2.4

“Oh.”  

Hearing an answer she didn’t particularly like, Helena furrowed her brows and snatched the brown bread like a swift eagle. Though it was food she couldn’t taste or use to satisfy hunger, she felt an odd urge to take it.  

“Do you know that all of this is given with ulterior motives?”  

“Ulterior motives? That… that can’t be true. Like I said before, they see me as family, unlike you, Dr. Helena.”  

“And how am I different?”  

“Well…”  

His inability to give a clear answer again irritated her. She was annoyed by the women coveting her prey and frustrated by Isaac’s obliviousness to her feelings. Then, realizing how petty her own thoughts were, she forced a smile.  

“Never mind. Thank you. I’ll enjoy it.”  

“Don’t mention it.”  

The two walked side by side up the hill, heading toward the chapel. A warm and humid early summer breeze blew, carrying a scent of roses that enveloped Isaac. Taking a deep breath, he spoke.  

“There shouldn’t be any roses blooming nearby, but I’ve been noticing the scent quite often lately.”  

“Really? I can’t seem to smell it….”  

It was a lie. Helena, too, could sense pheromones and knew that hers carried the scent of roses. Subtly, she withdrew the faint pheromone she had released, likely due to thoughts of other women.  

“It seems I must have imagined it.”  

Isaac, who noticed the sudden disappearance of the scent as if he were more beast than priest, stopped sniffing, and an awkward silence settled between them. The path to the chapel felt longer than expected, perhaps due to the gentle slope, prompting Helena to break the silence.  

“…I noticed the other day that you seem to know a lot about vampires.”  

“Oh, are you talking about the stories I told the children? I don’t know all that much. It’s just….”  

A faint smile appeared on Isaac’s lips as he recalled old memories.  

“It’s just what I learned from the scriptures and what Miss Ippolita told me.”  

“You mean my mother, who was also your… first love?”  

Helena deliberately emphasized “first love,” causing Isaac’s face to flush red, all the way to his neck. As Helena watched his reaction, her lips curved upward, and Isaac, with his reddened face, responded with an equally awkward smile.  

After confessing to the Goddess about his dream that night, Isaac had concluded that the woman in his dream was Helena. When he had called her “Helena” in the dream, she had responded to him with his name. That was enough for him. Speaking with a lighter heart, Isaac continued.  

“Yes. She was a very knowledgeable person in many areas. Especially about vampires—she knew things even the Holy Order didn’t.”  

‘Of course, since I’m a vampire, I would know more than the Holy Order.’ 

Helena thought to herself while steering the conversation toward vampires.  

“Can you tell me about them too? Stories about vampires. My mother never told me any.”  

“Are you curious about them as well, Dr. Helena?”  

“Yes. Besides, Isaac, you’re a priest, yet you don’t seem to hate vampires like the Holy Order does.”  

As she pointed out, Isaac’s actions were indeed contradictory. Vampires were considered traitors to the Goddess, having sold their souls to demons. The Holy Order insisted on eradicating them entirely. Yet, when Isaac had recently told stories to the children, it seemed more like he was recounting an old fairy tale.  

“Well, there are priests who believe that vampires shouldn’t be killed but rather reformed. I, too, changed my perspective after hearing Miss Ippolita’s stories.”  

“How so?”  

“I thought… they were pitiful.”  

Who was pitying whom? Helena found Isaac’s words absurd and briefly parted her lips in disbelief. Then, speaking coldly about her own kind, she said,  

“They’re monsters who drink human blood.”  

“When I was learning from the Holy Order, I thought the same way as you, Dr. Helena. But I don’t think a life of being unable to consume anything but human blood, while being ostracized by society, is a peaceful one.”  

When she was Ippolita, she had told Isaac stories about vampires simply to tease him and scare him. However, Isaac, who had grown into a kind-hearted adult, now seemed much larger than he had as a child. He was someone who fully understood the plight of the unfortunate. Seeing this change in him made her palms itch for no reason.  

As the edge of the hill came into view, Helena suddenly reached out and grabbed Isaac’s empty hand, opposite the side holding the food basket. Startled, he stopped in his tracks.  

“I’m tired. Hold my hand.”  

Even though she showed no signs of fatigue, she whined like a child. Watching her, Isaac hesitated briefly before firmly holding her hand and continuing their walk toward the chapel. It wasn’t the first time they had held hands, but Helena’s fingertips tingled as if she were nervous.  

“…Thank you.”  

“You’re welcome.”  

‘This isn’t a romantic gesture. Get a grip.’  

Isaac repeated this to himself as he held her small, soft hand tightly. Her cool body temperature seemed to soothe his warmth, and he found it pleasant.  

“Dr. Helena!”  

As they neared the chapel, Johann’s urgent shout rang out. Startled by the voice, Isaac hastily let go of Helena’s hand, almost as if he were tossing it away, and began to fluster.  

“Oh! I didn’t throw it! I was just… surprised!”  

While Isaac stammered, Johann quickly ran toward them. Only after catching his breath did he finally speak to Helena.  

“Could you come to the treatment room with me right away?”  

“Is there an emergency patient?”  

“Well….”  

Johann hesitated, looking troubled, which puzzled Helena. It wasn’t until they reached the treatment room that she understood the reason. Men from a neighboring village, not locals, had gathered there, each with minor injuries.  

“It seems that word of your skills spread through the hunter who received treatment here last time.”  

Isaac, who had started tending to the patients in Fred’s stead, let out a small sigh. He didn’t like the false patients who had gathered because of Helena’s beauty, but as a servant of the Goddess, he couldn’t show his displeasure.  

“…Let’s treat the ones who came today, but from now on, let’s turn away anyone from outside the village unless they have serious injuries.”  

Helena also clicked her tongue in annoyance as she examined wounds that seemed self-inflicted. She barely had enough time to seduce Isaac, and now these pests were interfering. However, among the crowd, she noticed a few men emitting a sweet scent. Narrowing her eyes, she focused on them. One of the men, gathering his courage, approached her.  

“I’d only heard rumors, but… you’re truly beautiful.”  

The man, seemingly smitten at first sight, exuded a sweet aroma of blood that carried the scent of love. Helena took note of the man who had spoken to her and treated him with particular kindness.  

“Thank you for the compliment. And…?”  

“My name is Bill, Dr.Helena.”  

“Nice to meet you, Bill. You’re quite charming yourself.”  

When she smiled at him, his scent became even sweeter. Helena, pleased by this, decided to make him her next prey. It had become too risky to continue secretly sneaking into the chapel to drink Isaac’s blood as she had done recently, so she needed a new source of sustenance. She couldn’t survive forever on a few drops of animal blood, so she resolved to cross over to the neighboring village, as she had in the past, to satiate her hunger. If she drank just enough blood to avoid killing her prey, no one would notice, and it would be sufficient to keep her from starving. It wasn’t a bad choice.  

“The treatment is all done. If we meet again, I’ll see you then… Bill.”  

Helena marked the man called Bill with her pheromone, ensuring she could easily find him later. Watching this, Isaac felt a tightness in his chest that he couldn’t quite place. As Helena tended to all the wounds of the men who had come to the treatment room, Isaac assisted her, growing increasingly uneasy.  

‘It must be because they’ve defiled the chapel with their false injuries and impure intentions… That’s why I feel this way.’  

He pondered the reason for his discomfort and ultimately convinced himself with this explanation. Once the treatment was finished, and the men lingering around Helena had been driven away, the sun had already begun to set. The sky was now painted in hues similar to Helena’s hair. Johann had disappeared into the prayer room for the evening service, and Helena and Isaac also left the treatment room, stepping outside the chapel.  

“The sun has already set. Isaac, I’ll see you tomorrow.”  

“That man… Bill.”  

Isaac opened his mouth to speak but faltered, unsure of what to ask. 

Did she have feelings for him? Was he her type? 

None of these were questions he could bring himself to ask.  

“Go ahead, Isaac.”  

“…It’s nothing. You’ve worked hard today. May you have an evening blessed with the Goddess’s grace.”  

At the mention of grace, she gave a bitter smile for some reason, bid him farewell, and descended the hill. Isaac stood there, staring endlessly at her lonely figure as it disappeared into the darkness. Suddenly, he felt an urge to run after her and stop her.  

‘That face again….’  

She always wore an indescribably sorrowful expression whenever she spoke of the Goddess’s grace. Isaac couldn’t begin to guess the reason behind it, so he had only ever silently observed. But now, he wanted to ask her about it. Yet, as the darkness crept in at the edge of the sunset, he neither ran to her nor asked. The shadow of the chapel, cast by the moonlight, seemed to hold him in place.  

As he stood there, frozen like a stone, someone approached him.  

“Isaac.”