Melia Corlando had been pulled back from the disaster of eternal silence, and it was two days later before she finally regained consciousness from her weakness.
Her eyes had been blinded during the torture. It was an injury even a vampire's regenerative powers couldn't heal. Only the legendary Source Blood of her family might restore her sight.
But for Melia, who had escaped death, wanting to see the world before her was surely an unreasonable luxury. When she woke, she was simply grateful to have escaped a disastrous end—and that her foolish little sister could stay by her side.
After her father's death in battle, her family's dispersal, the collapse of her household, the destruction of her faction, and being hunted down and tortured, Melia felt that her life as a vampire had been "transcended."
At the very least, after passing through the great terror between life and death, she no longer obsessed over every little gain and loss the way she once had.
She let out a long breath, then reached out and fumbled for her sister Winnie, who was sprawled beside her and snoring away, pulling her into an embrace.
The poor girl might have escaped the misfortune of losing her sight, but she had suffered no less than her sister over the past while. She had to be exhausted.
She needed to rest.
"Hey, why is a vampire like you blindfolded?"
Just as Melia was about to hold her sister and quietly savor the small joy of surviving, a woman's curious voice sounded before her.
Melia's ears twitched.
They said that losing one sense made the others sharper to compensate for the loss of perception. That principle held true for vampires, too.
During this time without her sight, Melia had noticed that her hearing and sense of