Chapter 139 - Mornings And Meanderings

Sangfroid woke up, seeing Vladstin's sleeping face again.

He again had the urge to touch those eyelashes, and this time, his fingers moved faster. He managed to slightly graze them, before drawing them back. Then, not breathing at all, he waited.

No response. Vladstin did not wake up, and continued sleeping soundly.

But Sangfroid did not dare to breathe still, as he reached out to touch them again.

The feeling is barely there because of how thin and sparse the hairs were. like you could not tell if you really did it or not after doing so. But what really made the urge so strong was not the texture, not the action itself, but the outcome. He had touched Vladstin. Deliberately.

And he wants to know how Vladstin would respond once he learned of what he did.

It was like a little child being handed a candle, and being engrossed in the flames. Quickly, he swiped a finger at the small fire, waiting to see if it will burn. But he did not, so he tried and tried again, not because he wanted to burn, but just to learn how many tries it takes before something happens or he got tired of doing so.

After several tries and no results, Sangfroid's attention was then moved to Vladstin's hair. They seem sharp, and they are pure white. Like thorns. 

He reached out to see if he would prick his finger on them.

It did not. They were strangely soft.

He lowered them..... slowly.... slowly.....

He was caressing them, but barely. He put more of the weight of his hand over Vladstin's head---

Vladstin's eyes fluttered open!

But Sangfroid was too shocked to retreat his hand back, and it stayed there. He was frozen by those yellow eyes, and his hand stayed on top of that head with soft white hair. A moment passed between them.

"Well, good morning to you too." Vladstin said in hushed tones while smirking. "I'm going to wake up the sleeping Beast now."

Sangfroid slowly let go, still unsure of what to feel or what to do about this.

Vladstin doesn't seem to feel like anything is out of the ordinary, and just brushed it off. Maybe the gesture meant nothing to him, maybe he is just masking how much he is truly flustered by it. He will always be an enigma to Sangfroid, one of the greatest mysteries in his two decades here on Earth.

Vladstin turned to the other side. Now it was his turn to play observer to someone sleeping.

He narrowed his eyes at Leron's sleeping face. Before, he used to look forward to seeing this face whenever he woke up.

He remembered that from their beds that were about one meter apart, he would stare at his lover's face for a long time. Even before then, even before Leron gave him the kiss of betrayal in front of the people watching the Crimson Wolf match, he had developed a habit of just memorizing every single detail of his sleeping face.

He knows exactly where the lines and curves are, where a certain point starts and ends. From afar, he would trace with him his index finger. Sketching him in the air.

He was caught a few times, but Leron would just say "Well, good morning to you too." and get up from bed, stretching. As he stretched, so will the thin white clothes revealing a little of the outline of his body, with the sun shining on the backdrop. There is something just so hypnotizing at the gesture, something that could not have been an accident.

Perhaps, he had always known. Though he has never told himself that, nor Vladstin, deep down, he knows. 

Just like he did to Sangfroid earlier. 

Vladstin also deep down knew of his actions not being an accident, therefore also being aware of the betrayal, yet not at the same time. He had seen the signs, and chose to ignore him. It feels the same towards Leron now, who he still can't decide whether it's the Beast or the Beauty in White. He already knows the answer, yet does not speak of it, just letting it happen.

Jude.

"Leron, wake up." He said in a cold tone, while his hand was already cusping his cheek before he could even realize it. 

The Beast had also been long aware of that, had long been awake.

He was aware of Sangfroid playing around with the eyelashes and the hair of his nemesis. He was aware of his nemesis staring longingly at him and cupping his cheek.

Hmph, it's all pathetic. Both men are equally pathetic, truly deserving of each other....

That's why he will ruin them together, he will stab them at the same time.

He opened his eyes, full of morbid darkness in the depths of those blue skies hidden behind them. A summer that deceives you in its beauty only to burn you with the scorching sun it has with it. That would be his pupils, the one holding his pitch-black soul in the place.

"Good morning, fool." He greeted with a dry sneer. 

Vladstin did not appreciate the greeting. Right, it would have been better if this Jude had not woken up at all. Let him sleep forever.

He sat up, his whole face devoid of any emotion, and dragged this Beast by the hair over to Ofelia.

"Ack!!! Idiotic, buffoon, son of a bastard!" The Beast yelled and complained. "Aren't you even going to be careful of handling me in case I get back at you in the future?"

"That would not happen." Vladstin said. "I will toss you to the volcano."

Sangfroid called out, though there is no sense of alarm or urgency in his voice, just a mindful warning. "Please be careful of the way you handle Prince Leron, Vladstin."

The Beast cackled with glee despite the pain. "You heard him! You heard your new sweetheart, better handle me well or he'll get upset with you!"

Vladstin stopped on his tracks and turned back, and gave Sangfroid an exasperated sigh.

"As you wish, Sangfroid. Would you like me to carry you to Ofelia as well?" He asked with somewhat of an annoyed and hurt tone.

"...... Yes, please."

It was evident in Sangfroid's face how much it vexed him to be carried despite being a full-grown man, and this shame made him frustrated. Vladstin misunderstood that frustration as him not being used to saying please.

"You don't have to use please on me, if you do not want to. I will follow your every command no matter how harshly you say it." He said as he tossed the Ilvedian vampire lord on one of his shoulders and reach out to do the same for the last remaining human in their trio.

Sangfroid merely blinked at this. "I am not saying please for you to follow me. It just feels rude to not say it." He explained.

"Oh." Vladstin only nodded, not showing his pleasant surprise.

The Beast just rolled his eyes. What kind of mellow and boring interaction is this?

Even before the turning, Vladstin was not one to be subtle and use guises like servitude and loyalty to hide his passion for someone. He is straightforward, sometimes even flirtatious, whether or not he realizes it. But now what, did Sangfroid infect him with martyr complex? Did he want to emulate the submission this weakling human has over Leron in order for him to appear..... what? Relatable?

For them to be birds of the same kind? A camaraderie in their slave-like way of loving?

It all feels so stupid.

The Beast fully believes that there is no such thing as love that is without any purpose or desire. Deeds are done because there is both a want and need for them to be reciprocated. If not, then all that is left is master-servant pairings, the servant thinking his love is pure, the master feeling guilty over not being able to return such devotion. It is just as twisted as anything, and he despises it!

He who is twisted himself hates such a horrible thing! It has to end somehow!

Ah, but with Awful White in control, that could not happen. He will stay as that guilty master merely receiving the affection of the servant groveling at his feet. Neither kicking him away or freeing him of such position on the ground, because that's what he is, he who embodies morality. Leron is mostly made up of him, and suppressed his desires, suppressed them so much to the point that the embodiment of his desire despises him, forming this large split.

That is why this happened, why the difference between the two souls is so big that they act like two different people. Vladstin lived his life in balance, he is moral, and yet he is also aware of his own passions, of his own cravings and thirst. He is kind yet impulsive.

Yes, the vampire lord Vladstin before remembering his former self really was apathetic, and lost most of his morality. But he is not truly aversed to morality itself as the Beast was. He still does moral deeds, like taking care of Sangfroid when he was sick, or feeding Leron, not being disgusted by it, not trying to even it out with more evil. He was more indifferent to morality rather than hostile. That is because he, Vladstin's desire, is given the same control and agency as his morality. 

While Leron never gave the Beast inside him a chance, thus causing the large gap between his unchanged self and his changed one.

While thinking of this, they had finally reached Ofelia. The girl sang her song, and the Beast was expelled.

As he turned into that zooming pitch-black ball, he gave a certain look to Awful White, filled with so many things to say.

'You lucky and selfish Morality. You always get more time in this body than I.'

But he never said any of it, leaving the white ball confused. It didn't linger in that confusion for too long and instead ent Above to take over the body.

As Awful White came out, what he did remember is what the Beast had done to him, and how sickening it was. Yet along with it was the threat and the deal they've made about him not telling them the truth.

"H-Hello...." He tried his best to lie. "I have returned after my sleep...."

Just like how it was difficult for the Beast to act civil, it was hard for him to commit the sin of not speaking the truth.

Vladstin went down on his eye level. The stare was penetrating deeply into him, as if it can see through his everything. A lump formed on Awful White's throat.....

He really can't do this!

But his fate was eventually sealed when Vladstin asked:

"Leron, how long were you truly in the body yesterday, and when did the Beast take over?"