Chapter 129: Only This Once
It wasn’t surprising that the traitor was the vampire traitor. After all, he had betrayed his own kind before, providing assistance to the otherworldly beings and Jasmine’s team. It was only natural for him to betray them as well, selling them out to the Council of Elders for a greater profit.
After reading the letter, Adele handed it to Jasmine, letting her read it.
Jasmine scanned the letter quickly. The Council of Elders had learned a lot from the vampire traitor, such as the fact that the first batch of counterfeit banknotes had originated from Adele’s territory. They also knew that Adele had been secretly purchasing large quantities of goods, including metal products and magic stones.
Normally, purchasing these items wouldn’t be a problem, but Adele had been doing it secretly, through unofficial channels. This had aroused the Council of Elders’ suspicions. They had instructed the Blake patriarch to apprehend Adele and bring her to the capital for questioning.
As a loyal servant of the Council of Elders and the head of one of the Thirteen Clans, Adele’s father hadn’t hesitated to betray her. In his eyes, his own interests were paramount.
Moreover, if Adele was punished, she might be stripped of her noble status or even sentenced to death. Either way, her territory would be inherited by her closest blood relatives: the Blake patriarch and his wife.
Adele had once been his pride and joy, a source of profit and the future head of the family. She had been invaluable to him. But faced with the temptation of personal gain and the pressure from the Council of Elders, he had chosen to betray his own daughter.
After all, she wasn’t his only daughter. Adele had a younger sister, a daughter who was more… vampire-like. Even if Adele died, the Blake bloodline would continue. And he and the Blake Lady were still relatively young. With a little effort, they could surely have another child.
But he hadn’t expected that he would fail to apprehend Adele, that she would even injure him, and that her human maid would be so incredibly powerful. During his captivity, the Blake patriarch had gradually calmed down. He started analyzing Jasmine, and a thought occurred to him: Dawn Lady.
As the head of one of the Thirteen Clans, he had access to a lot of information about the Human Resistance Army, including their leader, Dawn Lady. But initially, he had dismissed the possibility of Jasmine being Dawn Lady. Their ages didn’t match.
As far as he knew, Dawn Lady had first appeared when Jasmine was still a young girl. How could a mere child be the infamous Dawn Lady? Based on their estimations, Dawn Lady should be a mature woman, at least forty-five years old.
It couldn’t possibly be Jasmine! She was just a child!
But now, thinking about it carefully, her abilities and power matched Dawn Lady’s perfectly.
This realization made the Blake patriarch’s expression turn grim. He hadn’t expected Jasmine to be so audacious, to be working with the Human Resistance Army, plotting against vampires.
After reading the letter, Jasmine decided it was time to leave.
Although there were no surveillance cameras inside the Blake patriarch’s study, there were surely cameras outside his room. It wouldn’t be long before someone noticed something amiss and came to check on the patriarch.
They had to leave. They couldn’t stay here any longer.
It was a shame about Adele’s suitcase, but she didn’t mind. It only contained clothes and jewelry, a negligible loss compared to her wealth. And… they could acquire much more valuable items from her father’s study.
Her father had betrayed her. She would betray him in return.
“Jasmine, let’s search the study. There must be a lot of magic stones here, and maybe even some magic items. Let’s take what we can and leave.” Hearing this, the Blake patriarch, bound and gagged, struggled furiously, but he couldn’t stop them.
Jasmine, following Adele’s instructions, found a small suitcase and filled it with valuable items from the study.
After they had gathered everything they could carry, they turned to look at the Blake patriarch. Only then did he realize the gravity of the situation. When it had just been him and Adele, he had been ruthless, but now, the tables had turned. He was at their mercy. His life was in their hands.
Jasmine looked at him, her expression cold. “What should we do with him?” she asked Adele. Jasmine’s solution was simple: kill him. He was clearly not a good person, having drunk countless humans’ blood and oppressed countless others.
But he was Adele’s father. They were bound by blood. And Adele had been raised by him.
In this situation, Adele probably couldn’t bring herself to kill him. She was a kind soul. Jasmine knew this.
But the Blake patriarch didn’t. He looked at Adele, his eyes pleading, his pride as a powerful vampire shattered. He wanted his daughter to spare him.
—Vampires are truly a cowardly race.
Jasmine couldn’t understand it. Vampires were immortal. The Blake patriarch had already lived for a thousand years. If it were Jasmine, she would have felt that she had lived long enough. Without Adele, she would probably have ended her own life after a few hundred years. Only Adele’s presence gave her a reason to live for another two thousand years.
But she couldn’t understand how someone could be so terrified of death, so much so that they wouldn’t even leave their home. And she couldn’t understand why the Blake patriarch, who had lived for over a thousand years, would be so afraid of death.
Perhaps it was because the more you had, the more you feared losing it. Upon death, everything you had possessed would vanish.
Seeing her father’s pathetic state, Adele was momentarily stunned, then she composed herself. She looked at him, her voice soft. “Only this once. Next time we meet, I won’t spare you.”
The Blake patriarch seemed to be in disbelief, but relief washed over his face. Then Jasmine knocked him unconscious. She gathered their belongings, then she extended her hand towards Adele, who took it, leaning against Jasmine’s shoulder.
The next moment, Jasmine swept Adele into her arms, then, shielding her with her body, she crashed through the study window, her footsteps silent as she leaped across the courtyard, like a bird taking flight, escaping Blake Castle. Adele, nestled in Jasmine’s embrace, sighed softly. “Am I… too indecisive?” she asked.
Jasmine knew what she meant. Her father had betrayed her, and yet she had spared him.
Jasmine chuckled, her voice a comforting presence above Adele’s head. Adele couldn’t see her expression, but she could hear the amusement in her voice. “Because you’re Adele. That’s what you would do.”
Honestly, Adele’s actions were a bit too saintly, but Jasmine didn’t mind. Because that was who Adele was. She was kind and compassionate. She could never bring herself to kill her own father. And she had said that she wouldn’t spare him next time. Jasmine would trust her.
Adele was truly a wonderful girl: kind, compassionate, principled, but not overly naive. And sparing the Blake patriarch once meant nothing to Jasmine. If he dared to betray them again, taking his life would be as easy as plucking a flower.
So, Jasmine was willing to indulge Adele’s whims. It was a trivial matter. Adele could do whatever she wanted.
Adele, reassured by Jasmine’s words, hugged Jasmine’s neck tightly, seeking her warmth. Jasmine was fast. Although she had to control her speed for Adele’s sake, not using her supersonic abilities, she was still much faster than an airship or a carriage.
They arrived at the manor in their territory before dawn. Although the sky was still dark, sunrise was approaching. Adele should have been sleeping. But the events at Blake Castle had made her anxious. Her father had probably guessed Jasmine’s identity. When he woke up and reported this to the Council of Elders, they would surely take action against them.
Seeing her worry, Jasmine gently pushed her onto the bed. “Your mind is racing. You won’t be able to think clearly. Just get some sleep. We can figure things out when you wake up. And even if the Council of Elders wants to take action against you, it’s almost dawn. They won’t be able to do anything during the day.”
Jasmine’s words made sense. Adele, clutching Jasmine’s clothes, pulled her down onto the bed, and they fell asleep together. When Adele woke up, she received a message from Miss White. She didn’t know much. If she had known that Adele was working with the Human Resistance Army, she wouldn’t have sent a message. After all, Dawn Lady had killed her brother.
But Miss White didn’t know. She only knew that the Council of Elders was sending an army to suppress Adele’s territory.
She had sent this message to Adele using magic. Adele, after reading it, showed it to Jasmine. She fell silent. According to their plan, they would eventually clash with the Council of Elders’ army, but not now.
Jasmine hugged Adele. “Don’t worry. It’s time to use my method.”
“What method?”
Jasmine smiled confidently, cracking her knuckles, her usually cold eyes gleaming with a dangerous light. “Brute force.”
Leave a Reply