“Lady Yare! Please stand aside! She’s Lady Yalbera’s blood slave!”
Aiersha shouted, stepping forward in an attempt to shield Bai.
But Yare slowly turned her head, her voice cold enough to freeze Aiersha to the bone.
“You’re too noisy.”
She raised a gloved hand, black silk covering her fingers, and uttered a cold phrase.
In an instant, an invisible force crashed down like a mountain upon Aiersha, pinning her firmly to the ground.
She couldn’t move an inch.
Just as she tried to speak, she realized no sound could escape her throat.
Yare turned her gaze back to Bai, her voice dripping with allure, a seductive spell clawing at Bai’s heart.
“I’ll ask you again. Do you want freedom?”
“Yes! Bai wants freedom! Freedom!”
Bai nodded fiercely, her voice faint but resolute.
Yare’s smile deepened.
Her crimson eyes locked onto Bai like a predator zeroing in on its prey, watching her walk step by step into the trap she had so carefully laid.
“In a True Ancestor’s domain, there are only three ways out. First, the domain’s creator allows it. Second, you kill the domain’s master. Third, someone more powerful than the master enters and leaves at will. So, Bai, even if you found an exit, you wouldn’t be able to leave.”
“How can that be… then what should Bai…”
Bai’s voice trembled, confusion filling her eyes.
“But you’re quite lucky, heh… because your blood is delicious enough. That will be the price, and the leverage, for your freedom.”
Yare smiled, her tone carrying an eerie gentleness.
“What do you mean? Bai doesn’t understand…”
Bai’s throat bobbed as she struggled to get the words out.
“No, you understand me better than anyone else. After all, you came here because of your blood, didn’t you?”
Yare’s voice was a whisper in the night wind, chilling and unsettling.
Bai’s body trembled slightly.
Her gaze toward Yare grew more fearful, and she began crawling backward in panic, trying to put as much distance as possible between herself and this dangerous woman.
“No… Bai doesn’t want to be a blood slave anymore! What kind of freedom is that?! It’s no different from staying here! Bai refuses! Even if it means dying!”
Yare stood, walking slowly toward Bai.
She grinned wide, revealing a pair of terrifying fangs.
“You don’t have a choice. Either come with me, or stay here. But I swear to you in the name of a True Ancestor, if you choose to return with me, then every seven days, I will grant you three days of freedom.”
“You may go anywhere, do anything you wish, so long as you provide me blood for the other four. What do you say, little one?”
Yare extended her hand to Bai.
That smile radiated an indescribable sense of danger.
In that moment, the beautiful girl before her felt like a savage, bloodthirsty beast, ready to tear her apart at any second.
But what choice did Bai have?
She stared at Yare’s outstretched hand, fingers pale and slender, silently beckoning her back to the very world she had once tried so hard to escape.
Her thoughts drifted unwillingly to five years ago, on that stormy night when Yalbera stood before her, eyes cold and sharp like a judge delivering a verdict.
Back then, the choice had been brutally simple, submit to the rules of the blood clan and become their eternal slave, or resist and embrace death.
She had thought choosing life meant a chance at freedom.
But now, it seemed it was only another kind of prison.
Her fingers trembled slightly, as if she could hear the blood rushing through her veins.
That sweet, suffocating blood, it was both her means of survival and her shackle.
Because of that blood, her life had been marked by the blood clan since birth.
Her existence seemed to exist solely to satisfy the desires of those lofty vampires.
Her freedom, her dreams, her soul, everything had been devoured by the endless darkness.
She lowered her head and looked at her pale wrist, where countless blades had once pierced her skin, leaving eternal marks behind.
Her blood, her life, it had never truly belonged to her.
Her very birth had doomed her to be a lowly blood slave, condemned to struggle in this endless cycle, never able to escape.
Yare’s voice was soft and cold, like it came from some distant place.
“Take my hand, Bai. Accept your fate. This is your only chance.”
The words were like a sharp blade stabbing into her heart, stealing her breath away.
Yes, she had no choice, she never did. It was the same five years ago, and it was the same now.
Her fate had been written long ago, and her resistance was nothing more than a futile struggle.
Despair flickered through Bai’s eyes, soon replaced by numbness.
Slowly, she raised her hand, and as her fingers touched Yare’s palm, the coldness made her heart shudder.
She knew that from this moment on, she would fall once again into the endless dark, becoming an eternal servant of the blood clan.
Her freedom, her life, they would be bound by the blood inside her until the day she died.
Lying on the ground, Aiersha watched helplessly, despair clouding her eyes.
She poured every ounce of strength into trying to stand, but her body was overwhelmed by a crushing pain, and she couldn’t move at all.
Yare’s smile grew even more enchanting as she spoke with satisfaction.
“Very good.”
She raised her hand toward Bai.
A sudden flash of red light burst forth, and a dark crimson sigil appeared on Bai’s neck, replacing the previous mark.
“From this moment on, your life, your soul, and everything you are will belongs to me.”
Yare’s voice echoed like a silver chime in the silent night, laced with an unquestionable authority and elegance.
Her crimson eyes narrowed slightly, as though she could see straight into Bai’s heart.
She lifted her hand gently, her fingertips tracing the air and stirring a faint, bloody scent.
“You will be my blood slave. My servant. My food.”
The corner of her lips curled into a faint smile, full of mockery and disdain.
“Remember your master. My name is Yare Isabella.”
Her voice faded into the air, carrying a certain enchantment, irresistible and inescapable.
Under the moonlight, her figure appeared especially noble and striking.
Her black gown flowed like a curtain of night, and her silver hair fluttered gently in the breeze like stardust scattered across the earth.
Her very presence was oppression itself, a suffocating beauty and majesty.
“Now, offer your loyalty, my blood slave.”
Yare leaned down, bringing her lips close to Bai’s neck.
Her lips parted slightly, revealing a pair of razor-sharp fangs.
The glistening tips sparkled like morning dew on a blade, shining with a chilling gleam.
Bai instinctively tried to recoil, but found that the barrier behind her had already closed off her last retreat.
She was really going to bite her directly!
Though she had served Yalbera with her blood for five years, the proud True Ancestor had never drunk from her directly.
Slaves’ bodies were filthy, unclean.
Yet the True Ancestor before her was about to sink her fangs in!
Fear surged in Bai’s chest.
Her gaze fixed on those terrifying fangs, her heartbeat grew frantic, and she quickly blurted out:
“Bai’s body is very dirty, please let Bai go back and prepare your blood meal properly.”
Yare simply chuckled, her warm breath brushing against Bai’s ear.
Her voice was lazy and seductive, like a feather teasing the skin as she whispered, “I prefer it raw.”
In the next instant, a cold, damp sensation pressed against Bai’s neck, making her body tremble slightly, like a flower petal touched by frost.
Then came a sharp sting, which quickly melted into a faint, ticklish sensation, like a feather brushing softly over her heart.
The moment the first drop of sweet blood slid into Yare’s mouth, her eyes flared crimson, like flames blooming in the depths of an abyss, greedy and blazing. She sank deeper into the taste of that sweetness, her movements became more frantic.
Bai’s consciousness began to blur.
The loss of blood sent waves of weakness through her chest.
Instinctively, she raised her arms and wrapped them tightly around Yare’s waist, as if clinging to her final support.
But that feeble embrace only stoked the fire of desire deep within Yare.
Her movements became even more intense, until Bai’s complexion turned moonlight-pale.
The light in her eyes slowly faded, and the arms that had clutched so tightly slipped down, like withering vines cascading along Yare’s waterfall-like silver hair, falling in silence…
Meanwhile, Aiersha lay on the ground, watching it all.
Watching her beloved little Bai become someone else’s slave.
Watching those sharp fangs feast freely on Bai’s blood.
Watching Bai drained until she fainted in another’s arms.
Her already crimson pupils filled with bursting veins of blood.
Her hands, clawing at the ground, were raw and torn.
She let out a hoarse, anguished scream.
“Let! Her! Go!”
Yare scooped Bai’s frail body into her arms.
She glanced at Aiersha with cold indifference, though a flicker of surprise crossed her gaze.
But it was quickly replaced by a mocking sneer.
“Tell your master, her blood slave belongs to me now.”
With that, Yare turned and walked through the barrier with unhurried grace, disappearing into the night.