"Could it be… that the reason is Royce?"
Seeing Ruby remain silent for so long, Ethan gathered all his courage and continued to make a guess.
"Ha! Do you think the troubles between us girls always revolve around men like you? Who do you think you are? Do you think you're that valuable?"
Ruby and her friends burst into laughter, making Ethan feel utterly embarrassed.
Well… it was true that he had thought that way!
After all, across all kinds of media - movies, short clips, novels, even music videos - people constantly created scenarios where long-standing friendships between girls fell apart just because they fought over the affection of a man.
Although Ethan wasn't interested in that kind of trope, he couldn't help but be influenced by the seemingly endless chatter of the girls in his class about trending content.
So, with his limited life experience and introverted nature, he had assumed that films and novels must at least partly be inspired by real-life stories.
"By the way, did you even think before asking that, Ethan? How could you possibly think Royce is the reason?"
Ruby sounded curious.
She continued pressing Ethan with questions despite how anxious he was about Autumn. The poison from the needle of the Anti-Vampire Defense System had already spread through the veins in Autumn's pale arms.
"Royce was once voted the most attractive boy at Harmony High. The majority of girls in this school admire him. But he's only ever been close to Autumn - to the point that people even ship them as a couple. So I thought… I thought…"
"Okay. Okay. I agree! Royce has a high nose bridge, thin lips, captivating phoenix eyes, long eyelashes, a deep warm voice, a tall, well-built body with six-pack abs… I'd love to have him as my servant too. But don't you notice that there's something very unusual about him?"
"Yeah. Royce is very afraid of being touched by girls - both human girls and girls… like you. But he's selectively immune to only one person - Camellia, the Vampire Hunter of Harmony Town."
Without a moment's hesitation, Ethan stated his observation about Royce's peculiarity to Ruby. He just wanted her to end this interrogation as quickly as possible.
"No! That's not what I meant. Think again - try comparing him to 'people' like us."
Ruby cut Ethan off again.
From what Ethan had observed, Royce did seem somewhat different from the Vampires he knew in Harmony Town.
When in the Awakened state - their combat form - Vampires could all alter their bodies, seemingly to optimize them for whatever purpose they needed.
Common transformations of Vampires included: lengthened fangs, hardened and sharpened claws, eyes that glowed in the dark, a stronger body scent…
But!
There was no Vampire he knew who possessed eyes like Royce's…
…Eyes that shone brightly, with almond-shaped pupils like a cat's!
"Could he be a hybrid between a Vampire and a Werewolf?"
Anya trembled as she whispered to Yara. It seemed the Femme Fatale group was not unfamiliar with Royce's unusual eyes.
"Are you crazy? Werewolves don't exist."
Yara replied, scolding her younger sister while also pinching her painfully as a "bonus."
"If he's not a Werewolf hybrid, then why can he regenerate faster than other Vampires?"
Anya shouted. She didn't hesitate to return the favor with scratches full of "sisterly love."
Anya's remark made Ethan recall how Royce's wounds could absorb his own spilled blood back into his body. Thanks to that, his injuries healed faster than other Vampires without needing to consume human blood.
"Where does he come from? What's his family background? Are his parents alive or dead? Why is he living at the Old Fortress with Autumn's brothers? Have you ever wondered about any of that?"
As Ruby asked those questions, Ethan suddenly felt deeply ashamed of how little he had cared about his friend.
Well… not exactly uncaring.
Rather, Ethan had always valued a person based on how they treated others, not on their family background.
So, before knowing that Royce was a Vampire, Ethan had never once asked where he lived or what his parents did. He only saw Royce as someone playful, noisy, and annoying, yet at the same time mysterious - but overall, still someone worth being friends with.
Back then, the only thing that had ever bothered Ethan was how Autumn and Royce kept hiding the truth by manipulating him with Vampire tricks.
Later, when Ethan learned that Royce was a Vampire, currently living at the Old Fortress with Autumn's brothers - being driven to school in the morning by Autumn's parents and even brought back for dinner at night - he still didn't bother asking why Royce was treated that way.
Even the slight resemblance in appearance between Royce and Felix… was never something Ethan considered important. He only wished for Harmony Town to return to normal as soon as possible…
But then again, Harmony Town had never really been normal, had it?
Well, for Ethan, it would be enough if no more Infected appeared in the town. And for that to happen, they needed to capture the Blood Giver.
However, if the Blood Giver turned out to be Ruby…
…then Autumn would probably be heartbroken. And so would her brother, Summer.
Ethan let out another sigh as he thought about Ruby's distant future. He suddenly felt a sense of regret for her, for Celestia, and for their entire family.
That regret made him want to leave the investigation to those with authority. After all, he didn't have the ability to gather evidence anyway. And the Vampires clearly didn't want him involved in this matter.
"Although the bloodline-based class system no longer exists since the Royal Family was overthrown, for us, origin still matters a lot. A Vampire with outstanding looks and extraordinary abilities but no clear background is nothing more than a disgusting outcast."
"Hey! Didn't you spend 500.000 VND just to keep touching the six-pack abs of that 'disgusting outcast' during the Mid-Autumn Festival?"
Ethan snapped back reflexively.
He couldn't help but react as Ruby continued to belittle his friend. The pity he had just begun to feel for her instantly vanished like smoke.
"Because I'm rich. What I do with my money is none of your business. A poor person like you could never understand the refined pleasures of our class."
Ruby didn't give Ethan a chance to argue back. She continued enthusiastically with a speech as long as an imperial memorial, backed by the support of her loyal friends.
"In short, Royce is not the reason Autumn and we stopped being friends. You could say it like this: one day we got bored of each other, so we stopped. Think about it - even lovers can fall out of love and break up for no reason, let alone friends."
"Family, friendship, love… those things are only for the weak. The strong don't need them. I don't need them."
"And those weak people who rely on emotions as a reason to exist - they're so weak that they don't dare to be themselves, don't dare to show their true nature - just to beg for love and recognition from others."
"Ha! I don't believe that something called love exists in this world. It's nothing more than mutual attraction driven by hormones and biological instincts. People come together for a reason. They love each other only to fill what's missing in their lives."
"Let me give you an example: my sister Celestia loves Autumn's brother simply because he's the only Vampire around her age in this area. Yes, my sister is actually quite practical. She can't stand the patriarchal, outdated mindset of those 200- to 300-year-old Vampires. And she doesn't like human boys either. Human men like you are only 'usable' for a few dozen years at most, right?"
"Hey! But aren't you also dating a human guy right now? You two keep arguing, breaking up, then getting back together - because even though you already have him, you still go around flirting with other guys. So clearly, you also need to love and be loved - maybe even a lot, right?"
Finally, Ethan managed to squeeze in a barrage of questions in the middle of Ruby's speech.
But immediately after, he realized that this was a terrible move.
Because…
…what he needed to do most right now was to end Ruby's monologue - not to encourage her to keep going on about irrelevant things.