The history I

"I'm sorry for what I did before. Hopefully, you'll wake up with a nice dream," Dominic mumbled as he lifted Ruby's body and gently laid her down on a bench near an unrecognizable statue.

The statue was covered in moss that he couldn't figure out what it was supposed to look like. However, it was a good indicator of where they were — the center of the botanical garden.

Looking around, Dominic saw Anna rummaging through the grass near a man-made stream that divides the entire garden into four sections. There were small bridges that connected all the four portions of land. He walked towards her direction, curious about what she was doing.

"Anna, I'm going to leave now. Ruby should wake up after some time," he reported while bending forward so he could see what she was doing. He noticed that she was weeding out the grasses, leaving some plants he failed to recognize.

"What are you doing?" Anna looked up when she noticed a shadow hovered over her. Her sudden action startled the man who stepped back in a hurry.

"Sorry! I just want to inform you that Ruby is safe," Dominic clarified with a silly grin on his face.

Having received no response from Anna, he thought that it was a signal for him to leave. Just when his leg started to move, her voice rang in his ears.

"Wait!" Anna shouted, brushing her hands together to remove the dirt. She rose from the tiring position she was in and turned around.

"I need your blood," she said. Her voice sounded wheezy because she was busy looking at her gown, dusting the dirt away with her hands.

On the other hand, Dominic's face was in a daze. The request made him speechless. Mostly because the moment he heard her say it, a certain image was formed inside his head.

"What's wrong?" the brief silence led Anna's eyes to Dominic, only to meet his expectant eyes, which translated into a series of alarms inside her head.

Seeing the eyes that manifested incomprehensible eagerness, Anna regretted her decision to use the puppet spell on him. She could already smell the trouble Dominic would bring into her life.

Anna took a deep breath, thinking that she should remedy the situation before it gets worse. But, the thought wasn't yet developed when something unexpected made her swallow the words she was about to say.

In front of her, Dominic was kneeling while unbuttoning the first two buttons of his shirt.

"Master!" he shouted, pulling his right sleeve while bending his neck to the opposite side.

"I'm ready. You can take as much as you want," he declared. Whoever saw his action, they would say that he was offering his neck to the young lady.

Anna stepped back with her mouth agape. She never experienced such a ridiculous moment in her life. Inhaling deeply, she looked intently at Dominic's neck.

"Anna, if my life is yours, what more of my blood. Come, bite me!" Thinking that Anna was having two minds over the matter, Dominic tried to convince her.

"You're asking me to bite your neck?" in helplessness, Anna asked. She massaged her temple, trying not to get too upset by Dominic's weird ambition.

"Yes, master. Quick, before Ruby awakes," Dominic said in a hushed voice. He realized that his shirt wasn't cooperating well, so he unbuttoned the rest of the buttons.

Seeing his embarrassing move, Anna's irritation flared. "You—" inhaling, she continued in one breath, "-wish!"

Then, without mercy, she pulled Dominic's ear. She didn't let go even though Dominic's cries aggravated her ears.

"Do you think I have fangs to bite you?" she satisfied her anger by tugging his ear up and down, left and right.

"Ow, master. Spare me! Ouch!" Dominic squirmed in pain.

"Who taught you to be this shameless!" Anna barked at the man whose ear was as red as a beetroot.

"Then, what am I supposed to do? That's what the others do when they want blood," he complained, easing the pain in his ear by rubbing his palm against it.

"They bite?" Anna frowned.

"Yes. In the neck," answered Dominic.

Anna raised her eyebrows in astonishment. She looked around and walked a few steps to the right, plucking an elephant's ear's leaf, and walked back to where she came from while folding the leaf into a cup. Once done, she passed the leaf cup to Dominic.

"Use this. I need a few sips of your blood to remove the longing spell inside me," she said.

Dominic's face turned red in embarrassment after finding out the meaning behind her request. He took the leaf cup and placed it on the ground. Afterward, he bit one of his fingers and squeezed-released it to make sure a lot of blood came out at one time.

While Dominic was collecting blood, Anna wanted to know more about the 'biting' information she heard earlier.

"Tell me more about it," she asked, sitting on the ground without caring about her dress. Besides, it was already dirty due to her gardening activity earlier.

Seeing Anna propping her chin with her hands while sitting on the ground, Dominic followed suit.

"Where should I start? Mast...erm, Anna, do you know that powerful bloodlines like Noblebloed are cursed?" Dominic started by asking a question.

Anna nodded her head, but Dominic didn't see it as the task on his hand occupied him. The finger he bit earlier produced less blood, so he bit another finger.

"It started when Earth experienced its first apocalypse. I heard from my parents that there was an invasion from living things outside of this planet. Not sure if that was the exact story, but that's what they told me."

"Many died during the war. The enemies were much stronger than humans. Until one day, heaven took pity on the human race. It chose nine humans and blessed them with a fraction of its power. They were known as the nine guardians. Have you ever heard of this story, Anna?"

Again, Anna replied with a nod. She knew of this story as it was written in one of the books left by her ancestors to the new generations.

Seeing the affirmation, Dominic couldn't help but ask. "Anna, how do you know about me? I mean, Dominic? You seemed to know a lot about powerful bloodlines as well. Are you…?" he narrowed his gaze as if trying to find the tiniest detail possible.

"Continue," Anna returned his gaze with a sharp look to make him give up his attempt. In response, Dominic flashed his signature grin and continued squeezing his blood out of his finger.

"These nine guardians are known as Noblebloed, Eatheria, Suncrag, Clanmore, Willows, Dawneye, Wintermight, Dumdure, and Callisto. They were mighty, and people from all over the world revered them. However, no one knows that although these humans were powerful, due to heaven's divine attributes, they couldn't marry anyone other than those who were blessed by heaven."

"However, there was an idiot among them. This idiot, which I should not mention, broke the rule and married a normal human. This idiot even had the guts to fool heaven by marrying one of the guardians. But of course, the secret couldn't be hidden forever, and once heaven got their hand on the truth, it was angered. And what happens when heaven gets angry? It curses you. These guardians were cursed. Anna, do you know which curse it was?"

Without waiting for her to answer, Dominic continued: "It's-"

"Get to the point," Anna cut in. She took a deep breath, easing the irritation that bubbled up inside her. If she let him be, Ruby would wake up before he finished his explanation. She peered at the cup and saw a small amount of blood had been accumulated, but to remove the longing spell, she needed more of Dominic's blood.

Aware that Anna was irritated, Dominic pursed his lips, willing himself not to babble uselessly.

"Master, it's very much related to the stuff I'm about to say. All the nine guardians are cursed with the curse of a soulmate after that one catastrophe. So, to break this curse, they must find their soulmate, or they'll die in the hand of their own demon. However-" Dominic swallowed, wetting his dry throat.

He looked at Anna, who was looking at him with a dark aura oozing from her eyes. Seeing this, Dominic devoured the lengthy explanations he had in mind, sparing only the one he thought was important.

"However?" Anna asked. So far, his explanation, although unnecessary, was similar to what she knew. Seeing her eyes return to their ordinary blaze, Dominic heaved out, relieved.

"However, the Noblebloeds are freed from this curse. Do you know why that is?"

Anna inhaled. The question at the end was the limit of her tolerance.

"Stop with all these questions!" she gritted her teeth in annoyance. Seeing her fuming, Dominic smiled awkwardly, knowing well that he had made her angry. He scratched his head guiltily and only spoke once he saw her calming down.

"Although these nine guardians were cursed, their power was not taken away. However, there was something that was taken away from them, which is their freedom to satisfy their carnal desire. It was already bad enough that they cannot be in a relationship with normal humans, now they can't even be with anyone except their soulmate. Because if they did, the demon that came along with the curse would kill them."

"However, once again, an idiot proved that all this stuff was nothing but broken chains. Because of this idiot who started it, the descendants of these nine guardians or now known as powerful bloodlines, ignored the rules.

They married someone that wasn't destined to be their soulmate. Some have s*x like changing clothes. This continued until the next generation was born. They realized that the purity of their blood was declining. Since then, no purebloods were born.

It's good that they realized it before their blood purity dropped to zero, or else these powerful bloodlines might face extinction sooner than expected. However, the Noblebloed, my lineage took a different route in this story," Dominic paused, biting another finger after noticing that less blood was coming out of the second finger.