Her answer stumped Snow.

  It took her a long while to process Red’s train of thought. Their outlooks were different. Red wasn’t bogged down by her constant near death experiences or the ever-looming threat of death.

  It was because of this that she was able to move on with a steel-clad heart, even though she had just died.

  “By the way, what happened to me?”

  “… Your body. It started to reconstruct itself. You’ve been out for an entire day. But you were already healed in the first six hours.”

  I was Healed, and it wasn’t by Snow?

  “Your body just came back together. Blood that wasn’t there returned. Just like that. Red…”

  Suddenly, Snow’s grasp around her tightened. She became possessive, like a child squeezing a stuffed toy in the middle of the night.

  Then, with her head buried into Red’s nape, she asked in a dangerous whisper:

  “Are you still the same Red as before?”

  “Is that even a question? Of course I am!” Red laughed, causing a sigh of relief to leave Snow’s lips.

  Her grip loosened. The tears still hadn’t subsided yet, but she had calmed down enough where she was no longer crying into Red’s back.

  “What kind of a question is that?” She chuckled.

  After a short, deliberate pause, Snow answered with:

  “It’s because you said you’re a Corrupted...”

  Here it is. Me and my big mouth. I shouldn’t have said anything… but I felt it was the right thing to say. Tch…

  A dreaded look came over Red as she steeled herself to receive Snow’s judgement.

  But what she received was instead a headpat.

  A warm, motherly headpat that caused her heart to…

  Weird. It feels like there’s butterflies in my heart.

  “Red. I… don’t know how much I can believe that. Corrupted can’t think. But I know you’re not an ordinary girl.”

  “Then what can I say? That I’m not human?”

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  “You are to me… and I hope I am to you as well.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean? You’re a Healer, aren’t you?”

  “… I wish… I was only just a Healer…”

  Snow slowly rose to her feet. She dusted her skirt and then walked in front of Red. Her crimson eyes matched her own. For a moment, she was reminded of the strange person that spoke to her with Snow’s voice

  This was clearly Snow.

  But her bloodied hands, red-stained hair and disheveled clothes gave her a feral look. If Red had to liken her to an animal, then it would be a starving wolf.

  “My name is Snow… and I am a Healer.”

  She slashed her wrist, allowing blood to overflow.

  Then, that blood slowed, became congealed, then, it hardened completely. The giant frozen stream of blood was like a giant scarlet crystal. Somehow, Snow was able to manipulate the properties of her own blood.

  Now that she thought about it, Snow’s dairy had been absorbing blood in a strange manner. Not only that, but Snow should have bled out with the sheer number of wounds she had taken from both Red and the Huntsman.

  They were not shallow cuts, but deep lacerations that reached the bone.

  The red in her eyes began to flow like they were a liquid trapped within her retinas. They spiraled and gazed upon Red.

  She felt the air shift around Snow.

  It was the same shift she had felt when she had heard that authoritative version of Snow’s voice.

  This was but a fraction of it, however.

  Finally, Snow opened her mouth, revealing a pair of razor-sharp fangs.

  “And, by my namesake of Snow Rosenrot, I will exchange a secret of equivalence to your own – Corrupted Red.”

  She reached down and held out a hand to help her up.

  Red took that hand, and Snow finally revealed what made her a monster.

  “I am an Honored One. But you can think of me as a vampire. The cost of my Blood Manipulation, the use of my blood as a medium… they are my powers as an Honored One. The reason why I’m not the same Snow from the village… is because I…”

  “Need to eat? I saw how you were picking the parts with blood.”

  Red’s intuition struck a bullseye.

  She had been spilling so much of her own blood but had hardly enough to replenish it.

  As a result, the suppressed, feral part of her crept into the world.

  But that still did not explain that other voice of hers.

  And so, as Red lifted her arm to offer it to Snow, she had to ask:

  “Then how about this. You can eat me. I’m pretty much immortal… right? But you gotta tell me who I heard before.”

  Snow tilted her head.

  “Eh? Eat you?”

  “Yeah. Eat.”

  “I… just need a bit of your blood. I wouldn’t… go that far unless I was truly desperate.”

  Snow’s face turned a bit red as well.

  Is there another meaning to ‘eat’ that I don’t know?

  “… That voice…”

  Red felt weak suddenly as Snow scooped her up into her arms into a bridal carry. Then, she hovered her lips close to her neck, ready to drain her blood.

  … Feels kinda nice in a way. Gah! What are you thinking Red! You’re about to be eaten! You’re a hunter, not prey!

  “it’s a part of me that I hope you’ll never have to meet again.”

  A sharp pain formed in her neck.

  Snow had begun feeding on her blood.

  “… Heh. Like a baby.” Red smirked. “And I thought I was the smaller one here.”

  “This taste… it’s… incredible… *slurp* How can it be so sweet? So savory? So… fulfilling~”

  Her mumbles tickled Red.

  Of course, it was only natural that Red would have the best blood around.

  “Gotta feel sorry for those Cave Mosquitoes for missing out! Uh… huh… Hey… my head feel’s funny…”

  Red | HP: 10,000

  “Eh…? Snow… SNOW! Abort! ABORT! You… YOU MORON! You’re gonna drain me dry and kill me! I’m gonna die again!”

  Suffice to say, had Red not warned Snow about her depleting health, then she would have died a fifth time.

  13 Chapters ahead over on the

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