Introduction
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Cage de Neige — Dregs is the twenty-seventh chapter of Jun Mochizuki's The Case Study of Vanitas.
Summary[]
“I remember when I first met her.”
Far into the past, during the time where humans and Vampires still violently killed one another. A young Jeanne, still only a child, standing with her teacher Ruthven, was introduced to a certain someone. Pale gray hair set off by the snow of Gévaudan, and gray eyes with a slight bluish tint. The woman greeted her warmly, noting how much she hears of the girl from her teacher. She made to introduce herself—but Jeanne interrupted, proclaiming with shining eyes how the “dolly” was talking. A stunned silence. Both the woman and her teacher Ruthven laughed at Jeanne’s childish innocent, the young Vampire in question looking between them with confusion. The woman took Jeanne’s hand and placed it to her cheek, and Jeanne realized with wonder that she was warm. The woman introduces herself as Chloé d'Apchier, the hidden Vampire of the Marquis d’Apchier’s family.
Back in the present, Jeanne covered in her cloak trudges through the snow with day having already turned night. She stops and sees, leaning against a tree nearby, Vanitas. She runs to him and sees him breathing heavily with his arm bloodied and wrapped in bandages, a few more medical supplies lying on the snow next to the human. Jeanne realizes that he’s been poisoned, which must have happened when he protected her against Astolfo’s attack. Vanitas looks up and barely acknowledges Jeanne approaching. Jeanne worries over Vanitas and his poisoned form, but Vanitas calmly points out that he’s already done basic treatment on himself. Jeanne insists, and Vanitas harshly slaps her hand away. He sneers at her with resentment and tells her to go on after her objective, the Beast of Gévaudan, and to stay away from him. Jeanne gapes at him for a moment, then completely disregards his words and slings his arm over her shoulder, yelling how she can’t just leave him as he is.
The first thing that comes to her mind is that she needs to get him out of the snow and into warmth. A voice like a faint memory speaks up and beckons her forth, and she sees an image, like ghosts from the past, of herself as a child and Chloé. The two of them had walked down this exact path before, Chloé showing Jeanne the ribbons tied to the trees that showed the way, and Jeanne realizes: she knows this place. She follows the ribbons as she’d been directed so long ago, and after walking past the snowfall, finds a small cabin to take shelter in. She enters and sets Vanitas on the cot before she goes looking through the cabin’s supplies for a way to start a fire in the fireplace. As she does so, Vanitas lies on the cot and curses incoherently to himself, angry and in pain due to the poison in his system. He lifts the chain which had held The Book of Vanitas and stares at its empty link. The fire Jeanne started roars in the fireplace and she walks over to his prone form. She takes off her cloak which had been shielding her from the snow, and gives a single order to Vanitas.
“Take off your clothes.”
“Quoi?” Vanitas says. Jeanne disregards him; she starts pulling off his coat and says that if he continues to lay in his snow-covered clothes, he’ll just get sicker. Her own clothes are snow-covered as well, meaning she’ll do the same. Vanitas is completely flustered at the thought of just stripping right then and there, and Jeanne offers to help him as he’s injured. Vanitas frantically tries to regain his footing, doing as he always does and teasing Jeanne for being forward enough to offer to warm him skin-to-skin. He tries to laugh at her, but she confirms this with a completely straight face and strips right down to her undergarments. “Quoi?!” Vanitas yells again, his face completely red. He keeps yelling in protest about modesty, and Jeanne clenches her fist, decidedly fed up with him. She grabs him by the collar and yells at him to stop whining and let her strip him lest they lose their lives. Jeanne stares at him with resolution, with only the slightest hint of fluster to her expression. Vanitas stares back, then weakly says okay and instantly keels over.
Jeanne is helping Vanitas out of his clothes. He sits on the ground, leaning against the cot while breathing slowly. With his clothes off, Jeanne can see his bare back and the way he’s covered in scars. She makes to take off his glove—“Don’t.” Jeanne stops, and Vanitas weakly pleads with her to leave that on. Jeanne is surprised, but doesn’t argue any further. Soon enough their clothes have been laid out to dry and the two of them are huddled in front of the burning fireplace. Jeanne worriedly offers to lie down with Vanitas, as there’s only one blanket, to better serve his recovery, but Vanitas declines saying he’s at his limit in numerous ways.
Jeanne looks down guiltily. She apologizes to Vanitas, that all of this is her fault. Vanitas asks whether she means the wound he’d suffered, or the fight they had with the Beast. Jeanne answers both. Vanitas asks who “Chloé” is, recalling the way Jeanne had called that name to the Beast as they fought, and if she knows what the Beast truly is. Jeanne looks into the fire then closes her eyes, reminiscing on the past. Her parents had been Ruthven’s students, so she would travel to many difference places with Ruthven and her family when she was a child. One time during her childhood, she had been left in the care of the Marquis d’Apchier’s Castle in Gévaudan for a time. It was there when she met Chloé d’Apchier, the d’Apchier family’s hidden Vampire. Vanitas identifies what this is: a Vampire whose existence was concealed so that they could live with humans. Jeanne describes Chloé as a Vampire who looked like a little girl but had lived a life just as vast as Ruthven’s. She had taught Jeanne all kinds of different things during her stay there, lesson and games and more. Everyday together was filled with joy and fun, and Jeanne had felt like she’d gotten a big sister.
When the time came where she had to leave, young Jeanne had been reduced to tears, unwilling to say goodbye to her new dear sister figure. Chloé had gently comforted Jeanne and invited her to come to Gévaudan someday again, so that they can meet once she was all grown up. Chloé had patted her head and called her a good girl. But the next time they met would not be such a happy thing. In that blizzard of snow, with Chloé as the Beast and Jeanne as a Bourreau. A Bourreau is a mere tool, only to do as they are told. Doubts such as “why?” have no place in a Bourreau’s mind, but for Jeanne… She hesitated and failed to kill Chloé. With determination, she declares she won’t make that mistake again. She will kill the Beast without fail.
Vanitas asks if that’s what she truly wants. Jeanne stares at Vanitas in surprise. He totters over to lean on her shoulder, and Jeanne checks and finds him feverish. He begins muttering disjointedly even as Jeanne rushes to get him some water. Vanitas is doubled over, completely lost in his sickness, as he mutters about him “never actually hating” someone. His eyes look unseeingly at Jeanne as she takes out a bottle of water.
“Lu…”
Jeanne stares at Vanitas in surprise. Vanitas is curled up in himself in the blanket, saying nothing further. She wonders what he was just saying, what that “Lu…” was, if it could be someone’s name. She purses her lips and approaches him, giving him the water bottle, warning that he’ll get dehydrated unless he takes it. Vanitas, still feverish but more coherent now, asks if she’s sure. She and him, they have different goals: killing the Beast and saving it respectively. He laughs and says it’d be wiser for her to just kill him then and there. Jeanne is appalled at the very thought, especially since he’s in this weakened state from protecting her. Vanitas calls her naïve, not just her but Noé, and he continues to mutter half-understandable things… Until Jeanne takes a gulp of the water herself and forces it down Vanitas’s throat, mouth-to-mouth. While holding his flushed face inches away from her own by his hair, she tells him to shut up.
“If you want me to kill you that badly… then, you need to focus on resting now.”
Jeanne takes another gulp of the water. Vanitas weakly tries to protest. She ignores him.
The warmth of the fireplace lights up their silhouettes as the two of them lock lips in a kiss.
Darkness. A dull and heavy feeling taking over. He wonders what happened, about Vanitas and Jeanne, about the Beast and Charlatan, about Naenia. He remembers, Naenia had told him something important, but… A bite. The uncomfortable feeling rouses Noé from unconsciousness. He’s lying in bed, and—someone is splayed over him, drinking his blood. Noé is absolutely shocked. He doesn’t recognize whoever is drinking his blood, and he can’t seem to move his body. The person drinks more, and Noé jerks, flushed and weakened from the blood-drinking. Still, he manages to yell—drinking blood without consent is a crime. He’s shoved the person off, escaping himself to the far side of the bed and clutching a pillow over his body as a shield.
The one who’d been drinking his blood is none other than Chloé d’Apchier, who reacts nonchalantly to his waking. Noé is completely lost.
Characters[]
- Jeanne
- August Ruthven*
- Chloé d'Apchier*
- Vanitas
- Astolfo Granatum*
- Beast of Gévaudan*
- Éric (Mentioned only)
- Louise (Mentioned only)
- Naenia*
- Noé Archiviste
(*) - Denotes that the character did not appear physically, but as a part of another character's memories.
Terms[]
- Gévaudan
- The War
- Vampires
- House d'Apchier
- The Book of Vanitas (Mentioned only)
- Bourreau
- Charlatan
Trivia[]
- Cage de Neige is literally translated as "cage of snow" from French.
- Yen Press's edition of this chapter, translated by Taylor Engel, portrays Vanitas feverishly calling out "Lou..." However, in the original Japanese, this line was written as "ルー" which can also be translated as "Lu..." and may be a reference to another character's name, as introduced in Mémoire 41: Canorus.
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v - e - t | The Case Study of Vanitas Chapters |
---|---|
Parisian Excursion Arc | 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 |
Bal Masqué Arc | 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 |
Hunters of the Dark Arc | 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 |
The Beast of Gévaudan Arc | 22 • 23 • 24 • 25 • 26 • 27 • 28 • 29 • 30 • 31 • 32 • 33 • 34 • 34.5 • 35 • 36 • 37 • 38 • 38.5 • 39 • 40 • 41 • 42 • 43 |
Amusement Park Arc | 44 • 45 • 46 • 47 • 48 • 49 • 50 • 51 • 52 • 53 • 54 • 54.5 • 55 • 55.5 • 56 |
Miel Incident Arc | 57 • 58 • 59 • 60 • 61 • 61.5 • 62 • 62.5 • 63 |
Intermissions | 15.5 • 46.5 • 51.5 • 60.5 |
Volumes | 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 |
Omake | Romance is a✰LOVE MISSION |
Other | Vanitashu no Karute • Author's Notes |