Chapter 17: I Like You!

Vanessa stopped walking.

She could feel Ke Leya on her back, leaning forward slightly, her chin resting on Vanessa’s shoulder, her gaze fixed in one direction.

Vanessa turned her head, following Ke Leya’s line of sight.

She looked back, studying Ke Leya’s profile.

Ke Leya said nothing, just stared, eyes unblinking, and swallowed a small gulp of saliva.

Vanessa noticed.

“Want to eat?”

Vanessa asked.

Ke Leya hesitated, then nodded.

She wondered if it was rude to trouble this person.

“Mm.”

“Can vampires eat this?”

“I don’t know.”

Ke Leya answered honestly.

“I’ve never had it before.”

Vanessa carried her toward the grilled-meat stall.

The vendor, a middle-aged man, was flipping a roast chicken with long iron tongs.

Seeing Vanessa approach, he grinned.

“Ah, it’s the Hunter Lady! Want a chicken? Just finished roasting.”

Vanessa didn’t reply.

She pulled a few copper coins from her waist and tossed them onto the stall’s wooden counter.

“One. Tear off the leg, wrap the rest.”

“Coming right up!”

The vendor deftly wrapped the chicken body in oil paper, then grabbed a drumstick and twisted it off with a crack.

The golden crispy skin split, revealing steaming white meat beneath.

Using a cleaner sheet of oil paper, he wrapped the juice-dripping drumstick and handed it over.

Vanessa didn’t take it.

Instead, she shifted her body so Ke Leya could reach it from her back.

“Take it.”

Ke Leya released her arms from around Vanessa’s neck and carefully accepted the piping-hot drumstick.

She looked down at it—it was huge, almost too big for one hand.

Of course, that might also be because this body had rather small hands.

The caramel-colored crispy skin was dusted with coarse salt and black pepper; the rich aroma of fat assaulted her nostrils.

She opened her mouth and took a small bite.

The crispy skin shattered between her teeth with a light crunch, followed by soft, burning-hot chicken meat.

Salty flavor mingled with grease, melting on her tongue.

Ke Leya paused, then took a second bite—a bigger one.

Chewing, swallowing, then another bite.

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Delicious!

Vanessa stood still, carrying her on her back.

“Good?”

Vanessa asked.

“Mm.”

Ke Leya mumbled a vague reply and took another bite.

The meat was a bit dry, the seasoning coarse.

But for someone like her, who in her past life had never even left her hospital room, this was already bliss.

Vanessa heard the satisfied hum through her nose and a small smile tugged at her lips.

She continued walking forward with Ke Leya on her back, weaving through the crowd.

Ke Leya lay against her, focused on devouring the drumstick.

Occasionally, droplets of oil fell, leaving dark stains on Vanessa’s shoulder fabric.

When they reached a less crowded alleyway entrance, Vanessa stopped and set Ke Leya down.

“Eat slowly. No one’s going to take it.”

Ke Leya had almost finished the drumstick, leaving only a bare bone.

She stared at the bone for a moment, hesitating whether to chew the last bits of cartilage.

Vanessa reached out, snatched the bone away, and tossed it into a pile of discarded odds and ends against the wall.

Then she pulled a clean cloth from her pocket, turned, and pinched Ke Leya’s chin.

“Don’t move.”

She used the corner of the cloth to wipe the grease from Ke Leya’s mouth and chin.

After that, she rubbed her thumb along Ke Leya’s lower lip, spreading the remaining shine evenly.

Ke Leya tilted her face up, letting her clean it.

Her eyes watched Vanessa, who was so close.

When Vanessa finished, Ke Leya suddenly spoke.

“Have you eaten?”

“What?”

“This.”

Ke Leya pointed at the now-empty oil paper.

“Roast chicken.”

“Yeah.”

Vanessa stuffed the dirty cloth back into her pocket.

“Many times.”

“Oh.”

Ke Leya answered, then paused for a moment before adding,

“It was really good.”

Vanessa looked at her.

Light from outside the alley slanted in, illuminating half of Ke Leya’s face.

Her crimson eyes were clear, reflecting Vanessa’s image.

“You’ve never eaten anything before?”

Vanessa asked.

“Never.”

Ke Leya nodded.

She hadn’t eaten much in her past life, and nothing in this life either—except for the blood she’d drunk earlier.

Her knowledge of food was a blank slate.

Vanessa fell into thought, then ruffled Ke Leya’s hair.

“Then I’ll take you to eat. Is there anything you like?”

“What does ‘like’ mean?”

Of course she knew what like meant.

She understood that warmth that made the heart tremble slightly.

But someone like her, who brought misfortune to others, wasn’t worth anyone’s liking.

So she simply looked at Vanessa and lightly tossed the question back.

Vanessa was stumped.

She looked into Ke Leya’s eyes.

What is like.

Vanessa opened her mouth, but the words got stuck in her throat.

She had killed many vampires and saved many people.

She’d negotiated, schemed, and interrogated—but she’d never taught anyone this.

Especially not how to like.

“Like is…”

She paused, her gaze shifting away from Ke Leya’s face to the withered vines climbing the wall across the alley.

“It’s when you eat that drumstick and think it’s good, and you want to eat it again.”

“Oh.”

Ke Leya nodded, digesting the information.

“Then I like drumsticks.”

“Mm,” Vanessa said.

“What about you?”

Ke Leya suddenly asked, turning her head back.

“What do you like?”

Vanessa didn’t answer immediately.

She looked at Ke Leya, her gray eyes hiding something deep and complex that sank, then surfaced.

A breeze passed through the alley, stirring a strand of silver hair that had slipped from Ke Leya’s tie.

“You,” Vanessa said.

Ke Leya blinked.

“I like you.”

“Am I also a drumstick?”

she asked, her tone dead serious.

This time, Vanessa couldn’t help it.

A very faint smile tugged at the corner of her mouth.

She reached out, tucking that unruly strand of hair behind Ke Leya’s ear, her fingertips grazing Ke Leya’s cool earlobe.

“No.”

Vanessa pulled her hand back and stuffed it into her pocket.

“It’s just that I like you.”

Ke Leya’s face showed no expression, just a blank stare at Vanessa.

But inside, her mind was exploding.

‘System! System! System!!!’

She jabbed at the meddlesome system in her consciousness, each poke harder than the last.

[Mm? I’m here, I’m here. Host, stop poking.]

The system’s voice was slow and easy.

[What’s wrong? Too excited from being confessed to?]

‘I… How am I supposed to answer?’

[…]

[How do you feel right now?]

Feel?

Ke Leya examined herself carefully.

Heart racing, face a little hot, throat dry…

And a strange emotion stuck in her chest, unable to find an exit.

“It’s a little strange,”

Ke Leya answered honestly.

[You idiot Host, that’s the sign of a crush!]

The system was exasperated.

[Is there anything you want to say to her right now?]

Say what?

Ke Leya looked at Vanessa, who was right there, also watching her.

Gray eyes calm, not looking away. The slight smile hadn’t completely faded.

Ke Leya opened her mouth.

“Don’t like me.”