Thanks to Iced for helping me with input for this chapter.
Remilia Scarlet is the head of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, and one of my closest friends. Known as the ?Scarlet Devil?, she is the most well-known vampire in Gensokyo. Due to her power, she is both feared and respected.
According to records, Remilia was born at the beginning of the sixteenth century, making her the oldest resident of the mansion I am aware of. However, this is based on the information I have and could be easily proven wrong. Despite her status, Remilia looks and acts like a child. She can be very short-tempered on occasion, and frequently does things without concern for how they will affect those outside of the mansion. I often have to act as a voice of reason, attempting to steer her away from a poor decision. Far too often, however, it is impossible to change her mind, and I find myself helping her against my better judgement.
Other than her younger sister, I have never met any of Remilia's family; I do not know what could have happened to them. Research has turned up nothing, and I am too nervous about offending her to ask about it directly. She claims to be a descendant of supposed vampire Vlad Tepes Dracul, but I have found no information to corroborate this. It is well within her capacity to lie about such a thing.
As the head of a prominent household, Remilia is quite social. She frequently holds parties and banquets which bring humans and youkai from all over Gensokyo. I personally dislike attending these events, as I am not good at socializing with people outside the mansion and tend to be bothered by the noise and commotion. However, these gatherings have given me the opportunity to meet other intellectuals I would not otherwise encounter, and the food is always enjoyable.
Remilia's socializing is not limited solely to the mansion, though. She will occasionally travel to the human village out of curiosity. This tends to unsettle the inhabitants, but her presence has become tolerated and even expected. In addition, after an incident several years ago, Remilia has become an acquaintance of Reimu Hakurei, the local shrine maiden . The two frequently meet in order to have tea and discuss matters related to Gensokyo and their personal lives.
Remilia has several personal interests outside of her social life. In spring, she likes to go out and view the cherry blossoms. I have not joined her for this myself, but she often goes out for the entire day and night. She also enjoys watching falling leaves in autumn, although not to the same extent. She is also an avid collector of artifacts and weapons; she claims to have several weapons that originated in myth and legend. Similar to her claim of ancestry, this is highly dubious and has no evidence to support it.
As a vampire, Remilia has several abilities. Like all vampires, she has incredible physical strength, agility, and stamina. She can transform between the form of a bat and a more humanlike form at will. However, she has not perfected this, and she is unable to hide her wings. She also has the ability to control blood to some degree; she uses this power in combat to create various projectiles, and used it to create the so-called ?scarlet mist? some time ago.
While it does not seem to be related to her vampire lineage, Remilia also has a very intriguing power: the ability to see and manipulate the future. Using this ability, she can alter a person's destiny to varying extents. This ability has limitations; due to the laws of combat in Gensokyo, she can not use her clairvoyance to guarantee victory. Additionally, if a person becomes consciously aware their fate is being manipulated, they can break Remilia's control. I am not sure about the extent to which she has used this ability to influence the residents of the mansion, but I would like to believe that I know too much about her powers for them to affect me.
As a vampire, Remilia has several weaknesses. She is extremely sensitive to sunlight; she requires a parasol or other form of protection in order to go outside. While light is not directly lethal to her, exposure burns her skin faster than it would an ordinary human and leaves her in extreme pain. Her body is sensitive to fast-moving water, preventing her from going in rain or near rivers. Additional weaknesses she has are sardine heads, holly branches, and soybeans. While it is a common weakness in vampire lore, Remilia is not harmed by crosses or other religious imagery, and she has actually adopted some of it herself as a form of defiance.
Remilia's main weakness is hubris; while it is not as obvious as the weaknesses mentioned above, it is much more severe. Due to her arrogance, she refuses to admit the possibility of failure. She always assumes she is in control of a situation; this makes her vulnerable to being manipulated by others. While she has suffered numerous defeats, this has done little to affect her worldview. I fear she will not change until significant or even fatal harm comes to someone close to her.
Despite being a vampire, Remilia is not as dangerous to humans as one would expect. She is bound by a contract made in the early years of Gensokyo, where vampires were provided food by youkai in return for ceasing to attack humans. While she does drain blood from humans provided to her, she is a light eater and consumes little. What she does consume she does in a way to minimize the risk of death. She could easily obtain blood from any of the residents of the mansion, but she respects us too much to do so. Despite her nobility, Remilia is an extremely messy eater; her nickname comes from her tendency to wind up with blood splattered on her. This has actually permanently stained her clothes; they were once white, although if one looks closely, what she wears is a shade of pink.
I have known Remilia for a long time; we met well before Gensokyo as it is known today came to be. As I recall, I was traveling in Europe and was invited to her mansion. She took interest in my skills as a magician, and introduced me to her collection of tomes. As I stayed in the mansion to study, I became attached to her and the other residents. Since then, I have become one of the mansion's residents itself. When the mansion was threatened by war between the humans approximately a century ago, I used my magic to move it, causing it to end up in Gensokyo. This effort used much of my magic and nearly cost me my life; I greatly thank Remilia and the other residents of the mansion for aiding in my recovery afterward.
Now that I look back, I believe Remilia's interest in me may not have been purely altruistic. I get a strong feeling that the main reason she approached me is that she was aware how much of a threat my magic could pose to her. By becoming close to me, this threat would be reduced. Regardless of whether or not that is true, I consider Remilia a genuine friend, and she feels the same toward me.
Despite her childish nature and occasional selfishness, Remilia cares deeply for her family and close friends. To an extent, I think the two are the same for her.
