Chapter Ninety-Six: Awakening

I woke from unconsciousness to find myself lying on a soft, oversized bed.

“Sister Lilith, you’re awake?” Liliel cried in delighted surprise when she saw my eyes open.

“Liliel? How did I end up here?” I asked weakly.

Liliel froze for a moment at my question, then said with great joy, “Sister Lilith, you remember me?”

“Yes. I’ve remembered everything from before. Look, even my hair has turned gold again. But I can’t remember anything that happened recently. After the bloodline awakening, it must have been another self that took control of this body. I have no memory of that time.” I said helplessly. During this period, it seemed so many important things had happened, yet I knew nothing at all.

“It’s all right, Sister Lilith. As long as you’ve come back, that’s enough.” Liliel hugged me tightly and murmured those words.

“Her Highness Princess Liliana, you’re awake!” Xuelan came into the room and, upon seeing me awake, was also filled with delight.

“You are... Xuelan?” Seeing her, I asked uncertainly.

“Yes, I am Xuelan.” Hearing me call her name, Xuelan said happily, “Guard Captain Xuelan Meriel Brugh of Her Highness the First Princess of the Vampire Clan reports to you. I now return to the First Princess’s service.” Xuelan knelt on one knee before me with due respect and addressed me.

“Xuelan, it’s been so long. It’s wonderful to see you again.” Looking at Xuelan kneeling beside the bed, I said happily.

“Where is Ang? Isn’t he with you?” After scanning the room and failing to find him, I asked anxiously. If Ang were here, he would have appeared before me at once. I had grown used to having him by my side, and I had long since come to think of him as family. I was afraid to hear any bad news about him from Liliel.

“Sister Lilith, don’t worry. Ang is fine. He just went back to the vampire castle to awaken our father from his slumber. He’ll be back before long,” Liliel explained.

“Is that so? Then that’s a relief.” Hearing that Ang was safe and sound, my heart finally settled.

“Sister Lilith, how did your body suffer such serious damage?” Liliel asked worriedly.

“I don’t know either. When I woke up, I was already like this. It seems I was ambushed by vampire hunters,” I said, recalling the scene from when I had first awakened.

“Those vile humans again. They’re despicable!” At my words, Liliel’s gaze turned fiercely angry.

“What happened to the Vampire Hunter Guild? They shouldn’t have dared to lay hands on me,” I said in confusion.

“Hmph. By now, the Vampire Hunter Guild is already at war with us on all fronts. A bunch of idiots who overestimate themselves.” Liliel said scornfully. “Because of their stupidity, the guild has been nearly wiped out. One of their S-rank hunters was actually killed by you, Sister Lilith. Truly, they brought it upon themselves.”

“Killed by me?” Hearing Liliel’s words, I widened my eyes in astonishment. “It seems that while I lost my memory, quite a lot of unbelievable things happened to me.” I said helplessly.

“By the way, how many days have I been unconscious?” I suddenly thought of White Night’s threat and asked anxiously.

“Only three days. Why?” Seeing my expression change, Liliel asked in confusion.

“Nothing.” I gently shook my head. I did not want Liliel and the others to know about Xingyu, because I knew they would never agree to let me take such a risk alone. Thankfully, I had not gone past the deadline; otherwise, I was afraid that madman might truly hurt Xingyu.

“Sister Lilith, you should rest well. Your body is still far too weak. We’ll leave you for now,” Liliel said with concern.

“Mm. Don’t worry about me.” I replied softly.

Liliel and Xuelan closed the door to the room, and the whole chamber once again sank into darkness.

“I’m sorry, Liliel, and Xuelan. But I really still have something important to do.” I silently apologized in my heart. “Xingyu, wait for me. I’m coming to save you now.” I looked toward the direction of the place I had promised White Night to meet and said with determination.

I tested the weakness in my body. Fortunately, after three days of slumber, my magic had recovered considerably, and the lingering power of sunlight had basically been cleared away. The injuries the sun had inflicted on my body had not yet fully healed, but they had only left me with weakness as a lingering aftereffect. In a few more days, I would recover completely. But thinking back, ever since I came to the mortal world, I seemed to have been living in a state of weakness. More than once, I had come perilously close to fatal injury. The scorching of sunlight had almost become routine.

I sat up from the bed and walked to the window, pulling back the heavy curtains. A full moon hung high in the sky. What a fine night it was. White Night, since you want to play with fire, then this princess will accompany you and play properly. A cold smile touched my lips. In the very next instant, my figure vanished from the room.

“Has Sister Lilith gone after all? Are we really not going to follow her?” After I left, Liliel and Xuelan came into the room again, along with the Wind Duke, the one who had caught me as I fell from the sky. He had also heard the words White Night left behind when he departed, and had told Liliel and Xuelan about them.

“This is Her Highness Liliana’s own choice. We can’t stop her,” Xuelan said helplessly, staring in the direction where I had disappeared.

“But...” Liliel still wanted to say something.

“I know, I know Her Highness Liliana is still very weak right now. But we can’t stop her, can we? Once Her Highness makes up her mind, even the Prince himself cannot stop her.” Xuelan let out a deep sigh. “Right now, all we can do is pray that Her Highness returns safely.” Her voice was filled with profound helplessness. Ever since returning once more to Her Highness Liliana’s side, Xuelan had realized that she had failed to protect the person she had sworn to guard with her life. She had trained desperately so that she could protect her, yet all she could do was watch helplessly as she was plunged into danger again and again. Xuelan’s heart was bleeding.

“It’ll be fine. Her Highness Liliana will surely come back safely,” the Wind Duke said softly, looking at the two gloomy women as he tried to comfort them. “After all, Her Highness Liliana is the one who once defeated the former Vampire King. How could she possibly be harmed by a lowly human who merely stole the Vampire King’s power?”

“That’s right. Her Highness Liliana is the strongest there is. How could she be hurt by something as trivial as this?” Xuelan said with a smile, though she could not hide the worry in her heart.

“Mm. Sister Lilith will definitely be all right,” Liliel said firmly, then prayed in her heart, “Sister Lilith, you must come back safely.”

All of them stared in the direction I had vanished, saying nothing for a long while.

Meanwhile, I was hurrying anxiously toward the place I had agreed to meet White Night.

“Xingyu, you must not be in any danger. I’m coming to save you now,” I cried out in my heart. “I already lost Xiaoyou. I don’t want to lose you too. Could it be that you even want to take away my right to keep watch over you from the darkness? Xingyu, please, you must be all right!”

P.S.

At last, the book has been put on sale. Wind Feather will keep working hard. Writing really isn’t easy, and with exams coming up lately, I’m almost at my wit’s end.