Chapter 17: The Rumor
“Anna, is there something you need?”
Although Jasmine’s tone was cold, she was oblivious to it, feeling like a patient teacher encouraging Anna to speak her mind. Anna took a few deep breaths, composing herself before finally speaking, “J-Jasmine, don’t go!”
“Why?”
Jasmine didn’t ask where she shouldn’t go, directly cutting to the chase. Anna hesitated, biting her lip before finally revealing everything she was thinking. She spoke rapidly, as if afraid that any hesitation would lead to Jasmine falling into the trap and being bitten by the doctor.
But after Anna finished speaking, Jasmine simply said, “Thank you, but I still have to go.”
Anna’s eyes widened in shock, her voice laced with urgency. She probably thought that Jasmine, after only two encounters, had been swayed by the doctor and was ignoring her advice, assuming Jasmine was lying.
If it were someone else, it might have been possible. After all, the doctor didn’t just rely on a gentle facade to gain the favor of human maids. The shameless and despicable doctor used the vampires’ prided mental magic, weaving subtle manipulation into his words.
This was a despicable tactic. Ordinary humans had no resistance to vampire hypnosis. His magic would have a significant impact on the human maids, and unless the doctor himself lifted the spell, only a forceful jolt could break them free from the hypnotic state.
It was likely that Anna, when she first arrived at the school, had also tried to dissuade hypnotized humans, but failed. Perhaps the maid who was currently with the doctor had also been tricked in the same way, lured to the doctor’s side, and now had no way to escape.
“Why do you have to go?! I told you, he only wants your blood! There’s no such thing as treating humans equally, no such thing as a gentle doctor! He’s a liar! He’s just trying to make you willingly offer your blood because blood tastes better that way!”
Anna was frantic, blurting out a torrent of words. “You’ll regret it if you go now!”
However, Jasmine placed her hand over Anna’s, which was still clutching her sleeve. “I won’t.”
Anna looked up, staring at Jasmine with a mix of frustration and disbelief. But under Jasmine’s calm gaze, she gradually calmed down. Jasmine said, “I’m not going to let him drink my blood. I’m going to kill him.”
Her words were so outrageous that Anna thought she had misheard. “What…?” Jasmine’s eyes were incredibly calm. “I’m going to kill him.”
Stunned, Anna released Jasmine’s sleeve and took a step back. Then, she suddenly grabbed Jasmine again. “Impossible! Are you mistaking him for those newly matured low-level vampires in the servants’ quarters?! He’s not someone you can easily deal with. He’s powerful, much stronger than any vampire in the servants’ quarters. Humans can’t defeat him! Jasmine, listen to me! Go back now, seek your master’s protection. She dotes on you!”
“You might not know this, but your master went to see that doctor! For you, she went to see him!”
Jasmine truly didn’t know. Adele hadn’t told her, and she hadn’t been paying attention to Adele during school hours. There were too many vampires at school, and trying to pinpoint Adele’s scent among so many and constantly monitor her movements was too difficult, even for Jasmine.
Unless she devoted all her time to tracking Adele’s scent, it would be impossible.
Adele… what was she thinking?
She couldn’t understand Adele, nor could she comprehend why the arrogant Adele would go to see the doctor. But the focus now wasn’t Adele, but Anna and the doctor. Jasmine reassured Anna, “Perhaps for others, the doctor is unbeatable, but I can.”
“I will kill the doctor.”
After saying this, Jasmine released Anna’s hand and walked towards the doctor’s building. Anna stood frozen for a moment, then, gritting her teeth, she followed Jasmine. Jasmine wasn’t going to wait until daybreak to kill the doctor anymore. She was going to do it now because she knew she had a witness.
Anna would unconditionally stand by her side. Even if vampires came to investigate, she would definitely say that she had been with Jasmine during that time. Of course, Jasmine didn’t think the school administration would believe that a human maid could kill a doctor. Even if they did investigate, they wouldn’t come to the servants’ quarters to question the human maids about what they were doing during that time.
As Jasmine approached the doctor’s building, from eight hundred meters away, she sensed something was wrong. The night wind carried a faint scent of blood, but it wasn’t the scent of human blood, but vampire blood… Moreover, this scent was very familiar to Jasmine. Her pupils dilated slightly. She realized that there was Adele’s scent mixed in.
Almost instinctively, she used her full speed, arriving at the second floor of the doctor’s building in an instant. The building looked very different from before. The second floor was a mess, with two figures lying on the ground and one standing. The two figures on the ground were vampires, one was the doctor, and the other was Adele. The only one standing was the doctor’s human maid.
Jasmine’s eyes widened in shock, and she instinctively rushed towards Adele.
She didn’t know what had happened, but Adele was clearly seriously injured. Her abdomen had been pierced by the doctor’s nails, the wound already dried, no longer bleeding. Jasmine knelt beside Adele, pulling her into her arms. Adele hadn’t lost consciousness yet, but her eyes were glazed over, her gaze fixed on Jasmine. Blood trickled from her lips, her voice as weak as the chirp of a dying bird.
Jasmine heard her clearly. Adele was saying, “Jasmine… Run… He… he wants to hurt you…”
***
Time rewound to before it all happened. Adele should have been in class. She knew that Jasmine was going for a dressing change today; Jasmine had told her beforehand. Adele had thought that if the wound healed completely, it would mean Jasmine wouldn’t have to see that doctor anymore.
Adele genuinely disliked the doctor, even though he seemed to have taken in a pitiful maid. That human maid seemed to have suffered some kind of trauma, her eyes lifeless and filled with despair. But perhaps being with the doctor was a good thing for her?
However, even if the doctor seemed like a good person who cared for the weak, Adele didn’t want Jasmine to have anything to do with him. She instinctively disliked the doctor, for reasons she couldn’t explain.
Recently, she had befriended two young ladies from declining noble families, both of whom also had human maids. This made Adele feel like they had something in common. These two young ladies seemed to realize that Adele befriended them because they had human maids, and Adele also felt the same. They would unconsciously pick up human phrases and even ask their maids about interesting things happening among humans, which they would then share with Adele.
Today was no different. The two young ladies stood on the periphery of Adele’s group, eager to get closer to the surrounded Adele. As declining nobles, being friends with a young mistress from the Thirteen Clans was already an immense honor. But if Adele found them boring and stopped interacting with them, they would be ostracized by their classmates again.
One of them blurted out something she had heard from her maid. “Miss Adele, perhaps you haven’t heard, but there’s a rumor circulating among the human maids.”
Adele’s interest was piqued. She was curious if Jasmine had also heard about it. She beckoned the young lady closer. “What rumor?”
The young lady, feeling flattered, quickly shared the information. “It’s about the school doctor. They say he’s very gentle with humans, treating both human and vampire maids equally.”
Adele had already heard this rumor before, but the way the young lady phrased it was so endearing that she couldn’t help but chuckle. “I’ve heard that too. I didn’t expect the school doctor to be such a vampire. It’s a good thing for the human maids. If they accidentally get injured while working, they can go to him for treatment. And even low-level vampires get injured sometimes. It’s good to have a school doctor.”
The noble young ladies surrounding Adele started a new round of discussion based on this rumor. Just then, Golden happened to pass by. Hearing them talk about the doctor being gentle and treating everyone equally, she couldn’t help but scoff. “What are you talking about? Gentle with humans? Don’t be ridiculous. That sounds like a lie spread by a declining vampire to trick humans into willingly giving him their blood. As vampires, you’re too naive. If you weren’t vampires but humans, I bet you would be the ones being tricked.”
Golden’s intention was to mock Adele, but upon hearing her words, Adele abruptly stood up from her seat. As Golden had said, she had indeed believed that the doctor was a vampire who was gentle with humans, because she herself was like that. But thinking about it carefully, there was indeed another possibility.
She wasn’t sure which kind of vampire the doctor was, but she didn’t want to put Jasmine at risk. Just the thought of Jasmine being deceived by another vampire and willingly offering her slender neck before Adele could drink her blood made her tremble with anger. Adele didn’t want to stay in class any longer and decided to leave.
Golden called out after her, “Blake, where are you going? Class is about to start!”
“I’m not feeling well. I’m skipping this class.”
Adele’s voice was firm, but her excuse was strange. Not feeling well? A young mistress from the Thirteen Clans, a noble with incredible self-healing abilities, how could she possibly be unwell?!
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