Chapter 6: New Master

Yalbera slowly awoke from her dream.

The room was shrouded in a dim atmosphere.

She looked up to see the moon already high in the sky, it was noon.

Yet this morning, Bai hadn’t come to serve her as she usually did.

“Is that girl still angry?”

Yalbera wondered to herself.

She thought Bai should’ve accepted reality by now and resigned herself to her fate.

She straightened her clothes and got out of bed.

When she opened the door, she was surprised to see Aiersha standing right outside.

Aiersha was covered in dirt, blood dripping from her hands.

Her entire appearance was disheveled.

Her long silver hair hung low, covering her face, and she stood there silently, without saying a word.

Yalbera frowned and asked, “What happened to you? Why do you look like this?”

But when she looked up, Yalbera saw the lifelessness in Aiersha’s eyes.

In a hoarse voice, she forced out a few words:

“Good afternoon, Lady Yalbera. Bai… is gone.”

***

At that same moment, Bai slowly came to, her head throbbing with pain.

But she was long used to it, after all, as someone who bled herself regularly, she had grown numb to this kind of ache.

She sat up and looked around.

Everything was unfamiliar.

Bai tried hard to recall what had happened.

Vaguely, she remembered being taken by Yare.

She stepped off the bed and slowly opened the door, poking her little head out to peek outside.

Beyond the door stretched a long corridor, dark red carpet extending far ahead.

Strange blue lamps hung on the walls, but what burned inside them wasn’t flame, it was a floating glow of magic.

This place looked somewhat like Lady Yalbera’s castle, but it was more dignified and stately, exuding a solemn and grave atmosphere.

Bai carefully stepped out and closed the door behind her.

The scene before her made her wonder if she was still dreaming, but the three moons outside the window reminded her clearly that she was still within the domain of the blood clan.

She followed the corridor to the end, where a dark wooden door, carved with ornate patterns, caught her attention.

Bai gently pushed it open.

What met her eyes was a simple and ancient room.

Everything was draped in dark tones.

The walls were etched with intricate, cryptic designs, and the wooden floor had been dyed black.

Aside from a large bed, the room was packed with books.

On the floor, in the corners, towering piles of heavy tomes lay scattered chaotically, so much so that Bai couldn’t even find a place to step.

At the far end of the room, before an open window, Yare sat quietly in an elegant wooden chair.

She wore a black Gothic dress, her silver hair cascading like a waterfall, and her red eyes flickering with mysterious light.

Her figure was small and delicate, like a spirit that had stepped out of the night, or a porcelain doll crafted with excessive care.

She sat silently by the half-open window, an ancient and oversized tome resting on her lap, comically mismatched with her slight frame.

She read with quiet focus, her blood-red eyes moving lightly across the page.

The moonlight spilled onto her, casting a mysterious and graceful aura around her, as if she were a bright, blooming crimson flower of the underworld, beautiful and dangerous.

If not for the subtle twitching of her eyes, Bai might’ve believed she really was just a doll sitting there.

Bai said nothing.

She simply stood in silence, while the girl never once looked up at her.

Yare didn’t speak either, fully absorbed in her book.

No one knew how long it was before Yare finally closed the tome. Her crimson gaze swept toward Bai.

Snapping out of her thoughts, Bai asked, “Lady Yare, where is this place?”

“My domain,” Yare answered casually.

“Is it the same as my previous master’s domain?”

Yare’s brow furrowed slightly.

With a small curl of her finger, Bai’s body floated uncontrollably toward her, stopping only when their faces were nearly touching.

Yare reached out with one finger and gently lifted Bai’s chin, her crimson eyes making Bai inexplicably uneasy.

“Watch your words, little one. I am your master now.”

Her voice was cold and stern.

Bai nodded quickly, like a pecking chick, and only then did Yare let go, turning back to her oversized book as if nothing had happened.

Bai stepped back a few paces.

This new master was noticeably quieter than Yalbera, but also seemed even more arrogant.

“Um… what should Bai do?”

Yare flipped another page, then spoke.

“Do what you’re meant to do. You’re a blood slave, my servant. Serve me. Please me. That is your entire purpose.”

Bai asked tentatively, “Can Bai go outside? To the human lands?”

Yare’s voice remained composed and proud, her eyes never leaving the page.

She didn’t seem the least bit worried about Bai trying to escape.

“I already told you, serve me for four days a week. The rest of the time is yours.”

Bai looked confused.

“Bai doesn’t understand. Why would Master help Bai? You could’ve locked Bai up here, just like Lady Yalbera did.”

Silence followed.

Yare turned another page, as if she hadn’t even heard the question. After a long pause, she spoke coldly: “Enjoy your hard-won freedom. Don’t ask anything more.”

A flower suddenly appeared in her hand—just as vivid and beautiful as her crimson eyes.

The flower floated slowly toward Bai, landing gently in her palm.

“What is this?”

Bai asked.

“A key,” Yare replied.

“When you want to leave, drop your blood on it. The same to return.”

Bai was surprised.

Lady Yalbera’s domain was fixed in place, and each time Bai had to go out for supplies, it took quite a while, running all the way from that location to the village and back.

But Yare’s domain could be accessed at any time with just a flower.

That was far more convenient.

“By the end of today, familiarize yourself with this entire estate. I don’t want my blood slave getting lost tomorrow and forgetting where her master’s room is.”

Yare added, “Don’t enter my room without permission. Any other questions?”

Bai shook her head, then suddenly nodded.

Yare’s voice grew impatient.

“Speak.”

“Does Master have other servants? Like Lady Aiersha?”

Yare’s fingers paused on the book page.

“There’s only you and me here. No one else. Any other questions?”

Bai quickly waved her hands.

“N-no, that’s all!”

“Fulfill your duties, Bai. As my blood slave, you should feel honored.”

Yare finished coldly and immersed herself back in the world of her book.

Their short conversation ended.

As Bai walked out and leaned against the wall, she sighed softly.

“Looks like this new master isn’t very talkative… and kind of mysterious too.”

***

After circling the domain once, Bai realized that Yare’s domain was a residence, or more precisely, an old mansion.

Outside the building, Bai looked up. Moonlight, soft like gauze, gently draped over the Gothic estate.

The pointed rooftops looked especially sharp in the night, and withered vines clung to the mottled outer walls like dried-up veins, rustling faintly in the night wind.

This mansion seemed even older than Bai had imagined.

If it weren’t for the faint light still shining from Yare’s bedroom, Bai might’ve thought the place had long been abandoned.

Surrounding the house was a courtyard, though sadly, it was overrun with weeds.

The dried, yellow grass had grown waist-high.

The black stone fountain had already dried up, its basin filled with decaying fallen leaves.

At the center of the fountain stood a statue of what appeared to be a blood clan figure.

Her face was long destroyed, making it impossible to tell who she once was.

Her bat-like wings were spread open—one broken off, the other covered in cracks, looking like it could shatter at any moment.

Like a fallen angel.

Scattered among the weeds were a few other stone statues, their features eroded by time, leaving only empty eye sockets staring into the dark sky.

Solemn and dignified, yet ruined beyond repair, this was the only impression Bai had after walking around.

At least the interior of the mansion was fairly clean, though a thick layer of dust had visibly settled, as if no one had maintained it for years.

Bai wandered through the mansion, trying to memorize its layout, a growing anxiety rising in her chest.

She was eager to leave and enjoy the outside world, but her master’s orders came first, and she didn’t dare disobey.

Just as the thought crossed her mind, she stopped in front of a milky-white door.

A nameplate hung on it with two characters, “Lian.”

At the sight of that word, Bai suddenly felt a strange jolt.

A wave of inexplicable familiarity surged up in her heart.

She could swear she’d seen this place before.

“Lian? Someone used to live here? But Master said there was no one else here…”

Bai murmured in confusion, lightly knocking on the door.

The knock sent the dust atop the wooden surface scattering, revealing how thickly it had settled.

Strangely though, the nameplate itself was spotless, immaculately clean, as if someone regularly wiped it down.

“Not here anymore…”

Bai muttered, reaching for the doorknob.

She tried to open it, but found it was locked from the inside.

She had no choice but to give up on entering.

It took her a long time to fully memorize the winding layout of the place.

Sure enough, aside from Bai and Yare, there was absolutely no one else here.

Bai couldn’t help but wonder.

Why do blood clan always live in such big places, yet have so few servants?

Living all alone in a place this quiet… wasn’t it a little too eerie?

Bai didn’t understand.