Chapter 8: Over-the-Shoulder Throw, Accomplished!
As an aristocratic school, it was still quite refined. Even for the welcoming ceremony, students weren’t made to stand; instead, each student was provided with a seat. The auditorium reminded Jasmine of a chapel, a place for worship. However, instead of a crucifix, the front of the auditorium featured a stained-glass window, shimmering with a kaleidoscope of colors under the illumination of the crystal chandeliers.
In front of the stained-glass window was a table where the dean of students stood, delivering a passionate speech. The school leaders sat in the first row below. Jasmine’s current actions were somewhat daring, but she was quite confident. After all, her stealth skills were maxed out, and even werewolves, known for their keen observation, couldn’t detect her. She had also concealed her scent, so no vampire could smell her human odor.
Moreover, several new students had brought human maids as attendants. Perhaps their human scent was even stronger than hers.
Jasmine listened to the dean’s speech at the beginning, but after a while, she felt that no matter the world or race, the essence of a teacher’s speech was always the same. It was nothing more than: study hard, make progress every day, don’t waste time, don’t shame your parents, now is the time to learn, strive to be a contributing member of society…
She gave up on listening to the dean and turned her attention to Adele instead. To be honest, Adele was easy to spot. Although there were several other silver-haired individuals, Jasmine could still find Adele at a glance. In Jasmine’s eyes, Adele was different from other vampires.
Speaking of which, vampires had a wide variety of hair colors, red, blue, green, purple, gold, white… so many colors that Jasmine was almost dazzled. It was said to be related to their family abilities, but Jasmine hadn’t witnessed it herself and didn’t know if it was true. Adele was sitting quite far forward, in the second row. It seemed that Adele’s status was quite high.
This didn’t surprise Jasmine. After all, Adele was also a member of the Thirteen Clans. The Thirteen Clans formed the highest authority of the vampire race – the Council of Elders, composed of the most respected vampires from each of the Thirteen Clans. In Jasmine’s words, they were thirteen old geezers who hadn’t died yet.
However, Jasmine always felt that even though the Blake family was a member of the Thirteen Clans, they must be one of the weaker ones. After all, as mentioned before, the Blake family had fallen from grace, and having lived in the Blake household for so many years, she had the right to speak on this matter.
After observing Adele, Jasmine looked at the others. As Anna had said, everyone was dressed in their finest attire. Although they were wearing the same uniform, each of them had exquisite makeup on their faces. Jasmine couldn’t understand why a freshman entrance ceremony had to be so grand.
After watching for a while, she found it boring and could only continue to look at Adele. Adele’s reactions were much more amusing. She sat with her back straight, the light from the crystal chandelier falling on her, making her silver hair shimmer as if it were glowing. The overhead lighting truly enhanced one’s beauty, and even Jasmine had to admit this.
Adele was indeed the one she had watched grow up. Even without makeup, she wasn’t overshadowed by the other vampires around her. Instead, she became a unique ray of light.
The dean spoke for a long time, then invited the principal to give a speech, and after that, the head of the year spoke for a while. Just as Jasmine was getting bored to the point of yawning, the head of the year announced, “Next, let’s invite the freshman representative, Adele Blake, to give a speech.”
Jasmine immediately perked up. She hadn’t expected her young mistress to be the freshman representative. Before Adele got up on stage, the head of the year emphasized that Adele had achieved the highest score in the entrance exam among the new students. As Adele took the stage, applause erupted from below.
Sitting on the beam, Jasmine also raised her hands and clapped, but her applause was silent. Her hands were clasped together, the lower halves of her palms stuck together, and only her fingers and the upper halves of her palms gently patted, without making a sound. However, Jasmine was still happy because her young mistress was quite outstanding, having surpassed several other new students from the Thirteen Clans to become the freshman representative.
Amidst the applause, Adele stood on the podium with a graceful smile on her face. She delivered her freshman speech without any stage fright. Adele’s speech wasn’t long, mainly about how everyone should study hard and how she hoped to have a pleasant school life with her classmates.
After she finished, she bowed slightly and walked off the stage. There weren’t any more events after that. The school leaders left, and the head of the year allowed everyone to chat freely and get to know their classmates whom they would be spending the next six years with. After the teachers left, the real show began. The students got up from their seats and gathered in small groups. Several young ladies approached Adele, flattering her.
Jasmine recognized two of them, who had visited the castle to play with Adele before.
Some other young ladies approached a blonde, high-ranking vampiress. Jasmine guessed that she was probably also a member of the Thirteen Clans. Although vampires had long lifespans, having children seemed to be contagious, and they often had them around the same time. If those around them had children, they would feel out of place if they didn’t. This was why even among long-lived vampires, there would be a generation attending school around the same time.
The blonde young lady snorted at Adele, and the vampires around her immediately began to flatter her. After a while, the blonde walked up to Adele with her head held high and declared, “Don’t be too proud of yourself. It was just an entrance exam. Doing well in the written test doesn’t mean much. In the next exam, I will definitely get first place.”
Her tone and expression were quite similar to Adele’s. For a moment, Jasmine wondered if the way vampires raised their children was to cultivate their tsundere personalities. Adele was not to be outdone. She also snorted and retorted, “Let’s see if you have the ability. Don’t be forever stuck beneath me as the eternal second-best.”
The two seemed to be at odds with each other. They stared at each other for a long time before turning their heads away and walking in opposite directions. The vampire young ladies instantly formed their camps, either following Adele or the other vampiress.
Even the supposedly haughty vampires seemed no different from the human society Jasmine had known in her past life. They were all about social graces and forming alliances. Interestingly, these vampires were like children playing house. Despite being adults, they were playing the same games that Jasmine had seen in junior high and high school in her past life.
Perhaps it was because vampires entered society much later. Human children started school around the age of seven, while vampires kept their children hidden until they were eighteen and had a certain degree of self-preservation ability before allowing them to enter school. Young children were treasures to vampire parents, and they wouldn’t let them leave their territory.
Jasmine also understood why so many vampires were dressed up today. It wasn’t just an entrance ceremony; it was also their first time entering a social setting with their peers. After observing for a while, Jasmine saw two or three pairs of vampires who seemed to have taken a liking to each other, their faces flushing as they chatted.
Ah – the hormones of young men and women were indeed strong.
Jasmine turned her attention to Adele, curious if she would also develop feelings for a male vampire freshman she had just met. But Jasmine was clearly overthinking it. Compared to the innocent crushes of youth, Adele was obviously more competitive. Instead of seeing her fellow vampires as potential partners, she clearly saw them as rivals.
Well, that was very much in line with Adele’s personality.
Realizing there was nothing interesting to see, Jasmine left the beam. Upon returning to the servants’ quarters, she encountered a vampire maid in the lounge on the first floor. Unfortunately, it was the one who had tried to pick a fight with her yesterday.
The other party also noticed her, the red in her pupils swirling. She immediately got up from her seat and walked towards Jasmine. Jasmine’s sharp eyes noticed that there were only vampire maids in the lounge, no humans. They had obviously excluded the humans. However, at that moment, Anna, the girl with freckles, happened to be coming down the stairs. She seemed to have noticed the situation in the lounge and wanted to help Jasmine, but she shrank back in fear.
Jasmine wasn’t particularly afraid. Although she was facing a dozen vampire maids, her expression remained unchanged. She also noticed something else: the dozen vampire maids were positioned as if surrounding the one in the middle. The one in the middle wasn’t a low-level vampire either. Although she wasn’t considered high-ranking, she was clearly superior to these maids.
—This was probably the maid of the vampiress from the Thirteen Clans who was a year above Adele, as Anna had mentioned before.
Therefore, the low-level vampire who came to find trouble with her wasn’t just trying to teach her a lesson, but also wanted to prove her loyalty and curry favor with that maid. Or perhaps the incident of her being pinned to the ground yesterday had reached that maid’s ears, and she was eager to retaliate to save face.
By the time the low-level vampire reached her, Jasmine had already calmly analyzed the situation. The low-level vampire declared, “Yesterday was because I was careless! How dare you, a human, sit on top of us vampires? Don’t be ridiculous!”
Jasmine corrected her, “I didn’t sit on top of you.” She clarified under the low-level vampire’s surprised gaze, “I just pinned you down.”
The low-level vampire was enraged. She extended her hand. Her neatly trimmed, rounded, and pink nails turned black, long, and sharp. Jasmine also knew that most vampire nails were poisonous; it was a common vampire trait.
It wouldn’t be a big deal if she was scratched, but it would attract everyone’s attention to her. Jasmine sighed and could only reach out, grab the low-level vampire’s hand, and throw her to the ground.
Jasmine inwardly exclaimed: Over-the-shoulder throw, accomplished!
She had long wanted to do this.
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