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At the sight of the girl who answered the door, Honami's first thought had nothing to do with vampires, even if it would ironically be the correct one. The pallid complexion of the weak and meager looking girl instead made her gasp out of concern, for she looked like she would die at any moment.
"Oh my! Did you come down with anything, miss? I'll have to whip up a hearty soup before anything else!"
Countess Kanade blinked. Upon hearing Honami's gasp, she at first thought it'd be the usual fright that took over her rare visitors, until the mention of soup. She knew Honami was to be her new maid, yet the caretaking attitude was still catching her off guard.
"I'm well," Kanade insisted, trying her best to talk around the fangs concealed under her lips. "This is just the family look I inherited."
"I'd like to take you at your word, miss," Honami replied, "but I also happened to overhear talk around town that you rarely show yourself outside of the castle, and your skin at least shows it."
If she was overhearing that gossip, then certainly she would've heard of how frightened everyone was of this castle and its family? The sightings of bats flying out of the windows and towards the dungeons, biting on the criminals locked there? The rumors of how long their family members seemed to stick around before "dying"? The uncanny resemblance between these "generations" of family? The story of her father falling so ill when accidentally losing his cloak during the afternoon, that he'd been rushed into the castle and never been seen again?
Most of their few servants were holed up in the basement alongside her near-comatose father, taking care of him 24/7. They all knew the truth of the family "secret" and were loyal in spite of it, in part due to the kindness these vampires showed to their human subjects. Yet Kanade still elected to keep a small staff and to have the new hires like Honami be in the dark regarding the secrets.
The staking of her mother back at their old castle could not be repeated.
"I guess that's true..." Kanade said, looking at the backs of her hands. "But it can't be helped. A terrible skin condition runs in the family. My father got sick just by basking in the sun for a minute."
"I see..." Honami's lips pursed for a few moments as she thought something over, then suddenly smiled. "Then don't worry, miss. I'll figure out a way to keep you healthy without the sun."
For a beat, Kanade thought she discovered what it was like to have a beating heart. And she recalled her late mother's warning about growing attached to humans.
Loving one comes with a price. If they don't want to be turned, like your father did, then you will have to watch them grow old and die.
But Kanade still hoped that maybe she could trust Honami with the secret - that she would agree to be turned and outlive whatever family and friends she had out there - if at least so Kanade could enjoy her cooking for the rest of time.
Okay, and the look of that sunny smile.