No to Being the Suffering Heroine!

The French novelist, Victor Hugo, said, “Women are weak, but mothers are strong.”

Did he, perhaps, have an experience of getting his butt kicked by his mom during his teenage years?

Well, regardless of its origin, that saying was truly close to the truth.

“Mommy…”

Look! Here, the brave knight Hilde is twisting and writhing, but her formidable opponent before me has surrendered.

The maternal instinct I strapped on temporarily for survival has made me stronger than this monster.

You might say the difference in power remains the same, right?

Nonsense. There’s an old saying that goes, “It’s not the strong who survive, but the survivors who are strong.”

This monster, being undead, wasn’t a survivor from the get-go. Meanwhile, I’m the survivor who has donned the exterior of a mother, so I am the true strong one here.

…Anyway, let’s roll with that for the sake of my mental health and pride.

Ignoring Friede’s speechlessness at my antics, I busily comforted the demon in my arms.

My cheeks flushed red with embarrassment as I pretended to be her birth mother whom I had never met, nor would meet again.

“Uh, yeah. It’s okay, my daughter. I’m your mommy?”

“Hehe…”

The dementia-ridden demon seemed completely devoid of any memory of my earlier outbursts, smiling with a face that appeared utterly harmless and pure.

All hostility and malice had vanished, replaced only by goodwill and affection within that smile.

Despite knowing she was an undead demon, her laughter made me momentarily relax.

…At least, the chances of her suddenly flipping and trying to kill me seemed low. That alone secured my immediate life.

I couldn’t say I was perfectly safe though.

“Mommy, I’m hungry…”

Well, it made sense. The demon, convinced I was her mother, started whining again about being hungry.

“Uh… okay. My daughter is hungry…?”

I awkwardly smiled as I gently pulled the demon girl off me.

Catching a glimpse of her saliva-drenched fangs as she grinned, I realized how sharp and elongated they were, indicating what kind of being she was.

‘…Vampire.’

High-level undead, a vampire.

Maintaining almost the same appearance and intelligence as when alive, she was a mosquito-like demon that sustained false immortality by drinking the blood of the living.

That was the true identity of this monster.

Her childlike appearance paired with near-dementia intelligence likely stemmed from a long period without blood, severely weakening her both physically and mentally.

Her constant whining about being hungry from earlier points to that reason as well.

When she said she wanted food, she meant blood, not just any meal.

As of now, she was in a kind of starvation state, where nothing other than blood would catch her attention.

That she hadn’t just lunged at us to sink her fangs into us was indeed an almost superhuman level of restraint for a vampire.

…Put simply, if I continued to leave her hanging without offering blood, it would be no surprise if she went berserk at any moment. There had to be limits to her patience too.

‘Considering that, it is technically right to offer some blood here…’

But it was hard to just go ahead and offer my blood.

Not out of the fear of pain or afraid of giving blood, but from the anxiety that if I did, this vampire might regain her sanity.

Vampires regenerate instantly even if they lose all their blood.

What if that regenerative ability applied not just to her body but also to her mind?

Right now, she was mentally regressed due to blood loss, but there was no guarantee she wouldn’t get her wits back after guzzling plenty of blood.

No, in fact, her mind was likely to recover quickly.

If only her brain had been damaged and her soul wasn’t rotting away, as soon as she recovers from brain damage, her sense of reason would return.

What would happen if this monster regained her sanity?

At the very least, she would discern that I’m not her mother. And then, naturally, she’d start to see us as enemies again.

This monster, already strong enough to surpass both me and Friede, would pump herself up to her prime strength after satisfying her hunger?

It was clear as day that my life would be over once she drained me to the last drop.

“Ehehe… Mommy, mommy…”

Of course, I couldn’t just blatantly ignore this monster asking for blood either.

If she goes berserk, we’d all be doomed anyway.

“…Hah.”

I let out a deep sigh and carefully contemplated.

Between two horrendous choices with a high probability of bad outcomes, I aimed to grab the one that had the least risk of death.

—

Rustle.

“…Here, drink.”

My finger, dyed red with fresh blood, dripped in drops.

The vampire, staring at my finger as if mesmerized, marveled as she took my finger into her mouth.

I flinched, thinking she might bite it off, but instead, she gently licked the small wound I made, savoring it.

Considering it was just a slight cut from a dagger, hardly any blood would come out.

Nevertheless.

After a long internal struggle, I ultimately decided to offer my blood to her.

I had no 100% guarantee that the vampire would regain her sanity after drinking my blood, but the likelihood of a bloodthirsty vampire going on a rampage was a definite 100%.

I bet my life on the possibility that the vampire drinking blood would still remain in a daze… But at least, for now, it seemed like that gamble was working out.

“Um… Yum yum…”

‘…She sure enjoys it.’

The look in her eyes, half-closed and dreamy, revealed just how delicious my blood was to her.

The vampire girl, savoring blood she hadn’t tasted in hundreds of years, was utterly lost in the moment.

Yet, rather than lunge at me for more blood, she licked my fingertip as eagerly and persistently as a baby sucking on a bottle.

It was like she promised that no matter how hungry she was, she would never crave more than the blood I allowed her.

It was more unsettling than admirable.

Having a dementia-ridden vampire—no, even a sane vampire exhibiting such restraint after being deprived of blood for centuries was nearly impossible.

She surpassed exceptional levels of restraint, ranking right up there among the top three vampires in terms of patience.

At any rate, I left my finger in the grip of such a vampire, pondering how much more blood I needed to give her before she stopped whining about being hungry.

If I overindulged her, we’d be the ones in trouble, and if I gave too little, we’d be in trouble as well.

While I was weighing when to pull my finger out, Friede, standing next to me, looked at me and lightly tapped her neck with her hand.

Clearly, she seemed to suggest that now would be a good time to swing the Holy Sword and take her out, considering she appeared to be completely relaxed and drunk on blood.

‘Not a chance. If I couldn’t kill her while she sleeps or is tied up, how could I hope to do so now….’

…Of course, from my perspective, it seemed like she was crazy for even thinking that.

One typically does not disturb a dog while it’s eating, but this vampire was practically a massive rabid dog that could wipe us out in an instant.

If we irritated her during her meal, there was no way we could withstand her rage.

While I might be okay because of my current role as “mommy,” Friede would be on the chopping block for sure.

This vampire appeared to see Friede as her pet and an emergency food supply.

How would I know? Because I saw it.

When I tried to create a small cut on my finger with a dagger earlier, she tilted her head and pointed to Friede.

She looked as though she couldn’t understand why I should have any reason for blood when a lunchbox was right next to me.

– My daughter, this is mommy’s lover, you know? So you could call her your second mommy.

– Two mommies? That’s not right, mommy is mommy, but…?

I tried to explain that she wasn’t just a lunchbox but my lover and her second mommy… but she didn’t seem to grasp it at all.

Maybe because of her age, she had some antiquated notion that a mother couldn’t have a counterpart, even though her actual mother was in a coupling situation now.

– Uh… so think of her as your daddy. I’m the mommy, and she’s the daddy. And since she’s your daddy, you mustn’t hurt her. Got it?

– This is daddy…?

I had to tell her she could think of me as her daddy, but frankly, she didn’t seem to buy it either.

While she was grinning at my face, the look in her eyes when glancing at Friede resembled that of someone gazing longingly at a banquet set for someone else.

I made a big deal about not hurting her, so she probably wouldn’t pounce on Friede and drink her blood. But if Friede attacked first, she’d definitely retaliate viciously.

So, it was necessary to pull Friede back for now. If I waited, a much better opportunity would surely arise later.

Taking this monster’s head would be a job for then.

For now, I had to hold on as we made our way out of this dungeon, heading into the bright sunlight awaited us beyond the entrance.

At least until then, I had to find a way to keep playing the role of this “mommy,” no matter how unsettling and creepy it became.

While I prayed this vampire wouldn’t regain her sanity.

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