chapter 32

When Mirabelle woke up, she hazily realized that a certain vampire was pressing the full weight of her body atop her own.

'She's not very heavy, but has she been on top of me since yesterday night? Is this for real?'

Honestly, Heather wasn't heavy at all. Her skin was also really soft and warm, which was why Mirabelle felt that this wasn't very good. Additionally, she was really weak right now. She felt like her entire body had gone soft, as if blood no longer flowed through her veins.

"She has such terrible sleeping posture…"

Mirabelle barely managed to support herself in sitting up as she looked at Heather who was haphazardly laying on the bed with a rabbit doll in hand. Heather's small body almost took up the entire large bed.

'How am I supposed to sleep with you like this?'

Mirabelle helplessly scratched at her slightly messy water-blue long hair. As she sighed, she suddenly thought –

'It really is still so uncomfortable to sleep in my enemy's home after several days. Vampires are my… no, the entire elf species' enemy. I am the elven princess, so this applies even more to me. It's like I'm sleeping in a vicious beast's nest. I'm constantly scared at all times… and always worry if the vampires will eat me. Besides, this girl sleeping next to me… is the main culprit who brought me to this vampire castle.'

"It feels so bad to not be able to move…"

Mirabelle looked out the window. It was currently the wee hours of the morning before dawn, the time when vampires would be the most tired. Not many vampires would be outside at this time since they had played around all night.

In that case, should she take the risk to walk around this castle now? Perhaps she could even find a way to get rid of the collar on her neck.

"Okay!"

Mirabelle clenched her fists and made up her mind. She then dangled her legs while sitting on the bed, only to discover that she had no strength at all in her body, especially in her legs.

Only now did she recall that Heather seemed to have sucked blood from her thigh?

'Could it be that this is a side effect of having my blood sucked?'

The vampire with terrible sleeping posture then tugged on the corner of Mirabelle's pajamas, instantly dragging Mirabelle into her arms. Heather then hugged Mirabelle tightly, as if the latter was a pillow.

"My food, you're not allowed to leave…"

"Hey…"

Mirabelle felt really helpless about the vampire who was now drooling on her neck. Although she was indeed Heather's food, that didn't mean that Heather could just slobber her dirty drool all over her.

'Ahh, it's so dirty!'

Additionally, if Heather sucked any more of her blood, she would surely lose all of her paltry remaining hit points. However, Mirabelle was unable to push aside the loli vampire who was basically the same size as her, no matter how much strength she used. Mirabelle tried using both hands to pry away Heather's hands, but only felt as if she was caught in a steel claw. Heather's hands didn't even budge.

'Is this for real? Just how ridiculous is her strength stat?'

Mirabelle had known since the day she was captured that Heather was incredibly strong, to a ridiculous extent. Even her data analysis ability was unable to analyze Heather's stats. Theoretically, her data analysis ability should have worked on anyone of any level.

The highest-level individual that Mirabelle had seen so far was 382, although that had been a coincidence. She sensed similar auras within this castle.

Could it be that her analysis ability had the limitation of being unable to determine the stats of someone who had too much of a difference in strength from her? That was definitely a possibility.

The game originally had a setting of making it more difficult to determine the enemy's identity if there was a tremendous difference in strength.

'Damn it. Doesn't this mean that there's a tremendous difference in strength between Heather and me? Then, just when will I be able to kill all these damned vampires and take revenge for my parents? No, before that, I need to first ask myself just how I can escape from a vampire that's so overwhelmingly powerful?'

Even back when she was a baby, Mirabelle could already understand her mother's discussion with the royal guards. Her father had been killed on the battlefield by the vampires. At that time, Mirabelle hadn't really felt anything from hearing this.

But now, the vampires had enslaved her entire species and treated all elves as food. This was undeniable.

Thus, the vampire next to her would one day become her enemy as well. But for now, she first needed to consider how to escape.

'Still, just why must you hug me? Honestly, go hug your rabbit instead. It doesn't feel comfortable at all to be hugged by a loli with no breasts.'

Mirabelle immediately received a blow to her head from Heather right when she thought this, despite Heather being fast asleep. Mirabelle had almost forgotten that Heather could read her mind.

How troublesome, as she wouldn't even be able to think about anything while sleeping next to Heather. However, Heather still seemed to be completely asleep despite having hit Mirabelle on the head.

"Sigh~ Just how long must I maintain this position for?"

Heather was still tightly hugging Mirabelle, who felt that this truly was uncomfortable. She felt like she could empathize with the rabbit that Heather hugged every day.

Mirabelle really wanted to remove the collar from herself, which was definitely something that Heather had custom made. Mirabelle didn't know why she was no longer able to use her mana after this collar was put on her. Not only that, but she also wasn't able to use her data modification ability or appraisal ability that she was so proud of.

She couldn't do anything at all, just like a normal weak little girl. She could only rely on others' protection.

Everything around her seemed unfamiliar and frightening.

'Could it be that activating my abilities also requires mana? This collar must be capable of sealing mana, which is why I feel so unsettled when it's on me. I have to think of a way to deal with this collar before I escape.'

It was almost noon before Mirabelle was freed from Heather's embrace. She finally no longer felt as weak as earlier. At the very least, she was now capable of getting out of bed and walking around. However, Mirabelle couldn't walk quickly at all. She could only walk at a very slow pace.

Heather sat down on a chair and seemed to be preoccupied with something else as she simply said, "You want to get more familiar with the place you're going to be living in from now on, don't you?" and sent her away.

It seemed like Heather really was quite busy.

Heather ordered Lucy, "You should take Mira around on a tour. Remember to stay by her side at all times. You know what consequences will await you if you let her out of your sight for even a single moment, don't you?"

Thus, Mirabelle was now walking together with Lucy, although she felt particularly uneasy with such an icy beauty next to her. Mirabelle slowly descended a staircase together with Lucy, who also intentionally slowed down to stay by Mirabelle's side. Lucy acted as if she was a bandage who refused to be peeled off.

To be honest, Mirabelle had nothing at all to talk about with this maid. Yet, Mirabelle still spoke up despite the difficulty in doing so.

"Um…"

"What is it? I will refuse to answer unless it's about something necessary."

Lucy was the maid who always accompanied Heather. Lucy's hair was dark red and short, she wore lace maid headgear and standard black-and-white maid attire.

"I wanted to ask about Master… when did she return last night?"

"Last night? Milady participated in a really important conference last night, so it took quite a lot of time. She returned… I think it was almost dawn by the time that she returned."

"I see. Could I inquire what conference this was that took up so much of Master's time?"

Mirabelle instantly regretted asking this question, as Lucy had a really frightening expression similar to Heather's after hearing this question.

"Um, I think it's not something a different species like myself should ask, I'm so sorry…"

"Be careful with your words. If it wasn't for you having worth being alive to provide blood for Milady, did you really think a lowly elf like you could possibly survive in this castle after trying to spy on our information?"

Was this an example of curiosity killing the cat?

The maid before her had ridiculously high combat strength. In fact, any random vampire in this castle could easily drain all of Mirabelle's blood and suck her dry.

However, Mirabelle had Heather's scent on her body. Lucy also accompanied her, so no vampire would dare to touch Mirabelle at all, even though the alluring scent on her body made many vampires desire to suck her blood.

Lucy was also almost tempted by this scent, as she was standing next to Mirabelle. Lucy felt like she could understand why Heather was carefully keeping this elf alive.

Mirabelle's blood was truly tempting. However, Lucy took a look at the collar and bite marks on Mirabelle's neck, and forced down her urges. Mirabelle was a thing that belonged to Heather, who had personally marked Mirabelle as hers. Lucy knew that Heather absolutely hated others having designs on [her belongings]. Of course, [Heather's belongings] now included this elf. Heather would make anyone who dared to think about stealing her belongings wish that they had never been born in this world.

Heather was the most venerated existence in the entire vampire species. Since Mirabelle had already been captured by Heather, it would be basically impossible for Mirabelle to escape.

However, Mirabelle didn't know this. She was still using her naïve blue eyes to look all around her while trying to think of some way to escape.