Volume 5, Chapter 32 – The Shy Queen

However, a blood frenzy was supposed to make one lose their reason, yet Andrea’s state, no matter how you looked at it, did not seem to be one of complete self-loss. Perhaps the royal bloodline was different from that of ordinary vampires.

Feeling the slight sting from her finger, Yisi couldn’t help but look down.

…This was quite a bad look.

Like a thirsty traveler in the desert who had finally found a water source, Andrea greedily drew her nourishment. But a finger, unlike a neck, had very little blood, making the entire process exceptionally difficult. The sound of saliva churning mixed with Andrea’s panting, drawing sideways glances from the surrounding passersby. Even Mary was half-covering her mouth, a look of considerable shock on her face.

It would be a disaster if the people around them knew this was the Queen. Before the party of adventurers who had been healed could come over to express their thanks, Yisi directly hoisted Andrea onto her shoulder and, with a rather disgruntled Edith and the others in tow, quickly left the town.

It was not until they had walked to the edge of the fog that Andrea finally, slowly, came out of her blood frenzy. Her golden eyes gradually regained their lucidity. She lifted her head and looked around blankly, slightly relaxing the pressure of her teeth. Yisi took the opportunity to pull out her finger, which had been held in Andrea’s mouth the whole time.

Although for Yisi’s stamina, carrying Andrea with one hand was not difficult, the act of carrying Andrea with one hand while keeping the other in her mouth had left even Yisi’s arm feeling slightly sore.

“Are you awake?”

Yisi’s question made the dazed Andrea turn her head. When her gaze met Yisi’s, Andrea finally realized she was being carried on Yisi’s shoulder. Realizing she had done something incredible, Andrea’s eyes first widened, then her mouth opened and closed like a goldfish, but no words came out.

“Ah…”

“Although I know Onee-sama’s shoulders are very reliable, I must ask Your Majesty to be a little more reserved.”

Camilla cast a displeased look at Yisi’s left shoulder. Because Andrea had been biting Yisi’s finger without letting go, saliva had dripped from the corner of her mouth onto Yisi’s clothes. The extremely unseemly sight had drawn strange looks from the adventurers all along the way.

At Camilla’s reminder, Andrea stiffly lowered her head. She first looked at the glistening wet spot on Yisi’s clothes, then glanced at the neat teeth marks on Yisi’s index finger—which were also mixed with saliva.

“Awah…”

“Awah?”

“Awawawawa…”

It wasn’t a loud scream, but a sound like dazed muttering. Andrea’s face was instantly filled with a crimson blush, and her eyes turned into the swirling shape of a mosquito coil, as if she had lost her mind. She covered her face with her hands, her whole body motionless. This lasted for only a second before Andrea’s limbs suddenly went limp, and her eyes squeezed shut.

Her brain had shut down.

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Although it was very understandable—if she were in Andrea’s shoes, her brain would definitely have shut down too—to actually see it was still very cute. Yisi smiled to herself and sighed softly. Finding a relatively flat spot, she put the Andrea from her shoulder down.

They had entered the Lost Lands to investigate the cause of the undead. If the main character, Andrea, was not present, it would lose all meaning.

Of course, for ordinary people, stopping at the edge of the fog was an extremely unwise act. Not to mention that the fog sometimes moved with the wind, what was more fatal was that the fog shrouded the forest above. The forest contained not only undead but also swift-moving monsters. To stop at the edge of the fog, it would not be surprising to be surrounded by undead without even realizing it.

In a not-so-loud voice, Mary murmured, “Her Majesty is just like a child…”

“Mary, envious?”

“A little… Ah, just a little bit, okay? I don’t mean anything else by it. I’m not a child anymore!” Having accidentally spoken her inner thoughts, Mary quickly tried to defend herself.

Edith crossed her arms in front of her chest and pouted. “You’re certainly kind to Her Majesty. Aren’t you afraid of becoming her thrall? Once a pureblood comes into contact with a royal’s blood or saliva, they will immediately become a royal thrall.”

“Andrea and I have already verified it. Whether she drinks my blood or I drink hers, I won’t become her thrall. As for being kind, Pepe, I think it’s just to an ordinary degree. If you’d like the same, I’m always ready.”

“Don’t even think about it.” Edith waved her hand, then, as if she had remembered something, the corners of her mouth curved into an interested smile. “But if you want to seek comfort from me like Her Majesty just did, I’d be very welcoming. What are you going to do next? If it’s just to investigate the undead, you wouldn’t have brought Mary and Tiffany along. Do you have a plan?”

“I can’t really call it a plan. You’re Level 22 now, right, Pepe?”

Yisi’s words made Edith raise an eyebrow. “What about it? Speaking of which, I’ve never asked what your level is.”

“I was thinking of raising the levels for Camilla and the others. You’re Level 22, Pepe, and Camilla, Mary, and Tiffany are Level 13, 15, and 11, respectively. If we don’t speed up their leveling, they won’t be able to catch up with you, will they?”

“Hoh. And may I ask why you want Camilla and Mary to catch up to me?”

Yisi blinked. She had always felt that she should have the three of them catch up to Edith’s level, but she had never thought about why she was using Edith as the target. If it was to make them stronger, they should at least be aiming for Boris’s level.

Yisi placed her index finger on her chin, a thoughtful expression on her face. “For better coordination in the future? If the level gap is too large, won’t it be impossible to coordinate at all?”

“Coordination?”

“This might just be my wishful thinking, but if you don’t plan on returning to the Pescia Territory after dealing with Count Hillary and instead want to go with us to other places on the continent, it would be better if everyone’s strength was on the same level.”

But Pepe probably wouldn’t want to travel the continent with everyone.

Preparing herself to be ridiculed, Yisi glanced at Edith with a movement that she wouldn’t notice. But the latter not only showed no intention of refuting her, but on the contrary, her eyebrows were twitching slightly, as if she were deep in thought.

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After just a short while, Edith, with a clean and decisive motion, brushed the white hair that had fallen onto her forehead behind her. A mysterious smile appeared on her face.

“You want me to travel with you? If those words had come from anyone else, I would make them regret saying it. But you are special. I believe humans call this kind of behavior ‘romance.’ If you like, it’s not out of the question for me to accompany you. However, I must remind you that for Camilla and Mary to catch up to me, it would be almost impossible without more than ten years of effort. This is not me being conceited, but it is a fact that an ordinary person would find it difficult to reach Level 20 even if they spent their entire life trying. You should be well aware of this.”

Perhaps stimulated by Edith’s words, Camilla turned her gaze to Refina, who was standing behind Edith, looking as if she wanted to say something but was holding back. Her ruby-like eyes were filled with ill intent.

“What level are you now, Refina?”

Refina’s expression immediately soured. It was a look of someone who wanted to speak but didn’t dare to.

Noticing Refina’s strangeness, Edith turned her head. “Indeed, I haven’t asked about your level in a long time.”

“But, Master…”

“There’s no need to be ashamed. Tell me.”

Not daring to look into Edith’s eyes, Refina’s gaze fell on the damp earth. “Level 15…”

“Level 15? How is that possible? You were stuck at Level 12 for two years. To rise three levels in just one month, are you serious, Refina?”

“It was actually Lady Yisi…”

Edith’s gaze fell on Yisi. Yisi scratched her head with an “ahaha.” “I thought you already knew, Pepe. Well, in short, while you were recovering, I took Refina, Camilla, and the others leveling in a forest with a lot of monsters. That’s about it.”

How many monsters would one have to kill to gain three levels in a single month? Edith couldn’t imagine it, or rather, she couldn’t find any point of reference. For Edith to be Level 22 before she was even fifteen was already quite absurd; she could be called a genius in the entire Blood Clan. By calculation, Edith had started learning magic at the age of three. In eleven years, she had gained a level every six months on average. Although it was easier to level up at lower levels, gaining three levels in a single month was definitely an unheard-of speed. If you were to say it casually, people would just laugh at you for being a fool.

If she didn’t know that Refina wouldn’t lie, Edith would definitely think that Refina was teasing her.

Many questions gathered in her chest, but in the end, they all boiled down to a single sentence. With a complex expression, Edith said, “Can you tell me how you did it?”

“Master would attract the monsters, and then everyone would attack them together. We leveled up very quickly~”

“Attract monsters? Although that sounds feasible, it would be easy to pull powerful monsters that you can’t defeat. Did you have to take such a risk every time?”

Mary blinked her large purple eyes. “Eh? The monsters Master pulled were very easy to defeat. And it wasn’t hard at all. Although at first, Miss Refina insisted on hunting through the night, saying we couldn’t let such a good opportunity go, after a while, she became like us, only spending two hours a day hunting, and then going to sleep.”

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“…I’ve heard that among humans, there are organizations that specialize in raising monsters for people to hunt. You’re not a spy sent by the humans, are you?” Edith raised an eyebrow, looking at Yisi with a very strange gaze. Yisi quickly patted the wings at her waist.

“I’m a genuine vampire.”

“Jealous?” Inopportunely, Camilla provoked Edith in a mocking tone. Edith frowned at first, but then her brow quickly smoothed out. With an exceptionally calm expression, she walked in front of Yisi, then suddenly grabbed the front of her clothes, her azure eyes filled with unwillingness—it would have been even cuter if there were tears, Yisi couldn’t help but imagine.

“I have to see it with my own eyes to believe it.”

“I don’t have a problem with that…” She just wants to join the hunt, doesn’t she? Pepe is so stubborn.

“Uu…” Just as Yisi was happily imagining things, a girl’s groan suddenly came from the side. The group naturally turned their gazes to the source of the sound, only to find that it was the now-awake Andrea. The latter was covering her face with her hands, as if ashamed to be seen, not daring to show her eyes.

Edith snorted lightly. “Now that you’re awake, hurry up and investigate the Lost Lands.”

“I’ll… I’ll never be able to get married.” Mumbling in a low voice, Andrea said in a small voice that was hard to tell if it was crying or regretful, “As a member of the royal family… not only did I show such a dazed state in front of people… but I also drooled on Lady Yisi… how am I going to face people in the future?”

“Don’t worry.” Tiffany patted the head of the squatting Andrea. “No one saw.”

“But…”

“You just need to change your clothes.”

If this were her original world, to be drooled on by a cute, beautiful girl like Andrea would be a gift for some people. Not only would they not have to bathe for a long time, but they would also treasure the clothes as a precious item.

Wait a minute… It would indeed be a bit of a waste to just wash it.

Yisi first looked down at her shoulder, which still felt damp, then glanced at Andrea’s blushing, cute face—there was great potential for teasing.

Although she wasn’t a pervert, seeing how cute Andrea was, she decided to put the clothes in her storage as a collector’s item. Like Sandra’s tooth, its only use would be to show it to Andrea in the future.

While hatching this wicked plan in her heart, Yisi changed the subject with the expression of a perfect gentleman.

“And besides that, I’m more interested in why you went into a blood frenzy, Andrea. Was it because of that purple magic from before?”

Yisi’s words made Andrea peek out from between her fingers, but as soon as Yisi looked away, Andrea covered her eyes again.

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“Yes… that’s a magic only the royal family can learn. It can heal the injuries of the Blood Clan, or strengthen their various abilities in a short period of time. My mother could strengthen a hundred people at once. I can only heal no more than ten at most…”

Only the royal family can ‘learn’ it, meaning it’s not innate? Yisi couldn’t help but think of her current Duchess status. If it were an innate magic, some noble at the council should have proposed using this method to test if she was really a member of the royal family. And since it can only be learned, in other words, anyone who can use this magic must be a royal, but anyone who can’t use it is not necessarily not a royal.

“Onee-sama, the fog is starting to move.”

Although there was no wind, the fog that shrouded the forest began to drift westward, in the direction of Yisi’s group. In just a few breaths, the dense fog had swallowed the seven of them.

The visibility was extremely low in the white fog. A cold feeling almost instantly invaded their bodies, and a sense of terror made their skin break out in fine goosebumps. If it were someone with a weak mind, they would probably be in a panic by now. Yisi felt someone grab her arm, and at the same time, Edith’s calm voice came from the dense fog.

“Refina, light the torch.”

“Yes, Master.”

Vampires could not master light or holy magic, so the only effective means against the dense fog was fire. With Refina lighting the torch, the surroundings became clear again. Mary, Tiffany, and Andrea were holding her left and right hands, while Camilla had taken out her staff from her storage magic, ready to cast a spell at any moment. Compared to before, their positions had hardly moved, but the dense fog had given them the feeling of having lost contact with each other.

“As expected, if a first-timer here doesn’t bring a guard who is familiar with the terrain, it would be difficult to find the way back even if they made marks along the way.”

However, she had the [Omniscient Map]. Even if she forgot the way back, she could just use teleportation magic to leave.

Edith said in a heavy voice, “I didn’t expect it to be even more eerie inside the fog than it looks from the outside. If we go in without any preparation, we might be ambushed by undead and monsters. Refina and I are not afraid, but are the others okay?”

“I will protect everyone.” Mary took out the metal shield she had gotten from Yisi’s storage. Tiffany also raised her white staff, the golden light at its tip containing a sacred glow.

“Don’t worry.”

Holy-type healing magic was healing for humans, but for undead and vampires, it was the most potent poison.

“Tiffany… I’ve been meaning to say this, but the use of holy magic is forbidden among the Blood Clan. I have a royal bloodline, so I’m not afraid of holy magic, but it would be bad if it were a lower-class vampire.”

“I’ll be careful.” Nodding at Andrea, Tiffany showed a ‘don’t worry’ smile.

“Well then, let’s take a good look at this Lost Lands. We might even find that fallen angel who is skilled in necromancy.”

Throwing out an unlucky remark that made Edith frown repeatedly, Yisi led her companions deeper into the fog.