Granatum family was victim of a conspiracy.
What happened to the Granatum family is one of the most devastating events in Vanitas no Carte. It was an event that traumatised Astolfo and everyone close to him.
The official explanation is that the Granatum siblings trusted a vampire child, which allowed a group of rogue vampires to destroy their family. Only Astolfo and the family butler, Marco, survived. Yet, this tragedy did not trigger a political crisis between the vampire senate and the Church.
We know rogue attacks exist in this world — Vanitas himself has mentioned them. These attacks are recurring events monitored by the Church. While it’s true that some crimes slip through the cracks and casualties occur, criminals are eventually caught.
Now, consider the existence of a group of 20 rogue vampires, five of which are high-world formula benders, no less. Such a presence would be impossible to overlook. There should have been prior attacks, registrations, or at least signs of their activity. Rogue vampires, like bandits who prey on travellers (as seen with Vanitas’s troupe), typically start with smaller targets before escalating. A group of rogues that evades capture for long might eventually target a city or a more fortified location.
This already highlights a discrepancy between the behaviour of typical rogue vampires and the Granatum massacre.
It’s unbelievable that an unknown group of 20 rogue vampires would, as their first act, target a noble family—especially one of paladins. Nobility implies the presence of guards, and in the case of a vampire-hunting family, those guards would be trained to handle supernatural threats. Yet, the text only mentions house staff among the victims in the flashback, strongly implying that Lord Granatum was the sole military force in the household.
Where were the Granatum family’s guards? In a noble household guards are part of the staff too.
This isn’t a fairy tale, guards are indispensable members in a noble house. The only plausible explanation is that the attack did not occur in their main residence but in a secondary or holiday home, located in a territory that did not belong to them. As nobility, a family can only bring their own guards into another territory with the owner’s permission.
If this is what happened, it’s already a red flag. Denying a noble family the right to bring their guards is, at best, a power play, and at worst, a setup. The host family should have guaranteed the safety of their guests. Instead, not only was the household staff slaughtered, but the heirs of the Granatum family were tortured for days inside the same house.
A rogue group would not typically stay for days. Their usual modus operandi is to attack, feed, and disappear—whether out of fear of the chasseurs or the bourreaux, especially if they are curse-bearers.
Unless their mission did not go as planned.
Unless they were ordered to stay.
Yes, because I believe these rogue vampires were a hit squad with a single goal: to destroy the Granatum family. A deal between the Vampire Senate (or the Charlatan within it) and factions of the Church.
Because it’s impossible that this incident did not spark a political crisis between the Church and the Vampire Senate.
Not only did the Senate fail to control its vampires, but a family of paladins was slaughtered and tortured—an act that could easily be interpreted as a declaration of war.
We already know tensions between the two factions are dangerously high. The Charlatan even attempted to trigger an open conflict by trying to kill Luca, disguising themselves as a chasseur to frame the Church. The conflict was only avoided because our heroes intervened and saved Luca.
Yet, the Church closed the case immediately, relying solely on Astolfo’s testimony. Not a single vampire was kept alive for interrogation.
And let’s not forget how effective the chasseurs are—Vanitas’s troupe survived thanks to their intervention. While not everyone made it out alive, the chasseurs’ swift response prevented a total bloodbath.
The Granatum siblings, however, were left to wither in their home for days; they weren’t abducted. Compared to the attack on Vanitas’s troupe, the Church’s response was painfully slow.
Look at the panel of Roland rescuing Astolfo. It feels like Roland expected no survivors—like it was a cleanup operation. We see him execute the vampire boy in a slow, almost ceremonial manner. But we know Roland. In the Catacombs arc, he shifted his focus from Noé (a vampire and a target) to Vanitas (a human to rescue) mid-fight. When Misha disappeared, Roland tried to look for him despite being deeply injured.
If Roland had known the Granatum mission was a rescue, he would have prioritised saving the children over executing the vampire boy. His subtle surprise suggests he was following orders to purge the house—not to search for survivors.
This might explain part of his behaviour around Astolfo, especially after the rescue. Astolfo used to see Ronald as his god, but Ronald feels guilty because it was a casualty, because Ronald was acting as gravedigger and pest controller.
Now, the only information we have about the attack comes from Astolfo’s memories and flashbacks.
I must point out that many of these memories could be inconsistent. For example, Astolfo is seen wearing his day clothes in some panels, while in others, he appears in pyjamas or a torn robe.
From Roland’s perspective, Astolfo was in a torn robe—a clear sign of the abuse he endured. The robe’s original form is unclear, but it resembles a nightgown.
Yet Astolfo’s memories consistently depict his parents in their nightgowns. This confirms the attack happened at night. What’s less clear is why the children were wearing day clothes. Was it Astolfo’s mind trying to shield him from the trauma? Or did the children leave the house during the night? The latter seems far less plausible.
And yet, from both the anime and manga, we know Lord Granatum did not go down without a fight. In the anime (which was co-written with the author), Lord Granatum wields a rapier. In the manga, where violence is less restricted, his arm is torn off—implying a brutal struggle in both versions. In either case, his weapon was not the legendary Louisette but a rapier.
The latest chapters provide some details. Charles mentioned that Astolfo’s body was desecrated 20 times. Naemia, meanwhile, said that Astolfo once had 13 marks of possession on his body, though only 5 remain at present.
I don’t think either of them is lying, but their definition of "marks" differs. Charles refers to vampire bites and marks of possession, while Naemia only mentions the marks themselves.
So now we know there weren’t just 13 vampires involved—there were 20, and I don’t think the author raised the number of rogue vampires for making Astolfo’s lore more dramatic. Of those vampires, five were so powerful that their marks remained on Astolfo’s body even after their death, which is the only way a mark disappears. This means Astolfo was bitten 20 times, but only 13 of those bites left marks. The marks take time to form—at least half a day, considering Jeanne’s mark on Vanitas didn’t appear at the gala but at breakfast the next morning.
The chapter about Astolfo shows him waking up from the massacre without marks, but later that same day, he has a meltdown while trying to scratch at the marks branded onto him. This reinforces the idea that seven bites did not produce marks, and Astolfo was only marked the day before his rescue.
This means Lord Granatum killed at least seven vampires who never had the chance to mark Astolfo or his sister during the frenzy days because they had died before.
7 vampires, that’s an astonishing number of victims for a paladin caught by surprise—and it strongly supports the theory that the group was a hit team. It suggests they knew Lord Granatum was that dangerous but could not back off until their mission was complete. A group of rogues would have fled the moment they realised their prey was fighting back so fiercely.
There’s also the detail that the vampires were laughing. But I think Astolfo mistook mocking laughter for hysterical laughter.
Because if Lord Granatum wasn’t a threat and their goal was merely to humiliate the Garnet throne and the Church, the vampires would have kept him alive longer—savouring the abuse of his children and servants. Instead, they killed him quickly the moment they had the chance. His death was brutal and swift. First, the group felt the need to rip off the Lord’s arm—something you do against a dangerous enemy—before smashing him against the wall with such force that his head was split open. That’s an excessive display of violence against what should have been weak prey.
Then they began feeding on the survivors, becoming even more openly sadistic and hedonistic.
This implies that Lord Granatum was an incredibly dangerous paladin. If he had still possessed Louisette, he might have been able to kill them all. In the anime, he wields a rapier, meaning he took the first weapon he could find—a sign of cold rationality, which, according to Astolfo, only shattered after the vampires assaulted Lady Granatum.
And yet, Lord Granatum must have injured the survivors so severely that they needed blood and recovery time, forcing them to linger in the mansion.
So their initial laughter was hysterical—“The plan worked, we survived!”—before turning mocking in the presence of servants, children, and a lady who couldn’t defend herself. And yet, the vampires never touched Lord Granatum’s body—not to feed on him in life or in death. There are no signs of biting on his corpse.
Predators avoid consuming the bodies of superior predators out of an instinctive fear of poison or infection—or, in the case of supernatural beings, out of respect for a superior predator.
But this rogue group wasn’t that smart or strong. After killing Lord Granatum, they couldn’t even defend themselves from Roland and the other chasseurs.
So the plan must have been organised by someone else—not by them—and did not need to have Astolfo and his sister’s information.
Yes, because the official story—that rogue vampires were able to storm a paladin’s house and kill everyone because of children’s gossip—doesn’t hold up.
As children, Astolfo and Angelica (my fanon name for his sister) couldn’t have had access to critical details about the house’s security beyond general knowledge. And based on rogues’ behaviour, they weren’t intelligent enough to plan something like this on their own.
Unless they already had the information they needed. So the Granatum siblings’ naivety was used as an excuse to close the case quickly—when every detail reeks of espionage. Perhaps the same spy who took Louisette away.
Who might be the mastermind behind the attack?
My guess is the charlatan—but with the Church’s blessing. Despite the charlatan’s true goals being unknown, powerful figures from either the vampire society or the Church are involved in it, using its resources to further their plans.
For example, Lord Ruthven hired Gano, a fanatical paladin (and a member of the charlatan), to attack Luca. Gano may have asked for something in return in the past.
Take Lord Ruthven, for instance. He could have freed 20 rogue vampires who were condemned to death, giving them the mission to destroy the Granatum family in exchange for a pardon that he never meant . Yes, the boy who faked friendship—let’s call him Narciso—claimed he did it for revenge, which is true. But that doesn’t make him an innocent seeking vengeance against an institution.
First, the paladin who killed Narciso’s parents wasn’t Lord Granatum. Second, the fact that a paladin killed his parents means they were far from innocent.
Normally, chasseurs only target dangerous vampires—so dangerous that even Vanitas, who despises the Church, acknowledges it. Imagine how much of a threat you must be for a paladin, who elite of chasseurs, to kill you.
Narciso joined a group of sadistic vampires—people the Senate would have wanted rid of anyway.
Gano might give them instructions for the attack, including the order to stay and later eliminate the survivors, ensuring no evidence remained.
I suspect Lord Ruthven might have used his ability of forcing an oath on Marco, making him the spy who made possible the attack because he could access the information, open the gates and steal Lousitte.
Marco accepts so much physical and emotional abuse from Astolfo. I don’t think it is loyalty but guilt, like we see in Beast's act when Marco was touched by Naemia’s fog; he asked for forgiveness from his former masters. Yes, he told Astolfo he felt guilty for escaping during the attack on Granatums, but Marco was a civilian; he couldn’t help except for asking for help.
I doubt Lord Granatum would have blamed a civilian unless Marco’s guilt were more deep.
If I am right, our duo of heroes can finally learn about Lord Ruthven's power of imposing orders from Marco' situation.
But there’s another possibility: the Vampire Coexistence Faction and Charles are guilty—and they used the charlatan. Charles is the leader of the hunters and the leader of the faction Roland belongs to—his direct superior. Yet it’s clear a deal was struck behind the tragedy, one involving both the Church and the Senate. Without it, there would have been severe political consequences, not silence.
Not just between the Senate and the Church, but also between the Senate and the vampire population. If the Church had wanted to, it could have sparked instability and panic simply by sharing the Granatum tragedy in Altus. Most of the population would have been shocked by the violence—sexual violence and torture—and the fact that only a child survived. Never mind that the Granatums were hunters; anyone with a shred of empathy would be horrified. And if you add that the only one dead was a soldier, Lord Granatum, while everyone else was a civilian.
Other vampires might not care about the victims, but they do care about safety. How could they trust their senate to maintain order when a group of 20 rogue vampires destroyed a noble house? It means anyone could be a victim.
The Granatum tragedy was the perfect opportunity to create chaos in Altus without too much energy. But it didn’t happen. Which suggests the Church may have already struck a deal with the Senate.
I think there are three motivations behind the assassination: political, theological, and scientific.
1)Political motivation.
Granatum is a Latin surname. Astolfo and Marco—his butler—are both Italian names, and the Granatum family is a long line of paladins who have served the Church, one of the most important.
Given that Vanitas no Carte’s history mirrors our own—starting with the birth of vampires and the war against them—this means the Catholic Church was, until recently, also a state.
The Papal States had a history of power abuse and corruption. They wielded temporal power against other countries, even slowing Italy’s unification by pressuring France to intervene against every kingdom that challenged its authority. In fact, it’s no surprise to me that the foundation of vampire hunting lies in France rather than Italy. Historically, France was the protector of the Papal States.
The pettiness of the Papal States was boundless. Everyone involved in the capture of Rome in 1870 was declared eretics, refused to recognise the Kingdom of Italy, and continued to call themselves the Papal States. Now, Vanitas no Carte takes place in 1889—just 19 years after the loss of the Papal States. The wound is still fresh, and the Catholic Church in this world is even more powerful than in ours because they are also vampire hunters.
Granatum's a Latin surname. So it’s not absurd to think the Granatum family could be from the former Papal States or having deep connection with it.
Because VNC Church is also a military order for hunting vampires, it would make papal paladins/army extremely important in this context as justification of temporary power. The Pope would also want the best paladin family serving his territory as protection.
But if the Granatums retained their nobility even after Italy’s reunification—despite the dissolution of the Papal States—it means they took a stand for Italy against PS temporal power. This could be seen as betrayal, especially since, during the Risorgimento, there were groups in favour of a unified Italy under the Papal States.
Gano is inspired by Ganelon, the traitor of King Charlemagne in The Song of Roland. Though some suggest his name derives from the Italian word 'inganno' (meaning 'fraud' or 'deception'). Gano is a paladin who is extremist and classist. If he were a hunter from Italy, I wouldn’t be surprised if his idea of Italy were one under Papal control. 'Gano' sounds also very similar to the name 'Giano', who is the name of a Latin god—one of the most important, with two faces.
I think if the author is referencing Gano of Bloodstone to the god, Gano might be from Rome itself.
Or I am mistaken again, and both Gano and Astolfo are French, but I’m not sure about Astolfo, since he is so isolated and no one seems to know his family directly.
I don’t rule out that Astolfo’s family is still French, as the author sometimes uses the French version of his name. But if the Granatums were French, they weren’t well-connected to French nobility or the Church. The isolation Astolfo faced after his family’s death suggests otherwise. Perhaps the Granatums were from Nice, which was only annexed in 1860. This would mean Astolfo was French, but his parents still had their support and working networks in Italy—explaining why, apart from Olivier’s family, the Granatums had no other connections in Paris. Maybe the Church considered the hunters in the Nice area as Italian, so despite 30 years passing, the Granatums were still operating in the Nice/Italian region.
Still, I prefer the idea that the Granatums were nobles from Italy. So I’ll continue to refer to them as Italian secularists.
By killing Lord Granatum—a clearly strong hunter and a patriot—the Italian secular hunters suffered a deep wound. And worse, the French Vampire Coexistence Faction now has his heir.
Why am I certain Lord Granatum, despite his harsh words, wasn’t an extremist or in Charles’s faction? Because he spoke about protecting the people of the nation, never about holy duty. All his dialogue revolves around defence, and so does his wife’s reaction when Astolfo spoke with her in private. She told Astolfo he shouldn’t become a hunter either, implying she could speak freely with her husband and that there was no abusive dynamic in the family. I truly doubt an extremist would have tolerated his son not hunting or his wife challenging his authority.
Astolfo is deeply protective of his father’s memory. So despite the memories of duty that terrified him, he wasn’t afraid of his father—only of the situation.
So no matter if Granatums are Italian or French, they must have belonged to a thrid faction ,the seculars which would be hated by other factions in Church. Remember we are at and of 1800, seculars weren’t seen well because they wanted a separation between State and Church.
In a world Church controlls the only army against vampires and only one who also owns the Astermite trade with vampires
This would be a fight of power.
If Lord Granatum were leader of the seculars, keeping Astolfo as a political hostage would be the perfect way to control the third faction, especially if that faction were foreign.
In flashback Astolfo 's isolation is abnormal; outside of Olivier, who is a family friend, no hunters showed shock for the brutal death of a fellow hunter and his family; they treated the boy as extra weight.
This solidifies Granatums weren’t from Paris's headsquare; Lord Granatum was a paladin, whose VNC's hierarchy made him an army captain, meaning he led at least 200 soldiers. Isn't any of these soldiers freaking out or asking for revenge? Where was his second in command? Where was Astolfo 's tutor/executor in case of Lord Grantum's death? We should remember Astolfo is noble differently from Vanitas and Misha, orphan commoners; Astolfo should have had a network from his family and status. You can rebut that maybe the Church paid the network to stay away.
That is also a possibility, but it brings another question: why should Charles’s faction spend so much for Astolfo?
Astolfo isn’t the only possible poster boy whose family is tragically killed; for this I strongly believe Astolfo and his family are foreign, and unfortunately children's protection/adoption was ruled by the Church. There were not true laws about children's protection, so a foreign family, also noble, would have a lot of difficulty fighting the Church. Marco, who is a servant, was allowed to join Astolfo years later but not as someone of Astolfo’s class or his executor.
If you notice from the flashback, Astolfo, despite his status as a noble, his room isn’t fancy like Olivier’s and Charles'. Astolfo is never treated as noble but as a soldier; outside of Marco, who called him once 'little lord', or fancy clothes, Astolfo is living a very frugal life.
The biggest proof about it was Ronald being Astolfo’s trainer and not Olivier. We know Charles chose Ronald because he wasn’t really prepered to handle such traumatized child and their fallout will destroy astolfo’s mental state but there is also subtly remotion of Astolfo’s training as lord.
It is the end of the 1800s; classism is a thing. Roland, a commoner, being only a trainer would have been seen as an irregularity. Not only for difference of class but because Roland alone didn’t have all instrument for raising Astolfo as proper lord.
We can see a scene where Ronald can’t read Astolfo’s books, implying a far level of instruction between them. Olivier would have a better trainer than Ronald; Olivier is noble too; his family and Granatum were friends. And yet Olivier wasn’t a trainer, because Charles didn’t want a new lord Granatum but a weapon.
If theory of him being a political hostage, it makes perfectly sense, until Astolfo isn’t aware of his political power he is controllable.
And most imporant Astolfo might be political hostage for controlling the original faction of his father who has tied hands of the situation.
2) Theological motivation.
This motivation is deeply connected with the political one and the scientific one, as I suspect Granatums might not be totally pure humans. The author is taking inspiration from different sources, but she introduced Dham's taking inspiration from Eastern European folklore. We can see Vnc dhams share the strength of their vampire parent, but in the last chapters now we know Dhams' eyes turn golden, and they can deny the world the formula by doing that.
In folklore and media, usually the dhams are the best vampire hunters, and VNC might not make an exception. Before Noè became Vanitas’ shield, Dante was one. We can see fear in Jeanne when Johann answers her that he is dham.
Jeanne is one of the stronger vampires in manga and a seasoned warrior. Why that fear?
In folklore the dhams are always the best vampire hunters, and I think this doesn't change in VNC, except the modern dhams can’t control their golden eyes, but it doesn’t mean it was always the case.
During the war between vampires and humans, it was more likely Dhams sided with humans.
First of all, vampires hate everything that can interfere with the world formula, plus logically speaking most dhams are born from a rogue vampire to human, like in folklore.
Most humans are helpless against vampires, and mass rape in war was used a weapon.
The difference was these dhams hated their vampire parents so much that they joined the vampire hunts.
We should not forget there were also vampires who sided with humans brutally killed by Jeanne by Senate's orders. These traitors might have their children dhampir too who probably hated Jeanne for killing their parents, which explains partially Jeanne's reaction around dhampirs.
Now I think most of these dhams created their lineages, and the Granatum family was one of them. The Church closed an eye until Granatums moved on to secularism.
Charles must know of the potential of Granatum's lineage because he manipulated Astolfo into becoming a hunter when most of Charles’s hunters mocked the idea, seeing the boy too frail and damaged.
But Charles was right; Astolfo became a paladin at only 15 years old after enduring torture, showing force but also military intelligence because, without it I doubt 200 soldiers obey a boy.
I know the manga says dham hurts are thing but I don’t think it denies a past where the Church used the dhams as weapon. But because now Church produced tonic for hunting dhams aren’t necessary anymore, but paladin’s families are enslaved by same concept of atonement for sins of father that senate uses against the bourreaux. Maybe the gemstone that marks a family it is a reference to dham's eyes founder of the bloodline.
3) Scientific motivation
Let’s summarise the incredible feats in the Granatum family.
Lord Granatum managed to kill 7 vampires in a 1 vs 20 before dying. In these 20 there were 5 of who them were high-formula users.
Ronald, who is one of the stronger vampire hunters in the series, fights solo against one powerful vampire like Noe. Or a team for multiple adversaries.
Lord Granatum was also fighting in a closed space while trying to defend his family. This also shows incredible cold blood and focus.
The appearances of Astolfo and Angelica, their mother, are the only known characters who have anime colours.
Usually I wouldn’t mind except the author only uses anime colour in VNC for dhams and vampires.
We can think Astolfo, Angelica and their mother are red-haired, but we can’t ignore the eyes. In VNC unusual eyes are a trait of vampires, their kin and dhams. Astolfo and his sister have natural pink eyes.
We don’t know yet what colour eyes their parents' have, but because Granatum are connected with garnet, their father might have red eyes or a different colour of garnet that would still be unnatural. Like the blue eyes of Misha and Vanitas aren’t natural despite being blue.
Another bizarre Astolfo characteristic is his sense of smell. During the first meeting with Noè in the station, Astolfo was polite with Noè until a gust of wind hit Noè. From that moment Astolfo was suspicious of Noè until they met again in the forest and Astolfo forced Noè to use his vampire power. And Astolfo commented he finally got the confirmation Noè was a vampire.
In the manga, most vampires, unless they are old, can’t recognise each other. We saw Jeanne asking what race Johann was, or until Amelie/JJ didn’t show their red eyes, Noe was in the dark about their identity.
Is Astolfo's sense of smell a trauma response or his lineage's ability?
But the author in the fanbook/comment specified vampires have a better sense of smell. So why does a human boy have a better sense of smell, like he's a hunting dog?
Astolfo, after the Grantum massacre, should be dead or disabled for life.
Usually I don’t care about anime logic about incredible survival or healing, but the author herself shows vampires need medical assistance, or they can’t heal everything.
Vanitas’ ability of healing is a consequence of being Luna’s kin and Morue's experiment. Vampires are still potentially mortal, so the situation of Astolfo, being tortured for days, dehydrate, starved, half-naked, while 13 vampires drank from him, realistically would have killed him.
In a more 'lucky situation' , if the rescue had been immediate, Astolfo's body would have been too damaged by blood loss shock, infections... and his mental and physical abilities would have been damaged forever.
Which is not the case of Astolfo. He becomes a paladin in 5/7 years of intense training; his culture and intelligence are superior to an adult's, if we remember the scene of Ronald watching Astolfo's books in confusion.
It is very telling Vanitas didn't know all details of Astolfo’s rescue; he probably thinks it was a quick rescue like for him, or he would have immediately pointed out it was strange. Noè, as a vampire, has limited understanding of human biology, and knowing Vanitas doesn’t help on that, so Noè was focused on Astolfo’s pain about torture without realising a big group of vampires can’t drink from a boy 8-10 years old without killing him.
The vampires marked the Granatum siblings—which already makes no sense. A mark is a way to warn other vampires not to touch your prey. According to Charles, they are dangerous and can ruin the body. If the vampires wanted to keep the Granatum siblings alive, marking them was the worst way to do it.
So if Angelica and Astolfo were carrying vampiric/dham blood, they would have been perfect subjects for Moreau. He’s the one who asked the siblings to be marked and left to wither for days. Moreau wanted to know what happened to them, how their biology reacted against the marks, and whoever survived became No. 70. This is the crux of the drama: both siblings survived, but Astolfo doesn’t know it.
Moreau is always looking for interesting test subjects; the fact he didn’t kidnap Astolfo is a red flag unless he got a subject like Astolfo. We know Morue can kidnap well-known people by killing a double and so he can fake the death of person he wants to take. Like he did with Vanitas. We don’t know if Astolfo participated to his family funeral, so using a fake Angelica wouldn’t be so hard.
Moreau chose Angelica probably because she had more vampire sleeping characteristics or she was more useful because once adult, they can easily force reproduction for creating new subjects.
Who told Astolfo she was dead? Gano.
Charlatan/Church got what they wanted; the lord Granatum was gone, No. 70 was secured, and Astolfo wasn’t necessary for the extremists or Charlatan—until Charles decided to turn him into a weapon for his faction.
Charles is the leader of the Vampire Coexistence Faction, which means he’s the one who likely agreed to the Senate’s decision to keep the Granatum tragedy quiet. He saw throwing away Astolfo as a waste, so he preferred to turn him into the church's loyal attack dog—while the charlatan was torturing Angelica.
My proof: Angelica is No. 70 and her connection with Micha and Vanitas.
We know Angelica became mute during the Granatum massacre. Vanitas commented n70 was mute.
I don’t think Angelica/N70 arrived after Vanitas; I always thought the odd numbers were used for boys and even for girls. Vanitas commented in N70's area that everyone was dead, but he never commented if he arrived before N70. We still don’t know how old is Astolfo for example, we only know at 15 years old he become a paladin but not how much time has passed since there.
So, Angelica/n70 timeline is still possible.
Vanitas and Micha are humans modified by Moreau using the Blue Moon blood, then turned into Luna’s kind. Officially, they are half-vampires.
Well, Micha and Vanitas show regenerative abilities similar to Astolfo. Noé blinded Micha, who was fine the next morning despite the injury. The same goes for Vanitas—after a few days, he was fine too. Astolfo, during the beast act, overdosed, so he cried blood, meaning a brain injury. Noè smashed him against the wall and in same way he got up and try to attack Noè, Dante was only one who rightly commented " Are you kidding?"
Despite everything Astolfo was perfectly fine some chapters later.
Now, we should focus on No. 69, 70, and 71.
They are consecutive, which means there’s a connection. We know Moreau’s experiments range from physical tests to vivisection, but it’s clear these three were treated the same way. Vanitas believed No. 70 was part of another experiment but he can be wrong, if I’m right, No. 70—Angelica—was the blueprint for creating the fake lineage, which is why they survived.
First, all the pictures of No. 70 show her with bandages inside her arms—an area used for taking blood.
VNC is a steampunk setting in 1889, a time when modern concepts like isolating the source of an experiment were just being discovered.
This implies that No. 70 was always kept in isolation, probably to avoid cross-contamination.
We know Moreau tried to create the Blue Moon lineage by injecting Blue Moon blood into various people, but they went mad or died. However, he said that with Vanitas and Micha, he gave them the blood slowly, corrected with medicine.
What if the medicine were blood and marrow from No. 70/Angelica—the only human with the vampire-sleeping gene? This explains Vanitas and Misha's regeneration ability, why they survived when other died. And they left the source of their survival behind. Future trauma/guilty for Vanitas.
Now, the Granatum family can’t be descendants of ordinary vampires—if, after centuries, their abilities are still so strong.
Marquis Machina and Granatum theory:
This part is more speculation and head canon, but hear me out.
I believe Marquis Machina is the ancestor of the Granatum family, making the Granatums archivistes in human form. Marquis Machina is associated with the queen bee; she was almost maternal with Dante, finding his golden eyes beautiful.
She speaks with the teacher about the Granatum tragedy as it was sore story to her. And it was him who brought it up, as if provoking Machina. In fact, after the recalling of Astolfo’s tragedy, Machina, who faked her composure, lost it and insulted the teacher.
After her introduction, we have Astolfo's flashback then and story starting to focus on dhampirs which doesn’t make sense—especially because she is the one telling his story with such sadness. So why is she so interested in Astolfo? Teacher insisted on the topic.
If we place the Astolfo flashback after the Beast’s act, it makes more sense on narattive level. Or, if we remove it entirely and jump straight from Machina’s introduction to the dhampirs’ act, it flows better—unless the Granatums are connected to her and dhampirs.
Marquis Machina had a loved daughter—a dhampir—who joined humans in the war and chose humanity. Because Machina is associated to bees as bee queen, a daughter, another potential bee queen, would have formed her hive.
For this reason, the Marquis isn’t harsh or hateful with dhampirs; they remind her of her daughter.
So the Granatum family wasn’t just descended from dhampir but from dhampir who shared their genes with an extremely powerful archiviste.
We know Machina is an observator; the series hasn’t explained the meaning yet, but seeing Machina's old age and power and being bold with the Teacher means she is very powerful.
While archiviste vampires can read the memories of others, the Granatum family evolved this ability into an archive of genetic memories about fighting—memories they can unconsciously access. So when you fight a Granatum, you’re fighting a warrior with 400 years of experience, like Misaka from Attack of Titans. This explains why the Granatums have been paladins for generations.
This also explains why Noé was fascinated and very hesitant about attacking Astolfo—his blood recognised Astolfo as part of the Archiviste clan.
Probably, Astolfo’s body recognised Noé as well, which is why Astolfo's sense of smell was confused around Noé.
Now, some symbols that could connect Machina to the Granatums:
The pomegranate is deeply connected to Astolfo. He is often shown in front of it in still-life imagery.
The word 'Granatum'is part of the scientific name for the fruit. The term 'garnet' takes its inspiration from the form of the seeds, which look like a cluster of garnets. And—surprise, surprise—the Granatums are associated with the garnet stone.
Inside the fruit, its structure closely resembles the interior of a beehive. And we have Machina, who is tied to hives and bees.
Another detail from anime both Lord and Lady Granatum are dressed up in purple, a colour that is used for archiviste clan or who has connection with it.
But the most important connection? The pomegranate is strongly linked to the myth of Persephone—a story of family tragedy where a kind soul becomes a force of hatred and despair after losing their loved ones.
Astolfo is Demeter in her winter phase, while Angelica is Kore, trapped in the underworld.
The myth appears in the series too: there’s a statue of il ratto di Proserpina’ and Veronika is sitting on it like it’s a garden chair—right on top of Pluto’s face, the kidnapper.
Because we know vampire nobility hate anything they can’t control. They’re likely responsible for the genocide of the archivists. Since all vampires live in Altus, if the hunters ever reached there, they would kill the senate first than the archiviste clan. The Senate agreed to the Granatums’ elimination because they represented a human breach of the Archiviste bloodline.
The Granatum’s archiviste memory explains why Lord Granatum was so dangerous—and why the vampires needed to break his psyche, at least for a moment. They violated his wife before he could pull himself together, and then they killed him.
Another key symbol of the pomegranate, despite the apple being more common representation of the fruit of knowledge, the pomegranate is a candidate too.
This symbol can be applied to Noé. If my idea of mnemonic genetics is true, the only way Noè can learn about his people is by drinking from Astolfo.
If Astolfo accepted, he might accept if this is a way to find Angelica. Remember Astolfo is Demeter, who will do everything for Kore.
It would be the biggest taboo of the series and the recreation of Genesis sin. Drinking from a paladin, so essentially split in the face of the Pope. Drinking from a human willingly for Noè is taboo. He drank from Misha but it was blackmail situation.
But knowledge can be reached only by sinning.
In everycase these are just my thoughts and speculation.
I hope the writing isn’t so terrible. English isn’t my first language and it is cruel partner with my dyslexia.