"Hello, Mr. Black," Dracula said as he approached the shadowy corpse, smiling slightly and gazing down at the face hidden beneath the black hair. "It's Mr. Black, isn't it? I can see the Black family crest on your chest."
After Dracula's magical transformation, the corpse was unrecognizable from its forr self.
With his black hair drenched in blood, it hung limply over his face, obscuring half of his cheek. However, the half of his face that was visible still revealed his handso and proud features.
At this mont, his skin no longer showed signs of the long imrsion-induced swelling. It was sowhat pale but very refined, looking like a pampered young master who had never known hardship.
Hearing Dracula's voice, he lifted his head in confusion.
"Ahem... Who are you? How did you end up here?" he asked, sowhat agitated. "Where is Kreacher? Where is Kreacher?!"
"Calm down, Mr. Black," Dracula said, extending his index finger, from which a phantom of demon wings appeared.
The young man, sitting in the blood-red lake, seed to be doused with cold water and imdiately cald down.
"I guess you need to know what ti it is now," Dracula began, recalling how he had felt upon awakening after a hundred years of sleep, and continued, "It's 1992. I wonder if that differs from the ti you rember?"
"What?!" The young man's eyes widened in shock. "Are you joking? It's clearly 1979. That's thirteen years off from what you're saying!"
"It seems you died thirteen years ago," Dracula said with a smile. "Take a good look at your surroundings, Mr. Black. This is no longer the place where you died. I revived you!"
Upon hearing Dracula's terrifying words, the young man instinctively turned his head and looked around in bewildernt, his eyes filled with extre confusion.
"I... I rember being in a dark cave... dragged into the water by countless shadowy corpses..." he muttered. "Yes... I should have truly died..."
Seeing that the young man still retained so mories, Dracula nodded in satisfaction.
He casually sat down, and the blood-red lake rose to form a translucent ruby-like seat beneath him.
"Mr. Black, tell us your story," Dracula said as he sat back in the seat, casually crossing his legs and adopting a listening posture.
"My na is Regulus Arcturus Black," the young man with black hair said thodically. "I can't rember much of my past, only that I was a Death Eater."
He did not understand why he had no inclination to resist this silver-haired man from the bottom of his heart.
"It's clear you were a Death Eater," Dracula said, slightly raising his eyes. "What I'm more curious about is why, as a core Death Eater with the Dark Mark, you were killed by Voldemort and even turned into a shadowy corpse?"
"I don't know if I was turned into a shadowy corpse, but I wasn't killed by the Dark Lord himself," the young man, nad Regulus Black, said expressionlessly. "I rember clearly that I went to my death willingly."
"I discovered the Dark Lord's secret to immortality, a secret that no other Death Eater knew."
"Horcruxes, right?" Dracula said with interest.
Regulus' face finally showed a hint of surprise as he glanced back at Dracula.
"Yes, Horcruxes. I learned about this evil thing from my family's dark magic library," he said softly. "To prevent the Dark Lord from achieving immortality, I willingly walked into the traps he set and took his Horcrux."
"Wait!" Serena, who had sohow arrived beside them, frowned in confusion. "You were one of the Dark Lord's most trusted subordinates, right? Why would you want to destroy his immortality?"
While speaking, Serena glanced at Dracula, pointing at the chair he was sitting on and then at her own position.
Dracula chuckled and casually waved his hand, conjuring a matching ruby seat for Serena.
"The Dark Lord... he... his thods are too cruel. He doesn't care about anyone other than himself!" Regulus said with pain in his eyes, seemingly recalling his experiences as a Death Eater. "But I was only a little hesitant, I didn't truly want to betray him."
"Until one day, the Dark Lord demanded a house-elf for experints. I recomnded Kreacher." Regulus's expression turned deeply sorrowful and resentful. "I told Kreacher to follow the Dark Lord's orders and then return ho."
"Kreacher was completely focused on my orders because I needed him to return ho. Only then could he muster his last bit of strength and use the house-elf's unique Disapparation to break through the Dark Lord's counter-spell and return to the Black family."
Regulus's eyes filled with blood-red tears.
His body had not completely left the realm of shadowy corpses, so he initially had no tears. These tears were actually blood used by Dracula during his organ restoration.
"I pushed Kreacher into the heart of pain and the edge of death with my own hands," he said, tears streaming down his face as he spoke passionately. "Kreacher was my best companion, a family mber who had been with since birth! Yet I pushed him into the fire!"
"Don't get too emotional, Mr. Black. Calm yourself down first," Dracula said, raising his hand to interrupt Regulus's grief. "If you get too worked up, the organs I just repaired might rupture again. I won't repair them a second ti."
It wasn't that he couldn't repair them, but Dracula disliked doing repetitive tasks.
"Thank you, I will be careful," Regulus said, wiping away the blood-red tears.
"After Kreacher returned ho, he didn't tell what he went through," he continued after a mont. "But from Kreacher's frightened expression and his weakened state, I discovered sothing was wrong. So I ordered Kreacher to tell exactly what had happened."
"Learning about the Dark Lord's malevolence, I was very angry and had Kreacher take to the cave where the Dark Lord had brought him."
"It was only then that I finally knew the Dark Lord wanted to achieve immortality through Horcruxes," Regulus said, his emotions turning to anger again. "Such a person doesn't care about even his closest subordinates. He doesn't deserve immortality!"
"So I went ho and had a locket made that was almost identical to the Dark Lord's Horcrux. Then I had Kreacher take back to the cave where he kept the Horcrux."
"I drank the poison he had prepared for and exchanged the Dark Lord's Horcrux."
Regulus fell silent, and the air grew quiet.
"So... you knew you would die from that point on?" After a while, Dracula asked.
"Yes, but I went to my death willingly," Regulus said. "Aside from the Dark Lord, I should be the only one who knew about Horcruxes. This beca my mission."
"If the Dark Lord had truly ruled the entire world, there would be no happiness left. Even the Black family would eventually beco prey for him. Moreover, the Dark Lord would sooner or later discover the Horcrux had been replaced. He wouldn't spare , and I would even endanger the entire family."
"Therefore, I had to die. It was the best outco for . My parents and family knew nothing. As long as Voldemort didn't want to expose the fact of the Horcrux, he wouldn't unnecessarily involve the powerful Black family."
The air grew quiet again.
Suddenly, a seat rose from the lake, lifting Regulus' still-waterlogged body.
The seat was identical to the ruby-like seats beneath Dracula and Serena.
"You are a hero, Mr. Black," Dracula said as he stood up and patted Regulus on the shoulder with a sense of admiration. "I never expected that a casually revived corpse would bring such a compelling story."
Initially, Dracula was only interested in Regulus because he was the only survivor from that war. This made Dracula feel embarrassed, so he wanted to investigate the reason.
Later, when he saw the Black family crest and the Dark Mark on Regulus's left arm, he beca curious about why such a significant Death Eater was turned into a shadowy corpse.
Thus, Dracula "revived" Regulus to find so amusent in his possibly lingering mories.
However, he didn't expect that such a humble corpse would bring such a touching story.
Dracula, who originally intended to find amusent, was unexpectedly moved and felt sowhat embarrassed.
He glanced at Serena, only to find her with her face buried in her hands, her shoulders trembling.
"Is little Serena crying because she's touched?" Dracula smirked and gently ruffled Serena's hair, ssing up the transition between her black and white hair.
Comparing himself to Serena's reaction, Dracula no longer felt embarrassed.
"Not at all!" Serena's muffled voice ca from between her hands.
She shook her head, trying to shake off Dracula's hand, but was unsuccessful.
"Mr. Black, you should stay here for a while," Dracula said, gently smoothing Serena's hair while turning to Regulus. "You are no longer a wizard, but rather a special kind of shadowy corpse, a dark creature."
"The blood lake here is very nourishing for dark creatures. Stay here for a few days to rest your organs that no longer function."
"Cherish this opportunity; few are able to enter this blood lake!"
Dragging the tearful Serena, Dracula prepared to find sothing else to distract himself. The cold-hearted count couldn't be moved by a young man!
"Wait!"
Before he had taken many steps, Regulus called out
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