Not A Regressor - Chapter 198

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

I Am Not a Regressor Chapter 198
Sated Hypocrisy and Starving Virtue (2)
-Hehe, Elder Sister Cassia! Look at this!
Memories from childhood surfaced.
A faded page from an album I no longer remembered clearly.
The memory of crafting a small crown from wildflowers grown in the garden and gifting it to my sister.
-Oh my, how lovely.
My sister, frail since birth, sat in her wheelchair and received the small crown made of wildflowers.
With affection, she caressed the crown and gently placed it upon my head.
-But I made this for you, Elder Sister!
-No. It suits our Bella much better.
-Really?
My sister smiled tenderly and stroked my crowned head.
Perhaps she had known from that moment.
That a crown would never rest upon her own head.
-Hehe. I love you most, Elder Sister!
I climbed onto her delicate lap and beamed with joy.
-My, my, our little princess. Don’t trouble your sister.
-I’m not troubling her!
Father approached the garden.
His hand stroking my head with a gentle smile was warm as spring sunlight.
-It’s alright, Father.
-Cassia?
-I want to spend more time with Bella.
My sister embraced me with arms as fragile as glass.
-If not now… there may not be many more moments like this we can share together.
-Where are you going, Elder Sister?
-Hehe. Nowhere, dear.
As a child, I could not comprehend what my sister meant.
I simply loved her tender embrace and nuzzled against her cheek like a spoiled child.
The faded album page came to an end.
The next page turns.
‘This cannot be.’
I reached out desperately, but I could not grasp the turning page.
‘Please stop….’
Like a small child, I curled my body and closed my ears.
But no matter how tightly I sealed my ears.
It reaches me. It floods in.
-Why, why! Why must Elder Sister be expelled from the family!
-…It is the family’s law.
-What does a mere rule matter!
Crash!
I hurled an expensive porcelain vase, shrieking in desperation.
Father bit his lip and shouted urgently.
-It’s not a mere rule! It’s a tradition that has protected the Colgrand name for centuries!
-I don’t need it! Bring Elder Sister back right now!
-I said no!!
Father’s face contorted as tears streamed down his cheeks.
-I didn’t send Cassia away because I wanted to!
-Then why!
-If we don’t uphold the rules, the legitimacy that has sustained the Colgrand name will vanish! The cadet branches will descend like starving hyenas and tear us to shreds!
Father stood trembling, hugging himself tightly.
-Then I’ll just leave the family! I only need Mom, Dad, and Elder Sister!
-….
Father’s expression twisted savagely as he stared at me wailing.
Crack!
My cheek snapped to the side with a sharp sound.
The metallic taste of blood seeped from my split lip.
-Leave the family? Who do you think paid for the clothes you’re wearing right now? The lavish feasts you eat every day? Or this very mansion you’re standing in!!!
-That’s….
-Everything! All of this comes from the wealth the Colgrand Family has accumulated over centuries!
Father screamed as if his heart were being torn out.
The kind and charismatic man he once was had vanished entirely, replaced by a shabby middle-aged man trembling in fear of losing his power.
‘….’
As the metallic taste of blood spread through my mouth.
Another page of the faded album turns.
A world overrun by monsters, beginning with the Demon Realm’s gate that opened at the North Pole.
The Black Star Constellation I encountered on my journey to find Elder Sister.
The days when I obtained the stigma of the Lyra Constellation and, consumed by the urge to feed, greedily craved blood.
‘Stop, stop… please.’
In the midst of a thirst that burned my throat, I barely managed to learn how to control the bloodlust.
Was it a blessing from the Black Star, or a curse?
Having succeeded in controlling my bloodlust, I grew twice as fast as anyone else.
And so I returned to the family.
-I, Isabella? Y-you were alive?
-Hehe. Yes, Father.
With the stigma of the Lyra Constellation and the formidable power of the Black Star Society in both hands, I swiftly took control of the family.
I subjugated the insolent cadet branches and trampled Father’s authority beneath my feet.
Once I held everything the Colgrand Family possessed in my hands.
If only I could find my missing Elder Sister and convince Father properly.
Perhaps.
Perhaps.
Perhaps.
Back to that moment—to the first page of a faded album—
“Gasp!!”
I gasped for breath as I pulled myself upright.
Cold sweat accumulated between my breasts from the night, forming a small pool.
“…It seems I’ve been pushing myself too hard lately.”
Isabella sighed as she looked down at the white negligee clinging damply to her skin.
It was the first time I’d managed to sleep in a week since the incident at San Fruttuoso, so I must have had a strange dream.
“Ugh…!”
Throb.
A sharp pain, as if my left chest were being carved out with a blade, made me wince.
I opened the drawer beneath the shelf beside the bed and gulped down a blood pack.
Blood trickled down my elegant neck like a crane’s, staining the white negligee crimson.
“Phew.”
The pain eased somewhat.
I reached out and touched my left chest.
Scars from the leech marks, fading in patches.
The area that had disappeared was wider than it had been a week ago.
‘Blood packs alone won’t suffice anymore….’
I needed blood.
Not just any blood, but fresh blood from an Awakened with the magical power and purity of at least a high-tier Awakened.
“Sigh.”
Fresh blood from a high-tier Awakened.
There was no way to obtain it without hunting.
I clenched the hem of my white negligee, lost in thought.
If I began hunting, the vampiric urge I’d barely been suppressing might run rampant.
But I couldn’t simply endure like this either.
The stronger the curse became, the more intense my thirst for blood grew.
“…Time to get up.”
Today’s schedule was packed with obligations.
I rose from the bed, removed the blood-stained white negligee, and changed into my preferred white one-piece dress.
My gaze suddenly drifted to the drawer beneath the shelf where the blood packs had been stored.
Inside lay a photograph from my childhood—myself, my Elder Sister, Father, and Mother together.
A photograph where we smiled as if we could never be happier.
“….”
I carefully removed the worn photograph and wiped it gently with a cloth.
My Elder Sister had vanished, and Mother had lost her life in a Gate incident.
Father desperately clung to his dwindling hollow authority, locked in conflict with me for years now.
“Haha. Looking at it this way, the Colgrand Family truly lives up to its reputation for chaos.”
Isabella turned away with a self-deprecating smile.
After a light grooming, she moved to handle today’s schedule.
While walking through the expansive corridors of the Mansion, her footsteps halted before one particular door.
It was the room where Kwon O-jin was staying.
“…Kwon O-jin.”
A night bathed in moonlight.
She recalled the day when she had shared wine with him.
As that memory surfaced, her heart fluttered inexplicably, and vitality returned to her languid body.
Isabella traced her hand across her racing heart with a faint smile.
‘I never thought it would come to this.’
At first, she had approached him intoxicated by the exquisite taste and scent of his blood.
But the closer she grew to him, the more she learned about Kwon O-jin as a man.
Somehow, she found herself drawn to him.
‘Such a pointless emotion.’
Isabella lowered her hand, her expression turning bitter as she hesitated before knocking on the door.
She could not waste time simply wanting to see his face, with no particular purpose in mind.
Turning away with a lonely sigh, Isabella threw herself into paperwork without even finishing breakfast.
Compensation documents for the bereaved families, approval documents from dozens of Protection Centers under her operation, and documents for the Black Star Society hidden in secret ciphers.
“Sigh.”
If only Roberto were here, it wouldn’t be this overwhelming.
Isabella continued her paperwork with a deep exhale.
When she had processed roughly half of the mountain of documents.
“Stretch!”
Isabella straightened her back and stretched luxuriously.
Her impressive physique pushed against the one-piece dress, flaunting its overwhelming presence.
‘It’s already this late.’
Checking the time, noon was approaching.
It was time to handle the next appointment.
“Let’s see… next is a press conference and… an interview.”
Normally, Roberto would have organized her schedule and informed her, but since she had sent him to monitor Justice’s Sword, there was no one to organize her schedule separately.
Isabella clicked her tongue lightly and checked her next appointment.
‘By the way, I haven’t received a report from Roberto today.’
She had forgotten due to that unsettling dream.
Every morning he reported Demian Salvatore’s movements and current status.
But this morning, strangely, there was no contact.
“…What’s this?”
Isabella frowned and called Roberto.
Beep, beep, beep.
The phone was off.
Even if I spread a mana wave detectable only by Lyra Constellation’s Awakeners using communication-grade holy relics or stigmas, the result would be the same.
“….”
A sickly unease crept down my spine.
Isabella narrowed her eyes and moved forward with caution.
Just as I tried to slip out of the Mansion.
Screeeeeech!!
A barrier constructed for anti-terrorism measures descended, blocking the entrance.
“What….”
Isabella spun around, her expression bewildered.
Craaaaaash!
The Mansion’s ceiling collapsed, and concrete fragments rained down like a downpour.
“Ugh!”
Isabella squinted and dodged the cascading debris.
The murky gray dust rising like mist and the acrid stench were unpleasant enough.
“Ah, ugh.”
But what tormented her most was the harsh sunlight pouring through the collapsed ceiling.
Throbbing.
As the sunlight struck directly, Zamiwon’s curse, which had been gnawing at my stigma, began to flourish.
“Haa! Haa!”
Breath rising to the tip of my chin.
A burning thirst ravaged my reason.
‘Blood, blood, blood!’
I needed fresh blood flowing through veins, sweet and vital.
If I could just seize anyone, grip their throat, drive my fangs into their carotid artery, and drink deeply.
‘How much.’
How sweet would my tongue become?
How blissful would my mind become?
“Haaak, ack, augh.”
I clutched my chest, suppressing the surging impulse.
Then, beyond the collapsed debris, the metallic scent of blood tickled my nostrils.
The familiar smell of blood from a blood pack.
“Where….”
Instinctively, I moved toward the blood pack.
“Is this what you’re looking for?”
Paulo emerged from atop the debris.
With a metallic smile on his lips, he tilted the blood pack and poured its contents onto the floor with a splash.
“Father…?”
Isabella stared at Paulo, her expression confused.
“Father? Did you just call me father?”
Paulo’s expression hardened, and he glared at Isabella coldly.
“How dare you call me father with that filthy tongue of yours?”
“I beg your pardon? What do you mean—”
“Your identity has already been exposed, you wretched Witch.”
“….”
Wretched Witch.
Those words spilling from Paulo’s lips carved a deep wound into her heart.
Isabella looked up at Paulo with confused eyes.
‘When did it happen?’
When had her true identity been discovered?
“Isabella Colgrande.”
Footsteps echoed softly.
A young man emerged from behind her father.
“I will execute you.”
The youth with tousled brown hair and an innocent face fixed Isabella with a gaze that belied his rustic appearance—eyes brimming with lethal intent.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————