Chapter 76
...I'm eating a meal right now.
"......"
The blood-loving guest sat still for a long while.
The richness of the pate, the scent of butter, the warmth of freshly baked bread. Those complex sensations lingering on the tip of his tongue provoked a terrible appetite. A supremely base, animal 'hunger' that he'd forgotten for centuries.
Even his body, which should have been cold as marble, seemed to have been touched by an unwelcome warmth. It was sickeningly repulsive—as though he'd become a living human.
A mere few plates of food had plunged centuries of perfection built on blood straight into the mud.
'This is poison.'
The wretchedness of having swallowed it despite knowing it was poison cut to the bone with shame.
Honor, custom, and what clearly divided human from beast—that was shining reason. The more entanglements grew, the fainter the monster's nature became, until at last one hesitated to hunt.