After marrying Lorevil, Noxia had wanted to tidy up the manor’s garden.
However, Lorevil hadn’t liked Noxia raising flowers, nor did she allow anyone else to enter the garden. Because of this, Noxia never mentioned the garden in Lorevil’s presence.
When she had accidentally brought it up through the Blood Crystal Transmitter earlier, Noxia had been struck with terror. It took her a long time to even approach the garden, and she had locked all her watering and pruning tools in a cabinet in the side wing.
That lingering dread followed Noxia into her sleep, eventually manifesting as that terrible nightmare.
Lorevil looked directly into Noxia’s eyes, her expression incredibly serious.
“But I like you.”
“You are the gentlest girl I’ve ever met, and you’re so good at taking care of others. I never even dared to dream of meeting a girl as understanding as you. No matter what happens in the future, you are my wife. That will never change.”
Noxia’s tears instantly breached their banks, rolling down her cheeks. For a moment, it felt as if she had returned to the day she first met Lorevil.
In truth, Lorevil hadn’t started out as a cold and selfish scumbag.
At the time, she was just a student from a wealthy family with deep pockets. Faced with a family-arranged engagement, she hadn’t held any prejudice against Noxia. It was during that time that Noxia felt Lorevil was a good person.
Although Lorevil’s sexual orientation seemed to lean toward women, same-sex marriage was not rare among Vampires.
And so, Noxia stayed by Lorevil’s side with a peaceful heart, making Lorevil the absolute center of her life.
The old Lorevil had indeed once intended to live a good life with Noxia.
But later…
Lorevil met Catherine at the academy and tasted the thrill of a wandering heart. Coupled with the fact that she had to go to the Holy Blood Academy every day and spent little time at home, the two became increasingly like strangers.
Lorevil eventually began to treat Noxia, who was entirely devoted to her, like thin air, unwilling to say even a single word.
Noxia had reflected on this many times, preferring to believe it was her own fault. She wondered if she wasn’t doing enough, if she wasn’t pretty enough, or if she wasn’t gentle enough, causing Lorevil to stop loving her.
But she had thought for a long time without finding an answer, only sinking deeper into the mire of self-doubt.
Those unknown nights, the grievances swallowed in solitude, and the cautious expectations were all buried by Lorevil’s hands and silently endured by Noxia.
Feeling inferior, Noxia even felt that someone like her — someone unloved by her parents and ignored by her lover — didn’t deserve happiness or care.
But now, Lorevil had refilled the garden for her.
As flowers of various colors flooded in, the empty and lonely garden transformed into a sea of blossoms. The various flowers looked exceptionally delicate and charming under the moonlight.
Gazing at the sea of flowers, Noxia’s thin frame trembled.
“I didn’t treat you well before. The past me let you down,” Lorevil said.
Lorevil cupped Noxia’s small face, gently wiping away the tears as she spoke earnestly. “From now on, I will stay by your side and make up for everything I owed you, bit by bit.”
Lorevil wasn’t the scumbag from before; she was a good person. Abandoning a wife to pursue others was a form of emotional deception she would never participate in.
She once had a friend who had been in a relationship for three years. After one year of long-distance dating, the girlfriend got sick. The friend bought a plane ticket to give her a surprise, only to arrive and find her out shopping, holding hands with a strange man.
Lorevil had seen too much of that kind of thing, which was why she cherished a girl as sincere as Noxia so much.
“Mhm,” Noxia choked out.
“Alright, let’s go eat. It won’t be too late to look at them after we’ve finished.”
Lorevil pulled Noxia back to the dining table.
Today’s sparring session with Villody had made her realize clearly that her strength was only average among Rank 2 Vampires. If she encountered a more powerful enemy, what would she do?
Lorevil glanced at Noxia, who was eating.
Because Noxia had no talent, her parents hadn’t cared about her since birth.
Take Catherine, a teacher at the Holy Blood Academy, for example. It was only with the strength of a Rank 4 Vampire that she had enough weight to break away from her family, yet Lorevil could see that Catherine still faced obstacles everywhere.
If Catherine were more powerful, no one would have even dared to think about drugging her.
If someone wanted to use Noxia to achieve some goal one day, with Lorevil’s current strength, she would have no room to resist.
Cultivation was her current shortcoming.
Starting now, Lorevil had to go all out at the Holy Blood Academy. She not only needed to pass the Rank 3 Vampire promotion assessment but also strive to get a recommendation spot from the academy’s elite instructors.
After promoting to Rank 3, her bloodline energy would increase significantly, giving her enough strength to handle common family disputes.
Securing an elite instructor recommendation would not only provide her with resources from the academy and the family but also the protection of high-ranked Vampires. Even if it was just for self-preservation, Lorevil had to be prepared.
“Lorevil, I’m finished.”
Noxia quickly shoveled a few mouthfuls of food and spoke.
Lorevil could tell that Noxia wanted to hurry to the back garden, so she nodded. Noxia was such an easily satisfied girl.
Lorevil lowered her head to finish the rest of the Snow Lotus Blood Bird’s Nest Soup that Noxia had left. It melted in her mouth. Clearly, Noxia had put a lot of heart into stewing it.
Now that things had come to this, she might as well eat.
After eating her fill, Lorevil took a shower and returned to the bedroom, falling asleep while holding her fragrant, soft wife.
***
The next morning, the sky was just beginning to brighten.
“Lorevil, wake up.”
Her wife’s voice called out by her ear. The warm breath made the sleeping Lorevil instinctively twist her body slightly.
Last night, Lorevil had planned to strive for greatness and work hard to improve her strength, but her body’s inertia was far more honest than her will.
“No, Noxia… I want to sleep in.”
Lorevil shrank into the covers like a sleepy kitten, squirming hard against the soft bed while mumbling incoherently.
As soon as the words left her mouth, Lorevil snapped awake.
‘Wait, what did I just say?’
She had made a firm resolution last night to be Noxia’s strongest support, to go to the training room early to polish her skills, and to give her all to break through to Rank 3. And yet, here she was, refusing to get out of bed?
She had even said something so spoiled to her expectant wife.
Lorevil’s face flushed. She turned her head stiffly and saw the shocked expression on Noxia’s face.
“Oh, it’s Noxia,” Lorevil said, her voice a bit dry.
It was over. Completely over.
The reliable image she had worked so hard to build in front of her gentle wife had collapsed.
It looked like she needed to use a memory-erasure technique.
Just as the thought emerged, her body acted first.
Lorevil reached out and grabbed Noxia’s wrist, using her body’s momentum to pull her toward the bed.
Noxia was caught off guard. With a startled cry, her body leaned forward, her hands instinctively bracing against the headboard. She ended up firmly pinned beneath Lorevil.
The soft bedding was messed up by their movements. The faint floral scent from Noxia’s hair lingered at Lorevil’s nose, mixed with her unique, sweet fragrance.
Looking at her wife’s close-up face and her startled expression, Lorevil’s heart rate suddenly accelerated. In a moment of heat, she leaned down and kissed her.
“Mmm… Nn…”
Their soft lips overlapped, carrying the slight chill of the morning and the warmth of one another.
Noxia’s eyes widened instantly, her pupils shrinking slightly. Her whole body froze, and she even forgot to breathe.
As their lips remained joined, Noxia clumsily responded to Lorevil’s tongue. Their warm breath brushed against their fair faces, and their eyes gradually grew moist.
“Ha… Ah… Ha…”
They didn’t pull away until Lorevil ran out of breath.
As they separated, Lorevil was the first to speak with a smile.
“Alright.”
“Noxia, get up. If you keep pressing down on me like this, I won’t be able to get up and go to class.”
“…”
“Oh, okay.”
Noxia, who had been pinned down, took quite a while to recover her senses. Her cheeks were so red they looked like they might drip blood. She was clearly dazed by Lorevil’s sudden morning kiss.
The soft sensation of Lorevil’s lips still lingered on her own.
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