Chapter 38

Chapter 38 – My Treasure

The purple-haired woman silently took her hand back after seeing Heather's attitude. It seemed as if she was forcibly enduring something before she then smiled.

"You really are someone who is punctual. You came over immediately before much time passed."

"Yes, I really couldn't wait, so I came early. Have the other vampire nobles arrived at the venue? Miss Wendy…"

Heather also used a gentle and polite tone to respond to the purple-haired woman.

Wendy glared at several elves who were trembling before turning around and smiling at Heather.

"There are still many nobles who have yet to arrive. I'm here because these pets are slightly disobedient, so I brought them here for some training."

Mirabelle wondered if she had heard correctly that Wendy especially emphasized the word "training."

Mirabelle glanced past the purple-haired woman to look at the elf girls behind her. All the elf girls had ashen expressions. They wore tattered clothes that weren't able to cover much more than their important parts. All the elf girls had a dense number of whip marks on their originally tender skin.

'So scary.'

Mirabelle inwardly felt a tremendous amount of fear.

From the very start, Wendy's gaze had been deeply attracted to Mirabelle. Wendy couldn't help but widen her eyes when she saw Mirabelle's long hair cascading down her shoulders, her porcelain-like skin, really cute face, but most importantly –

Mirabelle's blood emanated an incredibly tantalizing smell that floated around Wendy's nostrils. Wendy immediately felt the desire to suck blood, making her really want to find out what Mirabelle's blood tasted like.

However, the person in front of Mirabelle was a powerful protector, the highest-ranked of all vampires, whose status ranked above Wendy's.

"Oh my, can I slightly pat this pet on the head?"

Just as Wendy was about to reach out towards Mirabelle's head, Mirabelle became scared and started trembling as she hid behind Heather's back.

Heather smiled as she observed Mirabelle's reaction. She hadn't expected that Mirabelle would already begin to rely on her. When confronted with an unknown and frightening enemy, Mirabelle actually chose Heather.

This was exactly the type of reliance on one's master that Heather wanted. This was the evidence that the first step in the pet's training had succeeded, since the pet was reacting this way.

Heather patted Mirabelle's head of light-blue hair to help console her.

"This child is somewhat afraid of strangers, so please don't just casually touch her. By the way, this is the second time already. If you dare to touch a single strand of her hair, I'll make sure you regret it."

Heather issued a warning to Wendy in a vicious tone.

Wendy became afraid after the warning.

"So that's how it is. I won't touch your pet, then. I hope that Milady Heather can forgive me."

Wendy was really awkward as she took back her hand that had been in midair. She smiled really falsely, but no matter how stupid Mirabelle was, she was still able to discern that Wendy and Heather were both openly and secretly fighting.

Besides, Mirabelle wasn't stupid at all.

In order to resolve the awkward atmosphere, Heather mentioned wanting to take Mirabelle around the area to see the sights. Heather then left together with Mirabelle. Once the two of them completely disappeared from view –

Wendy clenched her fist in midair. Her immense strength caused the air right next to her to produce a tremendous crack.

Wendy then immediately pushed down the elf next to her at a speed faster than human eyes could follow. Wendy then directly sunk her fangs into the elf's neck.

The elf on the ground had an expression of surprise as her face turned red. The elf then fell unconscious as her blood was sucked away.

"As expected, this taste isn't as good as what I inhaled just now. Should I say it's expected of the royal elven bloodline? Why couldn't someone else have gotten her, that woman had to get her, this is so displeasing…"

Wendy's eyes were filled with unwillingness. It was obvious that she was displeased that she couldn't taste the elven royal blood.

Wendy hadn't merely "heard" about the previous auction where Mirabelle was sold for the price of 300 million gold coins. Wendy had actually been there at the scene. If it wasn't for the fact that she had to buy something else, she would have been able to afford 300 million gold coins.

However-

Heather actually managed to purchase such a treasure.

'One day, I'll definitely drag her off the throne.'

Mirabelle didn't actually want to accompany Heather in this type of dark location. However, she also didn't want to stay in the pet store's main hall and be stared at by the purple-haired woman's ravenous eyes. Thus, she could only force herself to follow Heather.

When going further inside the pet store, Mirabelle heard the sound of a whip hitting flesh.

"M… Master…"

Mirabelle was so scared that she pressed her body against Heather's. The sound of elves crying filled her ears.

"Hey, Mirabelle, do you know what type of elves are locked up here?"

"W… what type of elves?"

Mirabelle was so scared that her voice trembled as she asked Heather.

"The elves locked up here are all elves that are disobedient and tried to escape from their masters, you know?"

"W… What did you say? Then, what happened to them after they were locked in here?"

"As for that, you'll soon find out for yourself…"

Mirabelle's voice began to really tremble. The vampires actually locked up the elves here for torture. Only these vampires would be capable of acting so demonically.

"Demonic? Thank you for your praise. Mirabelle, if you dare to escape and you're captured, I promise that I'll use techniques that are a hundred, no, ten thousand times more severe to properly punish you, to the point where you'll never dare to leave me again."

"Ah, n, no… Master, why would I ever escape?"

It was quite evident that Mirabelle was only saying that for Heather to hear.

Mirabelle's heart began to tremble as well when she heard the crying from the rooms further inside.

'-No! I absolutely don't want to become an elf like them!'

If Heather gave her such a so-called punishment, then not only would she be locked in some small dark room, she would also suffer severe physical torture, such as being whipped. That type of pain would be no joke. Mirabelle's legs were already going soft from imagining the small dark room. She absolutely didn't want to be treated like that again.

Heather actually led Mirabelle into one of the rooms after touring around the pet store. At first, Mirabelle was extremely unwilling. She tightly grasped onto the door frame, being unwilling to go inside.

"I don't want to go in, I don't want to be beaten, I don't want to be locked up in a small dark room…"

"Good girl, you've been so well-behaved today, so how could I possibly be willing to hit you? I only brought you here to show you around today."

Heather gently caressed Mirabelle on the head, helping her to calm down.

"Really?"

"Really. But if you don't go in, then you'll be disobedient, and being disobedient will mean properly experiencing what it's like in here tonight…"

"A… alright, I'll go in then…"

When Mirabelle finally let go of the door frame, Heather forcefully dragged her by the collar around her neck, making Mirabelle follow her into the room quite unwillingly.

This room was incredibly dark. Mirabelle started feeling really suffocated once she entered such a narrow and dark space. Fear filled her entire heart. Only after her eyes became slightly accustomed to the darkness was she able to see what was in the room.

The room's layout was incredibly simple, to the point where anyone could understand with a single glance.

Mirabelle looked at the elven girls locked behind the cages here. Every elf had numerous injuries to some extent. They all had empty expressions filled with despair and fear. When they glanced at Mirabelle with such expressions – Mirabelle widened her eyes in surprise.

She was able to understand the despair from being enslaved that these pets felt.

Also, there was a vampire with fiery red long hair who wielded a whip that was standing in front of Heather.

"I didn't expect that you would arrive so quickly, Milady Heather…"

"No need for formalities, new vampire princess #17, Princess Dolin Croft. I simply wish to show my pet to you, and then take my pet for a tour of this store…"

"Ahahaha, so that's how it is. By the way, this cute child is your pet? I never expected that you would have such good taste, picking such a cute girl…"

"Sorry to disappoint you, but I didn't pick her. I coincidentally purchased her at the auction house, and spent a lot of money…"

"Auction house? Just which auction house is it? They actually took your money when you wanted to buy something? Do they have a death wish? Just give me the command and I'll immediately get that money back for you…"

"No need. It was fun to go through all the proper motions for once. Besides, this child is the only remaining royal elven bloodline in the entire world. It doesn't really matter even if I had to pay some money to purchase such a high-quality product."

"Royal elven bloodline?"

Dolin paused in surprise as she looked at Mirabelle. Dolin used her delicate nose to gently inhale the scent in the air. Apart from the scent of the cages, she could really sense the wonderful scent from Mirabelle's body.

Royal elven bloodline meant – her blood would be capable of raising one's power level? Indeed, elf blood was one of the highest-quality types of blood among all species. The royal elven bloodline wouldn't need any explanation. Drinking such blood would greatly increase one's personal strength.

"Hey, Milady, forgive my rudeness, but based on our past friendship, could you please loan this pet to me? In exchange, you can take any elf in this store that you want…"

'Wha!? No, no, no, absolutely no! Being with this vampire will definitely be ten times more painful than staying with Heather.'

Mirabelle really didn't want this. She wanted to escape, but Heather pulled on her collar tightly, making it impossible for Mirabelle to run.

Thus, Mirabelle used her small hand to carefully tug on Heather's sleeve. Heather gently patted Mirabelle on the head to console her. Heather was never going to let her blood slave fall into another's hands…

"That won't do…"

Heather immediately rejected the vampire princess.

"I'm so sorry. Mirabelle is already my blood slave. No matter how much money you pay me or how many blood slaves you give me, I can't even so much as loan her to you…"

"Why?"

Dolin actually realized already that she wouldn't have a chance after seeing Heather's serious expression. Heather treated this girl like a treasure, so how could she possibly be willing to loan Mirabelle?

However-

"If you want her to stay and not escape from you, I can tell you a really simple and easy method-"

"What is it?"

"That's-"

Before Dolin finished whispering, Heather slapped her directly on the face. There was the sound of a clear slap, along with the princess' whimpering.

"Ouch…"

"Those lowly elves have no right to touch my treasure! If you dare to mention this again, even if you are a vampire princess, I'm still going to annihilate you! Understand?"

Heather's blood-red eyes were filled with killing intent. She used her ridiculous strength to raise Dolin up into the air, even though the latter was clearly a woman who was much taller than Heather.

However, it seemed as if Heather was capable of completely ignoring Dolin's weight and height as she raised the latter high up into the air.

Dolin's clothes tightened around her neck, making her feel extremely uncomfortable.

"Cough cough… cough cough cough cough, I was just joking, why be so serious?"

"Get the hell out."

Heather actually would have long since snapped Dolin's neck already if she hadn't been worried that Mirabelle would be too scared at the sight.