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Introduction
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Serment — Promise (Part One) is the twentieth chapter of Jun Mochizuki's The Case Study of Vanitas.
This article contains plot and/or ending details for The Case Study of Vanitas.
Read at your own risk.
Summary[]
Vanitas and Jeanne stand across from one another in the middle of Paris.
Vanitas is surprised—Jeanne has just suggested the two of them go on a date. Vanitas laughs and brushes off the absurd proposal, but Jeanne interrupts him. Deadly serious, Jeanne says she seems to have begun to like Vanitas. Vanitas stares at her. Jeanne continues; despite how she should have hated him from his constantly harassing her, Jeanne has realized she can’t stop thinking about him. When they first met, it was her who had attacked first, and Vanitas despite having every reason to kill her decided not to. And during the Bal Masqué he not only helped her save Luca but even went on to save all the curse-bearers despite all the Vampires’ hostility towards him. With fervor and passion, Jeanne realizes she had been mistaken about Vanitas, and has decided she’d like to get to know him better. Her eyes shining and a blush on her face, Jeanne tells Vanitas she wants to determine “whether she can truly call these feelings ‘love’.”
Vanitas is complete disgusted. His expression is absolutely dripping with revulsion and even outright loathing. Jeanne stills, her smile frozen in place. She suddenly whips around to hide her face and internally exclaims, “That’s it!” with an absolutely ecstatic grin. Vanitas is completely confused and tilts his head. Jeanne is celebrating within her own mind at just how great the reaction she got was. She thanks Dominique profusely, remembering the conversation they’d had prior to this.
Jeanne and Dominique were having tea together as they waited for Luca to finish his work. Dominique had absorbed what she’d been told by Jeanne, that she wanted to make Vanitas dislike her. Jeanne with great intensity expressed just how much she hates Vanitas, but the problem was that the more she rejected him the more he gleefully latched onto her, and she didn’t understand why. Dominique finished the thought: Jeanne came to the conclusion the only solution was to get Vanitas to leave her alone of his own volition. Jeanne went to Dominique for her assistance because, as a part of the House de Sade, she’s very socially experienced and thus must have known a way to deal with men like Vanitas. Jeanne pleaded with all her heart, for help in stopping Vanitas from harassing her any longer.
Dominique had no idea what to do. While keeping on a peaceful smile, she internally panicked at just how high Jeanne’s expectations of her were. While she had indeed spent lots of time in higher society, she’s only experienced with exclusively women, as her sister Veronica scared away bothersome men from the two of them. Jeanne still in distress munched on the macarons offered, and Dominique cooed at how adorable she was and how much she’d like to help. She scrambled for some kind of solution, before it hit her and she jumped to her feet. Noé at one point had told her about what he and Vanitas talked about when the two of them danced together—“I have no interest in the sort of person who’d fall for me.”
Jeanne stared blankly. Dominique clarified, Jeanne actually liking Vanitas might be the key to getting him to lose interest and leave her alone. Jeanne was greatly distressed at the very thought, fervently denying that she’d ever like him. Dominique said she could just pretend, but Jeanne insisted that even pretending would make her want to kill herself. Dominique was shocked at how bad it was, before declaring loudly, “Crawling Han Xin.” A Chinese fable her grandfather once told her, with its meaning being: suffering may be necessary in order to reap a greater benefit. Jeanne was completely struck silent and fell back in shock.
Back in the present, Jeanne is steeling herself and reflecting on how correct Dominique had been, that she needed the resolve to endure whatever pain it took to get her results. Jeanne glares with great tenacity. At this point she’s beyond shame and will “love” Vanitas with everything she has if it’ll get him to hate her. Vanitas just stares blankly at her back. Jeanne continues with her internal monologue, that she can’t let him realize she’s acting, that it’ll be a hard and long battle but she’s prepared for it, that she practiced that speech she’d just delivered so much as to not slip up. In the meantime, Vanitas watches her and his expression has made a transformation, from blankly confused to contemplative to holding back laughter.
Vanitas eventually does answer; he’d been startled by how abruptly he’d been asked, but he couldn’t possibly refuse such an invitation from Jeanne. He takes her hand in his and raises it to his lips, as he says with a sly smile, he wonders what brought on such a change of heart. Jeanne is nervous that Vanitas had caught onto her, but manages to remain calm and assured of her “flawless acting” as she stiffly smiles back at him. Jeanne triumphantly declares in her mind that this time Vanitas will be the one dancing in Jeanne’s palm.
Vanitas then remarks how nice her dress is. Jeanne responds exuberantly and squeals about how Dominique had chosen the outfit specially for her, including the matching accessories. Vanitas smiles and clarifies what he meant: that Jeanne is lovely. He leans in to whisper this into Jeanne’s ear, and as he pulls away the locks of his hair brush against her face. Jeanne is left blushing red. Vanitas beckons Jeanne forward with a hand extended. Jeanne lets her hand be taken silently, too flustered and confused to say anything. As they go, she wonders with her face still burning if she’s managed to act like she’s truly in love.
Characters[]
- Vanitas
- Jeanne
- Luca Oriflamme (Mentioned only)
- Dominique de Sade*
- Veronica de Sade (Mentioned only)
- Noé Archiviste*
- The Teacher (Mentioned only)
(*) - Denotes that the character did not appear physically, but as a part of another character's memories.
Terms[]
- Paris
- Vampires
- Malnomen (Mentioned only)
- Carbunculus Castle
- Altus
- House de Sade
Trivia[]
- Serment is literally translated as "oath" from French.
- The chapter was cut short due to Mochizuki's health and continued two months later in the form of Mémoire 20.5, which was later collected as Mémoire 21 in Volume 4.
- Dominique describes a Chinese fable told to her by her grandfather, “Crawling Han Xin,” meaning that suffering is necessary to reap a greater benefit. The actual Chinese idiom, “胯下之辱,” describes the humiliating act of crawling through in between a person’s legs. It references a story about the famed military general of the Han dynasty, Han Xin,[1] in which he was forced to either kill a bully and face execution, or humiliate himself by crawling under and in between the bully’s legs. Han Xin had chosen to do the latter.[2]
References[]
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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 • 64 • 65 |
| Intermissions | 15.5 • 46.5 • 51.5 • 60.5 |
| Volumes | 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 |
| Omake | Vanitashu no Karute • Romance is a✰LOVE MISSION • Confessional Counseling Office |
| Other | Author's Notes |