The pain was so intense I instinctively clutched at my neck, desperate to ease the searing ache.
With trembling limbs, I forced myself upright.
The world spun violently around me as I stumbled toward the door, each step feeling heavier than the last.
It had been days since I'd last had blood.
They had sent Cassia, the only maid who had ever shown me kindness and the one who raised me on an errand, on the king's orders.
Without her, I had no one left. No one to rely on, starving to death.
My legs grew weaker with every step toward the kitchen, my vision blurring.
I'm the adopted daughter of Lucifer, ruler of Hell… and yet, I'm utterly forsaken.
The thought twisted inside me like a knife. A bitter taste filled my mouth, unrelated to the dryness in my throat.
This decaying castle, with its crumbling walls and suffocating gloom, offered no warmth.
No one cared for me—no one except Cassia.
When I finally reached the kitchen, the maids inside were laughing and chatting as if they don't have a care in the world.
Their carefree voices felt like a cruel mockery. How could they be so lively, so carefree, when I was wasting away?
My hand gripped the rusty doorframe, my legs barely supporting my weight. Without it, I would have collapsed right there.
Summoning what little strength I had left, I spoke, though my voice emerged as little more than a rasp.
"C-can I have a glass of blood, please?"
The maids turned to look at me, their conversations coming to an abrupt halt.
A brown-haired woman with faint red eyes wrinkled her freckled nose in disgust, her gaze dripping with disdain.
"We don't have any blood for you, Princess Thana,"
Her tone was cold and empty, completely detached as she spoke.
Her words struck like a dagger to my chest. My hand instinctively tightened around my throat as the fire within flared, my lungs seizing with panic.
Were they truly going to starve me? Was this their plan—to let me die slowly, painfully?
Vampires can't survive long without blood—especially not a child like me.
I needed it just to function, and yet they seemed content to watch me waste away.
My vision blurred further, tears stinging my eyes. I barely managed to let out my voice.
"Please… I need something…"
My knees buckled, and I collapsed onto the cold, unforgiving marble floor.
The violet-haired maid beside the freckled one giggled, as though my suffering were nothing more than entertainment.
"My goodness, don't bully the princess too much,"
She teased, her voice dripping with mockery.
I gasped for air as the burning in my throat intensified, a fire that refused to die down.
Was this it? Was this truly how I was going to die—abandoned and alone?
I understood their hatred, their disgust. I was a vampire, an outsider among demons.
But wasn't this too much? Even if they despised me, wasn't I still a princess? Didn't that title mean anything at all?
Through my blurred vision, I noticed another maid, one with sleek black hair, rising from where she sat beside the others.
She slowly walked, her movements deliberate, her eyes alight with something unsettling.
"Now, now. We wouldn't want the princess to die, would we?"
Her voice eerily sweet, too gentle. A chill ran down my spine. Something about her felt off, deeply wrong.
She moved to the cupboard, retrieving a glass, filling it with rich, crimson liquid.
The scent of blood hit my senses like a wave, making my stomach twist with hunger, my fangs aching.
She approached me, waving the glass just inches from my face.
"Here, Princess. Your blood."
Desperation surged through me, giving me enough strength to lift my trembling hand, each movement a struggle.
But just as my pale fingers brushed the edge of the glass, she smirked, and in one cruel motion, she tilted the glass, pouring the blood over my head.
My eyes widened in shock as the blood dripped down my face, seeping into my hair and clothes.
My raised hand shook uncontrollably, and my heart throbbed painfully. I licked the blood off my lips in hunger, but it wasn't enough.
Nothing could ease the cruel fate I was suffering.
The maid didn't stop there. She threw the glass to the ground, shattering it into countless pieces.
The shards scattered across the floor, some cutting into my forehead.
I winced in pain, clutching my wounded forehead as my tears flowed uncontrollably.
My body, already weakened from lack of blood, refused to heal the cuts. The unfairness of it all overwhelmed me, my sobs breaking through as I wept bitterly.
The maids laughed as they walked past me, their mocking voices echoing in the empty kitchen.
One of them shoved me as she passed, causing me to fall back onto the hard marble floor. My head collided with the cold stone, and the impact made my vision spin and blur.
Suddenly, fragments of memories flashed through my mind, overwhelming me with the force of their sudden appearance. It felt as though my head would explode.
Left alone in the cold kitchen, I curled up in a ball, the pain surging through me, threatening to crack my skull open.
I don't know how long I stayed there, but eventually, the pain subsided, fading into nothingness.
Lying on the floor, my breathing ragged and shallow, a jumble of memories—fragments of lives long past overwhelmed me.
I saw flashes of countless lives. I had been a queen unjustly executed, a commoner falsely accused of witchcraft and burned to death, an experiment subject...
The lives were endless, and with each one, I understood more and more about who I was. I was a reincarnator.
Now, in my eighth life, I had reincarnated as a character in a book called Lamia's Love.
It was a book I had read in passing during one of my previous lives. The story followed Lamia, an orphaned demon adopted by a demon duke.
She had fallen in love with her childhood friend, Legion, and together they overcame many obstacles until their friendship blossomed into love.
But the problem was… Thana didn't exist in the novel! I wasn't supposed to be here!
And what's worse, in the final stages of the story, Lucifer—the one who had adopted me—would become corrupted, losing his mind, wreaking chaos and destruction.
He would leave a trail of blood and death wherever he went.
My head throbbed painfully as the weight of my predicament settled in.
What was I supposed to do? How could I survive in this twisted story where I didn't even belong?
In my eighth life, I reincarnated into a book I once read to pass the time—as Thana, an unfortunate vampire child adopted by Lucifer, the tyrannical ruler of Hell and the symbol of ultimate evil.
In the book’s ending, Lucifer becomes corrupt, leaving chaos, destruction, and blood in his wake.
To avoid that disastrous fate, I decided to tame him by softening his heart, hoping to reach whatever remains of compassion buried within his demonic soul.
But can I truly tame the embodiment of darkness, or will I be swept away by his descent into madness?
___________________________
Note: If you're looking for a father-daughter relationship with a blend of dark fantasy, intrigue, and heartwarming moments, this one is perfect for you!
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