Chapter 11: Feeding Play in Progress.

Ke Leya fell silent.

She felt like the System was talking nonsense, but she couldn’t find any evidence to refute it.

Vanessa’s arm strength completely loosened, returning to the same steady hold as before.

Ke Leya’s body finally began to relax bit by bit.

She turned her face away slightly, no longer pressing tightly against Vanessa, just leaning lightly.

The heat on her cheeks slowly faded in the cold air, but the temperature of her face wouldn’t go down for a while.

After walking a little further, Vanessa suddenly spoke.

Her voice was low and devoid of emotion.

“She never taught you those things. You don’t need to learn them anymore.”

Ke Leya was stunned.

She didn’t fully understand what that meant.

She let out a soft “Mm,” acknowledging the words.

“System,”

she called in her mind, her voice calmer.

[I’m here, I’m here! What’s up?]

The System’s tone was a bit cheerful.

“Did you detect any anomalies during the update just now?”

Vanessa knew too much—too much for it to be reasonable.

It couldn’t just be explained by good information gathering.

[Scanned. No bugs.]

The System answered bluntly.

“No bugs?”

Ke Leya frowned slightly.

“She knows the plot. She knows things that only we should know. That’s not a problem?”

[Host, no bugs doesn’t mean no problems.]

The System’s voice turned serious.

[Based on the information she’s revealed and her degree of foreknowledge, combined with the deviation between her behavior patterns and the original setting…]

The System paused, as if choosing its words.

[She might not be the original Vanessa.]

Ke Leya listened silently.

Vanessa’s pace remained steady, and she could already see the heavy side door at the end of the corridor ahead.

“Not the original?”

Ke Leya pressed.

“What do you mean?”

[Several possibilities: a Transmigrator, a Reincarnator, or…]

The System trailed off.

[In short, it’s likely a soul that knows the plot or has been through similar events multiple times.]

A Transmigrator?

A Reincarnator?

She herself had died and been fished out by the System to become an NPC.

What about Vanessa?

Was it a similar situation? Or something else?

She remembered the way Vanessa had looked at her—the probing, the testing words and actions…

And most importantly, what was Vanessa’s purpose in “trading” her away from Elizabeth?

In her previous life, she’d never encountered such convoluted problems.

Lin·Ke Leya·Mù Dàng Jī.jpg

The side door creaked open with a squeak, and a damp night wind surged in.

Outside, on the stone steps below, a seemingly ordinary black carriage stood waiting.

An old horse with dull fur bowed its head quietly.

On the driver’s seat sat a figure wrapped in a heavy cloak, face indistinguishable, utterly unresponsive to their arrival.

Vanessa carried Ke Leya down the last few steps and walked straight to the carriage.

The door opened from inside, and a young woman in a plain gray dress leaned out.

She glanced at Vanessa, then quickly swept her eyes over Ke Leya in her arms.

Without a word, she silently reached out to help.

Vanessa didn’t let her touch Ke Leya.

With a slight effort, she lifted her and stepped into the carriage.

The interior was more spacious than it appeared from the outside.

The floor was covered with dark woolen rugs, plush-cushioned benches lined both sides, and a small fixed table sat in the middle.

Vanessa placed Ke Leya on the bench inside, then sat down beside her.

The carriage door closed, sealing off the outside world.

The young woman took a bundle from under the seat and began silently unpacking it.

Ke Leya leaned against the carriage wall and let out a soft breath.

The jostling of the carriage made her already weak body feel even worse.

She instinctively curled up, wrapping her arms around herself.

A dark robe, still carrying body heat, suddenly dropped over her.

Ke Leya froze and looked up.

Vanessa had already taken off her heavy hunting coat, leaving only a snug dark shirt and a leather vest.

She wrapped the robe completely around Ke Leya.

“Put it on.”

Ke Leya didn’t move.

The lingering warmth of the robe and the unfamiliar scent made her feel uneasy.

“Aren’t you cold?”

she asked quietly.

Vanessa shot her a glance without answering.

Instead, she reached out, grasped Ke Leya’s icy wrist, and guided one arm through the wide sleeve, then the other.

Ke Leya let herself be manipulated like a doll, allowing Vanessa to dress her.

The carriage swayed slightly on the rough road.

The glow of the oil lamp cast flickering shadows on the walls.

The young woman silently produced a waterskin and a clean cloth, handing them to Vanessa.

Vanessa took them, uncorked the waterskin, and poured clear water over the cloth.

She rolled up the left sleeve of her shirt, exposing her forearm.

She carefully wiped the skin on the inside of her forearm with the damp cloth.

Droplets of water traced along her skin, glistening in the lamplight.

Vanessa dried her arm, then retrieved a flat iron box from a hidden compartment under the seat.

Opening it revealed neatly folded bandages and a sharp knife.

Vanessa picked up the knife and traced its tip over the freshly cleaned skin of her wrist.

The skin there was very thin, and faint blue veins were visible beneath.

Ke Leya’s gaze locked on that glint of cold steel.

Vanessa looked up, her gray eyes calm as they met Ke Leya’s.

“Come here.”

Ke Leya didn’t move.

Now that they had reached a temporarily safe place, this body’s instincts were stirring, clamoring for a certain liquid.

But her consciousness resisted.

Vanessa waited a few seconds, watching Ke Leya curl up even tighter.

“I know you don’t want to,”

she said, the knife tip hovering above her skin.

“But Ke Leya, your body right now is very weak. Blood loss, shock… it’s all draining you.”

She paused, letting the information sink in.

“As a Vampire, you need to feed to recover. You wouldn’t want to pass out halfway, or cause unnecessary trouble because you’re too weak, would you?”

Ke Leya’s heart sank slowly.

‘She really does know.’

She lowered her lashes, staring at her fingers wrapped in Vanessa’s oversized robe.

The black lace gloves had already gotten dusty in the earlier struggle, now dull and gray.

Seeing Ke Leya still motionless, just huddled in the corner with her head down, Vanessa sighed.

“Come here,”

Vanessa repeated, staring at Ke Leya.

Ke Leya still didn’t move.

So Vanessa stopped waiting.

She turned her wrist slightly, and the knife tip descended.

A small cut appeared on the skin of her inner forearm.

Bright red blood quickly flowed out, gathering into a winding red line that slowly trickled down her pale skin.

The metallic scent of blood instantly filled the enclosed carriage.

It was faint, but for Ke Leya in that moment, it was like a torch suddenly lit in the dark.

That sweet, rusty smell shot into her nostrils, piercing straight into her mind.

Something dormant within her body was rudely awakened.

Her throat uncontrollably went dry.

She swallowed, but it only brought a deeper craving.

She could feel her fangs tingling faintly, a burning emptiness rising from her stomach and rapidly spreading through her limbs and bones.

“System, I don’t want to…”

[…That’s so lewd.]

“?”