Patriarchal Kindred

Spring is always particularly late in the northern part of the Radiant Empire. It was not until the beginning of April that the snow and wind that had been raging for half a year finally receded reluctantly, and the warm sunshine once again descended on the North, bringing life back to everything. But this bright sunshine didn't seem to please everyone. Take this man, for example, who has just emerged from the Grey Havens. He was wearing a leather tricorn hat, the brim of which was pulled down so low that it covered his eyes completely, but he still seemed to find the sunlight blinding and lifted his hand to pull it down a little more. The man looked seventeen or eighteen, tall and handsome, wearing a black shirt with red stripes and scarlet cross-printed knight's boots that covered his knees, making his already somewhat baggy black trousers bulge out and giving him an aristocratic look against his almost knee-length burgundy coat. His face was unusually pale, as if he was recovering from a serious illness. "Young Master Colin!" "Young Master Colin!" ...... As they walked along, the servants in the Grey Castle saluted the man in greeting. However, the young master seemed to be preoccupied and responded to the servants' greetings in a somewhat perfunctory manner. After a few moments, he finally stopped in front of a hut, as if hesitating whether to enter. "Meow~~" By the corner, a small cat let out a disgruntled purr, as if to chide the man for blocking his sunlight. Colin Angley snapped out of his musings and looked at the kitten at his feet, his furrowed brow relaxing slightly and a small smile appearing at the corners of his mouth. He knelt down and reached out to hold the kitten in front of him. "Meow!" The humiliated kitten flailed around for a while, but was unable to free itself from Colin's grasp, so it quieted down in resignation, only to stare at the stupid human in front of him with wide eyes. Colin's fingers gently rubbed against the kitten's slender neck, as if hesitating over something. "The cat grimaced in defiance as he saw the human's sharp tiger teeth slowly emerge before him. The man and the cat confronted each other for a few moments before Colin suddenly lost his smile and put the kitten back on the ground. "Meow! Meow! Meow~" the kitten purred proudly a few times, as if it felt it had managed to defeat the stupid human in the standoff just now. He then expertly lay down, rolled over and showed off his belly, signalling for his "defeated" master to come and serve him. Unfortunately, the foolish human ignored him and got up and went into the hut. The maids who were busy in the room were surprised to see Colin and stopped their work to ask carefully: "Young Master Colin, what brings you here? Dinner will have to wait for some time, so if you are hungry, we can prepare afternoon tea for you first." "No, I'll just wander around." Colin asked as he scanned the kitchen and saw the reindeer with its limbs bound in the corner, "Venison for dinner today?" "Yes, young master. Venison stew with carrots, and vegetable soup, buttered bread and wine." Colin touched his dry, cracked lips, "Wine won't be necessary, prepare me a glass of venison blood." "Good." The maids were a little taken aback, but nodded their heads in response. As far as they remembered, among the masters of the Grey Castle, only the baron master liked to drink deer blood, while young master Colin's taste was always very light. After finishing his explanation, Colin turned to leave, but as he reached the door he seemed to remember something and turned back and ordered: "Add another order of garlic, raw." "Yes, young master." The maids hastily responded. At the same time, they sighed in their hearts - Master Colin's taste is really getting heavier and heavier ...... —————————— As night falls, the dining room on the top floor of the Grey Castle is illuminated by rows of candles and flames from the fireplace, and the room is decorated in a rather luxurious way, but also with a touch of ruggedness. A kris shield carved with a snarling bear's head was hung above the fireplace, surrounded by paintings of various styles and taxidermy of animal heads used to show off the master's force. "Young master, the wine cellar has just acquired some barrels of white wine from the Winster estate the other day, would you like to try them?" Once the maids had set the table, Eamonn the butler stood behind Colin with his arms bound and whispered his recommendation: "With the shorter, sunnier rainy season in Winster last year, this wine should be of good quality and will go well with the venison tonight." After learning of Master Colin's antics in the kitchen today, Eamonn was really a little worried. The rude Baron d'Anglais was beyond redemption in Eamon's mind, but for Master Colin, the butler, who was determined to improve the taste of the Anglais family, had high hopes. But to his surprise, Master Colin had asked the kitchen to prepare deer blood and garlic today! Eamonn felt he had to do something. The Angles had to be classy! "All right." Heartened by the butler's words, Colin nodded his head in agreement. With a pleased smile, Eamonn hastened to pour Colin a glass of white wine himself. "Is there anything else you would like?" Colin waved his hand, "No, you go ahead." "Good." As the butler's footsteps disappeared out the door, Colin was left alone in the empty dining room. His father, Baron Angley, was away at war, his mother had died many years ago, and his sister had married, so Colin was the only one sitting at the empty, narrow table. However, he didn't seem to feel lonely at all. After quickly finishing the food in front of him, Colin sipped his white wine and stared in awe at the only deer blood and garlic left. After a glass of wine, he finally lifted the glass of deer's blood, frowned slightly, and then brought it to his lips - There wasn't any of the expected fishy smell, nor was there any revulsion, and Colin drank it down in one go. It was a little sweet. Colin licked the corner of his mouth, not sure whether to be happy or sad. "Did it really cross over into vampirism?" Colin muttered in a small voice. Then, he put down the cup, took out a roll of parchment from his pocket and laid it flat on the table, recording in words that did not belong to this world: [Normal food does not produce a feeling of satiety.] [Drinking deer blood can bring significant satisfaction and restore strength.] [Other blood, to be tested ......] Putting down his quill, Colin sighed. What he wished for most now was to have something like a Novice Crossing Guide or a Vampire Survival Manual to give him a reference without him having to guess and try things out on his own. Even if there wasn't one of those, then at least cross over into a pre-existing species in this world so that Colin would know exactly what he was, what upgrade routes were available, or even to go and worship a master or something. But alas, there is nothing about vampires in this alien world that resembles the medieval West. This world has elves, orcs, trolls, naga ...... and the once world-ruling but now extinct gargoyles. But there were just no vampires. Colin thought that he might have become the world's first vampire. This made him a little fretful. For in his original world, too, vampires were simply a creature that existed only in fantasy. How much power they actually had and what weaknesses they had were all imaginary. And the settings were not exactly the same in different works. So, in order to fully understand his new body's new role, Colin now has to experiment with himself ...... So far, he found himself to be really similar to the legendary vampire. Photophobic, bloodthirsty and undead ...... Yes, undead. For, having just crossed over this morning, he had found- himself with a dagger sticking out of his chest. (End of this chapter)