraid of? I’m not going to hurt you.”

His fangs pierced my skin, and that familiar tingling sensation spread through my body instantly.

I closed my eyes, but suddenly my stomach twisted violently.

My hand instinctively pressed against my lower abdomen as my heartbeat spiraled out of control.

It had already been two months. Ever since Isolde returned, Caelan had not touched me again.

Before that, though, he once whispered to me in the darkness,

“If you ever get pregnant, that child would be my only heir.”

Back then, I secretly felt happy about those words for a very long time.

But now, I only hoped that nothing would happen at all.

Suddenly, a scream echoed from outside the window.

“Caelan!” Isolde’s voice trembled with panic. “There’s someone—”

Before she could finish, Caelan had already released me and gotten out of bed.

“Stay here.” He didn’t even look back.

I lay alone in the darkness, the bite marks on my neck feeling like some cruel joke.

If I really was pregnant, I would get rid of it.

By the time Caelan returned, dawn was already close.

He didn’t come near me again. He went straight into the bathroom.

The scent of roses lingered outside the door, the same perfume Isolde always wore.

My stomach twisted again.

The next morning, when I walked downstairs, the application forms for the medical exchange program were already in Caelan’s hands.

“You want to go to Rio?” He looked up, frowning slightly.

“It’s too hot there. Too chaotic.”

Rio. Sunlight. Ocean waves. Crowded streets.

It didn’t feel like vampire territory.

It felt like a world where humans were actually alive.

“If you want,” Caelan said as he set the documents down and pulled me into his arms, “I can arrange a professor position for you at the medical academy directly.”

I had just opened my mouth to answer.

“Caelan.” From upstairs, Isolde stood beside the staircase, her silk nightgown slipping loosely off one shoulder.

“My dresses arrived. Come help me choose.”

Caelan released me immediately, stood up, and walked upstairs.

I lowered my head and lightly brushed my fingers across the blood bond document.

The words written across it had already started fading.

In a few more days, there would be nothing left on that page at all.

Only a completely blank sheet of paper.