Professor Vampire.

Chapter 92: Regulus Black

"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 former 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 handsome and proud features.

At this moment, his skin no longer showed signs of the long immersion-induced swelling. It was somewhat 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, somewhat 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, seemed to be doused with cold water and immediately calmed down.

"I guess you need to know what time 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 time you remember?"

"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 bewilderment, his eyes filled with extreme confusion.

"I... I remember 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 some memories, 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 name is Regulus Arcturus Black," the young man with black hair said methodically. "I can't remember 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, named Regulus Black, said expressionlessly. "I remember 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 somehow 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 methods 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 experiments. I recommended Kreacher." Regulus's expression turned deeply sorrowful and resentful. "I told Kreacher to follow the Dark Lord's orders and then return home."

"Kreacher was completely focused on my orders because I needed him to return home. 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 member who had been with me 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 time."

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 home, he didn't tell me what he went through," he continued after a moment. "But from Kreacher's frightened expression and his weakened state, I discovered something was wrong. So I ordered Kreacher to tell me exactly what had happened."

"Learning about the Dark Lord's malevolence, I was very angry and had Kreacher take me 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 home and had a locket made that was almost identical to the Dark Lord's Horcrux. Then I had Kreacher take me back to the cave where he kept the Horcrux."

"I drank the poison he had prepared for me 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 became my mission."

"If the Dark Lord had truly ruled the entire world, there would be no happiness left. Even the Black family would eventually become prey for him. Moreover, the Dark Lord would sooner or later discover the Horcrux had been replaced. He wouldn't spare me, and I would even endanger the entire family."

"Therefore, I had to die. It was the best outcome for me. 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 became curious about why such a significant Death Eater was turned into a shadowy corpse.

Thus, Dracula "revived" Regulus to find some amusement in his possibly lingering memories.

However, he didn't expect that such a humble corpse would bring such a touching story.

Dracula, who originally intended to find amusement, was unexpectedly moved and felt somewhat 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, messing 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 came 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 something 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