"Murphy, you lunatic!!!"
Triss's fading body had just felt her heart beating in her chest again. It quickly returned to its vibrant state, the heart Murphy had given her pumping her full of life once more.
Of course, only an absurd creature like a vampire could survive a "heart transplant" performed by Dr. Murphy, the famously inept heart surgeon. With skills as crude as his, he'd be driven out of business by patient complaints if he tried setting up shop anywhere else.
Still, crude and unorthodox as the method was, it had proved extremely effective.
At the very least, when Triss roughly grabbed Murphy by the collar and lifted the "heartless man" off the ground, she showed no sign of being badly injured.
That meant the heart transplant had been a great success. It also proved that Murphy had cracked Luna's "astonishing wisdom" in a way no one had expected. This was clearly a case of "my astonishing wisdom is greater than yours."
"Are you insane? I'd already accepted that I might die when I followed you here! I told you over and over that I was ready for anything bad that might happen, and for any ending. I even gave Adele my last wishes and told her to take good care of you after I died.
"I've tasted a sweetness I never knew in the first half of my life. I've claimed the most beautiful crown beneath the midnight sky. Even if I stepped into eternal slumber now, I'd have no regrets. I was ready for all of it. You know that!
"So why did you have to go and do something this crazy?!"
Triss was about to lose her mind.
She felt as if her wisdom-packed brain were going to explode. Now she had Murphy pinned against a