Codename Vestia - Chapter 8

Doyeong thought and asked again.

 

“When did you come to this island?”

 

But this time, Camar did not answer immediately and only looked at the sea, like she’s looking in the direction she came from before.

 

“Long ago.”

 

A glimmer of light passed through the eyes that were staring straight at the horizon.

 

“Very long time ago.”

 

Her usually foolish eyes suddenly changed, making her look like a completely different person. But for some reason, Doyeong still found it familiar.

 

But before he realized anything, Camar turned around and offered him the grilled fish.

 

“Eat.”

 

She said with a small smile.

 

Doyeong didn’t know how she could be so dog-like. Not the cursing kind, but the cute, adult animal kind.

 

Doyeong took a bite of the fish and munched.

 

“Did you make salt too?”

 

He asked because he had seen her sprinkle white powder on the fish using a wooden barrel with a hole in it.

 

“I boiled sea water.”

 

Camar replied, muttering as she removed the fish bones from her mouth. She seemed to have learned how to purify salt. Doyeong muttered.

 

“But this is no Robinson Crusoe.”

[Robinson Crusoe: is a novel by Daniel Defoe. It tells a story of a young and impulsive wanderer, who defied his parents and went to the sea. Long short story he got stranded on an island, but managed to survive and even build some sugar plantations before he returned to Europe, earning a great deal of money]

 

Vampires had sensitive tongues. Camar couldn’t handle the heat, and gnawed the fish in big bites. She had already eaten half of the fish this way. It seems that no one has taught her how to eat. The way she ate was terrifying.

 

Even if it is exaggerated a bit, if it is true that she has lived for 3,000 years, there must be the aristocratic arrogance characteristic of a long-lived vampire, or the contemplation, indolence, and pressuring presence that leaves one feeling helpless, that are usually exuded by those who rot as they grow old. They definitely would not be squatting around  eating roasted sweet potatoes.

 

Even if she were a human, looking and acting like this, nobody would’ve thought that she had a very high status.

 

‘Were you really born in the 14th century BC?’

 

Doyeong thought with skepticism.

 

Let’s ignore everything else for the moment. But no matter how long she slept, how could a vampire that has lived for 3.300 years’, brain be so innocent? Even if she were a human, she looks at most twenty-five.

 

Even acknowledging that she was a bit of a handicap as her French is not perfect, her personality didn’t suit a vampire who was four digits of age. It’s not like she’s Dooley who was locked in ice.

[Dooley: This is probably mentioning some other story but I cannot find which one, if you have any information please comment down below]

 

After some time, Camar opened the rag-like crossbody bag, took out the flowers, and began to chew them whole. The act was like chewing a tobacco leaf after finishing a meal.

 

Doyeong looked at her and asked,

 

“Is it delicious?”

 

He asked out of curiosity. Doyeong once ate the Floss that his luas comrades were eating.

 

Not too long ago—a lot of things happened in the meantime, so it feels like it happened years ago—Sergeant Han criticized that it “tastes like saccharin mixed with mojito and feels like melted ice”, but it actually wasn’t that bad. It tasted just like plain water.

 

To put it bluntly, there is a bitter, grassy taste that lingers on the tip of the tongue, but it smells rather fishy. Sergeant Han described the taste like mixing saccharin, a chemical substance that is not sugar, with cooled mojito.

 

But his luas comrades said it was sweet. It was not really sweet when compared to sugar, but there is no other word that can describe it aside from sweet.

 

“No.”

 

But Camar shook her head.

 

“… taste.”

“Does it taste awful?”

 

Camar nodded.

 

“Very.”

 

Floss was delicious for vampires, but the flowers used as raw materials were not.

 

“Well, many food ingredients don’t taste very good in their natural state.”

 

Doyeong muttered.

 

In the end, the flower itself was not edible as a staple food. Which was why the flowers were not used as a substitute for blood for a long time.

 

It was only after meeting modern science that the flowers could become the staple food of vampires.

 

Doyeong pointed to the flower and said.

 

“There is a thing called Floss. It was made by refining the flower.”

“Refine?”

“It’s like boiling seawater to make salt. Organic synthesis is a more complicated process than that, but anyway, vampires these days don’t drink blood and can live by drinking it alone. If you go outside, you can get Floss too.”

 

But Camar didn’t seem to understand. While they were talking, she just kept munching the flowers as if chewing corn. So Doyeong added.

 

“So, you don’t have to chew the distasteful flowers anymore if you go out of the island…”

 

He was just about to bring the topic up, but Camar looked at the flower once and shook her head.

 

“It’s okay. There’s enough flowers.”

 

It was a fight whose ending had been decided since the start. This didn’t fit Camar’s character that he had seen until now.

 

Doyeong opened his mouth to say more. But Camar cut him off.

 

“You want more fish, Lieutenant?”

 

At the same time, she reached out with the fish and made it seem like she’d just put it in his mouth even if he said he didn’t want to eat anymore. He knew that it was a vampire’s prey, but…

 

Doyeong sighed.

 

“I had enough. Let’s keep the rest, like what humans would do.”

“But, I am not human.”

 

As Doyeong’s eyes grew wild in response to her careless reply, Camar quickly withdrew her hand.

 

“Umm. But since you’re human, we should keep it.”

 

Doyeong wanted to ask anyone. So, which part of this vampire looks like she had lived for more than three thousand and three hundred years?

 

***

 

He felt like he was stuffed.

 

Doyeong didn’t like the feeling of being unable to move his body, so he usually doesn’t overeat. But here, there was nothing that he had to do right away, so he ate as much as he could, thinking that eating a lot would be better for his recovery.

 

At the moment, he was sitting under the shade of a tree and resting endlessly.

 

Doyeong stared blankly at the hazy scenery and murmured.

 

“It’s hot.”

“Hot.”

 

Camar, who ate enough to make her lower abdomen bulge slightly, also said from the side.

 

“It’s peaceful.”

“Peaceful.”

 

After sitting for a while, Camar started to nod off and began to fall asleep. Regardless of the species, indolence is an incurable disease.

 

Fragmented clouds floated gently in the sky. Doyeong wondered if it would be okay for him to be like this, but it was true that he didn’t feel very threatened because the landscape he was looking at was like heaven on earth.

 

Besides, as long as Camar didn’t help, it was hard to do anything until his leg got better.

 

It was cool under the shade, but the air itself was hot, so sweat ran down his back under the t-shirt.

 

After waking up, he felt uncomfortable because he couldn’t wash his face. Doyeong turned to Camar and said,

 

“I need to wash up. Is there nowhere to wash here?”

 

Camar opened her eyes and reached out to Doyeong.

 

“I’ll take you.”

 

When Doyeong grabbed her hand, she got up and supported him. Even though she had been awkward in the beginning, now she was already skilled as if she had been caring for a family member who had been sick for a long time.

 

Camar took Doyeong through a small path through the bushes and into the forest. All directions looked the same, so if you ask him to find his own way next time, he might not be able to find it, but Doyeong still tried to engrave it well in his mind.

 

The reason he decided to go to the bath was because he felt uncomfortable, but in fact, it was also to expand the map in his head about this area.

 

Camar took Doyeong to the shore of the lake. The lake had a similar atmosphere to the place where Camar first encountered him. It just felt a little smaller and more private.

 

Doyeong looked around the scenery and felt like he was a fairy who came down here to wash. It was ironic that he was stranded on a deserted island, and could not enjoy anything. Even so, when I return home, I will still remember this scenery.

 

“Wash here.”

 

Said Camar. Then she didn’t go and stayed there, so Doyeong turned around and raised one eyebrow.

 

“Are you not going?”

 

Camar pointed over the bushes.

 

“I’ll be nearby. Call if anything happens.”

“What could possibly happen here?”

 

When he looked around earlier, this didn’t look like an island with dangerous beasts.

 

“Drown.”

 

Doyeong was surprised. Camar didn’t know the French language tenses, so she spoke almost exclusively in the present progressive tense. Just now it sounded like she was telling him to drown.

 

That being said, of course it’s because she didn’t realize herself as she still had that innocent face that doesn’t know anything. Doyeong still doesn’t know how to accept her unique character.

 

“Alright, then. Don’t steal.”

“Won’t steal. Why would I steal?”

[Doyeong meant “don’t steal a glance” or “don’t take a peep”. Ah the wordplays…]

 

Camar treated Doyeong as a strange person for saying that and disappeared beyond the bushes. Doyeong shook his head in exasperation and took off his t-shirt.

 

Camar watched him like a person with shady intentions, hiding behind a tree.

 

But it’s only because she was worried that Doyeong, who has a bad leg, might slip.

 

Doyeong, who was about to take off his pants, suddenly turned around and said,

 

“Hey, I can feel your gaze.”

 

Camar quickly turned around.

 

“What are you talking about. I didn’t see anything.”

 

It was just a quick glance to see if he was a real human.

 

As she was looking at the leaves, she heard the sound of the water rippling as Doyeong entered the lake. Camar sat still for a while, then wiggled her toes and gathered her knees.

 

She felt weird. She couldn’t explain how it was ‘weird’, but…

 

It was the first time she had ever seen someone who was not afraid of her. On the contrary, he was so intimidating that she wondered if he was a real human being.

 

But Doyeong was a human.

 

Up until now, his expression had mostly been a grim expression, an angry expression, or raised eyebrows, but he was so expressive, and the low voice that she thought was pleasing to the ear from the very first time she heard it. It was always full of energy.

 

After all, vampires were the ones who had died once. They were generally beautiful, but words such as dark beings, bluish ice cubes, and faint moonlight seemed to fit them better. They could not produce the same energy of light emitted by Doyeong.

 

Even when he was angry, he was overflowing with energy, and when she first met Doyeong, she looked at him with admiration even though she was pushing and threatening him under the waterfall.

 

“I’m done.”

 

Camar came to her senses at Doyeong’s words. Having finished washing up, Doyeong went back to his seat.

 

Camar was about to say something when she noticed that the tree branch used for the splint was wet.

 

“Want to change the branch?”

“Sure.”

“Wait.”

 

Then she went to find a branch that could be used as a splint, sat in front of Doyeong, and started changing the splint.

 

As Camar bent down, her breastbone was exposed through the torn t-shirt. Doyeong looked up at once and looked at Camar’s forehead as if he found it fascinating.

 

In any case, there was a contrast if one compared her mature body to her personality that was like a blank slate. It was to the extent that he thought she was a little idiot.

 

Moreover, at times like these, she was so focused on her task at hand, like a person doing the most important thing in the world.

 

A cool breeze along with the smell of water blew.

 

Drops of water fell from the tips of Doyeong’s wet and messy hair.

 

After some time, Camar raised her eyes and looked at  Doyeong. Through the leaves, the sunlight shone straight into her red eyes. There was a strange pulsation in the iris, as if countless red petals were stacked on top of each other.

 

Doyeong had a lot of vampire companions, but he had never looked into the eyes of his colleagues in such detail.

 

Biologically, vampires were predators and humans were prey.

 

Furthermore, vampires were specialized predators that eat only humans and not other animals, and the two races had no choice but to be natural enemies. The instinct engraved in the genes of the prey responds, like when one looks straight into the eyes of a snake, the feelings of fear will flow, making the body stiff and they won’t be able to turn away.

 

The prey, who saw such a beautiful beast, could not even think of resisting it.

 

Camar also felt strange. She was strangely conscious of his smooth chin, his prominent neck, and his hand that was on the rock. Tension? She thought.

 

Besides, the humans she had met had never looked at her like this. Even if they looked, they looked at her with fear and reluctance.

 

To humans, she was only one of the two.

 

A god, or a monster.

 

But to this man, she… .