Volume 1, Chapter 29 – The Vampire Princess with No Sense of Being a Hostage

By the time the sky turned crimson, Yisi and Camilla finally returned to the mansion. Contrary to the imagined scene of tight security, the entrance was unusually empty, with only two guards stationed where a full squad should have been.

Noticing their approach, the armored paladins immediately stepped forward, but upon recognizing Yisi, their expressions turned as if they’d seen a ghost, their jaws hanging open in shock. In contrast, Yisi remained perfectly calm, her cheerful mood from shopping still lingering.

“Hello~ Good afternoon. Why are there only two of you today?”

“Ah… uh… th-the hostage… came back on her own?”

Like a broken record, the soldier stammered incoherently.

Camilla, standing behind Yisi, chimed in smoothly.

“Onee-sama, you’ve startled them.”

“Really? I thought this was just a normal greeting.”

“Well… it is a normal greeting, but since it’s coming from you…”

Because the Count’s eldest daughter is notoriously terrifying, so a sudden friendly greeting is enough to shock people? Yisi scratched her cheek awkwardly. Small habits like greetings were hard for her to change.

Well, given enough time, everyone will get used to the new me.

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Brushing it off, Yisi yawned and strode past the dumbfounded guards into the mansion.

A short while later.

As expected, the sweaty Vice High Priest Owen arrived, accompanied by several paladins in charge of the mansion’s security. When they saw Yisi sitting calmly in the dining hall enjoying her dinner, they all visibly relaxed.

After exchanging glances, Owen, dressed in his priestly robes, stepped forward as their representative.

“Lady Pescia, it’s a relief to see you unharmed.”

“Owen, are you implying I’d be in danger?”

“Ah, no, not at all.” Owen wiped the sweat from his brow. “To be honest, when we discovered you’d disappeared from the mansion again, I feared you might have returned to the vampire clans.”

“I just wanted to see the human streets,” Yisi replied nonchalantly, gesturing for Owen to sit. “Please, Vice High Priest Owen, have a seat.”

“Then I’ll graciously accept.”

Truth be told, when Owen learned that the Count’s daughter had vanished again, both he and the High Priest had been at their wits’ end. They had only just managed to use Yisi’s presence to weaken the radicals and take a major step toward peace between humans and vampires. If Yisi had truly escaped at this critical juncture, not only would human-vampire relations suffer, but the Church would also have a massive problem on their hands—losing their most valuable hostage.

As the sole heir of Count Pescia, Yisi was the Church’s bargaining chip to reclaim the bishop of the Niru Diocese. If she were lost, retrieving the bishop would become impossible—or at the very least, require an exorbitant ransom of food, gold, and other resources.

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And if that happened, public outrage would immediately turn against the peace faction.

Thankfully, Yisi had returned on her own. Owen gulped down the tea served by a servant, no longer caring about decorum—his throat was too parched to speak otherwise. While it was baffling that Yisi, who could have easily escaped, had chosen to return, her presence was still a relief.

Of course, Yisi had no idea what the Vice High Priest was thinking. She leisurely enjoyed her dinner with the newly acquired chopsticks and said,

“I always keep my promises. Since I made an agreement with you, Vice High Priest Owen, I have no intention of breaking it. So you really don’t need to worry.”

‘Your promises are about as trustworthy as the Paladin’s beard. I swear, if you were my subordinate, I’d kick your ass with my boots.’ Owen could only think these words internally, maintaining a polite smile on his face.

“Naturally. However, next time Lady Pescia wishes to go out, I hope you’ll inform the guards. They can assign escorts to ensure your safety.”

“I’ll consider it.”

Like hell I will.

Yisi mentally rolled her eyes. She went out to collect blood—if the Church found out, they’d have her under surveillance 24/7.

She smoothly changed the subject.

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“By the way, what do you think of this utensil?” She gestured to the chopsticks, which were easy to make and far cheaper than cutlery. “Compared to expensive, labor-intensive forks and knives, these are affordable even for commoners. As far as I know, most people in human nations still eat with their hands, which makes them prone to… illnesses—er, divine punishment.”

People in this world didn’t understand germs, so Yisi had to rephrase. Earlier, when she had lunch at a merchant’s house, she’d been shocked to see him eating with his hands. The merchant had explained that there were even rules for hand-eating—commoners used all five fingers, while nobles and well-bred individuals only used three, excluding the ring and pinky fingers.

Owen found Yisi’s words absurd. A vampire telling a clergyman about divine punishment was laughable, but his good manners kept him from saying so.

“Regarding that… to be honest, the forks you use in this mansion aren’t common in our theocracy. Only vampires, the neighboring Kingdom of Hels, and the distant Empire of Norta use utensils. In the Church, we only eat with our hands.”

“Why? It’s terribly unsanitary.”

“I’m not sure what you mean by ‘unsanitary,’ but we have our reasons. All food is a blessing from Goddess Ymir. Using cold tools to handle Her gifts is disrespectful and invites divine retribution.”

“Ah…”

Yisi stared at Owen as if he were an idiot, then silently abandoned her plan to promote chopsticks. Trying to advance a backward civilization was foolish of me.

The Church is nothing but a stumbling block to progress.

She nodded in agreement with her own thoughts.

After some more meaningless conversation, Owen stood up.

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“Now that Lady Pescia’s safety has been confirmed, I should return with the guard captain.”

“Wait, I have a question for you, Owen.”

Yisi stood as well, raising a hand to stop him.

“Does Lady Pescia need something?”

“No, nothing like that. I wanted to ask—if demons were to infiltrate Niru City, how would the Church handle it?”

She had originally wanted to ask outright if the Church was aware of demons hiding in the city, but that would invite questions like “How do you know?” So she had to phrase it carefully.

“Demons? The Niru Diocese hasn’t been invaded by demons in nearly two hundred years. With the protection of the Alexia Tower, we have nothing to fear from them.”

Though Owen’s words sounded like a jinx, his confident expression made Yisi drop the subject. Perhaps the Church had already discovered the demons, or maybe the ones lurking in the city were harmless enough to ignore.

“Then, Lady Pescia, if you need anything, please inform the guards immediately. In three weeks, you’ll be able to return to the vampire clans.”

“Of course.”

Nodding at Owen, Yisi watched as he and the paladins departed.