“Even you want to humiliate me now, Aiersha?”
Yalbera’s voice turned icy, her gaze cold as she stared at Aiersha.
But Aiersha remained expressionless, her tone utterly indifferent.
Who’s to blame?
I brought you the finest blood available, and you refused it.
Now that you finally know what you’ve lost, it’s too late.
“I only fulfilled Lady Yalbera’s request, to prepare high-quality blood. That’s all. If you don’t like it, it’s fine… because you won’t be having any more of it,” Aiersha said with a shrug.
The air around Yalbera grew colder, a suffocating pressure building as if she were about to erupt at any moment.
That woman Yare had just humiliated her in front of Bai, and now Aiersha, too?
Since when had she, Yalbera, ever endured such indignity?
All because of a blood slave?!
“Watch your tone, Aiersha. Even if you’re not some lowly blood slave, you’re still just a servant. You have no right to insult me!”
Yalbera’s warning was sharp and unforgiving.
And in that moment, Aiersha found herself understanding Xiao Bai’s feelings just a little more.
All that service, all that effort to please, and in return, just cold, arrogant dismissal.
No wonder Xiao Bai left you.
But it doesn’t matter now.
Since Xiao Bai is no longer here, I have no reason to stay either.
Once I take her back from that woman, you can rot alone in your world of pride and delusion, Yalbera.
With that thought, a faint smile finally appeared on Aiersha’s lips.
She lifted the hem of her skirt, placed her right foot slightly behind her, and gave a flawless curtsy.
“Of course. Aiersha will obey your command.”
Yalbera was momentarily stunned by the shift in attitude, her suspicions briefly stirring.
But the more she thought about it, the more she convinced herself, this was how a servant was supposed to behave.
Not like Bai, who threatened to leave at the slightest hint of coldness.
“That’s more like it… Within a month, find me a new blood slave. I don’t care what race, human, elf, whatever, they must be completely obedient. And they must be better than the last one.”
She needed to prove that superior blood slaves were easy to find.
That Bai’s absence meant nothing.
Absolutely nothing.
Aiersha responded, “Yes, Lady Yalbera.”
“You may leave.”
“Yes.”
Aiersha left, leaving Yalbera alone in the room.
Silence settled in, so thick it drowned everything, even the rustling of roses outside the window sounded grating.
And yet, it felt like something was missing…
Yalbera’s irritation only deepened.
***
Meanwhile, in the knight camp, inside a tent, Skarn was discussing the recent assault with one of the knights.
“Commander, I really don’t think this attack was a coincidence. There’s no way bloodbeasts could coordinate like that. They launched a full-on assault right when our guards were relaxing at night. That’s not something those mindless beasts could pull off!”
“You’re saying… there’s a vampire commanding them in the forest?”
Skarn asked, frowning.
“That’s just my speculation,” the knight replied.
Skarn fell silent for a moment.
He rubbed at the corners of his eyes wearily, then sighed.
“If there really is a vampire hiding in this forest, we’re in trouble. Those bastards are cunning as hell. They could be hiding entire swarms of bloodbeasts right under our noses. Which means… our scouts’ reports might not be as reliable as we thought.”
They couldn’t afford another attack like the last one.
And if a vampire was present, it would be impossible to catch them in a forest this vast.
Worse, vampires could infect and create more bloodbeasts in huge numbers, slowly wearing their forces down until there was nothing left.
If that were the case, this extermination mission was doomed to fail.
After thinking for a moment, he turned to the knight and ordered, “Tell Aurelia to keep the knights on full alert. Tighten all nearby patrols. And get me one of our fastest scouts, I’ve got a task for him.”
“Yes, sir!”
The knight saluted crisply and hurried off.
Skarn let out another long breath and stared at the map of the forest in front of him, lost in thought.
Whether the theory was true or not, this information had to reach their elven and beastkin allies immediately.
A single vampire was enough to turn the tide of the entire war.
Just then, the tent flap was thrown open, not by a scout, but by Aurelia, panting hard, her face anxious.
“Commander Skarn! Bai is gone!”
Skarn blinked in surprise before immediately asking, “Gone? What happened?!”
“I woke up this morning and saw her bed was empty. I’ve searched the entire camp—she’s nowhere.”
“What about the patrols? We have night sentries posted around the clock. They would’ve seen something.”
“I asked. None of them saw her. It’s like she vanished into thin air! Could she have gone into the forest to find her sister?”
Skarn hesitated, then issued a firm command.
“The forest may still be dangerous. That child is far too weak to be out there alone. Tell the patrols to expand their search radius, we must find her.”
“Understood!”
Aurelia turned and rushed out.
Skarn, meanwhile, began to doubt.
A little girl… sneaking past over a dozen trained knights on patrol?
Without even Aurelia noticing?
That was the most unbelievable part.
Aurelia was incredibly sharp, even bloodbeasts couldn’t avoid her senses.
So how had a fragile child pulled it off?
Something wasn’t right.
What Skarn couldn’t have imagined…
Was that Bai hadn’t escaped on foot at all, she had simply used the spider lily to teleport away.
Back in Yare’s domain, Bai had already returned to her new bedroom.
She was quietly unpacking her things, preparing for her first day of work.
Then, as if remembering something, her hands suddenly paused mid-motion.
“Bai… forgot to leave a note,” she murmured to herself.
“Hopefully… it won’t cause too much trouble.”
After a brief moment of thought, Bai nodded firmly and said to herself:
“Mm, it should be fine. ( ´•ω•).”
Then she calmly returned to her task, continuing her work as if nothing had happened.
Because right now, more than anything, she needed to focus on how to serve her new master.
Though Yare had told her to serve her the same way she had served Yalbera, entering a new environment with a new master still made Bai feel a little nervous.
She took a deep breath and looked out the window at the position of the moon.
It was likely morning by now.
Based on her routine back at Yalbera’s, that meant her master should be getting up soon.
She stepped outside and, relying on memory, made her way to Yare’s chamber door.
To be honest, Bai still wasn’t quite sure whether this room was a bedchamber or a study, because it was completely overrun by books…
Aside from a large bed and an old armchair, the room was filled with piles of books that had formed into miniature mountains.
Yalbera had also enjoyed reading, but never with this kind of obsession.
Perhaps, for beings like them, reading was simply a way to pass time.
Bai stood silently at the door, waiting.
Back in the castle, the way to know if the master was awake was to listen for movement inside.
But this time, she stood waiting for a long while, hearing nothing.
Until finally, the sound of a page turning broke the silence.
Already awake?
Bai paused in surprise.
Then, hesitantly, she gave a soft knock and asked carefully.
“Master, it’s Bai. Are you awake?”
Before long, the wooden door slowly creaked open again.
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