Chapter 12: A Small Wound
Voyager eagerly examined the documents, gasping as he read, muttering, “So that’s how it is… so that’s how it is.”
The method was actually quite simple: exploit thermal expansion and contraction to create gaps. In practice, this meant first using torches to heat the gargoyles and then dousing them with cold water. It sounded absurd, but Jasmine had already proven the effectiveness of even more outlandish methods in the past few years, so Voyager found the explanation quite reasonable.
After giving some instructions, Jasmine decided to leave. Before she departed, Voyager vowed, “I will sow the seeds of awakening in this farm and make people realize that we can no longer be oppressed. Vampires are not invincible!”
Hearing his passionate words, Jasmine nodded. “Good luck.”
Each member of their human resistance was talented and capable of carrying out ideological work independently. With time, the liberation of human thought was not just a dream. Jasmine felt a little proud, thinking that her grand plan of leaving her name in history didn’t seem too far from being realized.
After returning to her quarters, she took a bath, basked in the sun, and went to sleep. When she woke up, it was back to her usual routine.
However, during her first meal of the day, Anna sat down next to her with a tray of food and whispered, “Jasmine, are you free today? I have something I want to talk to you about later.”
Although she deliberately lowered her voice, it was equivalent to speaking into a microphone in front of those sharp-eared vampires. Jasmine noticed several vampires glancing at them with bright eyes, but they quickly lost interest and continued chatting with the vampires next to them. Jasmine thought for a moment, curious about what Anna wanted to talk about.
So she nodded, made an appointment with her, and left with her tray. When Jasmine arrived at Adele’s room, she was already awake and drinking tea. Adele usually didn’t need Jasmine’s help with her hair and makeup, but today, her silver-white hair was a mess, sticking up in all directions. Adele seemed to be at her wit’s end with her hair.
She held up the hair tie in her hand. “Jasmine, tie my hair for me.”
This would happen occasionally. If Adele didn’t sleep comfortably and peacefully during the day, it would result in her hair becoming tangled. Sometimes, the usually smooth hair would get so knotted that Adele, in her frustration, would resort to brute force. In the end, she would still be unable to deal with her hair, and with a tearful face, she would call out to Jasmine.
However, in the past two years, Adele had stopped yelling for Jasmine at the top of her lungs. Occasionally, she would just call out to her a little louder, and most of the time, she would wait patiently for Jasmine to come over.
Jasmine took the hair tie and comb and began to brush Adele’s hair. Actually, Adele’s hair wasn’t that difficult to manage. It was just that Adele was impatient, or perhaps because Jasmine had brushed her hair so many times that she had given up on fighting with it herself.
The comb glided through Adele’s hair, carefully untangling the knots. After brushing it all out, Jasmine gathered two strands of hair and tied them together at the back of her head. She tied the black ribbon into a bow, adding a touch of cuteness to Adele’s appearance.
Adele’s hair had a really nice texture, feeling like silk, and even the knots were easy to untangle. Jasmine really liked the feel of Adele’s hair; it was much better than her own, smooth and sleek to the touch. It was a stark contrast to her arrogant and stubborn personality, a head of good hair.
After Jasmine finished tying her hair, Adele got up from the sofa and picked up a small mirror from the cabinet to examine herself. She nodded with satisfaction before putting down the mirror. “Jasmine, you always do my hair the best.”
That wasn’t necessarily true…
Adele’s parents had even trained maids specifically to style their daughter’s hair, but Adele had driven them all out of her room, only allowing Jasmine to tie her hair. Jasmine was certain that those maids were much more skilled at hairdressing than she was. During her time in the servants’ quarters, she had gathered a lot of information. For example, many maids were brought to the school because their hairdressing and makeup skills surpassed those of other maids, which was why they were chosen to accompany their mistresses.
Although this reason sounded a bit excessive, treating maids as mere tools, it was still better than the reason Adele had given for bringing Jasmine along. Adele’s reason was pure nonsense.
Moreover, Adele genuinely believed that Jasmine liked her and had ulterior motives. Jasmine had asked Adele several times why she felt that way and what made her think Jasmine liked her. As a result, Adele would blush, turn her head away, and say fiercely, “You know perfectly well!”
What Jasmine couldn’t understand was, if Adele truly believed that Jasmine liked her and had ulterior motives, she should have sent Jasmine far away and never let her see her again. Adele had the power to do so; if she wanted, she could send Jasmine to work on a farm.
But Adele didn’t do that. Jasmine had once asked her why, and unlike when she asked why Adele thought she liked her, Adele became furious and left without looking back.
Jasmine thought that Adele probably had some kind of imprinting, as Jasmine was her first maid, the one she had personally chosen.
Jasmine still remembered when Adele’s parents brought her to the breeding facility to choose someone. Adele had immediately taken a liking to Jasmine, who had a calm expression. The person in charge of the facility had told Adele that Jasmine was the most rebellious child in the facility, but Adele had insisted, “I want her.”
And so, Jasmine was taken away by Adele and given the name “Molly.”
Anyone would likely have special feelings for their “first” something, so that must be why Adele treated her this way, right? That’s what Jasmine thought.
Snapping back to reality, Adele picked up her briefcase and left for school. Jasmine tidied up Adele’s room, even cleaning the bathroom, picking up a few strands of Adele’s silver-white hair. Then, she put yesterday’s changed clothes in the laundry basket and left the room.
Back in her own room, Jasmine washed her clothes. She hung the small items in the bathroom to air dry and the rest of the clothes on the balcony. After finishing all this, she went to the end of the second-floor corridor, where no one would pass by, as she had agreed with Anna.
Moonlight streamed through the window, illuminating the unlit corridor as if it were daytime. Anna had a hesitant expression on her face, but Jasmine felt that it seemed somewhat contrived. Jasmine was a very patient person. Since Anna wasn’t speaking, she wouldn’t either.
Silence stretched between them. After a while, Anna finally spoke through gritted teeth, “Jasmine, aren’t you curious why I wanted to see you?”
“I am curious.”
Jasmine answered truthfully. If she wasn’t curious, she wouldn’t have agreed to meet with Anna privately. Anna was taken aback by Jasmine’s straightforward answer. She hadn’t expected Jasmine to admit it so readily. It was completely different from what she had imagined.
But she quickly recovered and continued, “Actually, I’ve tried to find you during the day before, wanting to ask if you needed any help. But several times I knocked on your door, and there was no response. Weren’t you in your room during the day…?”
Anna was basically confirming that Jasmine hadn’t been in her room for a long time during the day, but her words were somewhat vague. Her phrasing wasn’t precise, so Jasmine immediately chose to deny it. “I’ve always been there, just sleeping too soundly. I didn’t hear you knock.”
“You’re…” Anna’s expression clearly wanted to say “You’re lying,” but she changed her tune and calmed down, only saying, “You’re right.”
Watching Anna’s changing expressions was quite amusing.
Jasmine was somewhat mischievous. She saw Anna’s face change several times before returning to its usual appearance. She spoke with feigned concern, “If you need any help, you must tell us. Although you are very capable and can deal with the other vampire maids, if there are too many of them, you won’t be able to handle it. If you need help, you must tell us!”
“Okay.”
Their conversation ended there. Two days passed, and Jasmine stayed put, curious to see what Anna would do next. However, it wasn’t Anna who made the next move, but another human maid who had a relatively good relationship with Jasmine. Holding a small paper knife, she tripped slightly and lunged towards Jasmine.
At that moment, Jasmine knew that it was most likely Anna’s doing, trying to get her injured. If she was injured, she would have to go to the school doctor for treatment. She could have dodged it, or if she didn’t want to move, she could control her muscles to become invulnerable like an ironclad warrior.
But Jasmine was curious about what Anna and the school doctor were up to, so she chose to take the cut. She deliberately controlled her movements, letting the knife graze her arm, leaving a small scratch. Blood immediately welled up from the wound. It wasn’t a big wound, and there wasn’t much blood. However, in an instant, all the vampire maids turned to look, their scarlet eyes fixed on Jasmine’s arm.
Her thin sleeve was torn, revealing the cut on her skin, blood still flowing.
Vampires were extremely sensitive to the smell of blood, especially Jasmine’s blood, which had a particularly alluring scent. Just smelling it, they knew it was top-grade. Their saliva started to flow, but seeing that the owner of the blood was a human maid they usually looked down upon, they felt it was beneath their dignity to react and turned their heads away, pretending not to see.
The human maid who had accidentally cut Jasmine cried, “What should I do? I didn’t mean to…”
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