Chapter 23: Traced Back
When night fell once again, Jasmine went to Adele’s room as usual. However, she couldn’t enter directly because when she tried the doorknob, she found it locked from the inside. She knocked, but there was no response. Naturally, she stood by the door and waited.
Actually, even before trying the doorknob, Jasmine had already heard the sounds and smelled the vampire scent that didn’t belong to Adele.
Clearly, the school administration had found Adele.
Their efficiency was truly impressive, as fast as a rocket. They were immortal beings, yet they worked so quickly. Were they in a hurry to reincarnate?
Jasmine waited outside the door, her mouth tightly shut, but her mind was filled with endless complaints. She perked up her ears, focusing on the conversation inside.
When she tried the doorknob and knocked, the conversation inside paused, as if they were all turning their heads to stare at her, trying to figure out what the noise was.
After a while, there was a slight sound from inside the door. It was very faint. A vampire had come to the door and was observing her through the gap. After a while, he turned back and returned to the living room to report the situation.
“It’s Miss Blake’s maid, a human.”
The person being reported to nodded and continued to look at Adele, who was sitting on the sofa, wrapped in a blanket, with a pale complexion.
“I apologize for disturbing you at this time. I heard that you suddenly said you were feeling unwell and left the classroom yesterday. Is that true?”
Adele sat on the sofa, her back straight and her expression still proud despite being seriously injured the day before. Her demeanor earned the admiration of the teachers from the school administration: As expected of the Blake family’s eldest daughter, she never lost her composure.
Adele answered the teacher’s question without hesitation, “Yes, that’s correct.”
—Composed, truly composed. Even facing so many teachers, she didn’t bother to lie.
He continued to ask, “Then Miss Blake, do you know that at the same time, the teacher who served as the school doctor had an accident and unfortunately passed away?”
Adele was taken aback. She didn’t think she had killed the doctor. Yesterday, she had exhausted all her strength and only managed to severely injure him. Moreover, there were still the maid and Jasmine present. What if the doctor got up and hurt them? Fortunately, Adele still had her memories. She remembered waking up briefly and seeing Jasmine. When she woke up later, her clothes had been changed, and the dirt on her body was gone.
If it weren’t for her memories, Adele would have thought that everything she had experienced was just a dream. But she was certain that she had indeed fought with the doctor and they had both been seriously injured.
Now, suddenly hearing about the doctor’s death, she was somewhat bewildered. She recounted yesterday’s events truthfully, “Actually, I discovered that he wanted to attack my maid. I couldn’t tolerate it, so I went to find the doctor, and we had an argument. In the end, we couldn’t agree and started fighting. Before I lost consciousness, I vaguely remember that we were both seriously injured.”
The teacher from the school administration nodded, “Then that’s right. You killed the doctor with your own hands. We found that the doctor’s office building was filled with the smell of blood. When we arrived, we found the doctor already reduced to ashes. We deeply regret this and can only collect the doctor’s ashes and hand them over to his family in the future.”
Adele listened, unable to express her feelings, but she felt a mix of emotions. She subconsciously asked, “Then what about the doctor’s maid?”
“We investigated, and the doctor’s maid is missing. It’s also possible that she died in the fight between the two of you. Miss Blake, you were seriously injured in the fight with the doctor, but you have already healed. It’s highly likely that after killing the doctor, you unconsciously sucked the blood of his maid…”
“No…” possible.
Adele swallowed the rest of her words. She didn’t think she would kill the maid, even in an unconscious state. And she clearly remembered Jasmine coming to her side, but the teacher hadn’t mentioned Jasmine being present.
She wasn’t stupid. She subconsciously felt that it was a good thing that this matter had nothing to do with Jasmine. Even with countless doubts in her heart, she could only swallow them down. Adele remained silent for a while before asking, “Then how will I be punished?”
“Punished?” The teacher from the school administration looked puzzled. He even asked with a smile, “Why would Miss Blake be punished? Wasn’t it the doctor who coveted your personal belongings and started the argument with you? Compared to that guy who deserved to die for coveting the belongings of other vampires, Miss Blake is the role model we should all learn from.”
He said this entirely because the one who had killed the doctor was a student and a member of the Blake family. She was an unopened flower in the rose garden, but this incident alone was enough to glimpse her future beauty. The Blake family had been declining in recent centuries, and now with such a successor, offending her would be equivalent to opposing the entire Blake family.
After exchanging a few more pleasantries, the personnel from the school administration took their leave. Jasmine had been waiting outside the door for so long, and they were aware of it. When they came out and saw Jasmine standing by the door, they didn’t react in any particular way. They simply held their heads high and walked past Jasmine like roosters.
They didn’t even spare Jasmine a glance. In their eyes, she was just an insignificant human.
After everyone had left, Jasmine entered the room and closed the door behind her. She looked at Adele. The vampire young miss, after a day’s rest, had a much healthier complexion than yesterday. She was sitting on the sofa, wearing a nightgown and a soft coat. Seeing Jasmine enter, she patted the seat next to her, “Jasmine, come here.”
Jasmine obediently sat beside Adele, her back straight. Adele quickly leaned against her. Her action reminded Jasmine of the cat she had raised in her previous life. Every time she sat on the sofa, it would snuggle up against her like this. She wanted to push Adele away, but Adele looked weak, and thinking about why she was injured, Jasmine couldn’t bring herself to do it.
Silence fell between them. Adele didn’t speak, and Jasmine didn’t know what to say. They just sat there, leaning against each other quietly. Finally, Adele broke the silence.
She asked, “Jasmine, was it your blood I drank that day?”
Jasmine actually didn’t want to admit it, but Adele’s voice was so soft, with a hint of pleading. She had also heard what the people from the school administration had said. Those vampires had claimed that Adele had sucked the maid’s blood and killed her… Although Jasmine was relieved that they hadn’t discovered the maid’s disappearance, it was still too much to slander her young miss like this.
After thinking for a moment, Jasmine replied, “Yes, it was my blood.”
Adele’s body relaxed, and the part leaning against Jasmine slumped slightly. Although she subconsciously felt that she couldn’t have done such a thing and remembered seeing Jasmine in the end, the school administration’s assertive tone had made her doubt herself.
Now, with Jasmine’s confirmation, Adele realized that she hadn’t drunk the maid’s blood but Jasmine’s. This made her entire body relax. Then, a new question popped into her mind. She pulled away slightly, no longer leaning against Jasmine, but sat beside her, turning to look at Jasmine, their eyes meeting.
“Is that maid alright?”
She could only ask Jasmine. Adele wasn’t stupid. She knew that the vampires from the school administration wouldn’t have said that if they hadn’t found the maid. But now that the doctor was dead, she was safe and sound, and the maid was missing, she was still worried. Her worried expression didn’t seem fake, and Jasmine knew that her young miss didn’t have the acting skills to deceive her.
Jasmine answered, “She’s fine.”
After this question, a new one would naturally follow: If she was fine, then where did she go? Adele asked this as well, but Jasmine didn’t answer immediately. Instead, she fell silent.
Now Jasmine knew that Adele was a different kind of vampire, unlike the others. But how different could she be? Jasmine couldn’t tell. Although she didn’t know why those vampires from the school administration had concluded that the maid was dead, this news was a good thing for the maid.
Was it really okay to answer Adele? If one day she regretted it, would she hunt down the maid who had caused her to become like this? A moment of worry flashed through Jasmine’s mind, but she quickly dismissed it. She would protect that maid, protect the humans who were struggling to survive in this world, because that was what she intended to do.
So Jasmine replied, “She ran away. Not just her, but another maid who had been bullied by the doctor. They ran away together.”
Hearing this, Adele said sincerely, “That’s really great…” Adele’s expression was complex, and Jasmine couldn’t quite understand it. She could only discern a few emotions from Adele’s expression: relief, comfort, pity, and heaviness…
After answering these two small questions, silence fell between them again. After a while, Jasmine saw Adele timidly reach out her hand, her fingers touching Jasmine’s. Vampires had a lower body temperature, and the moment their fingers touched, Jasmine felt a chill.
The next moment, she heard Adele’s voice, “Jasmine, were you also at the scene that day?”
How should she answer? Should she deny it? The vampires from the school administration wouldn’t discover her presence, because she had concealed her scent when she arrived. They couldn’t smell her. They could only tell that the maid and the freckled girl had been there, but they couldn’t detect her. If she admitted it, it would bring her trouble.
These thoughts swirled in Jasmine’s mind, but the words of confession still came out of her mouth, “Yes, I was there.” Before her overthinking mind could react, her body had already placed its trust in Adele. She believed that Adele wouldn’t expose her.
Hearing her answer, Adele’s expression turned serious, “Jasmine, don’t tell this to any vampire, anyone. The matter of the doctor ends with me.”
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