Under the driver’s respectful guidance, Claire stepped into the castle.
Green shade stretched along the winding brick path.
Lavender swayed gently on both sides of the road, releasing a faint fragrance.
In the center of the pool, an exquisite statue spouted clear spring water.
The summer night’s grand gathering had already begun.
Waiters carrying silver trays moved lightly among the guests.
Goblets held deep red liquid. Under the flickering candlelight, they looked like sparkling rubies, shimmering with an alluring glow.
Young people in evening gowns and silk dresses gathered together, whispering softly.
The atmosphere was warm and elegant.
After the First Embrace, newborns regained the peak condition of their bodies.
This made vampires always appear in the youthful form of their twenties on the outside.
Cases like Claire’s—being turned during early childhood—were quite rare.
In blood society, such acts were considered immoral, because it meant the newborn would never experience natural growth and could never reach the peak physical state.
Everything at the banquet appeared so warm, peaceful, noble, and refined.
The late-arriving guest drew the attention of the others.
They turned their heads one after another.
Claire, dressed entirely in black, suddenly appeared before everyone.
She had actually come wearing her Cerberus uniform, as if she were here not to attend a banquet but to arrest a criminal.
“Herta’s daughter.” Someone recognized Claire’s identity.
“Is that the child who has never attended a family banquet before?”
“It’s her. Cheshire Cat. The executioner of the Fourth Agency.”
“The little one is even carrying a gun…”
The whispers quickly died down.
People turned their attention back to their own conversations.
The banquet maintained its peaceful atmosphere.
Claire held a tall glass goblet and took a small sip of the deep red liquid.
It looked like wine, but she could taste a hint of human blood.
Although the United Kingdom strictly forbade vampires from hoarding blood through improper means, her family clearly had ways to bypass those regulations.
Claire’s gaze swept over this peaceful and tranquil scene.
Some people embraced each other. Some kissed cheeks.
Tightly held hands could be seen everywhere.
This was truly a warm family picture.
So this was what family was like?
Everyone here bore the surname Vandro. Everyone could be considered her relative.
This was completely different from what Claire had imagined before.
In her classes at the Intelligence Academy, Claire had learned about vampire social structure.
She knew that the family was the foundation of blood race identity.
The inheritance of the five great clans could be traced back to the Third Era.
The Vandro bloodline to which she belonged not only considered itself the oldest family but also viewed itself as the legitimate leader of blood society.
From ancient times to the present, new Vandro members were always selected from among nobles, wealthy merchants, or other members of high society.
Today, the Vandro in the Northern Continent numbered around three thousand—enough to form a division.
Sibyl, the Director-General of the Cerberus Bureau, was the head of the Vandro family.
Vandros serving in the bureau had all experienced special preferential treatment from police and judges during case handling.
The family’s impression on Claire had originally been deep and cold, like an iron-thorn-covered gate that kept people a thousand miles away.
But at this moment, it gently opened its arms to Claire, like a kind elder, making her feel warmth and closeness.
This made Claire feel somewhat dazed.
“Claire!” That familiar voice carried a trace of excitement and came from behind her.
Claire turned around in confusion.
She saw a girl with two braided pigtails, wearing a crimson long dress, running toward her.
Her red high heels made crisp sounds on the stone path.
The bright moonlight shone on her face. Those familiar eyes glistened with tears.
“Class monitor, it’s been so long!”
The girl pulled Claire into a hug.
Claire felt that long-lost warmth.
The corners of her mouth unconsciously lifted. She did not refuse this enthusiastic embrace.
Ophelia, the class monitor of Claire’s class at the Intelligence Academy, was the classmate closest to her besides Liz.
Recalling her days at the academy, Claire had been like a little porcupine covered in spines.
She had been rude to classmates, teachers, and instructors alike.
There had even been a few times when she almost got into physical conflicts with them.
Fortunately, Ophelia had kept pulling her around to apologize and reflect, allowing Claire to graduate smoothly.
Even at the academy, Ophelia had liked wearing braided pigtails.
She still wore the same hairstyle at the banquet.
Compared to the other gorgeously dressed noble ladies, she looked rather plain.
But Claire felt this hairstyle suited the class monitor’s temperament very well.
After nearly a minute of hugging, Ophelia finally let go of Claire.
Yet her hands still tightly gripped Claire’s wrists, as if afraid she would disappear again.
Her voice trembled slightly, carrying a hint of choking. “Claire, do you know? I missed you so much. I missed Liz so much. Where exactly did you two go to work? I couldn’t even find you in the Fourth Agency.”
Claire smiled faintly and explained, “We weren’t in the capital before… Class monitor, weren’t you working in a clerical position at headquarters? How did you get transferred to the Fourth Agency?”
A trace of helplessness flashed through Ophelia’s eyes.
“After being disgusted by that group of colleagues last time, I kept pestering my father to transfer me. I got moved to the Fourth Agency two weeks ago. But I asked around everywhere and still couldn’t find any news about you two.”
Claire felt a wave of emotion after hearing this.
She knew that after graduation, Ophelia had entered the personnel department, which had more human staff.
Unfortunately, apart from her, everyone else in her section was human.
As expected, she had been ostracized.
But Ophelia was a good-natured person and had not taken all the malice to heart.
Instead, the harassment only intensified.
Until one month when her blood supply disappeared without a trace, nearly driving her into blood frenzy.
Only then had she truly seen the true nature of those human colleagues.
“Congratulations on getting rid of those scum, class monitor. Liz and I have been on field missions. Today is my first time back in the capital in three years.” Claire’s words carried a trace of relief.
Suddenly, massive fireworks exploded in the sky.
Colorful lights illuminated the mountains and canyons, as well as the profiles of Claire and Ophelia.
The glass tiles of the castle were dyed with fairy-tale colors by the seven-colored fireworks.
From somewhere unknown, a church bell began to ring, melodious and solemn.
“The banquet is starting! Let’s hurry over!”
Ophelia tugged at the hem of Claire’s coat.
They exchanged smiles.
Hand in hand, they ran up the white steps.
The black coat and gauze skirt fluttered in the wind. Their heels clicked rapidly.
On the second floor of the residence, a gray-haired girl with a shawl stood with Herta by the window.
Their faces were similarly illuminated by the fireworks blooming outside.
Their gazes pierced through the night and quietly locked onto Claire downstairs.
The gray-haired girl held a long pipe in her mouth and gently exhaled a puff of smoke.
Her face appeared hazy and mysterious within the smoke.
Although she looked only fourteen or fifteen years old, her eyes seemed to have weathered many storms.
“What is this hearing about? Who specifically requested Claire to attend?” Herta’s voice carried obvious displeasure.
Her brows were tightly furrowed. Clearly, she was very dissatisfied with the current situation.
The gray-haired girl gently shook her head.
Her voice was calm and unhurried. “It could be the elves from the academy. It could be the Toriduo. It could also be some dragon. People from the hawk faction are all suspects. They may have already discovered little Claire’s secret.”
“She shouldn’t be pushed to the forefront of the storm, Sibyl!” Herta’s tone rose slightly.
The gray-haired girl’s name was Sibyl.
“Endling” Sibyl—the current head of the Vandro in the Northern Continent.
The family’s only second-generation vampire.
Director-General of the Cerberus Bureau.
Sibyl looked at Herta. A trace of helplessness flashed through her eyes.
“You cannot protect her forever, Herta.”
Twelve years ago, Herta had brought back a golden-haired, blue-eyed girl from the distant Southern Continent.
She had told everyone she intended to turn the girl into her own child.
This news had not caused much of a stir among the younger generation of vampires.
But those older vampires who had come from the Southern Continent had nearly dropped their jaws in shock.
They knew very well that those golden hair and blue eyes were the exclusive marks of the imperial royal family.
Herta’s return to the country had coincidentally overlapped with the news of the Lucis Emperor’s assassination at the summer palace.
All of this had undoubtedly deepened people’s suspicions about Claire’s identity.
Even though Claire later dyed her hair to hide her identity, and even though her eyes, originally like sapphires, had turned red after the First Embrace, her mysterious background was still remembered by those with ulterior motives.
Herta was silent for a while.
A pleading light flickered in her eyes.
“She is my child, Sibyl. I must protect her. You will help us, won’t you?”
Sibyl nodded gently.
“Of course. I will do everything in my power to buy her more time. But even with our help, there are still some battles this child must fight alone.”
Before being called the Endling, she had been known in the family as “little daughter” Sibyl.
She was the last offspring turned by the Progenitor.
Like Claire, she had been on the verge of death as a child when the Progenitor turned her.
Therefore, her body had forever remained in the form of a fifteen-year-old.
Although Sibyl was a second-generation blood race, because of the Progenitor’s favor, she had never participated in combat matters.
She had always stayed inside the family castle, handling diplomatic relations between the various bloodlines or collecting intelligence from human society.
But more often, she spent her time in leisure and play.
Such a life had continued for over a thousand years.
Even after the Progenitor died in battle, family affairs had been handed over to other second-generation members to manage.
However, the witch hunts seventy years ago had changed everything.
That storm had swept across the Southern Continent.
The hunters of the night had become the prey.
Vampires were sent to the stake one after another.
That turmoil had destroyed all the second-generation members of the Vandro line except for Sibyl.
The family had fallen apart.
Sibyl had no choice but to take on the responsibility of the head of the family.
She led the survivors to hide in the sewers of the imperial capital, barely surviving.
In the end, with nowhere else to turn, she had sworn loyalty to Queen Christine, who had come from the north.
She led her people to the Northern Continent.
Sibyl watched Claire running up the stairs.
She felt that this child was perhaps quite similar to herself.