“Silly, isn’t it natural for a teacher to protect her students?” Even after Teacher Victoria left, Adele still stood there, the woman’s gentle and reassuring words echoing in her ears. ...Such an enigmatic yet trustworthy woman. The best teacher I’ve ever met. Although they only had one magic practice class together, their interactions outside of class made Adele deeply remember this teacher who “traveled” from an ancient era. Indeed, Victoria could be considered a “time traveler.” She traveled from her own time to thousands of years later, everything from her past buried and sealed away. The world had changed, but she remained the same.

Just imagining being in Teacher Victoria’s shoes, Adele felt an unshakeable loneliness, a constant chill. And in this snowy loneliness, she still smiled, becoming a ray of sunshine in the eyes of others. Adele sniffed her slightly red nose, her eyes blinking. This was also one of the troubles of having strong empathy, being too easily saddened by others’ situations.

Fortunately, Dorothy’s words, “The takeout is getting cold,” urged Adele to come and have dinner. Adele gradually pulled herself out of her sadness and softly replied, “Coming.” Then she closed the door, her small feet padding in her slippers as she walked to the dining table.

The dining table in the dorm was a bit small, only enough for four people. So Adele held Xiao Ai in her lap, and a small stool was added beside Celeste for the petite First Snow. They barely managed to squeeze together, creating a scene like a family reunion. Adele’s sadness for Teacher Victoria vanished, replaced by a smile and the wish for this happy time to last forever.

Even the usually aloof Hermione took out her phone and opened the camera, wanting to record this moment. Celeste, beside her, asked deliberately, “What are you doing?”

“...Taking pictures. I rarely eat takeout, so...this moment is worth commemorating.”

“Let me see.” Celeste, unusually not bickering with Hermione, leaned closer, but Hermione immediately dodged her. The former Ice Queen blushed slightly and said coldly, “Don’t...be silly.”

“Okay, okay, I won’t~.” Celeste smiled slightly. But at that moment, she still saw the photo Hermione took. She said she was taking a picture of the takeout, but why was Master Adele, who was smiling and whispering to Xiao Ai, so prominently featured in the center of the screen? Could it be that Master Adele is the delicious “takeout” in your eyes!?

Actually, Hermione had a secret. She had been using a photo of Adele sleeping as her phone’s wallpaper for a long time. Sometimes, when she couldn’t sleep at night and didn’t want to browse the useless information online, she would just look at the pure and peaceful sleeping face of the girl on her phone screen. A smile would unknowingly appear on Hermione’s lips. Even if there were troublesome things waiting for her in reality, at least at this moment, she was with the beauty in her life. And later, needless to say, her goddess cured her insomnia and gave her sweet dreams. I-It’s definitely not because I get excited looking at Adele’s photos, and then...you know...

Dorothy and Adele talked about Teacher Victoria. Upon learning that the vast magic power fluctuation just now was caused by her setting up a magic array, Dorothy’s eyes showed surprise and anticipation. As the future Queen of the Vampire Clan, she was confident that she could reach the level of the True Ancestors. She wondered if she would have the chance to...spar with Teacher Victoria by then. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

Of course, that was for the future. Now, both Dorothy and Hermione, like Adele, were full of gratitude towards Teacher Victoria.

“Dorothy, if you want to know more about Teacher Victoria,”

“You can go to the library and find a book called Victoria’s Secret. It records Teacher Victoria’s life. Although it’s somewhat fictionalized, it should be generally accurate.”

“I see, okay, I’ll go take a look when I have time,” Dorothy nodded sincerely.

Celeste and Hermione also silently noted Adele’s recommendation. If Victoria knew that Adele was recommending people to read that novel, which recorded her embarrassing history and portrayed her as a philanderer...it was unknown how she would feel. Unhappy, angry? Or indifferent and amused? With Victoria’s personality, it would probably be the latter. If the author of this book were still alive, Victoria might even discuss with her about making the story even more exaggerated and outrageous.

But unfortunately, Victoria’s Secret, as an internal book of the magical world, had a history of over several hundred years. The person who wrote it was a descendant of one of Victoria’s harem’s family. Note that it was a descendant of a harem family member, not a descendant of Victoria’s harem, that is, her own child. Mages didn’t have the ability of vampires to create blood cocoons for “external reproduction.” So even though Victoria was as carefree and promiscuous as Adele, she didn’t have any offspring. This was perhaps a good thing for her, who had awakened thousands of years later.

The author of the book seemed to admire Victoria, who was in love with her ancestor’s sister, and she chose to portray her ancestor’s sister as Victoria’s main partner. But Victoria wouldn’t care about such a small detail.

While Adele, Dorothy, and the others were enjoying their takeout dinner, Victoria walked along a path in the woods, the cold wind howling. Her mastery of elemental magic was ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) on par with True Ancestor Ron long ago. Controlling the wind and even the weather was easy for her. But the woman let the cold wind sting her cheeks, her breath misting in the moonlight. Only then did she feel alive. Then, step by step, she continued walking in a direction even she didn’t know.

Ever since leaving the space-time turbulence in the ruins of the Grand Magic Library, she had been wandering aimlessly, traveling throughout the magical world, appearing in human libraries, finding items left behind by the girls she loved, just glancing at them, then leaving, satisfied yet lonely. She met Winona, a truly interesting and cute girl. If Headmistress Winona knew about Teacher Victoria’s evaluation of her, she didn’t know if she would blush like a young girl. Because no matter how you looked at it, in the eyes of others, like Adele and First Snow, Headmistress Winona couldn’t be described as interesting or cute. But this was indeed Victoria’s true feeling.

Finally, with Winona’s help, she became a teacher. Although she had only taught one class so far, recalling it brought back warm memories. Just drifting along... Victoria actually had many things she wanted to do, but at the wrong time, in the wrong place, her wishes were destined to never be fulfilled.

She smiled slightly, a hint of relief. But what exactly she was relieved about, no one could say. It was just that the monster residing in her body began to awaken again. And this time, she neither chose to suppress it by harming herself, nor did she succumb to its ancient whispers, to devour and digest Adele to achieve the evolution it craved. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have placed a magic array barrier on Adele’s dorm that even a True Ancestor couldn’t break.

What exactly did she want to do? If she let the power and will of the otherworldly monster continue to awaken, one day, it would become strong enough to compete with Victoria’s consciousness for control of her body. By then, whether Victoria would still be herself was unknown...

In the beautiful, dreamlike moonlight, something ugly was growing. Dark tentacles extended from Victoria’s graceful shadow, twisting and reaching, as if trying to infect the entire world. And Victoria continued walking forward resolutely, her steps firm on the lonely path.

..................

The battle to protect Xiao Ai in Adele’s home officially began.

First was Adele’s task as the main commander: to protect Xiao Ai’s safety at all times. After all, Xiao Ai could exist in the form of a blood jade, silently and unnoticed. Otherwise, she would have been discovered by the three True Ancestors present when Adele brought her out of the Blood Secret Realm. Since they hadn’t discovered her, Adele could reasonably conclude that Xiao Ai’s blood jade form was the best way to hide. It just meant that Xiao Ai had to endure a few days and nights without cartoons, snacks, soda, online games, or Sister First Snow’s company. Xiao Ai obediently accepted this.

Also, what Adele didn’t know was that the things she thought Xiao Ai liked were just ways to pass the time while waiting for her. Except for not being able to cuddle with Mama, there was nothing else Xiao Ai would miss or feel lonely about. Oh, perhaps now she had to add petting Sister First Snow. When First Snow was in her cat-girl form, she would let Xiao Ai touch her ears and tail. And when she was in her kitten form, First Snow let Xiao Ai pet her everywhere except for her belly, wings, and the base of her tail. She’s so indulgent towards Xiao Ai... Were cats really creatures who “respected the elderly, loved the young, and bullied everyone in between”? Of course, this “in between” definitely didn’t include Adele.

So, petting cats was truly addictive! One of the main reasons Adele paid so much attention to Wofoo in Twilight City, taking the initiative to pet her and eventually bringing the little wolf girl back, was that she couldn’t freely pet cats in the vampire territory like she could at school! Her hands were itching, and she couldn’t resist those fluffy ears! But it was also thanks to this that she met Wofoo, such a cute and handsome little wolf who could be tamed.

Xiao Ai’s “cat addiction” was much milder than Adele’s, but it undoubtedly existed. So, let’s just add “petting Sister First Snow” to the list of things Xiao Ai would miss.

Then, before Adele, Xiao Ai transformed into a blood-drop shaped jade. Adele carefully placed it on her chest, closest to her heart. Just hearing her mother’s heartbeat was probably enough for Xiao Ai to sleep peacefully.

The other girls also had their own tasks. Dorothy had to act as a “target,” attracting attention. And to avoid drawing True Ancestor Ron’s attention to Adele, Dorothy also had to keep a certain distance from Adele for a while. So in the next few days, outside Adele’s classroom, on the PE field, and outside the magic training practice room, a vampire girl with long pink hair could often be seen wandering in the distance, just to catch a glimpse of Adele. Who else could it be but Dorothy?

Besides Dorothy, Hermione, Edith, even Kaiser and Sharon, after learning the news, all used their influence and their families’ influence. On the surface, it was to help Dorothy escape the True Ancestors’ control and confinement and fight for her rights, but their real purpose was to force True Ancestor Ron to leave the Eastern Capital. As long as this dying True Ancestor failed his mission to bring Dorothy back and left the Eastern Capital, it would mean Adele and the others had succeeded, and Xiao Ai could safely return to her usual peaceful life, continuing to cuddle with her Mama Adele without fear.

The girls’ plan was initially very successful. The students in the academy were the easiest to incite, especially in the Vampire Clan, which valued hierarchy. It could be said that as long as Dorothy, Hermione, and Kaiser, these top Sequence Ones, raised their arms, all the vampire students in the academy could become their supporters, whether they were truly influenced by public opinion or simply wanted to gain favor with these future power holders. Anyway, the response from the vampire students was particularly enthusiastic. They even held a demonstration, bravely protesting the True Ancestors’ disrespectful treatment of Vampire Queen Dorothy. Those were Vampire True Ancestors! Figures they didn’t even dare to address directly in the past had now become targets of criticism. What goes around comes around. But they only talked. In reality, these naive students couldn’t harm the True Ancestors at all.

Also, after their demonstration, most of the vampire students were forced by their families to take a day off. When they returned, they were all dejected and subdued. They no longer dared to shout slogans like “Support the Vampire Queen” or “Oppose the True Ancestors’ tyranny.” It seemed that their families had taught their unruly offspring a lesson during that day. How foolish! Being used as pawns! This is a fight between gods, it’s not your place to interfere!

But this didn’t mean Adele’s plan to incite the students had failed. On the contrary, their role had been fulfilled. The True Ancestors had to hold a meeting to discuss whether forcing Queen Dorothy to suspend her studies would have a negative impact on the younger generation of vampires.

This time, Lady Chen Xi and True Ancestor Daphne had a heated debate, almost a quarrel. It was worth mentioning that almost everyone in the Vampire Clan knew that True Ancestor Daphne was deeply in love with Lady Chen Xi. This had been going on since they both became True Ancestors. Unfortunately, Lady Chen Xi was a traditional straight woman, and she didn’t care much about romance or love affairs. Lady Chen Xi always focused on grand ideals, like war and peace. She believed that a True Ancestor had the responsibility to protect the Vampire Clan, not to indulge in their own power. So True Ancestor Daphne’s pursuit would never be reciprocated, but rather, became a burden. Is this the tragedy of falling in love with a straight woman? Anyway, many people speculated that True Ancestor Daphne’s unrequited love turned into hatred, which was why she always opposed Lady Chen Xi. At least in this way, she could force Lady Chen Xi to face her, to fill her mind with her image. In the eyes of some, it was better to be hated by the person you liked than to be forgotten and ignored. At least that way, you occupied a part of their heart.

Whether these rumors were true or false, the important thing was the final result of the meeting. Lady Chen Xi won a victory, securing Dorothy’s right to education. Behind this, the “Adele Party” also played a part. The so-called “Adele Party” might become the most active organization in the future political arena of the Vampire Clan. It was formed around Adele, its members all part of the girl’s “wings,” with good family backgrounds and ample wealth, including not only vampires, but also vampire hunters, werewolves, etc... The purpose of this party was quite simple: to prioritize Adele’s interests and support all her decisions.

But now, this organization hadn’t fully taken shape. It was only in this matter of fighting for Vampire Queen Dorothy’s rights that it showed its considerable ability and cohesion for the first time.

True Ancestor Daphne’s faction lost, and they had to abide by the majority’s decision and recall True Ancestor Ron. Thus, the dumplings wrapped for this “vinegar” were finally cooked and served.

Logically, this should have been a happy ending. But no one expected that True Ancestor Ron, who should have obeyed the order to return, just sneered after receiving the return command from Twilight City and burned the message delivered by the magic bat to ashes. For a dying man, there was probably nothing that could stop him anymore.