[A muscle bunches at the corner of Sypha's jaw as Jaskier recounts his fragmented understanding of Dracula's onesided murder-suicide pact. She sees, now, why Alucard sent him her way: because she is, above all else, a Speaker. Her very purpose on this earth is the collection and recounting of history, as many facets of it as possible. Speakers are not unbiased, no human perspective ever is, but they do their utmost to map causes to their effects, and the paths are rarely direct lines from good to good, or evil to evil.

Sypha always assumed she'd have to separate her lived rage and pain and horror from an accounting of Dracula's war one day, if she survived. A first hand record like hers will be priceless to future historians. Only, it isn't even over yet. Abraxas snatched her away in the middle of another bloody sortie. She's barely had time to process anything she's survived this past year, she's not ready to be dispassionate about it.

Fuck you very much, Adrian Tepes.]

Ironically enough, I first met Hector here in the Free Cities. Our paths never crossed in all the bloodshed, which was..probably for the best. [Speakers don't take human life, as a rule, but she's become a very unusual sort of Speaker recently. She presses her palms to the tabletop, takes a deep breath, and tries to exhale as many of her misgivings as possible.] I'll do my best to paint you the whole picture as accurately as I can, with the information I have. But, before I start, I want--I need to make one thing very clear. [Sypha leans forward, entreating him to listen, to understand.]

By the time that memory happened, Dracula was directly responsible for the deaths of half of Wallachia's human population. Tens, maybe hundreds of thousands of innocent people torn apart by monsters and vampires. It sickens me that Alucard had to be the one to stop him, that he was the only one who could, but please don't doubt for a second that it needed doing.