Stop!

The worn piece of iron finally stopped just before it could touch the Black-Clad Lady’s neck.

But it wasn’t because Leticia had willed it to stop. A pair of hands had reached out from behind her and seized her wrist in a tight grip.

“!”

Leticia gasped inwardly. She never would’ve guessed that, at the very last moment, the one who stopped her would be the Black-Clad Lady herself.

Looking at the bed in front of her again, Leticia saw that what lay on it wasn’t the Black-Clad Lady she’d seen earlier, but only a thin roll of bedding!

What was going on?

“You’ve got some nerve, little one.”

The Black-Clad Lady smiled ominously, cold light glinting in her eyes. “You even had the nerve to try a sneaky little trick like that?”

Leticia really wanted to tell the Black-Clad Lady that she’d had no choice, that she couldn’t help herself—that this was a classic case of “I can’t control myself!”

But she wasn’t even free to speak. Her mouth was as tightly sewn shut as if someone had stitched it closed; she couldn’t pry it open no matter how hard she tried.

“I’m truly heartbroken, little one.”

Her face completely swallowed by darkness, the Black-Clad Lady spoke in a voice like the bleak wind in the Desolate Between—the place where, according to the Church, evil people end up. It sent a chill down Leticia’s spine. “I’ve asked myself over and over, and I don’t think I’ve done anything to wrong you.”

That’s right! You could be my second mother, and I still wouldn’t want this! I don’t want to be doing this!

Leticia tried to find some humor in her misery as she grumbled inwardly. The Black-Clad Lady wasn’t exactly a good person, but at least she hadn’t turned Leticia into, uh, something unmentionable like those deranged, perverted villains.

Sure, she was often beaten until she was covered in bruises, but at least her life wasn’t in danger. And the crazy lady sometimes mixed things with healing properties into the food she gave Leticia...

Wait. Why was she starting to feel a little used to this life...?

Getting used to being beaten isn’t a good thing!!! (clutches head)

The silence was tense. Leticia could feel the cold sweat soaking through the clothes on her back.

She really was like a meek little lamb, trembling before its master.

“Do you know why I haven’t killed you yet?”

The Black-Clad Lady suddenly released Leticia’s wrist, flicking the little piece of iron aside. Then she slipped one arm around Leticia’s waist and pinned both her hands tightly in place before plucking a lock of Leticia’s not-quite-short, not-quite-long black hair.

“It’s because there’s a certain scent about you.”

The Black-Clad Lady answered her own question. Her hoarse, broken voice, for once, held a hint of allure. “It’s so familiar to me...”

A scent?

What scent?

Leticia was bewildered. Could she really have body odor?

No, no, that couldn’t be right! And even if she did have body odor, what did that have to do with whether or not the Black-Clad Lady killed her?

This made absolutely no sense!

“That rotten, dark smell. Like the stench from a pile of filthy refuse in the deepest corner of a slum...”

Veiled beneath a thick black veil, the Black-Clad Lady took a deep sniff at the back of Leticia’s neck and murmured, “It’s faint, so faint—but it’s definitely there. That loathsome, nauseating fragrance...”

Lady, that’s quite a choice of words!

Leticia almost burst out laughing. It hadn’t even crossed her mind to wonder what the Black-Clad Lady’s words really meant.

But it didn’t take long for her to stop laughing.

Why, you ask?

The Black-Clad Lady murmured words that made no sense. Then, through her veil, she sank her teeth into Leticia’s neck.

This wasn’t a vampire simply piercing someone’s skin and veins with two fangs to suck out their blood. The Black-Clad Lady’s teeth tore and sawed into Leticia’s neck, making a sound that sent chills through her.

The pain left Leticia’s whole body rigid. She even had the feeling that if this went on, her neck might be bitten clean through.

What kind of bite was that?!

This was no time to complain about her teeth. With her life in danger, the instinct for survival buried deep within Leticia had been roused to its fullest.

There’s nothing you can’t do. If you can’t do it, that’s your own problem.

If her will couldn’t control her body, then why not let her madness-fueled instincts take over?

“Stano Bansen! Fuck you and your ancestors!”

Crack!

It was a strange, explosive sound. It seemed to come not only from her body, but to boom from the depths of her soul as well!

The joint in her arm dislocated. Pain like fire spread through her body in an instant. It was so intense that tears nearly sprang to Leticia’s eyes—but she could move again!

“Get off me!”

She had no idea where the strength came from, but Leticia grabbed the Black-Clad Lady’s face and forced her mouth open.

Her own hand had been bitten too, but that injury was nothing compared to the wound on her neck. Leticia turned around and kicked the Black-Clad Lady away with all her strength!

Thud!

The Black-Clad Lady crashed into a cabinet and knocked it over. She didn’t seem hurt at all. Slowly, she stood up, calmly straightened her crooked black veil, then put the blood on her hand into her mouth.

“There’s that scent inside your body, too...”

She sounded almost wistful, as if reminiscing about a past steeped in blood and darkness.

“Ngh...”

Clutching her torn-open neck, Leticia’s thoughts were swallowed by pain and dizziness. Still, she forced herself to pick up the rust-covered piece of iron from the floor and point it at the Black-Clad Lady from a distance.

“Do you know why I don’t kill you?”

The Black-Clad Lady watched her impassively and simply asked the same question again.

“Are you kidding me?!”

Leticia demanded furiously, “You call this not killing me? If I hadn’t fought back, you would’ve bitten me to death just now!”

What kind of world was this?!

“You really don’t know how to appreciate the moment.”

The Black-Clad Lady shook her head slightly. From the sound of it, she seemed to be licking the blood off her veil. “I was still biting you through the veil, and I didn’t hit anything vital. It just looks like you lost a lot of blood.”

Yeah, right!

That hazy darkness crept closer. Leticia pressed hard against her neck, her hand holding the piece of iron trembling slightly. “Who are you, really?!”

“Do you know why I don’t kill you?”

Suddenly, the Black-Clad Lady in front of Leticia vanished. But on the bed behind her, where there was nothing but a thin roll of bedding, another Black-Clad Lady sat up and spoke softly. “Because you’re a half-baked maid, and I’m a Witch who failed to die.”

“You really do smell delicious.”