Chapter 24 Pre-Battle Preparations in Reverse
Chapter 24: Pre-Battle Preparations in Reverse
After touring the entire area and confirming that all suspension bridges had been fire-proofed, Baili returned to the workshop to take Terez home.
It was nearly dusk. Terez was still wrapped in his coat. He would need to smooth it out when they got back, as it would be wrinkled when he wore it again.
He quietly collected his diagrams. At some point, Terez had sat up, rubbing her eyes and looking sleepily at Baili’s back.
“Ah… I slept well. It seems it was from overusing magic.” Terez thought.
Baili tidied up, cleaned the workshop, and closed the windows. When he turned around, Terez had disappeared.
Strange, where did she go? Baili began searching, wondering what game the child was playing now.
After turning everything upside down without finding her, he was perplexed. He didn’t notice his hair strands moving slightly. Instinctively, he raised his hand to smooth his hair.
When he lowered his head again, Terez had somehow appeared in front of him.
“Damn it, Terez, are you a ghost? Disappearing and appearing like that?”
Ignoring Baili’s complaints, she just moved closer, taking his hand and making him hold hers tightly.
The workshop wasn’t far from the suspension bridge leading to the castle, so he left the design diagrams there—it would save him the trouble of searching later.
One thing Baili found strange: he had never crossed swords with Winston, nor met any of his colleagues.
But it didn’t matter. In a pure swordsmanship contest, he wouldn’t fear anyone. Still, he suspected Winston’s swordsmanship might be somewhat obscure, potentially giving him an information disadvantage.
While weighing these thoughts, either intentionally or accidentally, Terez tripped.
She lay on the cold marble floor, looking at Baili with grievance.
“Are you alright, Terez? Here, let me help you up.”
She turned away from his hand. “No. You’re bullying me.”
Baili was speechless. The girls he was meeting were increasingly manipulative. Vivian was an old hand at this, and Terez must have been taught by her.
“I’ve used so much magic, I’m getting hungry.”
When Terez said this, he realized she had a point, but where would he find food? He couldn’t cook.
“Big Brother Baili is so mean. Why not just let Terez eat you?” She sat up, unable to hide the hearts in her eyes, looking adorable.
If he didn’t comfort her, this milk ball would cry. Given it was twilight and a public place, people might think she had suffered some great injustice, leading to his social death.
Baili’s lip twitched, his expression frozen—there was no escaping this…
“Alright, alright, Terez. We’ll talk when we get back. Please get up first…”
Hearing this, Terez lay back down. Such an ambiguous answer wasn’t what she wanted.
He reached out again to pull her up, but this time Terez grabbed his hand.
“What are you doing? You’d even exploit a child? Should I exploit you instead to make you happy?”
Vivian gripped Baili’s shoulder (possibly because her height only allowed her to comfortably reach that distance). He could only force a smile.
“No, no, please be gentler… otherwise who’ll repay your debt?”
Hearing this somewhat pleading tone, she finally released her hand. She then whispered something to Terez, who slowly stood up and followed them back.
“It’s rare for you to disappear all day. Winston came to challenge me again. What should we do?” Baili explained, knowing Vivian didn’t want them to fight.
“Can’t be helped. He wants to see your strength too. After all, your sudden appearance is hard for people to accept.”
Indeed, back in the Empire as a Holy Knight candidate, he had single-handedly suppressed the eastern rebellion.
Sitting on the city tower watching the sunset, with bodies and frost piled below, the breeze moved his blood-stained white scarf like a flying flag.
He casually tossed aside the rebel leader’s helmet, which fell to the ground without leaving a mark.
He did nothing but silently wipe away the frozen blood on his blade.
…
Vivian was also troubled. Such a match might awaken Baili’s battle instincts. Even without magic, his swordsmanship and physical abilities could probably beat Winston half to death.
But suddenly she had an idea: in a fair duel, couldn’t she just weaken Baili?
“Hehe…”
When the three returned to the castle, Vivian began preparing her plan.
Terez sat glumly to the side, not even looking at the blood bag on the table, occasionally glancing at Baili.
An awkward silence fell as Baili sat reading about vampire history.
“Strange. So vampires are natural apothecaries? How could they not understand acids, bases, and salts?”
In his impression, the quartz tabletop had too many impurities, as if made from simply melted, unpurified ore.
“You idiot, I told you only noble vampires can master the elements.” Vivian pinched his face again. “Where were you looking when I asked you to read?”
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Please let go, it’s going to kill me.”
After Vivian released him, the mark on his face was quite prominent.
Before he could react, he felt a chill behind him.
“Shh, don’t move. There’s no life-threatening danger.”
Vivian suddenly spoke these cryptic words, leaving Baili confused…
“Ouch…” He slowly turned his head to find Terez had somehow leaned against his back, her small head resting on his shoulder. He felt a cold sensation on his neck.
“Terez, what are you doing? Are you serious?”
He never expected she would actually drink his blood. Terez had an indulgent expression, completely immersed in the act.
Baili felt an itchy sensation with a touch of pain. Terez was truly not holding back. Her fangs gently pierced his blood vessel, and he could clearly feel the loss of blood.
Unlike when Vivian had synchronized with him before, his consciousness remained very clear this time.
When Terez finally raised her head in satisfaction, she took out a handkerchief to wipe her mouth.
“Big Brother Baili tastes so good. Thank you for the meal.” With that, she left the castle without looking back, skipping and hopping.
Baili’s face was a bit pale. Terez had indeed taken quite a bit of blood. He shook his head to clear it.
“It’s alright. Mutual blood drinking is part of building relationships among us vampires.” Vivian explained while handing him a glass of blood.
Baili drank it all in one go. Though he still felt some guilt, when Vivian had asked him why he was loyal to the Empire, he couldn’t answer.
“By the way, what about tomorrow’s duel?”
“Shh, before that, I’m feeling a bit hungry too.” Vivian’s gaze grew ambiguous. In over three hundred years, those she had approved of could be counted on one hand, and Baili was the only one.
“Um, well, Terez already…”
“That doesn’t matter. We don’t conflict.” She gently caressed Baili’s face, enjoying the soft touch.
Baili felt a tightening below. It seemed he wouldn’t get a good night’s sleep tonight either.