Chapter 109: A Gentle Reminder
Adele stared at Lady Blake, saying nothing, as if accepting her words.
But in her mind, she was thinking: I was right.
No vampire in this world would ever suspect that a fellow vampire would dedicate their life to creating a new world where all races could coexist peacefully and equally. Even if Adele had explicitly stated her ideals, Lady Blake would have dismissed them as lies, a ploy to deceive humans.
Lady Blake was convinced that Adele was using a facade of kindness to mask her ambition, manipulating humans to further her own goals.
Every member of the Council of Elders knew exactly how much money Adele had earned. After all, all financial transactions went through the banks, and every bank in this world was under the Council’s surveillance. This also meant that Adele’s wealth was staggering, enough to make even the Elders envious. Her farms produced high-quality blood, exquisite fabrics, and fine crafts, generating a constant stream of revenue, like a whale swallowing seawater.
It was this envy that had prompted the Council to summon Adele, to issue a warning.
But what they didn’t know was that although Adele earned a lot, she also spent a lot. However, her expenditures weren’t reflected in her official accounts. After all, those transactions were conducted through unofficial channels, things she couldn’t discuss openly.
Back when Adele had encountered those otherworldly beings on the airship during her first year at the academy, she and Jasmine had realized that there must be a traitor within the vampire ranks. Otherwise, those otherworldly beings wouldn’t have known the passenger manifest or that a member of the Blake family was on board.
Using this clue, along with Jasmine’s extensive network within the Hunter’s Association, they had found the traitor. When Adele had first confronted him, he had been terrified, expecting to be punished, perhaps even subjected to sun exposure. But to his surprise, Adele had come to do business with him.
His connections with otherworldly beings meant that he could obtain many things that were difficult for vampires to acquire. He could also use his position to smuggle goods onto airships. It was thanks to Adele’s wealth and this secret network that the Human Resistance Army had been able to grow to its current size.
This also proved that vampires were truly a race without morals. This vampire had betrayed his own kind for money, and now he was willingly working for Adele, also for money.
Because Adele’s expenditures weren’t reflected in her official accounts, the Council of Elders saw her as a greedy hoarder, sitting on a mountain of wealth, indulging in a life of luxury. What made it even worse was that she had withdrawn most of her funds from the bank, leaving only a small amount to maintain appearances.
Someone who withdrew all their money must be obsessed with wealth.
This was the image the Council of Elders had of Adele. They had lived for so long, they believed they could see through people’s hearts. They thought they understood Adele, what kind of vampire she was.
They were arrogant, judging her character before even meeting her, and every answer she gave only confirmed their preconceived notions. But it was normal for vampires to make such assumptions. After all, that was their nature.
They couldn’t possibly comprehend that someone would willingly sacrifice their own race’s well-being, their own class privileges, to help the poor and oppressed humans.
It was simply inconceivable. An outsider from another world, possessing unimaginable power, had met a naive and innocent vampire girl, and through years of companionship, had taught her the pain of oppression and the cruelty of exploiting the weak.
Adele was different from other vampires. She was noble, her ideals transcending base desires. Jasmine could say this without a hint of sarcasm. She herself couldn’t. She was a prejudiced speciesist, driven by a desire to help humans overthrow vampire rule. But Adele was different. She was a true idealist, yearning for peace and equality.
Such individuals were rare, even in Jasmine’s previous world. Even among humans, there were divisions and oppression. A cross-species idealist was simply unheard of. Because they couldn’t comprehend it, they naturally assumed that Adele’s intentions were sinister.
But Adele should be grateful for the Council of Elders’ arrogance and carelessness. After all, she was the one benefiting from it. She wouldn’t go to the Council and say, “You’ve got me all wrong! Take another look! See if I’m really the greedy, self-serving person you think I am.” At least, not before she went insane.
After reprimanding Adele, Lady Blake reverted to her friendly grandmother persona, inviting Adele to another round of tea before finally letting her leave. After Adele was gone, a male vampire appeared in the garden. He said to Lady Blake, “Sister, I think the little girl was lying.”
Lady Blake chuckled, pouring herself another cup of tea. But this time, she added a sugar cube infused with human blood, not artificial blood. She said to her brother, “Didn’t she bring a human maid? Her precious favorite, the one she takes everywhere? That maid is currently waiting outside. You have some free time. Go see if you can pry any useful information out of her.”
Her brother agreed and immediately left.
Jasmine, waiting above, thirteen floors away, should have been unable to sense Adele’s presence. But she couldn’t sense Adele, it didn’t mean she couldn’t sense her own threads. She had sensed Adele descending with the bracelet, stopping at a certain point.
About fifty meters… If each floor is about three meters high, that’s sixteen floors, Jasmine thought, calculating based on her knowledge from her previous world. But the Council of Elders was wealthy. Three meters per floor seemed too low. And vampires were obsessed with the number thirteen. Thirteen clans, thirteen walls… Jasmine bet this bunker also had thirteen floors.
She sensed Adele ascending after a long pause, probably having finished her meeting. She decided to wait for Adele to emerge before returning to Adele’s residence within the second wall. But as Adele left, before Jasmine could follow, she sensed another presence rapidly approaching the top level, then rushing out at high speed.
Jasmine thought, This person is leaving the bunker in such a hurry, and dawn is approaching. There must be something going on. She decided to follow and see what it was about. But with Adele being escorted by someone else, she couldn’t approach her to talk.
So, she used an unusual method. She controlled a thread, extending it from the bracelet and gently tickling Adele’s wrist. Adele instinctively grabbed her wrist, pressing down on the thread. This was Jasmine’s way of informing Adele. Even if Adele didn’t know what was happening, she would understand that this was a signal from Jasmine. And the lack of urgency meant that Jasmine wasn’t in danger, just delayed by something.
Adele would be worried, but she wouldn’t show it.
After notifying Adele, Jasmine followed the other vampire. She kept a safe distance, but as she followed, she realized: This guy is heading towards my inn! She quickly overtook him, taking a detour and returning to her room first. She sat down on a chair, turned on the lamp, and pretended to be sewing.
Jasmine wasn’t actually skilled at needlework. At the castle and the farm, she had always left such tasks to the human maids. But as a maid, it was normal for her to carry needles and thread, right? And her signature weapon was threads, so having a sewing kit was perfectly reasonable.
Besides, although she wasn’t skilled at sewing, she could at least pretend. Jasmine bet that the vampire who had just left the bunker was even less skilled than her.
She pretended to sew for a while, then she heard the vampire landing silently outside her window, peering inside to see what she was doing. But after a long time, he still hadn’t made a move.
This put Jasmine in a difficult position. She was almost done sewing, but… the handkerchief she was working on was incredibly ugly. It had originally been embroidered with a beautiful jasmine flower, but Jasmine’s clumsy attempts had added a hideous green leaf beside it.
Jasmine sighed inwardly, then decided to pretend she was done sewing and was going to bed.
She stretched, preparing to turn off the lamp, when the vampire outside finally entered. Jasmine, pretending to be a weak and helpless maid, turned around with a look of fear. She saw a pair of crimson eyes, glowing brighter than Adele’s.
“What’s your name?” he asked.
Jasmine guessed that he was using hypnosis on her, testing her. This guy must be old, perhaps over a thousand years old. But the hypnosis still had no effect on her.
She pretended to be under his control, her eyes unfocused, her expression blank. She answered obediently, “My name is Jasmine.”
“What’s your relationship with Adele Blake?”
—We’re lovers, bound by life and death.
Jasmine wanted to throw those words in his face, but she couldn’t. She could only say, “Miss Adele is my most… beloved… mistress.” She deliberately paused before the words “beloved” and “mistress,” but this vampire wouldn’t understand her true meaning.
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