Led by Sylvie all the way, they twisted and turned through the streets and alleys. The roads of Eternal Night City were uneven, even complex to say the least, but this girl always navigated effortlessly past one hidden corner after another, leaving Shiluo somewhat astonished.
By the time she came back to her senses, they had stopped in front of an already abandoned building.
“This is it.” Sylvie released the hand she had been holding tightly and removed her hood.
“Follow me.”
With that, she started up the stairs on her own, but after just two steps, she paused, hesitated, turned back to look at Shiluo, and asked again as if to confirm.
“Just to be clear, Lady Shiluo, you must keep your promise.”
“I know.”
Receiving the affirmative response, Sylvie then led her up to the floor…
…
What met her eyes was a dim room, furnished with simple items… a table, a chair, a decayed cabinet, and in the room’s corner, which was also by the window, a white single bed.
The air was filled with the smell of dust and mold, mixed with a faint, faint scent of blood.
Moonlight poured in from the window, a hazy silver glow illuminating the slender, frail figure sitting up on the bed, enveloping her in a layer of ethereal serenity.
She sat there, quietly gazing at the scenery outside the window, revealing only half of her pale profile, which appeared almost transparent under the moonlight.
And that head of silver hair, shimmering with a luster nearly identical to the moonlight, all served to confirm for Shiluo the most absurd, yet most likely, fact that she had speculated in her heart along the way.
This child… was actually hiding a vampire.
“Lady Cassia, sorry to disturb your rest… I have something I want to tell you.”
Several seconds of silence passed, and the vampire did not respond, not even turning her head to look at her.
Sylvie seemed already accustomed to her silence and simply continued on her own.
“This is Lady Shiluo, from outside the city. She’s being pursued by the vampires, gravely injured, and needs a safe place to hide temporarily. She might need to stay here for a while.”
“…”
Cassia still didn’t speak.
Shiluo frowned, feeling somewhat irritated by this attitude of completely ignoring others. She was just about to say something when she saw the figure on the bed finally move.
She slowly turned her head, revealing that cold, exquisitely beautiful face shrouded in silver light, her calm, dim blood-red eyes directed at her.
And when Shiluo clearly saw her face, she felt… as if all the blood in her body had frozen solid.
Cassia…
Cassia?
Cassia Fironiya?!!!
The former Vampire Queen?!
No mistake… she absolutely couldn’t be wrong!
Back when she was still receiving education in the human survivor zones, she had seen this face countless times in the photos, videos preserved after the “Great Purge,” or in the blurry yet precious image data brought back by survivors at the risk of their lives!
Pale, beautiful, majestic, carrying a kind of indifference and cruelty that overlooked all living beings.
That was the former Vampire Queen… Cassia Fironiya!
The old ruler who mysteriously disappeared a few years ago, rumored to have been overthrown by the new Vampire Queen, fallen, yet whose remains had never been found?!
Why was she here?! Hiding in such a dilapidated ruin? Did this child not know her true identity?!
Shiluo’s fingertips were ice-cold, cold sweat pouring out, that trembling hand almost unable to resist reaching for her dagger, even though she knew that if the person before her was truly that vanished Vampire Queen, then all her resistance would be utterly futile.
Cassia, or rather Cassia’s gaze lingered on Shiluo’s face for a moment.
That gaze was still vacant, without any hostility, without even any emotional fluctuation, as if looking at an insignificant object.
“Do as you please.”
She merely indifferently tossed out a sentence, then turned her head again, continuing to stare blankly at the world outside.
Sylvie seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. She turned to Shiluo, signaling with her eyes for her to stay quiet, then gently pulled her to the other corner of the room.
Once they sat down in the corner piled with old fabrics, Shiluo still didn’t dare let her guard down. Her whole body was tense, her eyes fixed dead on the figure on the bed.
Sharing a room with the former Vampire Queen who had slaughtered millions… it was too absurd.
“Lady Shiluo, just rest and recover here in peace. Sylvie will leave first.”
After saying that, she turned to go, but Shiluo grabbed her sleeve.
“You really don’t know who that person is?” she asked in a low, trembling voice.
Sylvie, however, replied without hesitation.
“I know Lady Shiluo might not be able to accept sharing a room with a vampire, but Sylvie assures you, Lady Cassia won’t harm you… probably.”
“Probably?! She’s Cassi…”
Knock knock—
Before the words in her mouth could finish, a strong chill instantly assaulted her entire body, lodging the words in her throat.
Shiluo turned her head and saw Cassia glaring at her sideways, those crimson eyes emitting an eerie dark glow in the shadows, as if warning her.
She paused for a long moment before swallowing and saying.
“It’s… nothing…”
Though Sylvie was puzzled, she still gave a slight bow, turned, and came to Cassia’s side.
“Lady Cassia.”
“…”
“Tonight… Sylvie has some matters and probably can’t come. I’ll prepare your blood meal in advance now.”
With that, she rolled up her sleeve, unwrapping the bandage around her arm. Shiluo saw that on that slender, pale skin were countless hideous wounds, some not even fully healed yet, leaving scar after scar.
She picked up the dagger, about to cut into her flesh, but then heard Cassia say coldly.
“I don’t need it…”
“…”
Sylvie’s movements froze.
Her thin lips pursed slightly, her eyelids lowered, avoiding Cassia’s profile that was still gazing out the window.
All of this fell into Shiluo’s eyes—that small, almost imperceptible change in expression, different from any calm, disguise, or determination she had seen on Sylvie’s face before.
She actually seemed somewhat… disappointed?
However, Cassia by the window was completely unaware, those blood-red eyes still blankly reflecting the eternal night outside the window.
After several seconds of silence, the girl’s voice rose again.
“…Sylvie understands.”
She looked at Shiluo once more.
“Then, I’ll be going first.”
Sylvie’s hand rested on the cold doorknob, her thin back appearing unusually frail in the dim light. Shiluo watched her, her expression complex, that question stuck in her throat, but she still voiced it.
“You… are you really going?”
She knew where Sylvie was going.
To that cruel cage named Utia Nordisas.
Sylvie’s movements paused; she didn’t turn back, just her shoulders stiffening for a moment.
“…Yes, no matter what’s ahead, Sylvie has to go, because…” she responded softly.
Then, turning around, on that numb face bloomed a hollow smile.
“This is Sylvie’s way of survival…”