Chapter 31: The Noble Dining Hall
Jasmine acknowledged that it was her fault. She should have waited until Adele was sound asleep before sneaking out to open the window, or at least not let Adele see her doing it.
She readily admitted her mistake, “I was wrong. I shouldn’t have done something so dangerous.”
Adele held Jasmine for a while longer, her agitated emotions gradually calming down. After hearing Jasmine’s apology, she looked a bit sheepish. However, it didn’t take long for Jasmine to start lecturing Adele. Such a scene would never happen in front of other vampires. If a human maid dared to speak so boldly to them, they would be killed instantly.
But in front of Adele, Jasmine could reprimand her directly. Jasmine’s voice wasn’t loud, and she spoke calmly. After Adele released her, Jasmine said, “But what Miss did just now was also wrong. Even a noble could be smashed into a pulp if they accidentally fell in that situation, right? It was a very dangerous act. Miss told me to be careful, but what Miss did was also very risky. Please take care of yourself and don’t do anything like that again.”
Adele sat opposite Jasmine, legs tucked under her, looking small, pitiful, and helpless.
But ultimately, Adele had acted out of concern for her. Besides… with Jasmine present, if Adele had accidentally fallen, even at the risk of exposing herself, Jasmine would have jumped over the railing, held Adele tightly, and fallen to the ground together.
With Jasmine as a cushion, Adele probably wouldn’t have been hurt.
Just as Jasmine was about to stop her rambling, she heard Adele’s stomach growl. She was taken aback, “Miss, are you hungry?”
“Yes.”
“Then please go to the dining hall…”
“I don’t want to go.” Jasmine assumed that Adele was throwing a tantrum because she had been reprimanded and felt embarrassed. She said softly, “Food is essential for survival. And if Miss doesn’t eat, you’ll fall unconscious.”
“Where did you get that strange analogy?” Adele complained before sighing, “The airship doesn’t provide artificial blood for guests. If I go to the dining hall, I can only eat real blood. I don’t like that taste. I’d rather stay in the room and make tea with sugar cubes.”
Jasmine fell silent. She hadn’t expected this to be the reason. This meant that Adele had never been to the dining hall before, even when traveling to school at the beginning of the semester. She might not have even left her room. Jasmine ran a hand through her hair, stood up from the floor, and extended a hand towards Adele, “Then Miss, I’ll make tea for you.”
Adele grasped Jasmine’s hand and stood up. She was quite happy to hear that Jasmine would make tea for her.
They went to the living room, where Jasmine brewed black tea for Adele and then found artificial blood sugar cubes from Adele’s suitcase, adding several to her tea. After finishing the tea, Adele asked, “Jasmine, aren’t you hungry? Don’t you need to eat?”
Jasmine thought for a moment, “Alright, Miss, I’ll go eat now.” But Adele grabbed her hand, “I’ll go with you. It’s boring staying in the room. I’d rather go out for a walk with you.”
Jasmine didn’t object. She led the way, taking Adele to the dining hall on the lower level. However, at the corner of the stairs, Adele stopped and asked, “Why are we going down?”
“Why… Because the dining hall is downstairs, of course.”
“But there’s also a dining hall upstairs.”
Of course, there was also a dining hall upstairs. Jasmine knew that. But that was the dining hall for vampire nobles. Jasmine didn’t think there would be any human food there. After hesitating for a moment, Jasmine said to Adele, “But… I don’t think there’s anything there that I can eat.”
Adele was displeased, “How could there not be? They can just make it. I know some vampires also like to eat blood-soaked or rare meat, so they must have something prepared.” Although Jasmine knew about this, the chefs in the upstairs dining hall were definitely vampires. They might not be willing to cook for her.
Jasmine wasn’t afraid of them. She just felt that as a maid, there was no need to clash with them and risk exposing herself. But Adele was decisive. She directly led Jasmine to the upstairs dining hall. Jasmine had no choice. Sometimes, her young miss was just that willful.
They soon arrived at the entrance of the dining hall. A waiter was standing outside, greeting guests with a smile. Seeing Adele, his smile widened, but then it froze when he saw Jasmine. He wanted to say something, but Adele had already pulled Jasmine into the dining hall, leaving him speechless.
Upon entering the dining hall, Jasmine was once again greeted by the collective stares of the vampires. Every time she entered a place full of vampires, they would all turn their heads to look at her in unison, creating a scene straight out of a horror movie.
Well, it was quite scary at first, but after so many times, Jasmine had gotten used to it and could now remain indifferent.
She followed Adele, keeping a distance of one step behind, ignoring the gazes of all the vampires. They arrived at an empty table and sat down. As soon as they were seated, the restaurant manager came over. He looked at Adele with a fawning expression, “Miss Blake, what would you like to eat?” As the manager, he had already memorized the guest information for the VIP suites, afraid of accidentally offending any important figures.
Obviously, Adele was an important figure he couldn’t afford to offend.
He didn’t even glance at Jasmine, because he knew that if he asked Jasmine to leave now, Adele would definitely be angry. After all, Jasmine was Miss Blake’s favored maid. One shouldn’t beat a dog without considering its owner. Now that Miss Blake was right here, how could he possibly scold Jasmine without reason?
He truly deserved his position as manager. He was indeed more tactful than the greeting girl at the entrance.
Adele looked at Jasmine and asked what she wanted to eat. The manager’s expression stiffened, but he still obeyed Adele and turned to look at Jasmine, although his gaze was completely different from the one he gave Adele. Even though he remembered his job, he couldn’t help but show a hint of disdain in his eyes.
Jasmine thought for a moment and decided to make things difficult for the manager, “I want fresh mushroom soup and a black pepper steak, well-done.” The manager’s face darkened when she mentioned the mushroom soup, then he looked somewhat contemptuous. Jasmine could guess why.
Because… vampires didn’t eat vegetables. They could accept meat cooked rare, but they couldn’t stand vegetables. So the restaurant probably didn’t have much prepared and would have to get it from the downstairs dining hall.
His contempt stemmed from Jasmine’s request for fresh mushroom soup. He was probably thinking: As expected of a human, actually liking to eat grass. How incomprehensible.
When he heard the words “well-done,” the manager almost broke down. His expression clearly said, “Heretic! Humans are heretics! Why would a human eat well-done meat! Is that even edible? Huh? Is that something a vampire would eat?” His expression was the same as Jasmine’s when she had heard about dishes like fried cockroaches in her previous life.
But Adele said, “Did you hear that? Please prepare it quickly.”
What else could the manager say? He could only agree respectfully with an expression as if he had swallowed something unpleasant and quickly leave. Soon, he had a waiter bring the food. He even thoughtfully brought Adele a small drink—a champagne glass filled with red blood.
Jasmine remained calm. She didn’t know what kind of blood it was, but since it was served to Adele, Jasmine guessed it must be high-quality human blood. Besides Adele, there were similar glasses on the tables of other vampires present. Some vampires even poured the blood directly onto their already bloody steaks and dipped their meat in it before eating.
The only thing that made Jasmine feel slightly better about this world was that vampires at least didn’t eat human flesh. Perhaps, as some science articles she had read in her previous life suggested, they found human flesh sour and unappetizing. Or maybe it was because humans looked too similar to vampires. In any case, although vampires occasionally ate pork, lamb, or beef, they definitely didn’t eat human flesh.
If she were eating and a vampire next to her was happily feasting on human flesh, Jasmine would be so disgusted that she would want to flip the table and kill the vampire first.
Jasmine finished her meal. While she was eating, Adele sat opposite her, watching her eat. Honestly, it was quite uncomfortable. When your dining companion wasn’t eating but just watching you, it was a torture for the one who was actually eating.
Fortunately, Jasmine ate relatively quickly and finished soon.
Seeing Jasmine put down her knife and fork, Adele stood up, ready to leave with her. However, the manager, who had been paying close attention to them, stepped forward and stopped Adele with a polite smile, “Miss Blake, please wait a moment. I noticed that you didn’t drink the complimentary blood. Is there something wrong with it…?”
“It stinks.” Adele looked displeased. She said to the manager with a straight face, “Didn’t you smell it? This blood smells like socks that have been worn for days. I couldn’t bring myself to drink it. Just having it in front of me was unbearable. It’s a testament to my good manners that I didn’t flip the table on the spot. Next time I come here, don’t put this kind of thing in front of me again.”
Adele, a vampire who didn’t drink any blood, should have been an anomaly among vampires, someone to be scorned. But she spoke so righteously, with such an air of superiority, that the manager could only think that it was his fault. He lowered his head humbly and apologized to Adele. As expected, when they returned later that night and the next evening, no champagne glass filled with blood was ever placed in front of Adele again.
On the second day of their journey, the airship docked at a midway station. Jasmine was on the balcony, enjoying the breeze, when she suddenly wrinkled her nose and looked down at the ground.
People were boarding the airship in a long line, and Jasmine smelled an unusual scent.
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