HOT NOVEL UPDATES

Berserk of Gluttony (LN) - Volume 5 - Chapter 18




Hint: To Play after pausing the player, use this button

Chapter 18:

The Bloodthirsty

MEMIL ACCOMPANIED ME to the Military District. She said she had a check-up scheduled with Laine to follow up on the injuries she had suffered in the battle against the goblin shaman. She had been surprised to find me by Rafale’s grave. 

“How often do you visit Laine?” I asked.

“About once a week. How about you, my lord?”

“Me? About twice a week.”

“Laine says you don’t visit often, so I thought perhaps you were only going once a month, but you actually go more than I do.”

“Not only that, but her examinations take forever.”

“I see. I suppose it must be because your body is even more unique than my own. Actually, I still can’t get used to having my blood drawn every time. I don’t like needles.”

I laughed. “That makes two of us.”

It was getting easier for the two of us to relax into regular conversation now that we had cleared the air. It was so different from when Aaron first brought her to the manor—the chasm dividing us had seemed unbridgeable. Talking to Memil like this now, I realized that she wasn’t really evil, not in her heart. She’d just ended up rotten because of her upbringing in the Vlerick family.

Still, some sliver of that old Memil remained. At the gate between the Holy Knight District and the Military District, the soldiers pulled Memil aside to do a pat-down. Her eyebrow twitched in annoyance. She clearly didn’t care for being touched by unknown soldiers. 

“I am a servant of Hart Manor,” she said, her tone of voice less like a servant and more like a holy knight. “I don’t believe there’s any need for this while I’m in the company of the head of the family.”

The edge of ice that laced her words reminded me of the past, and a cold sweat trickled down the back of my neck. She gave off an aura of calm and peace while at the manor, but she had been a girl of high standing not so long ago. Still, as long as she was kind and considerate toward the people in and around our family, I didn’t feel the need to say anything. After all, it was impossible to be kind to everyone, and in this particular case, she was right, so I stepped between her and the soldiers.

“Memil is dressed as a servant,” I explained, “but do not forget that she is also an adopted daughter of the Barbatos family. There will be no more full pat-downs. I take full responsibility for her actions in the Military District.”

“But—”

“Did I stutter? As the head of the Barbatos family, I, Fate Barbatos, will take full responsibility for Memil. If that is not good enough for you, then expect me to return with a direct order from Her Majesty, Eris Seifort.”

“Er, no…that won’t be necessary, sir,” said one of the soldiers. “Please, go right ahead.”

I wondered if perhaps I had gone too far, and I internally apologized to the soldiers as we passed through the gate. When the soldiers had faded into the distance and we were well out of earshot, Memil turned to me.

“I never imagined you would do such a thing for me,” she said happily.

“You’re family,” I said. “You’re my little sister.”

“I see. So you didn’t like the idea of your little sister being manhandled by strangers. I see, I see…” Memil stared at me with a crooked smirk. Her stare was almost painfully intense.

“What is it?!” I said, unable to bear her stare any longer.

Memil giggled. “If you were like this for me…then I can’t help but wonder how you would act if the same thing happened to Lady Roxy…” Memil said as she walked. The look on her face made it obvious that she loved watching me squirm. She went on, “Very well… Could you do this for me, my lord? I want you to remember the scene just earlier, as the soldiers were about to do a full pat-down of me.”

“Uh…okay.”

I didn’t know exactly what she was doing, but I figured it was a way to kill time on the way to the research laboratory, so I did as she said.

“Do you have a clear image of it?” Memil asked.

“I do. So? Why am I doing this?”

“It’s simple. All you have to do is just swap me out of the image and replace me with Lady Roxy.”

Before I could think, I did exactly as she said. I was so upset by the image that I coughed and fell to my knees. It was a more potent image than I had expected. I never imagined that it would hit me so hard. Dark, black feelings crawled inside of me.

“Oh, an even greater response than I expected,” said Memil. “By the way, what happens to the soldiers in that scenario?”

“They will be punished—no, banished!” I turned on my heels and began walking back toward the soldiers at the gate.

“You’re going too far, my lord!” said Memil, taking my hand. “That’s unnecessary! It was just a thought experiment. There’s no need to make the punishment part real!”

When I saw Memil so flustered before me, I couldn’t stay in character any longer. I burst into laughter, so much so that I had to hold my stomach.

“Huh?!” said Memil. “Were you…tricking me this whole time?”

Her mouth hung open in sheer disbelief. She really thought she’d had me. But I’d dealt with the likes of Greed, Myne, and Eris, who had thousands of years of experience between them. Memil was still just a baby in comparison. She stamped her feet in frustration.

“You’ll need to work much harder to trick me yet!” I said as Memil grumbled. “But you’re a good girl, and I’m glad my little sister is a good girl.”

“Humph! I’m not the good girl you think I am!”

Memil looked annoyed. My reverse trick had gotten her better than I thought. And just as I thought we’d closed that distance between us too. Without warning, Memil dropped a bombshell of a comment.

“Actually, once, when I was drinking your blood, I drank too much. You happened to be very exhausted that day, and by the time I realized it, you’d passed out completely.”

“And…?”

“And even when I spoke to you, you didn’t budge at all. You were out like a rock.”

“What did you do?”

My heart started racing. What had happened to me that night? It’s okay, I told myself, Memil’s a good girl. She’s a good girl. But wait a second, she does have something of a devilish side to her. 


It was true that sometimes when Memil took my blood, I fell asleep, and I wouldn’t have noticed anything after that because of it. Still, when I woke up, there was never any trace of Memil, and no sign that anything had happened.

Phew, I thought. Okay, okay, we’re good.

But then Memil grinned. “You didn’t wake up,” she said, “so I slept by your side.”

“Huh?! Really?!”

“Yes, really. But I woke up before dawn. I’m quite busy, you know, what with all my duties as a maid.”

I didn’t know what to say.

“There’s no need to worry,” Memil continued. “We’re siblings. No harm done, right? Right.”

I couldn’t believe what Memil had just said—and how easily she could excuse her behavior. She left me standing there and walked on.

“Wait,” I said. “You’re joking, right?”

“Oh my, we’d best hurry. Come along, my lord, quickly now!”

“Wait, I need to know more about what you just said. Tell me—I have to know!”

Then Memil hammered in the final nail. “Please rest easy, my lord,” she said. “Not a word to Lady Roxy.”

“Roxy?!”

“Well, it would be quite embarrassing for the family if anyone found out that you’ve been sleeping with your little sister. Even I know that.”

“That’s not the problem at hand!” I wailed. This isn’t an issue that’s simply settled by keeping secrets from Roxy!

I had nothing to feel guilty about, and besides, there was always the chance that Memil was lying. But I couldn’t deny that it could have happened, either. I felt cornered. Memil put a hand on my shoulder.

“You’re likely aware of it yourself,” she said kindly, “but you simply don’t understand women. You’re too vulnerable. So easy to catch off guard.”

“So easy…to catch…off guard?”

I was well aware that I didn’t have many female friends. Even Greed had said he could count them on his fingers before cackling sharply. But what was she talking about defenses for? Why would I need defenses against women?

“So if you’ll let me, I’d be happy to help you. I am your little sister, after all, so there’s no problem, right? Right.”

“Don’t just ‘right-right’ this! That’s a huge problem!”

“You must be so glad I’m your sister. If I wasn’t, what a mess you’d be in. I’ll have to be careful not to let anything slip in front of Lady Roxy.”

Memil knows how to play her cards. First, she says she won’t tell Roxy, then she lets me know she could let the secret slip at any time… 

“Oh, what’s wrong?” asked Memil. “This won’t do at all. You’re sweating.”

Memil took out a handkerchief and wiped the sweat from my brow, fretting about how I needed to look the part. She was the whole reason I’d broken out into a nervous sweat in the first place! I needed to get away before things got even worse. I saw Laine’s laboratory off in the distance and broke into a sprint.

“I’ll see you at the lab!” I said.

“Oh, I thought we were going together? Why would you leave me like this?”

“Stick around and let my terrifying little sister keep picking on me? I don’t think so.”

“I’m shocked you’d say such cruel things!” Memil said in mock distress. “I’m going to need a deep bow of apology for that.”

“I don’t want to!”

“My lord! Wait! Wait for me!”

I dashed to the research facility and slipped into the elevator. I pressed the button for the floor of Laine’s personal laboratory, and the elevator doors began to close. I finally felt a little relief. I had escaped Memil for the moment. Her true nature was becoming clearer and clearer.

But just as the elevator doors were about to close, I saw her hand appear between them. “You really tried to ditch me!” she cried. “How horrible! I’ll suck your blood for that!”

I pressed myself flat against the wall of the elevator as a frightened gasp escaped my lips.

“Blood…your blood,” Memil said, her eyes stained red. “I’m going to drink your blood!”

I realized then that she really was in the midst of Blood Lust. She pushed herself into the elevator and the doors finally closed completely. There was nowhere left for me to run. I pushed myself closer against the wall.

“It seems I simply won’t be able to control myself any longer,” Memil said.

“Can’t you do something about it? This really isn’t the place for this.”

“I can’t. And besides, all of this is your fault, my lord…”

The injuries she’d sustained in the battle with the goblin shaman had clearly sapped her strength. I heard Memil’s thirst in her ragged breaths. I would never usually have let her drink my blood in a place like that, but I still owed her for saving Roxy’s life. 

I had no choice, so I tilted my head to better reveal my neck. It was the sign Memil had been waiting for, and she bit into my throat. It didn’t hurt. In fact, it felt good. Strange. Even though she was drinking my blood, I felt only waves of comfort. According to Laine, the nightwalker source had the power to subdue its victims into a docile state to take their blood more easily. Because Memil held within her a sliver of this power, her own bloodsucking had the same effect.

I looked up at the panel showing the current floor. When it reached its destination, the elevator stopped, and the doors slid open. On the other side, a woman in a white lab coat with a sleepy expression on her face yawned as she looked at us.

“Can you please save that kind of behavior for when you’re in the privacy of your own home?” Laine asked.

“Laine!” I cried out. “It’s not what you think! It’s Memil! She needed blood! It was urgent!”

“Oh, was it now?” Laine’s tired eyes narrowed, and she pressed the button to close the elevator doors. She hadn’t believed a word I said. “Well, pardon me for interrupting your urgent little party. Come out when you’re done.”

“Laine, wait! Listen to me!”

But the doors had already closed. I felt Memil grin. I was completely powerless to do anything but wait.



Share This :


COMMENTS

No Comments Yet

Post a new comment

Register or Login