Omniscient First-Person’s Viewpoint

"The Blood Curse is the power that enforces absolute control over lower vampires. The progenitor can directly control the blood of their followers, stripping them of the ability or will to resist. The followers cannot betray their progenitor. Not even one."

A murmur rippled through the room. Some vampires cast sidelong glances at Tyr, wondering if he should stop Lir from speaking further. However, Tyr did not intervene. Under the Founder’s unspoken permission, Lir continued her speech.

"My father wished for my mother to rebel and break free from the Blood Curse so she could stand on her own. That way, as a connoisseur of blood, he could taste her blood again. He made my mother an AIN, forced me to become Yueling, and then gave me his blood to turn me into an AIN as well. He twisted the Curse and manipulated the hierarchy to provoke rebellion. Moreover, he forced us to attempt rebellion ourselves."

The concept of severing the Blood Curse from above was shocking, but it made sense. The one who imposed the Curse could withdraw it, so that was understandable. But when a subordinate attempts to break the Curse on their own, it’s a different matter entirely. For the followers, betraying their progenitor would be like their limbs acting on their own. No one would be pleased with their body acting without control.

The vampires looked at Lir with cold, calculating eyes.

"...In the end, it became the very thing that strangled my father's neck. My father proved his power, after all. I was the one who ended him."

Perhaps sensing the shifting mood, Lir didn't elaborate on the method. I wondered—was that the wise choice? Did she not think that if she mentioned the method, the vampires would be even more eager to kill her before that knowledge spread? Or did she simply not care about her own fate?

Her words had been strange from the start. I had assumed she was pleading for her life, but all she had done was confess to the crime of revealing her father’s sins in the courtroom. Even if the scandal was about an Elder, it was still a scandal. Lir’s goal was to undermine the reputation of someone already dead.

Something was subtly off about her. She showed more interest in the lives of others than her own. Even now, there was no fear of death in her eyes.

"If I am guilty of rebellion, then my father, who made me rebel, is just as guilty!"