Vampire's Slice of Life

"…permission to lie."

The words echoed in Lizbeth's ears.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

Tears streamed down her face as she stared at Lith with hollow eyes. She was so scared right now that in her blurred vision, she saw a flash of bright light, then everything went dark as if she had shut her eyes.

The darkness slowly faded and Lizbeth saw a toddler with green hair and pretty green eyes, holding the skirt of a lady whose face was cast in a shadow. The two were in a hallway of some castle.

"Mommy! Mommy! Mommy don't go!"

The toddler bawled her eyes out and pulled the skirt of the woman with as much strength as she could muster.

The woman did not look at the child and continued to walk, dragging the child along.

The crying toddler and the lady reached the gate of some place, front of which was an open carriage.

A man in a suit was waiting for the lady whose face was unknown.

As Lizbeth turned to have a look at the man, even his face was unknown.

"Mommy! Daddy! Don't go! Don't go!"

The toddler wailed and pulled the woman's skirt as hard as she could.

This time, the woman turned around and looked at the girl.

Lizbeth could not see whether she was actually looking or not, but with her body language, she could make this much out.

"Mommy?"

The toddler somewhat stopped crying as a glimmer of hope flashed in her innocent heart.

"Live," said the woman in an indifferent voice. "If you live long enough, you'll find us one day."

With that, the woman pulled her skirt and the toddler lost her grip on it. The force with which she had pulled caused the child to fall face down.

The rough ground with fine rock particles grazed her skin and created many small cuts and scratches.

Lying face down on the ground, the toddler began wailing once again and called for her mother, but alas, the carriage had left already.

"Mommy… mommy… mommy…"

The girl mumbled while on the ground. She had no more tears left to shed, and energy to cry or make any sound.

She slowly started losing consciousness.

Before she fell unconscious, a pair of tattered shoes could be seen by the toddler.

"Sigh… to be this cruel to your own child…"

Those were the last words the toddler heard before she passed out.

Lizbeth, looking at the scene, was in absolute shock. It was to the point she couldn't make heads or tails of the situation.

Her life… her life's memories were flashing past her eyes!

"Caretaker…" Lizbeth said softly as tears trickled down her eyes.

When she was a toddler, she could only see her tattered shoes. However, right now she could see the whole body of the middle-aged lady except for her face.

The scene in front of Lizbeth changed as the caretaker carried the toddler with her.

In the blink of an eye, the scene in front of Lizbeth changed.

"…I am sorry, child. You have to save half of that food for dinner or you'll be starving and won't be able to sleep."

The toddler was crying as the middle-aged lady took a bowl of boiled water with some lentils in it away from the child.

It could barely be called a meal with how watery it was. However, it was still somewhat filling due to the water. It had certain magical properties that somewhat satiated one's hunger.

However, to a growing toddler who needed a lot of nutrients, this much wasn't enough. She needed more, but there wasn't a surplus available.

The middle-aged lady hugged the wailing toddler and rubbed her back.

"Please don't cry. I will try to help you as much as I can."

After saying so, the caretaker broke the hug and looked at the toddler who had somewhat stopped crying.

She wiped the tears off her face and said with a smile, "Since you have been a good girl until now, it is only right that you get rewarded, right?"

This time, Lizbeth could see the middle-aged woman's chapped lips and her sad smile. Only this much was uncovered from the hidden face.

The woman took out a dusty book from a shelf nearby. The house was small with the room having only a table, chair, and shelf.

The shelf had the woman's clothes and everything the woman could find like books, hairpins, scrap metals, and so on.

There was no kitchen. Just a stove in the corner of the room with some utensils.

There wasn't a bathroom either, and to shower was a privilege they couldn't afford. Going for number one or two had to be in the open, in a forest ten minutes away from the settlement they were in.

Thanks to there being barely any food, going for number two would happen only once or twice in a week.

A normal person peed quite frequently and a toddler could not cover a great distance for such a thing. Thankfully, there was a boulder just a couple of steps away.

The toddler could hide behind it and do her thing, no one would be able to notice her.

The caretaker was truly a kind woman who did whatever she could in her power to raise her.

This particular day, where she had just taken her in, and talked about the reward, was the day Lizbeth's life took a complete turn.

The caretaker dusted off the dirt from the book and opened it. She showed it to Lizbeth and pointed at the illustrations in it.

"See, this is a story book. And not just any story book, but one that will teach you a thing or two about magic."

The caretaker then placed the toddler on her lap and put the storybook in front of her.

"Since you can't read, I'll narrate it to you. One fine day…"

Lizbeth closed her eyes and listened to the story the caretaker was narrating. It was still vivid in her memories.

The story was about a boy's adventure to become the king. He was naive and thirteen years old. One day, he accidentally ate a strange root and that awakened his powers. This was the awakening root that awakened one's magic core.

This story was a simple introduction to the world of magic and cultivation. The books having these stories were everywhere and the cost to buy them was less than a pound of bread, meaning anyone could afford them.

The caretaker had not bought this story. She got it from a fellow scrap collector lady. The lady did not know how to read, but the illustrations seemed nice so she wanted to show it to her friend, who was the caretaker.

The scrap collector lady eventually forgot about this book and it stayed with the caretaker, collecting dust in her shelf, until this day.

Lizbeth learnt of awakening through this story. There were also the names of a few herbs in it that had minor medicinal properties to treat wounds.

"…and you see, I happen to have the same thing present in this book!"

The caretaker said cheerfully and showed the toddler Lizbeth the herbs present in the book. They grew like weed and were really common to find.

The toddler Lizbeth was amazed. It was as if her worldview—

which wasn't even made—had totally shattered. This was magic!

The caretaker then made a paste from those herbs and applied it on Lizbeth's injured face and arms. She was narrating the story of the boy side by side while doing so.

This way, Lizbeth got her wounds treated and learnt of alchemy for the very first time, which changed her life later on completely.

Lizbeth blinked. The scene changed.

She was eight years old in this scene and wore rags for clothes. Her green hair was messy and dirty, rough and brittle. It didn't even look green.

"Caretaker… please… drink this… you should be fine with this…"

The eight year old pleaded to the sickly woman lying down on the floor.

All the years of hard work with barely any nutrition had taken a toll on her mortal body. She could not continue anymore.

With her trembling hands, the caretaker touched eight year old Lizbeth's face.

"Child… you don't need to give me your portion of food. You don't need to go to sleep hungry everyday…"

The woman's hands were rough and full of calluses, a testament to the years of hard labor.

Despite being rough, to the eight year old and the current Lizbeth, they were the gentlest and warmest hands she had ever felt.

The current Lizbeth still couldn't forget this feeling.

The woman on her deathbed smiled. "Haha… as a matter of fact… you can now have my portion too…"

"Don't say that."

The eight year old held the caretaker's hand and tried not to cry.

The caretaker moved her hand and gently rubbed the girl's head.

Lizbeth could not see her face, but she had a soft smile as she looked at the eight year old.

"Live, child. You must live. Remember… somewhere… someone… is watching. They are watching over you and would not let you fall… as long as you don't give up…"

At that time, Lizbeth did not understand much of what the woman was rambling. But, the words stuck to her.

The caretaker's smile turned even gentler than before.

"God… god is real… they are watching you… so don't be afraid of anything…"

The woman then rubbed the girl's head again.

"Haha… you know… that day when I saw you… I had lost all hope and was going to give up… but then I met you… God gave me the duty to take care of you… you became my will to live… you…"

"Sniff… sniff…"

The eight year old child did her best to hold herself back from crying and tried to listen to the woman's story.

Even though she was a child, she could sort of comprehend that the caretaker was trying to say she would've died, had she not met her.

The child only understood bits and pieces, but few years down the line, everything would become clear.

While the girl sobbed, tears leaked down the caretaker's eyes. She ignored them and continued, "…you were the best thing that happened to me."

"Child… don't give up…"

"...and please…"

"…live."