Yare was still sitting there reading her book, not even bothering to look up when Bai arrived.
“Forgive me, Master, Bai is late,” Bai said, bowing her head.
“Late?”
“Bai failed to arrive before Master woke, and missed the time to assist with Master’s morning dressing.”
Yare chuckled as if she’d just heard a joke, her voice tinged with amusement.
“You don’t actually think I’m like Yalbera, needing to sleep every night, do you?”
“Eh? You don’t?”
Yare set the book aside and crossed her slender legs, propping her head on her hand as she looked at Bai.
Her voice carried a trace of disdain and pride.
“I’m not that lazy Yalbera. Just because True Ancestors have long lives doesn’t mean I’ll waste mine on something so pointless. And for us blood clan, sleep is merely a descent into another kind of darkness.”
“I see…”
Bai murmured and recalled something from long ago, Aiersha had once mentioned that vampires didn’t need to sleep, but most still kept the habit.
They were really just passing the time.
“What is it? You look disappointed you didn’t get to serve your master?”
Yare asked with a teasing smile.
Bai quickly shook her head.
“No, no, Bai simply didn’t know Master didn’t require sleep. If there’s nothing else, Bai will go tend the garden now.”
She turned to leave, but in the next moment, the ground vanished from beneath her feet, and her whole body began floating.
Behind her came Yare’s playful yet dangerous voice.
“Oh my, leaving so soon? You barged into my room, disturbed my peace, and now you’re in such a rush to leave? I told you, didn’t I? Never disturb me without permission. Or did you forget?”
You’re the one who opened the door!
Bai gave a sheepish smile and swore, “Hehe… Bai will never enter without permission again! Bai will remember Master’s orders!”
Seeing Bai force a smile, Yare’s mischievous mood only grew.
She curled her finger, and the floating Bai drifted slowly toward her.
As that beautiful, dangerous face drew nearer, Bai instinctively leaned back, curling like a wary cat, as if facing a feral beast, desperate to escape.
Yare frowned slightly.
Am I really that terrifying?
Bai’s floating body stopped only when her face was just three centimeters from Yare’s.
In Yare’s deep, blood-colored eyes, Bai saw her own reflection, like being immersed in a pool of blood.
A chill ran down her spine.
She could even feel Yare’s breath, laced with the scent of blood.
She turned her head away, unable to meet Yare’s gaze.
“Are you afraid of me?”
The silky, gentle voice brushed past her ears, yet Bai felt goosebumps all over her body.
Her fear only deepened.
She stammered out, “W-Well… Bai hasn’t bathed in three days… Bai’s afraid of dirtying Master’s body.”
“I haven’t bathed in several thousand years.”
“Mm… Huh? A few thousand years?”
Oh right, she vaguely remembered that a True Ancestor’s body no longer excreted waste.
Their immense magic allowed them to regulate everything internally, even breathing wasn’t really necessary anymore.
“You want to serve me, don’t you? Fine. I’ll give you a chance, hehehe.”
Yare’s voice drifted over again just as Bai’s body suddenly dropped, gravity finally remembered her.
But it was already too late to escape.
Yare snapped her fingers, and everything around them began to spin and shift until the space transformed into…
A bathroom?
Bai blinked in confusion, looking around.
Wait, isn’t this the bathroom from my own room?
Yare still wore that perfect, unsettling smile as she turned on the tap.
Once the tub was full, she unceremoniously tossed the dazed Bai straight in.
Splash!
Water flew everywhere, soaking the hem of Yare’s intricate black gothic dress, but she didn’t seem to care.
She simply stood there smiling, watching Bai sink into the tub.
“Pwah! M-Master, what are you doing?!”
“Turn the water red. Then serve me. You have three minutes.”
Huh?
Turn the water red?!
You’ve gotta be kidding me!
Bai looked around frantically.
There wasn’t anything red in here!
“Master, how about, how about a different way of serving you? Bai could brush your hair, I’m really….”
“You have two minutes,” Yare interrupted coldly.
“Ugh.”
Bai searched desperately left and right, but aside from a white bar of soap and a towel, the bathroom was completely empty.
Seconds ticked by.
Yare’s cold voice came again.
“One minute.”
“But Bai really can’t find anything to make the water red!”
Still finding nothing, Bai gave up.
She collapsed lifelessly in the tub, arms crossed over her chest, half her face submerged, blowing bubbles in defeat.
“What’s wrong? Giving up already?”
Yare asked, raising a brow.
“Bai doesn’t know how. Bai doesn’t know any magic that turns things red…”
Yare’s lips curled again.
She stepped into the tub, her dark red dress billowing out like a blooming flower as it floated on the surface.
She leaned down, her cold hand gently cupping Bai’s cheek.
“It’s simple. I’ll teach you,” she whispered.
“Eh?”
Just as Bai blinked in confusion, that hand slid downward, coming to rest at her delicate neck.
Yare licked her lips.
Her crimson tongue glistened with droplets of water, echoing the crescent curve of her eyes.
Her pupils shimmered with hunger, and in the next moment, her fangs emerged and sank into Bai’s neck without hesitation.
The sharp pain lasted only a second, replaced by a wave of tingling heat rushing through her body.
Bai instinctively squirmed, her little legs splashing wildly in the tub.
Yare frowned in displeasure.
Disobedient children must be punished…
She immediately straddled Bai, pinning her restless legs beneath her own and wrapping both arms tightly around Bai’s neck like a predatory spider, completely cutting off her breath.
Bai’s already weakened body had no strength left after all the struggling, and now Yare was draining her again.
Her body slowly sank back into the water, dragging Yare, still feeding hungrily, down with her.
As her final thread of consciousness slipped away, Bai desperately reached one slender arm out of the water, trying to rise.
But Yare’s hand emerged from the surface as well, fingers intertwining with hers, and gently pushed that struggling hand back down beneath the water…
The surface of the bath stilled, as smooth as a mirror.
Moments later, the water began to turn deep crimson, as vibrant and beautiful as a blooming rose.
No one knew how much time passed before Yare finally rose from the blood-red water, her silver hair drenched and clinging to her shoulders, eyes still thick with lustful delight.
“There, now it’s red. Hehehe.”
But Bai was completely still, unconscious once again.
“Oh my, passed out again,” Yare said with disinterest.
She lifted the limp Bai out of the tub, no telling whether it was from blood loss, drowning, or being choked into unconsciousness.
She had planned to let her serve a little longer, but hadn’t expected her to break so easily.
Still…