Luluka was sucking the blood out of the monster's corpses. Sometimes she would rip the monster's flesh apart and licked the flowing blood till its last drop.
She was a ravenous beast.
That would be the most suitable word to describe this scene in front of Ruby as she stood there, horrified. She couldn't believe what she saw but one thing came to her mind—
She needed to get out of here.
Thinking so, she backed off a couple steps, until—
*rustle*
The rustling sound rang out as Ruby stepped onto the dry leaves. To her terror, Luluka, the ravenous beast, heard the sound and abruptly looked her way!
Her beautiful pale white face was devoid of any emotion, until an eerie smile slowly crept onto her face. Her blood red eyes shone dangerously as she eyed Ruby like a predator eyeing its prey.
She had to get out of here!
Ruby turned around and began running at full speed!
No…
But it was too late for her—the ravenous beast caught up to her at a lightning speed! It dug its claws into her shoulders and bit down her neck.
No.
"M-M'lad-"
Ruby tried her hardest to struggle, but to no avail, the ravenous beast was too strong. She could only cry out in pain as she tried to tell the beast to stop.
NO.
The beast kept sucking and sucking while Ruby's voice turned into a gurgle. Her eyelids felt heavy.
Before the darkness swallowed her whole, she heard a licking sound— "That was delicious~"
NO!
And after that, the infinite darkness swallowed her whole—
"NO!!!!!!!!!!!" Ruby shouted out as her body jolted up! She began to pant heavily as sweat soaked her entire face and body.
She breathed in and out slowly to calm herself down and looked around.
Her bedroom…
She was on her bed, in her familiar bedroom.
'I see… So it was just a dream, huh?'
Coming to that conclusion, a sigh of relief escaped her mouth. She then sat there motionlessly for a while, seemingly lost in thought.
It was yesterday.
What happened yesterday had traumatized her and left her feeling conflicted.
Yesterday, she suddenly found out the shocking truth about her mistress. She saw it with her own eyes. Her mistress was sucking blood out of the monster's corpses with an ecstatic expression on her face.
This sigh looked very familiar to Ruby.
That's right. It was just like what she saw that night when those bastards killed her family. She knew right away about what she saw.
Her mistress—was a vampire.
Realizing the shocking truth, Ruby felt her strength seeped out of her body. She quietly got out of there as quickly as she could and pretended as if nothing ever happened.
Her mistress didn't seem to realize that she'd been discovered. She talked to Ruby normally, and Ruby tried her best to look normal.
Once they got home, Ruby began to think about what happened. Her mistress was one of those bloodsuckers who took away her family.
But was she though?
No, what Ruby saw was beyond evidence that sooner or later, she might become her victim.
But, there was no way her mistress would do that. She was genuinely a good girl that Ruby loved and respected. She was her family that she swore to protect.
But… What if those were all a pretense. What if she was trying to find the right moment to prey on her?
Nah, her mistress always treated her with kindness and always thought of her as a big sister. She knew that it wasn't a pretense. She could feel it. She knew a pretense when she saw one.
But….
Hundred buts went on and on in Ruby's head.
She was conflicted by her love for her mistress and her hate for bloodsuckers. She didn't know what to do. All she could do was to repeat this cycle of conflicting love and hate in her mind over and over again…
———-
[Vivian's POV]
Ruby was acting strange.
Yesterday, after she came back with the mistress, she began acting strangely. It was as if she was hiding something.
When Lady Luluka talked to her, she appeared to be normal, but Vivian could feel something was off. She was a maid working for an aristocratic family, so she knew a lot about the world of aristocrats.
It was a cold world filled with people wearing masks to each other. They would pretend to be friendly to gain the benefit and would scorn those who were of a lower status than themself.
They lived in a world of pretense and betrayal. They would be friendly when they had something to gain and would gladly stab the other's back when they needed to.
That was until she met Lord Arthur.
He wasn't like those pretentious noblemen; Instead, he was a strong and straightforward man. Or maybe, it was because he was strong, that's why he could afford to be straightforward and could confidently handle anything coming his way.
Vivian respected Lord Arthur, but she digressed…
The point was she knew a pretense when she saw one.
And yesterday, she definitely saw one on one of her fellow maids, Ruby. Normally she was a very diligent and sincere person who tried her best to serve her mistress.
But yesterday, she was pretending in front of her mistress while it was obvious to Vivian that she was hiding something. Vivian didn't know what it was and needed to find out. That's why—
"Ruby, you haven't looked so well since yesterday. Did something happen?" Vivian asked Ruby when she was cleaning.
Ruby stopped her hands and looked slightly surprised, but soon after she reverted back to her normal smile. "Nothing's wrong, Vivian. I'm perfectly fine."
Ruby said energetically while doing a muscle flexing pose. She was overcompensating. She was definitely trying to hide something!
Vivian was pretty sure about that.
"Oh, really? That's good then…. Speaking of which, Lady Luluka looked so lively yesterday, huh? Unlike before, she looked more energetic now. Maybe her severe illness has already gone. I'm so glad for her."
Vivian tried to find a connection of what Ruby was hiding. The first thing she thought of was about Lady Luluka since Ruby always talked about her, about how cute her mistress was.
And she seemed to hit the right spot!
Ruby's smile cramped for a second but it reverted back to normal again. "Yes. I'm so happy for her too."
Vivian was now certain that something Ruby was hiding was most definitely related to Lady Luluka. But what could it be? Were they both fighting or something?
Vivian knew that the relationship between Ruby and Lady Luluka was more like sisters than a servant-master relationship. So maybe they were fighting just like normal siblings would?
That evening, after Lady Luluka finished having dinner with Lord Arthur and was on her way to her bedroom, Vivian politely interrupted her.
"My apologies, M'lady. If I may ask, do you perhaps have an argument with Ruby? She seemed to be acting strange since yesterday. Did something happen?"
Now, normally, a maid shouldn't pry into her mistress's business. But Lady Luluka and Vivian were close to each other, although not to the point of being sisters like she was with Ruby. She knew Lady Luluka wouldn't mind her asking this.
Lady Luluka seemed a little surprised upon hearing Vivian's question, but she recovered soon after. "No? We're fine. We didn't have any argument."
Unlike Ruby, Lady Luluka said it sincerely, so it must be the truth.
"Do you have anything else you want to ask?" said Lady Luluka.
"No, m'lady. Thank you for telling me this."
They said goodnight to each other and left. Vivian was lost in thought again.
They didn't fight with each other, but what Ruby was hiding was related to Lady Luluka…
What could it be…?
—————
[Luluka's POV]
Ruby was acting strange?
Now that Luluka thought about it carefully, Ruby was indeed acting strange. It seemed like she was trying to act normal while hiding something.
Back then, Luluka was so excited after trying out her new skill and wouldn't notice this subtle sign. If it wasn't for Vivian reminding her, maybe she would never notice this at all.
Luluka was lost in thought for a moment until a sudden realization hit her and made her eyes wide open!
Could it be?
Luluka thought of that possibility and felt her heart racing faster and faster. If that was the case then it would be really bad. What should she do?
After thinking for a while, she came to a conclusion. She should come clean to her father and ask for his help.
Although she had this body's previous owner's memories, there were still a lot of things she didn't know about this world.
She might get scolded for this, but it was better than getting killed. This was a very sensitive matter. If she wasn't careful enough, it could pose a serious problem.
Coming to that conclusion Luluka went and knocked on her father's door. Her father let her in after asking who it was.
"What's the matter, dear?" he asked.
Luluka seemed hesitant at first, but then she resolved herself and came clean about it. "I'm sorry, dad. Thing is, yesterday when I went hunting monsters with Ruby, I was so curious about my racial skill and went to try it out after making sure that nobody saw me. But—after that, Ruby seemed to be acting strange all of a sudden…. I think…. she…. saw me…"
Luluka tightly shut her eyes and tensed up, ready to be scolded. After a while of silence, she slowly pried her eyes open.
Her father was so shocked with his eyes as round as a saucer and his mouth agape. Then as if in slow motion, his expression changed from shock to anger.
"What did you say?!!!"
Luluka winced as she shut her eyes tight again. Arthur was angry, but seeing Luluka wincing, he began rubbing his temple and tried to regain his composure.
They both sat in silence for a while until Arthur opened his mouth again, "Luluka oh Luluka, what have you done?" Arthur said while sighing resignedly.
"Not only did you go against my order, you also exposed your secret…"
Arthur sighed again and shook his head. "You know where this is going right? You've made a mistake, so you have to be punished."
Luluka nodded her head meekly. This was all her fault, she realized that. So she would obediently receive her punishment…
"Well, let's leave the punishment aside for now. We have a more serious problem at hand." Arthur sighed and continued. "You know the relationship between humans and vampires right? What do you think would happen if some humans find out that an entire lineage of vampires have been living under their noses for a long time, and even be in a high position of an aristocrat at that?"
Luluka didn't answer. She just sat there looking at the floor, guilty. Arthur saw this and shook his head as he sighed again.
"This could be a serious problem… I need to do something about Ruby…" Arthur said sternly.
Luluka slightly raised her head to look at her father and was shocked! A fierce look in his eyes sent shivers down her spine. No way! He wouldn't…..