Chapter 40: Praise from Father
Jasmine had guessed it. There must be a traitor among the vampires, someone willingly working as an informant for the otherworldly beings. Otherwise, how could those otherworldly beings have boarded the airship? And not only had they boarded, they even knew that a member of the thirteen clans’ Blake family was on board.
They had clearly known this in advance. Their target was clear: Adele’s head.
Jasmine flipped through the letter but couldn’t find any follow-up information. The Blake patriarch stated that they hadn’t been able to extract further details and had imprisoned the White Werewolf, hoping to pry more information from him. After finishing reading the letter, Jasmine didn’t waste any time. She put it back in its original place and reset the patriarch’s trap.
After doing all this, she was torn between returning to her room or going to the dining hall to eavesdrop on the conversation between the father and his two daughters. In the end, she decided to go to the dining hall. The Blake family castle was enormous, and the dining hall was also quite spacious, filled with various decorations and furniture, providing ample hiding places for Jasmine.
She stealthily crouched behind a knight statue and quietly listened to the conversation between the father and daughters.
Before Jasmine arrived, they hadn’t actually talked much. The Blake patriarch believed that mealtime was for eating, and one should refrain from talking during meals. Although Jasmine didn’t know where the patriarch had gotten this strange rule, he adhered to it strictly. Thanks to this rule, even though Jasmine arrived late, she didn’t miss any of their conversation.
Only after the main course and dessert were served did the Blake patriarch wipe his mouth and start speaking. He didn’t like sweet desserts, even those infused with blood. But his two daughters were young and naturally enjoyed such things. While they were eating, the Blake patriarch brought up a familiar topic.
“Adele, why are you still drinking artificial blood? That thing is just a gimmick, with no taste or nutrition. I really don’t understand why you drink it. You need to know that if word of you constantly consuming artificial blood reaches the other clans, it will bring shame to the Blake family.”
His words were harsh, starting with criticism. But in reality, he was a good father. Although he disapproved of Adele drinking artificial blood, he had never truly stopped her, and Adele had been happily drinking it for years.
Adele lowered her head, hearing her father’s reprimand.
The second miss, however, was concerned for her elder sister and immediately came to her defense.
“Father, Adele got first place in school this semester!”
Hearing this, the patriarch’s expression softened. He even snorted proudly, “Of course, Adele is my daughter. Getting first place is only natural. If that Golden fellow knew that his daughter lost to mine, he would be furious.”
Why was there such animosity between the Blake and Golden families? It stemmed from the lady who was absent from this dinner, Blake’s wife, Adele’s mother, who was also a Golden by birth. Simply put, the current head of the Golden family, Adele’s aunt, couldn’t stand the man who had “stolen” her younger sister.
And when the patriarch had courted his wife, he had faced a lot of opposition from her elder sister.
As a result, the two families’ conflicts had escalated to the point where the Council of Elders of the thirteen clans had to intervene. Judging from the interactions between the older generation, the relationship between Adele’s generation was actually quite good.
As for why the lady of the house was absent, based on Jasmine’s years of experience working for the Blakes, she had probably gone back to her family home. The reason was most likely that the doting brother, the head of the Golden family, had been badmouthing the Blake patriarch again, and the lady had gone to mediate and visit her niece.
Jasmine always felt that the thirteen clans were a mess, especially in terms of bloodlines. There were only so many of them, and to ensure that they were all pure-blooded nobles, they inevitably had to intermarry within the thirteen clans. After generations of intermarriage, they had become closely related. Adele’s grandmother, for example, was a White.
The situation in the Golden family was similar. The thirteen clans had become a web of interconnected relatives.
Jasmine wondered why, despite all the inbreeding, the thirteen clans hadn’t produced any children with genetic defects. Could it be that vampire genes were so dominant that they only inherited good traits and didn’t mutate into bad ones?
Jasmine also knew that one day, Adele would have to marry a member of another family within the thirteen clans. And as the eldest daughter, the eldest child in the family, she would have to find a vampire to marry into the Blake family, while her younger sister would most likely marry out. In this aspect, Jasmine felt that vampires were quite open-minded. At least, there was no gender discrimination when it came to choosing an heir. As long as they were strong, it was fine.
The Blake patriarch had actually considered letting his younger daughter inherit the family and marrying his elder daughter off. Because his elder daughter wasn’t ambitious and had been drinking artificial blood since she was a child. Although he didn’t dislike his daughter because of this, he knew deep down that without drinking real blood, Adele would definitely be malnourished and unable to compete with other children.
Vampires revered strength. Weak individuals couldn’t lead a family.
But to his surprise, Adele’s talent was truly exceptional. He had received a letter from the school, informing him that Adele had not only achieved first place in her theoretical subjects, but had also killed another vampire who had coveted her belongings. That vampire wasn’t a low-ranking one, but a teacher hired by the school, someone with considerable strength.
Based on the school’s description, Blake estimated that Adele shouldn’t have been a match for him, yet she had still managed to kill him. How could this not be considered proof of his daughter’s exceptional talent?
If Jasmine knew what he was thinking, she might even add a line for him: My daughter Adele has the makings of a ruler.
Snapping out of his thoughts about Adele’s praise, the patriarch casually inquired about the doctor incident. Adele knew that revealing everything would put Jasmine in great danger, so she took all the blame upon herself. Hearing Adele’s account, Jasmine guessed that the second miss’s eyes must be sparkling with admiration.
The second miss was a true sister complex case. She truly believed that her elder sister was amazing, but due to her tsundere personality, she always said the opposite of what she felt.
The Blake patriarch was very satisfied with Adele’s self-narration of the events. Adele’s response was also very modest, saying that she had only won by chance, that she hadn’t expected to defeat the doctor, and that she didn’t even think she had killed him. The Blake patriarch took all this as her being humble and praised Adele, “Good, Adele. Not only are you talented, but you’re also humble. You haven’t let this victory blind you.” He first affirmed Adele, then continued, “But there’s no need to be overly modest. You should know that excessive humility is also a form of arrogance. Since this is your achievement, you should speak of it openly.”
Jasmine, crouching behind the statue and eavesdropping, couldn’t help but mentally add a question mark. She wanted to ask the patriarch if his words made any sense. “Openly”? Could vampires even be exposed to sunlight?
But hearing her father’s words, Adele still felt a bit guilty. She wasn’t being humble. She genuinely didn’t think she had the ability to kill the doctor. But at this point, she could only take the blame. For one, she couldn’t reveal Jasmine’s involvement, and for another, everyone believed it was her doing, and she couldn’t really remember what had happened at that time.
The second miss still said proudly, “Hmph, it’s nothing special. I’ll be even stronger than Adele when I grow up.”
The patriarch encouraged her, then started asking Adele about other things, mainly about the incident on the airship. His tone became more serious, and Jasmine realized that this was what the patriarch really wanted to ask about. The previous conversation was just a lead-up. It made sense. Those questions could all be answered by information from the school. There was no need for Adele to personally recount them.
Only the recent events on the airship required Adele’s firsthand account. Adele described everything that had happened on the airship, and the patriarch listened patiently without interrupting her. Seeing her father’s serious expression, the second miss, who had been eating while Adele was talking, gradually stopped even the sound of her eating dessert.
After Adele finished speaking, the patriarch asked the question that concerned him the most, “Are you sure the one who killed those otherworldly beings was a human?”
Adele was taken aback. She didn’t answer immediately but instead fell silent, thinking for a moment. After a while, she replied, “Yes, I’m sure. Her scent was very faint, almost undetectable. She had deliberately concealed it. That faint scent mixed with the strong body odor of the otherworldly beings, making it almost impossible to distinguish.”
“But her physique, appearance, and that faint scent all proved that she was human.”
The patriarch pondered for a moment and asked, “But according to your description, that human was incredibly strong. Is that something a human can actually achieve?”
Adele replied, “Although I’m also confused, she was definitely human. There’s no mistake about that.”
The patriarch was clearly still skeptical, not fully believing Adele’s words. Jasmine even wanted to step out from her hiding place and tell the patriarch, “Yes, everything Adele said is true. There are humans who are that strong.”
But she couldn’t. She could only patiently continue listening.
The patriarch asked a few more minor questions, then praised Adele for leading the vampires in dealing with the otherworldly beings, saying that she was worthy of the Blake family name. Jasmine knew that Adele would be very happy to hear her father say that. After all, the Blake family was very important to her, and her father’s praise was enough to make her happy.
Only Jasmine knew that regardless of whether the patriarch believed Adele’s words or not, that mysterious woman on the airship would definitely be etched in his memory. After all, the Human Resistance Army had been very active recently. Before leaving school, Jasmine had met with Yuan Hang, who had excitedly announced that the Human Resistance Army had conquered another Golden family stronghold and liberated the humans inside.
The happier Yuan Hang was, the angrier the Golden family was, and the more troubled the thirteen clans were.
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