"You could say that, King Alex.
It was like the dungeons from your world.
In fact, every dungeon was just an entrance to another world.
It's just that some were opened in dangerous areas, making them dungeons."
"Then what about a dungeon break?"
"I didn't know the details, but based on the information I got from you, I speculated that the portal in your world was man-made.
Someone made a protection over it, allowing only your species to pass, but when the red aura filled the portal, it meant the protection had run out, or something from the other side had forcefully found a way to pass through it.
But as I said, this was just speculation.
There were still many holes in my explanation, but I was sure part of it was right."
She then looked at Alex.
You said something about an H-game before.
What did you mean by that?"
Vesa was about to answer again when Alex quickly ran and put his hand over it, muffling its voice.
Vesa's size was just right to be hugged and held in hand.
Alex still had doubts about Vesa's explanation, but he wasn't going to take chances.
If what it had said was true, that meant Mingyue really existed.
As Alex held Vesa, he whispered, "Don't tell Mingyue the meaning of it."
Vesa looked at Alex, feeling wronged; it hadn't done anything wrong and hadn't even said anything.
If this had been her real body, Mingyue would have been able to hear his whisper, but Alex didn't realize he was just delaying the inevitable.
After seeing Vesa nod its head, Alex released his hold.
He then looked at Mingyue.
"A dungeon was like a portal that allowed us to enter another world.
Inside, we could hunt monsters and find treasure.
As for the game, it's nothing important.
I just didn't think this was real."
Mingyue felt suspicious; she was sure Alex was hiding something, but it was normal since they were strangers.
"So it was like a secret realm."
She then addressed Vesa.
"How could I return to my world?
And why did you bring our souls here?"
Vesa took a few breaths, then glared at Alex for a moment, thinking, 'If you weren't the king...'
But its lips turned into a smile again.
Your body has already returned to your world.
The moment we finish here, I will send you back safely."
"Wait, both of you mentioned souls?
Did that mean I was just a soul here?
And why did you call me a king and her Queen?
You also said you were the personality of the Vampire System," Alex asked.
Vesa looked at both of them and sighed.
"Please don't cut me off again.
I will explain everything.
First of all, congratulations, since both of you had made contact with the Vampire progenitor's blood and were chosen to continue the Vampire race.
What you saw around you was our home planet, Edonia, where the Vampire race once prospered.
However, attacks from other species and betrayal destroyed everything."
Vesa's eyes then turned gloomy.
"He never wished to push this burden onto anyone, but the traitor gave him no choice, forcing him to hatch this last plan."
Mingyue frowned at Vesa's explanation.
"Why should we resurrect your race?"
She then pointed at Alex, her cheeks starting to turn red.
"And you said both of us were the king and Queen.
Did you mean I needed to marry him?"
"My Queen, it was our race, not my race.
Since both of you had consumed the progenitor blood, your race had started to change.
Your bond was far more than just marriage.
In the past, we only had one progenitor, but now, both of you shared the same power, which meant your lives were linked.
You would understand what this meant in the future.
And I was sorry to say this, but both of you had no choice.
You must become true progenitors in ten years or die."
"You still haven't explained what you meant by 'system.'
Also, you do know there's no way we could continue a new race by ourselves, right?
Did you expect our kids to marry each other?" Alex asked.
Even the thought of it made his skin crawl; even if the kids were born healthy, the idea was still repulsive to him.
Who wanted to marry you?"
Mingyue complained, glaring at Alex.
"We barely knew each other, and why were you so accepting of this situation?"
This confused Mingyue the most, as Alex's expression had been calm from the start, even when Vesa threatened that they would die.
Didn't you hear what Vesa said?
We had no choice anyway.
Look, our souls couldn't even return without its permission.
Did you think we could reject it?
It's better we understand our current situation, what the system wants, and what we could get from it."
Mingyue knew what Alex said was true; it was not like she had another choice, but that didn't mean she could accept it easily.
Marriage was a very important matter for her.
"As expected from our king.
You don't need to worry about that.
After you become progenitors, you could change other people into our race.
What you needed to do was just find the right candidates," Vesa's voice then turned cold.
"We didn't need another traitor."
"Couldn't we just use a slave contract or bind their souls?" Mingyue asked.
It was normal in her world to do this with people working under them.
"A vampire was different, my Queen.
We could do that for the weaker ones, but the contract or soul binding wouldn't work on pure-blooded vampires," Vesa explained.
"Why did we need pure-blooded vampires then?"
Alex felt weird about this.
It seemed like taking an unnecessary risk.
He didn't like the idea of slavery, but as long as they were not mistreated, he was fine with it since every world had its own rules."