Little did she know, at this moment, the faint fragrance of a bath lingered around Vivian’s nose, mixed with the alluring scent of Lorevil’s body. Even her head felt a little dizzy. She didn’t even notice when the towel in her hand was pressed down by Lorevil.
“Thank you, Mentor Vivian,” Lorevil’s voice was exceptionally pleasant. She smoothly took the towel and began to dry her hair slowly. “I’ll be careful.”
Vivian watched her dry her hair with her head lowered. Her silver-white hair shimmered with a soft luster under the light. It felt as if something was scratching at Vivian’s heart, causing her previous shame, anger, and suspicion to be thrown to the back of her mind.
‘So beautiful…’
‘How can she be this pretty!’
For a moment, Vivian went from being slightly tipsy to completely intoxicated.
“From now on, I will personally be responsible for your future awakening matters,” Vivian said subconsciously.
After speaking, she realized what she had just said and wished she could tear her own mouth apart. Her small face turned bright red, and she turned around, wanting to dive back into the pile of books. However, Lorevil was quick and grabbed the corner of her clothes.
“What’s wrong?” Lorevil looked at her with some confusion.
“N—Nothing,” Vivian’s body froze.
“It’s just… do you have any more candy?”
“I only had one piece, and a friend gave it to me.” Lorevil didn’t understand why Vivian was asking this, but she answered seriously.
“If you want to come find me in the future, bring me candy. If you do, I’ll personally take charge of your matters,” Vivian said seriously, suppressing her fluttering heart.
Lorevil nodded. She understood what Vivian meant—she could come to ask her about matters regarding Rank 3 and beyond. If it was just candy, she could certainly afford it. Even bringing several carriages full of it wouldn’t be a problem.
With her original body’s wealth, even if Vivian ate a whole carriage of candy every day, Lorevil could provide it until Vivian grew sick of it.
Lorevil naturally took Vivian’s hand and led her through the rows of bookshelves to the sofa in the hall where Catherine was waiting.
Catherine looked up from her reading. Her ice-blue eyes instantly froze on the joined hands of Lorevil and Vivian. Her pupils contracted slightly, and a crack appeared in her usual cold expression.
‘Who… can tell me what is going on?’
Catherine put down her quill, her gaze shifting back and forth between their interlaced hands as if she were seeing some incredible spectacle.
Who was Vivian? She wasn’t some harmless little girl who was delicate and easy to push over. Vivian was the Holy Blood Academy’s famously eccentric loner, a Rank 6 Vampire whose strength commanded the awe of countless people. Yet, because she was obsessed with secret techniques and hated socializing, she found even normal conversation troublesome.
Let alone intimate contact like holding hands.
Usually, if someone even accidentally touched her, they would be subjected to a Rank 4 secret technique that forced them to stand still as punishment. Jerwen was the best example. Back then, he had merely bumped into her and knocked over an ancient book, resulting in him being frozen in the hallway for six hours. From then on, he was terrified of Vivian.
But now…
Not only was Vivian not resisting, but the little girl’s head was lowered toward her chest, and a faint blush colored her face. Even her usual explosive aura had softened significantly. She was actually letting Lorevil lead her by the hand so obediently.
In the short time she hadn’t been paying attention, what on earth had happened between these two?
Catherine’s gaze swept over Lorevil. The young woman, fresh from her bath, was wearing a loose bathrobe. Her long silver hair was still damp, and her appearance was even more stunning than before.
“Teacher Catherine, if there’s nothing else, I’ll be leaving first.”
Lorevil didn’t notice the shock in Catherine’s eyes at all. She felt that holding hands was a very natural action. After all, she had held Vivian when she fainted earlier, so leading her out to see Catherine didn’t seem inappropriate.
“You two… were just in there?” Catherine’s throat bobbed as she asked tentatively.
“Yes. Mentor Vivian fainted, so I fed her a piece of candy, and then she woke up,” Lorevil replied honestly, adding, “Mentor Vivian said that she will personally handle my future awakening matters. I just need to bring her candy every time I visit.”
‘Candy?’ Catherine was stunned.
She had known Vivian for so long, yet she had never heard that this mentor liked eating candy. On the contrary, Vivian had always looked down on sweets, claiming those things would interfere with her thinking. Now, for the sake of candy, she had actively taken on the task of guiding Lorevil and even allowed Lorevil to hold her hand?
This completely overturned her perception of Vivian.
Hearing the word “candy,” Vivian’s face flushed even redder. she quickly pulled her hand back from Lorevil’s and tried to defend herself.
“I—I just think her talent is decent, and it would be a waste otherwise! The candy is… it’s just an extra requirement. After all, guiding students is mentally taxing, so I need to replenish my sugar levels!”
She spoke with great confidence, but the way her eyes darted around while she spoke made it look like she was hiding something.
As Catherine watched Vivian’s unprecedented behavior, the jealousy in her heart intensified.
“Since Mentor Vivian says so, then I will leave the subsequent guidance to you.” Catherine withdrew her gaze, her tone returning to its usual calm. “Lorevil, this is a secret technique manual commonly used by Rank 3 Vampires. Take it back and study it well. If there’s anything you don’t understand, you can always ask Mentor Vivian.”
The bloodline energy of the Vampire race was an innate source of power. Without bloodline secret techniques, one could only improve their basic physical body—increasing strength, speed, and power—but couldn’t form a truly powerful combat force.
“Thank you, Teacher Catherine.” Lorevil took the manual and opened it curiously. Sure enough, there were many bloodline secret techniques inside.
From what she understood, secret techniques were generally divided into two categories: General Techniques and Branch Techniques. Most of the techniques in the manual Catherine gave her were General Techniques that all Vampires could practice. Branch Techniques were family inheritances. There were also Forbidden Techniques, which were extremely powerful but carried a heavy price; those had been strictly prohibited by Holy Blood City.
“Catherine is right. Go back and study it well. Without bloodline secret techniques, no matter how abundant your blood energy is, you’ll be nothing more than a brute,” Vivian said, having regained her composure.
Although she was in the early stage of Rank 6, her innate combat skill was not for close combat but rather for indirect interference. However, she was able to reach the basic combat power of Rank 6 by relying on her master-level application of Rank 4 secret techniques. It was precisely because of these techniques that her rank energy could be released to its extreme. Vivian knew her own weaknesses and had begun to study secret techniques diligently, and by now, she could barely perform quasi-Rank 5 techniques.
“For Rank 3 techniques, you can choose one that has good compatibility with you to practice,” Catherine said, looking at the manual in Lorevil’s hand. “Secret techniques are strictly bound to ranks. If you try to trigger a high-rank secret technique with low-rank energy, there is only one outcome: a severe secret technique backlash.”
“Understood.” Lorevil nodded slightly and closed the manual.
“If you can’t find a suitable technique, I will help…” Vivian spoke softly, her face slightly red.
“Thank you, teachers,” Lorevil said, bowing slightly to Vivian. “Then I’ll be going now.”
“Hmph!”
In Catherine’s eyes, this looked exactly like a husband bidding farewell to his wife, causing her expression to instantly turn cold again.
Vivian nodded quickly, her short legs pitter-pattering as she ran to the door. She looked back at Lorevil and, seeing her following, pushed the door open with a sense of relief.
“Bye-bye,” Vivian waved her small hand, looking reluctant.
“Goodbye, Mentor.” Lorevil couldn’t help but chuckle.
After Lorevil walked out of the room, Catherine picked up the ancient book on the table, only to find that she could no longer concentrate. The image of Vivian being led by the hand by Lorevil kept replaying in her mind.
What she didn’t know was that behind her, Vivian was patting her own burning cheeks with her small hands.
‘Damn it, how could this happen!’
Vivian cursed herself in her heart for being so useless. ‘She’s just a little girl, and it was just one piece of candy. How could I…’
But whenever she thought of Lorevil drying her hair with her head lowered, or the tenderness when she fed her the candy, Vivian’s heart skipped a beat.
‘Forget it, forget it,’ Vivian took a deep breath, finding an excuse for herself. ‘I’ll just treat it as research into her bloodline. After all, such a pure and powerful bloodline is very rare.’
“Oh, is that so?”
Catherine’s voice, sounding like the roar of a demon, rang terrifyingly in Vivian’s ear.