Aiwei sat on the lawn, gazing at the tall walls, the world outside those walls, and that distant, unreachable freedom, her mind churning with thoughts.
Ever since she voiced her desire not to run away that day, Fuluoxi hadn’t tormented her for several days.
Suddenly, with no one to torment her, she really felt a bit… out of sorts.
No, no, that’s not right—she wasn’t a masochist, so why was she even thinking about such things?
Aiwei shook her head, trying to fling those strange thoughts out of her mind.
But to be honest, Aiwei truly wasn’t used to it, because Fuluoxi seemed like a completely different person now.
She was actually being gentle toward her?!!
This change in Fuluoxi made Aiwei rather fearful at first. She originally thought Fuluoxi was scheming up something dreadful to use against her.
But a day passed, then two, three, and now a week had gone by, and Fuluoxi still hadn’t done anything excessive to her.
She didn’t even make her crawl over anymore.
Fuluoxi had actually started treating her like a human being!
Aiwei was a person who could adapt well, though she didn’t know why Fuluoxi’s attitude had suddenly changed.
But since things had come to this, she might as well enjoy it.
She didn’t know if Fuluoxi had suddenly grown a conscience, if her behavior that day had been too bizarre, or maybe, she’d looked a little too dead inside.
Maybe Fuluoxi thought that if she kept toying with her, she’d end up breaking her for good, so she’d decided to be gentler.
Hmm… that must be it.
After all, Fuluoxi probably liked her little pet well enough—if she accidentally played her to death, Fuluoxi would be troubled, wouldn’t she?
Aiwei had now calmly accepted the fact that she was Fuluoxi’s caged little pet, and could even say it out loud naturally.
That was probably one of the small changes after that day.
But honestly, Aiwei could clearly feel that when facing the delegation members or talking to Fuluoxi after leaving the meeting room, she’d been in a really strange state.
It was as if she’d lost interest in everything.
Her body was still hers, but her soul felt like it had changed, maintaining a very odd kind of calm.
Fortunately, she’d managed to adjust herself back since then.
Thinking back to her behavior and state at that time, Aiwei couldn’t help but shiver.
That bizarre state—Aiwei never wanted to experience it again.
“Aiwei, come play with us!” Aiwei heard someone calling her from behind, and could recognize the voice at once.
It was Xiya.
These days, she had successfully blended into the little group of Blood Slaves, since she didn’t have any noble airs, nor did she act like a princess.
This contrast made the Blood Slaves, who had thought Aiwei would be difficult to approach, all treat her kindly.
After all, if anyone among the Blood Slaves had it the worst, Aiwei definitely took the top spot.
During these days, Aiwei had come to understand the Blood Slaves’ lives, and found their routines quite regular.
They ate on time, and even had exercise and entertainment activities.
Except for the lack of freedom and the need to donate blood for the Vampire Clan’s consumption, everything else was pretty good; sometimes, there was even meat and eggs in the food.
You had to know, even in the Imperial Capital, eating meat now and then was a real luxury. In more remote areas, getting to eat meat once a year was already fortunate.
So life here was actually pretty good.
The place where Aiwei was now was specially set aside for Blood Slaves to exercise and relax.
It seemed Fuluoxi also understood the importance of maintaining the Blood Slaves’ mental state, or maybe it was some kind of breeding technique?
Aiwei remembered that in her previous life, staff at breeding farms would also let the animals exercise and walk outside to keep the meat tender and tasty.
Maybe it was something similar?
Aiwei shook off these random thoughts and waved toward Xiya behind her. “Xiya, you all go ahead. I’ll join you in a bit.”
Getting her response, Xiya didn’t say more, just turned to joke around with her friends.
Listening to the laughter and cheerful voices around her, Aiwei’s mood improved a little.
This kind of life made Aiwei feel as if she’d gone back to her student days.
For life to suddenly settle down like this—she really wasn’t used to it.
But it was a good thing.
Still, not running away was impossible. Even though life here was peaceful now, and everything seemed to be flourishing—
Who knew when Fuluoxi might go crazy again?
Last time, Fuluoxi had nearly pushed her to the brink. Who knew what would happen next? Leaving her life in someone else’s hands just wasn’t Aiwei’s style.
She’d rather keep control of her own life.
Praying for the mercy of those in power was the stupidest thing.
You couldn’t expect the Vampire Clan, who saw you as food, to treat a Blood Slave as someone worthy of equal conversation.
During these days, Aiwei used her exercise and leisure time to gather some information from the other Blood Slaves, learning some basics about the Vampire Clan.
But a Blood Slave was still just a Blood Slave. Even after staying here a long time, the information they could access was limited. Aiwei’s main source was still Liya.
From Liya, Aiwei learned about Emilia’s identity—she was the second Blood Clan Prince.
A rival for Fuluoxi’s council seat.
Other than that, Aiwei couldn’t learn anything else about Emilia.
Aiwei also heard that in other Blood Slave Camps, some Blood Slaves had tried to escape.
The result was that they were caught and drained of blood as a warning to others.
However, after asking around in Fuluoxi’s Blood Slave Camp, Aiwei hadn’t heard of any Blood Slaves being killed outright for misdeeds.
Here, Blood Slaves who broke the rules were usually expelled and sent to other Blood Slave Camps.
It sounded harmless, but perhaps every Blood Slave Camp had its own rules and ways of treating Blood Slaves—maybe it really was a terrifying punishment.
Aiwei pondered this in her heart.
She’d also tried these past days to break the shackles on her power, but she’d failed.
Aside from a layer of restriction on her body, whenever she tried to break it, the Slave Brand on her collarbone would sense it and send an electric current through her body.
That was terrifying.
“Greetings, Prince.”
Aiwei’s ears twitched as she heard voices from the gate, but she couldn’t catch the specifics. Her eyes instinctively turned toward the gate.
She saw nothing; there was no one at the entrance.
After a minute or two, a Vampire Clan guard walked in from outside and led Aiwei away.
The surrounding Blood Slaves were already used to Aiwei being taken away from time to time, so they didn’t find it strange.
Only Xiya, who had been playing with others, glanced in the direction Aiwei was led away, her eyes narrowing slightly with a hint of interest.
On what had once been a human ear, there seemed to be a faint phantom—the shape of a pointed ear, exactly like an elf’s.
But the phantom quickly faded, and Xiya’s ears looked as usual, without the slightest difference.
No one noticed any of this, and Xiya continued to play with her friends as if nothing had happened.
Only the slight curve at the corner of her mouth revealed what she had just done.