When the words left the ancestor’s mouth and settled into the air like an irreversible verdict, the entire hall froze in a way that felt far deeper than fear.
Improved blood lineage.
For a mont, no one even breathed.
The vampires who had been kneeling in panic slowly lifted their heads as if pulled up by invisible strings.
Their expressions twisted in disbelief.
Eyes widened so much that the whites showed fully around their crimson irises. Lips parted without aning to.
One young noble’s jaw dropped so far that a thin line of saliva slipped from the corner of his mouth and dripped onto the stone floor without him noticing.
Another clutched his own throat as though the words had physically struck him there.
Several stood completely stiff, mouths hanging open, fangs exposed in a foolish, stunned display.
Their elegant composure shattered into sothing almost animal. One woman blinked repeatedly, her pupils trembling, whispering under her breath, "No... no... that’s not..."
A middle-aged elder’s hand began shaking uncontrollably, his fingers curling and uncurling as if grasping for sothing solid to hold on to. His face drained of color, which for a vampire ant it went from pale to nearly gray. His tongue darted out unconsciously to wet his lips, but his mouth was too dry.
His eyes kept moving to Cornelia and then to the ancestors, then back again, as if searching for so crack in reality.
Another vampire actually stumbled backward, bumping into soone behind him. He did not even apologize. He was staring at Cornelia as though she had grown a second heart in her chest.
The silence stretched painfully long.
It was not the silence of fear this ti. It was the silence of minds breaking apart.
Blood lineage improvent was not sothing spoken lightly. It was not a small achievent. It was not even sothing most vampires would dare dream about.
To refine one’s bloodline ant stepping closer to the origin of their race, closer to purity, closer to ancient power that even ti could not dull.
And it was said so casually.
Cornelia herself stood there in shock, her heartbeat hamring against her ribs. Improve... my bloodline? Her thoughts stumbled over each other. She had trained. She had endured pain. She had reached the tenth stage in both Blood Mana and Blood Aura. But improving her lineage? That was sothing she had never even considered possible.
However, she knew who made these possible.
anwhile, Cain didn’t give a fuck but noted sothing change because he felt the shift in the room like a tide pulling inward.
The greed.
The awe.
The sudden recalculations happening behind dozens of crimson eyes.
He narrowed his gaze slightly.
Tssskk...
Then suddenly—
"Bwahahahahaha!"
The ancestors burst into booming laughter.
It was loud, unrestrained, ancient. The sound rolled across the hall like thunder crashing against mountains.
The bald heads of the ten Blood Ancestors tilted back as they laughed openly, their sharp features breaking into wide grins that showed elongated fangs.
"Look at your faces!" one of them roared between laughs. "You all look like hatchlings seeing the moon for the first ti!"
Another ancestor wiped the corner of his eye as though from tears of amusent. "Did you truly think we would jest about such a thing?"
They gradually steadied themselves, though smiles remained on their aged faces.
"You are not hearing it wrong," the eldest said firmly, his voice cutting through the lingering shock. "This beautiful vampire girl has indeed, without knowing, improved her own blood lineage."
A tremor ran through the crowd again.
Cornelia’s knees felt weak. "Ancestors... I... I did nothing special," she said softly, confusion and disbelief mixing in her tone.
The oldest ancestor looked at her with sothing that almost resembled affection. "Child, that is exactly why this is remarkable."
He lifted his gaze slightly, as though seeing beyond the hall, beyond the castle walls, into mories buried under centuries.
"Do you know how difficult it is to improve a vampire lineage?" he asked, his voice lowering, growing heavy with history.
The hall remained silent.
"We have watched generations co and go," another ancestor began. "We have seen Earls who bathed in the blood of a thousand enemies. We have seen Marquises who studied Blood Mana until their minds fractured. We have seen nobles who sacrificed decades in sealed ditation chambers, chasing a single thread of deeper blood."
"And still," a third ancestor added, "they failed."
Their expressions shifted from laughter to solemn pride.
"To refine blood is not rely to train," the eldest continued. "It requires epiphany. It requires an understanding of what blood truly is. It requires one to look inward and see the origin of their own existence. So call it enlightennt. So call it luck. So call it the blessing of the Blood Moon itself."
He closed his eyes briefly.
"There were eras when even high-ranking nobles, Earls and Marquises of ancient families, sought ways to deepen their lineage and returned with nothing but scars. There were rituals lost to ti. There were wars fought over fragnts of knowledge. Entire territories burned because soone claid to have found a thod."
The weight of those words pressed down on everyone listening.
"And yet," another ancestor said slowly, turning his gaze back to Cornelia, "in this generation, in this Baron-level territory... within the Moonshade family... it has happened."
The disbelief on the faces below began to crack into sothing else.
Hope.
The ancestors suddenly raised their heads toward the high arched ceiling, where a faint crimson light filtered down from the blood sigil that symbolized the Moonshade crest.
"O Blood Moon!" one shouted, voice ringing with emotion. "You who watch over our lineage!"
Another lifted both arms, blood mana swirling around him in spirals of dark red. "Witness your children! Witness the rise of Moonshade once more!"
Their voices grew louder, more fervent.
"The Blood Moon shines brightest when its children grow stronger!"
"Our lineage will not fade!"
"The Moonshade na will rise!"
The ten ancestors began cheering in their own ancient way, their blood mana resonating in the air, vibrating against the walls, against the floor, against the very bones of those present. It was not wild chaos. It was ceremonial. It was triumphant.
So vampires below felt tears sting their eyes without understanding why.
Then, hesitant voices broke through.
"Ancestors... are you certain?"
The question ca from an elder who had once been among the loudest in demanding Rivik step down. His tone now was careful, almost fragile.
"Improved blood lineage... truly?"
The ancestors lowered their gazes slowly.
Their eyes were no longer amused.
"Do you doubt our sight?" one asked calmly.
The elder imdiately bowed his head. "No, Ancestors. It is just... this... this changes everything."
And that was the truth.
The Moonshade family loved infighting. They sched. They competed. They clawed at each other for rank and influence. But when it ca to their blood, to their future as a whole, that was different. That was sacred.
If soone within their family had truly improved their lineage, the impact would be beyond imagination. Stronger descendants. Higher ceilings. Greater resonance with ancient blood techniques. Perhaps even stepping closer to the pure lines of the earliest vampires.
Another vampire whispered, "It’s impossible..."
"Unless she had a great epiphany about Blood Mana."
"Or she was blessed by incredible luck."
"Or the Blood Moon truly chose her."
The murmurs spread like wildfire.
Soone suddenly muttered, "The only ones who have done this in recently were the Lycannis."
At the ntion of that na, the hall tightened.
The Lycannis Family. The Lycan race. The mortal enemies of all vampires.
"They awakened their primal blood in this generation causing a stir to all nightmare races," soone added. "Their strength surged after that."
"And now..." another said slowly, eyes drifting to Cornelia, "...we too?"
The thought was intoxicating.
Vampires began looking at each other differently now. Not as rivals. Not as threats. But as mbers of sothing potentially rising.
"Is this a sign?" a young noble asked quietly.
"A sign that the Moonshade family will ascend?"
"That the Blood Moon has not abandoned us?"
Even those who had been plotting monts ago felt their ambitions reshaping. If the family rose, they rose with it.
The ancestors watched all of this unfold with knowing expressions.
Finally, the eldest among them gave a slow nod.
"Yes," he said simply.
The single word carried more weight than any speech.
The murmurs quieted again.
He swept his gaze across the entire hall, lingering on faces that had monts ago been twisted with doubt and greed.
"You believe us now?" he asked, his tone steady, almost challenging.
The hall fell completely silent once more.
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