Chapter 27: You Have Arrived
Setting aside those thoughts for now, the current Adele was just an ordinary girl who was particularly happy because her grades were better than her classmates’. The slight displeasure she felt earlier because Jasmine was sitting opposite her instead of beside her had vanished during their conversation.
But inevitably, Adele would ask, “Jasmine, can I drink your blood?”
“Please excuse me, but I must decline.” Jasmine lowered her eyes slightly, resolutely refusing Adele. Adele grumbled, “Why not! I want to drink blood!” She even got up from her seat and walked towards Jasmine.
She stretched out her hands, gripping the armrests of the sofa chair. She looked down at Jasmine, her silvery-white hair cascading forward and falling in front of Jasmine’s eyes as she bent down.
Jasmine slightly raised her head, meeting Adele’s gaze. Her crimson eyes revealed that she was not human. The nearby lamp emitted a faint glow, making the atmosphere seem dangerous.
Adele was very different from other vampires. Most vampires didn’t like to turn on lights. Despite having such convenient things, they rarely used them. Vampires were nocturnal creatures with excellent night vision, capable of reading text in the dark.
Jasmine also had good night vision, even better than vampires and werewolves, thanks to her cheat ability. But she didn’t like doing things in the dark. It was a matter of habit. This habit was difficult to satisfy in most cases. The dining hall, the servants’ quarters, even the paths at night, none of them had lights on. Jasmine couldn’t just beat up the people in charge and force them to turn on the lights.
But Adele was different. She considered Jasmine’s habits and preferences. As long as it was her room, the lights would always be on.
Although Adele’s actions were somewhat threatening and the atmosphere had become tense, Jasmine knew that Adele would never attack her… Even if she did, she wouldn’t be able to defeat her anyway.
Adele narrowed her crimson eyes, “Jasmine, let me drink your blood, please.” Without the “please” at the end, it would have been a complete order. But with the addition of that word, it became a girl’s coquettish plea.
Adele’s plea was once again ruthlessly rejected. Jasmine took something out of the pocket of her maid uniform. She had wrapped it in a handkerchief to avoid getting it dirty. She unfolded the handkerchief, revealing a white, square sugar cube inside.
To be precise, it was a sugar cube infused with artificial blood. Jasmine picked it up with her fingers and brought it to Adele’s lips.
The sugar cube touched Adele’s lips. Jasmine’s fingers pressed against it, slightly pushing Adele’s lips back. Adele had no choice but to open her mouth and take the sugar cube. The sweetness and the taste of blood spread in her mouth, faintly carrying Jasmine’s scent.
Adele knew it wasn’t the taste of Jasmine’s real blood. It was just that Jasmine carried it close to her body, so it inevitably picked up her scent.
—A sweetness with a hint of deception spread in Adele’s mouth.
“How is it? Sweet?”
Faced with Jasmine’s question, Adele nodded reluctantly.
“Then just pretend you’re drinking my blood.”
Adele instantly deflated. She leaned back and sat on the coffee table, chewing the sugar cube vigorously, still somewhat unhappy. “Jasmine, how could you do this! How can this possibly be like drinking your blood?”
Even though Adele had been unconscious when she drank Jasmine’s blood last time, she subconsciously felt that Jasmine’s blood must be different, incredibly sweet, so sweet that it would intoxicate her, like drinking alcohol, making her head feel fuzzy and unwilling to wake up.
Jasmine’s blood had to be at least that good!
It definitely couldn’t be compared to this little sweet cube in her mouth.
Adele’s petulant behavior was truly like a child’s. Jasmine calmly wrapped the handkerchief and put it back in her pocket. She couldn’t help but gently rub her fingers against the handkerchief. When she had fed Adele the sugar cube, her fingers had accidentally brushed against Adele’s lips.
It was just a light graze, so light that Adele hadn’t even noticed. But Jasmine couldn’t help but recall the scene of cutting her finger and letting Adele drink her blood. The sensation then was similar to just now. Adele’s lips were exceptionally soft, with a hint of coolness. Touching them… felt strangely comfortable.
It was just that Adele was easily insatiable. Even though she had been unconscious, she had still wanted to extend her fangs and drink more blood.
Jasmine chatted with Adele for a while longer. Estimating that time was running out and dawn was approaching, she urged Adele to take a bath and quickly dried her hair. Before Adele could lie down, Jasmine left her bedroom first. She returned to her own room and waited for the first light of dawn to appear on the horizon. The moment it did, Jasmine vanished from her room and appeared at the place she had arranged to meet with Helen.
The time and location she had chosen were a bit demanding. She had requested to meet when the sky was just starting to lighten, but behind the old school building. This meant that Helen had to travel there under the cover of night. Ordinary humans didn’t have Jasmine’s speed. The old school building wasn’t close, not to mention that the school was built on a mountain, as mentioned before.
The mountainous terrain was complex. It was easy for vampires to traverse, but difficult for humans. Helen had to come under the cover of night. If she didn’t want to be late, it meant she had to excuse herself from her master, finish all her assigned tasks, find some free time, and then rush to the old school building.
Jasmine admitted that she was making things difficult for Helen. But if Helen could easily learn her skills, wouldn’t it diminish her mystique as a reclusive expert? So, in the end, it was just Jasmine’s chuunibyou acting up again.
She stood on the open ground in front of the old school building, motionless like a rock. It was possible that Helen wouldn’t come. After all, the time and location were so strange. Jasmine had considered this possibility, but she still arrived early, waiting for Helen.
Saying “early” wasn’t entirely accurate. She had also only left the servants’ quarters when dawn was approaching. To make her waiting seem more convincing, she even narrowed her perception range, deliberately not searching for Helen’s whereabouts.
The sky gradually brightened. Standing on the mountain, one could see the sunrise earlier than at the foot of the mountain. The warm yellow sun struggled on the horizon, about to break through the darkness and unleash its brilliance. Jasmine stood still, waiting. She had already spotted Helen’s figure. The young girl in a maid uniform was climbing the mountain, gritting her teeth.
The path wasn’t easy. The reason it was called the old school building was that it had been abandoned. The path from the servants’ quarters was overgrown with weeds, rarely traveled. Climbing a mountain in the middle of the night was definitely a torment for a maid.
But Helen persevered and reached the destination. She also saw Jasmine, standing alone outside the old school building. In a sense, Jasmine’s stance was quite intimidating. At least, it startled Helen.
Jasmine tilted her head, looking at Helen. She deliberately lowered her voice, “You have arrived.”
Helen nodded, “I have arrived.”
Jasmine really liked Helen. She liked Helen because she always said lines that matched her own, satisfying Jasmine’s chuunibyou heart. As a reward, Jasmine would personally teach her, tell her how to protect herself, and how to deal with vampires.
For the first lesson, Jasmine taught Helen: understand the human race.
“In terms of strength, speed, and observation, humans are no match for other races, let alone the various abilities and magic they possess. Vampires, in particular, are proud of their mental magic, which has allowed them to rule this world and stand at the top of the pyramid. So, what can humans rely on to surpass vampires?”
Helen didn’t understand what Jasmine was talking about. She just wanted to learn some self-defense skills to avoid being bullied. But Jasmine’s words were captivating, making her listen intently as Jasmine continued, “Creativity and learning.”
No matter what world it was, these were the reasons why humans could tenaciously survive. In her previous life, vampires wouldn’t have been able to rule the world. After all—they had already invented fluorescent lights! Real fluorescent lights that completely simulated sunlight.
Given enough time, humans in that world could even analyze sunlight to find what vampires truly feared and create corresponding light spectrums to manufacture super weapons against them. Jasmine wasn’t a scientist and didn’t know how to create such a light.
But it didn’t matter. Humans would eventually create such a thing. And this world had the foundation for it. Humans had invented electricity, lights, and even artificial blood to reduce vampires’ reliance on human blood.
Even the vintage cars and airships were human creations.
No race was inherently inferior or weak. As long as humans mustered their courage, they would eventually find a way to fight back against vampires. Jasmine even believed that even without her, the oppressed humans would eventually rise up and overthrow the vampires. Her appearance had only ignited the spark of rebellion and accelerated the process.
Jasmine wasn’t just being passionate. She was deliberately saying these things to Helen. The biggest problem with humans in this world wasn’t their weakness. In fact, although Helen was thin, she had to do a lot of heavy lifting every day, so her strength definitely wasn’t negligible. The biggest problem was that they had lost their courage.
They had already given up before even trying, believing that they couldn’t possibly defeat vampires.
That wasn’t true. Jasmine was now telling Helen that although she had many shortcomings and couldn’t compare to those powerful other races, humans also had their own strengths. As long as she mustered her courage, one day, she would be able to pin those low-ranking vampire maids who oppressed her to the ground, just like Jasmine had done.
After finishing the first lesson, Jasmine arranged the time for the next lesson with Helen and returned to the servants’ quarters ahead of her. Seeing Jasmine’s departing figure, Helen couldn’t help but clench her fists: With time, she could do it too. She could be like Jasmine!
The young Helen didn’t know that she would never be able to reach Jasmine’s level in her lifetime.
Because—Jasmine was a cheater.
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