he passage of time in the Crimson Spire was measured not by sunrises—for the sun never truly shone there—but by the deepening red of the moon and the increasing weight of the magic saturating the air.
One month had passed since Leon had been taken. One month of being the Queen's obsession, her King, and her prisoner.
Leon sat at the edge of the massive silk-draped bed, his chest bare, revealing the faint glowing ley-lines of the Covenant etched into his skin. His stats had bloated to terrifying levels, but his mind felt like a frayed rope. The System's sync-rate warning had become a permanent fixture in his peripheral vision, hovering at a dangerous 78%.
The door creaked open. Carmilla walked in, but she didn't have her usual predatory grace. She looked pale—ghostly even for a vampire—and her hand was pressed firmly against her stomach.
"Leon," she whispered. Her voice, usually a command, was trembling with a mix of awe and pure, unadulterated terror.
Leon stood up, his "Ruler" instincts flaring. "What is it? Did the System hunters find the border?"
"No," she said, stepping into the moonlight. She took his hand and placed it over her womb.
Beneath the silk of her dress, Leon felt it. It wasn't the slow, cold pulse of a vampire's heart. It was a frantic, thrumming beat—a golden vibration that felt exactly like his own "Ruler" mana.
[System Announcement: Unique Event Triggered]
[Anomaly Detected: The First Hybrid Heir of the New Era]
[Status: The Queen is with Child (Legacy of the Sun & Moon)]
Leon froze. In the original timeline Lucas told him about, the children—the "half-vampire" kids—had come much later, after Leon had been broken into a mindless puppet. But here, because of his high base stats and their early union, the "System" had fast-tracked the legacy.
"It's impossible," Leon breathed, his golden eyes wide. "Vampires of your rank... you aren't supposed to be able to—"
"It's you," Carmilla interrupted, her eyes welling with crimson tears. She collapsed into his arms, clinging to him not as a conqueror, but as a woman who realized she had just created something that could change the world. "Your soul is too strong, Leon. It's forcing life into my dead heart."
For the first time since he arrived, Leon didn't feel the urge to push her away. A surge of fierce, protective instinct—the same instinct that made him the protector of the school—reared its head. But this was different. This was his blood.
The news of the pregnancy rippled through the castle like a shockwave. To the Vampire Lords, this child was a blasphemy—a "Day-Walker" that could potentially rule them all.
But for Leon, the stakes had just reached an impossible height.
If I leave now, Leon thought, looking at Carmilla as she fell into a fitful, exhausted sleep beside him, the Lords will kill her and the child the moment I'm gone. If I stay... I'll eventually forget Elena and become the monster they want me to be.
He looked at his hand, where the golden aura was now laced with a dark, veiny crimson.
[New Quest: The Father's Dilemma]
[Objective: Protect the Heir from the Internal Coup.]
[Hidden Objective: Prevent the 'Elena' memories from reaching 0%.]