Chapter 2: The Love Letter and the Cabinet Trap
YUURI startled awake from a nightmare, her throat dry, the room mired in shadows.
From the second-floor window of her bedroom, she could just glimpse the sky through the spaces between other houses. As she peeled back the heavy curtain, she noticed the eastern sky just beginning to lighten. It was still early for her to be up, but she doubted she could fall back asleep.
“Lord…Ernest…” She tried to give voice to the name she could never say in front of him. The blond young noble was a frequent feature in her dreams as of late. He was the source of both her nightmares and her thirst. And the only one who could quell either.
“If only I could learn to endure this thirst on my own,” she muttered softly. There was no one else around to hear her and yet she wanted, no, needed, to let those words have form.
What a cruel man! Why is he so nice to me? How irresponsible!
Yuuri was different from everyone else. She had received so many of her grandmother’s vampiric qualities and now that she had reached maturation, she would need to drink the blood of others, just as her grandmother had drank her grandfather’s blood. But that desire hadn’t come right when she reached maturity. By the time it did, her grandparents were gone and she was left unsure of how to handle it.
Unable to bear it any longer, she’d asked for blood as compensation for the unique request of her family’s knowledge.
If only he had returned her request with laughter or disdain like any normal person would have, her craving wouldn’t have grown so strong. She might have resented him in the moment, but they’d both be better off in the long run.
But Ernest was not the type to do as others would expect. He had an annoying knack for doing just the opposite.
Yuuri’s memory of the event was hazy after Ernest had offered her his index finger. The sweet intoxicating scent just below the skin was burnt into her mind. Not a second after his blood touched her lips, she became an animal, and try as she might to stop herself, she couldn’t. That change terrified her and she burst into tears. But she knew, now that she had tasted it, she couldn’t live without Ernest’s blood.
Suddenly, Yuuri missed her grandmother terribly.
“Oh Grandmother, Grandfather, what should I do? I’ve made a horrible mistake…”
The dawning sun drifted behind the clouds, chasing away the lingering traces of night with gentle rays. The light was dull enough not to overwhelm her eyes.
“All right.”
If the sun’s rays were too bright, Yuuri became sleepy and wanted to sink into the shadows. Early mornings were the time she had the most energy.
She changed out of her nightgown, washed her face, and gnawed on some toast. When Yuuri did actually leave the sanctity of her home, she chose a Hylantian-style jacket over the comfort of her usual haori. Even in her best efforts to blend in, with her distinct features, she already stood out enough.
Once she was dressed, she posted a sign that read “Will Return Shortly” by the door, though she doubted anyone would actually come during her absence.
There was only one visitor the sign might apply to, and he was an oddball who cared little for holidays or closures anyway. And yet she prayed that very visitor would find his way to her as she shut and locked the door.
Yuuri pulled her hat low over her face and carried a parasol for extra protection, despite the overcast sky. She approached a large road where horse-drawn carriages dashed to and fro.
She bought a flower bouquet to leave for her grandparents before approaching the stagecoach boarding area. A passing carriage stopped abruptly and Ernest suddenly popped his head out.
“Miss Yuuri!”
He leapt out and strode over to her. The young nobleman wore a tailored suit, with his blond hair covered by a hat, and he carried an intricately crafted cane, all of which painted the features of a posh noble as Ernest flashed Yuuri his usual easy smile. His clear blue eyes shone with a mischievous glint in the early dawn.
He was a close friend of the king. Some viewed his appearance and mannerisms as befitting of a lighthearted gentleman, while others saw him as insincere and disconnected.
Yuuri could never bring herself to ask the bright, handsome young man why he chose to spend his days off with a dismal witch like her. She was the one who told him he could come, yet she feared he’d soon tire of her.
“Good morning, m’lord.”
“I was a bit taken aback to see you outside during the daytime.”
“How rude. I can handle shopping at the very least. And where might you be off to?”
Ernest gave her a snarky grin, as if to imply she should know. His flippant attitude did irk her at times. “I have the day off. And since the weather is so pleasant…I thought I might invite you out to spend it with me.”
Yuuri told him she hated sunny days as much as rainy ones, so cloudy days must have seemed the only logical conclusion for what she did enjoy. She especially hated this uncanny confidence and know-it-all attitude of his.
“I’m sorry, but I’m on an errand of my own.”
“So you’re awaiting a coach? Why not let me take you? Come now, I insist!” Ernest snatched Yuuri’s parasol and grabbed her hand before she had time to refuse him.
“Huh, wha—wait!” Neither her objections nor her stern glare seemed to faze him. He was so swift that Yuuri was in the carriage seat before she realized it.
“Now then, where to?”
“My grandmother’s grave. It’s atop a hill past the harbor.”
“All the way out there?”
Ernest quickly relayed her directions to the coachman and they were off. The hill on the far side of the harbor was home to a church as well as a graveyard. The hill had a breathtaking view, and it was a popular resting place for the nobility and the equally well-off.
“Your grandmother wasn’t involved with international trade like the rest of your family, was she?”
“She wasn’t. I heard my great-grandfather brought his family here from Hinomoto, but sailing regularly was difficult for a man, let alone a woman, so the family business skipped over her to my father.”
Sailing between countries was a large part of a merchant’s job. Not only that, but leading a life at sea, surrounded by men as rough as the seas they sailed, was likely difficult for a woman. It was easy to see why Yuuri’s grandmother had passed on inheriting the family business.
“…I see. Wouldn’t the family have urged her to take on a husband who could have succeeded the business then?”
Ernest was right. Most merchant families would select a skilled employee with stellar business acumen to marry their daughter and take over the business. But vampires were not the most versed in modern social standards.
“My grandfather was a gardener who worked for the Watoh family, but he had no sense for business.”
Yuuri’s grandfather was a gardener, but his inability to speak a foreign language or handle complex math made him a poor choice to succeed the family business. He remained a gardener until just before he passed away.
Since Yuuri’s grandfather had been unable to take over, her father was groomed as a successor from a young age. Sailing alongside her great-grandfather, he learned the skills of the trade.
“So your grandmother married for love. Were her parents all right with that?”
“My grandparents weren’t part of the nobility, so outside of having an heir to take on the business, I don’t think it mattered as much.”
Yuuri’s heart pounded in her chest. If this conversation continued, she might have to explain other vampiric customs to Ernest.
“Ahh. If you’re going to pay your respects, may I join you?”
“…Very well.”
Honestly, she didn’t want to tell him about her grandparents. But, unable to find a good reason to refuse, she relented.