Ina started the ice cream machine, preparing the delicate plate and silver spoon, just waiting for the ice cream to be made so she could scoop out three balls. One would be topped with raspberry jam, one with orange jam, and the other would be left as is to preserve the original flavor, making a trio of colorful ice cream balls.
She planned to take this plate of ice cream for a walk along the beach at dusk. The thought was quite pleasing. But her plans were disrupted by an unexpected visitor.
The door was forcefully pushed open by a man who looked around and indeed found only Ina in the large house. The man quickly approached Ina, holding a dagger in his hand.
Ina turned around, unhurriedly picking up the plate in front of her. "I'm sorry, the restaurant is not officially open yet."
The man lowered his voice, "It's your fault for being a noble lady alone here." He pressed the dagger against her white neck, shouting towards the door, "Watch this, she's a noble!"
The sound of hooves approached from a distance, and a group of knights clad in silver armor appeared at the door. Gavin, the captain of the guard pursuing the fugitive, felt a sense of dread when he saw the fugitive rush into a shop. The nearby shop owners had received the message and closed their doors and windows, and some shops often employed a few guards. Only this shop, because it had been vacant for a while, had been overlooked by them.
Why did someone move in today, and a young woman at that?
Looking at the critical situation before him, he considered the possibility of having someone quietly climb up to the second floor and jump down to approach the criminal.
It was a bit difficult. The few possible landing points he deduced were all a distance away from the criminal and the girl, enough for the criminal to harm the girl.
"Tonight, I'm getting on a ship to leave this place, or else..." The man waved the dagger excitedly.
Ina felt that either she was very unlucky today, or there was a problem with the security in Neranka.
"Does this happen often?" Ina looked at the captain of the guard.
Gavin was taken aback, "Of course not." He glanced at the man threatening Ina with a knife, "Although occasionally criminals do escape from prison, we quickly catch them again."
The man glared at Gavin, not expecting such provocation even when he had a hostage in hand. Just as he was about to mark this pretty noble lady with a few cuts to prove he wasn't joking, he suddenly felt a pain in the back of his head and passed out.
Gavin gave an approving gesture to Phil, who had stealthily approached the fugitive from behind. It was worth recruiting Phil, a once skilled thief, into the team.
As the criminal fell heavily, Phil put down his sword scabbard and gave Ina a shy smile, "I'm sorry for the fright, Miss."
The ice cream machine beeped, and the green light began to flash.
Ina spoke, "Do you have time for some ice cream, gentlemen?"
"You can add strawberry jam and chocolate sauce, and we also have orange, raspberry, cloudberries, and currant sauce. If you don't like any of those, the original flavor is also very nice."
The guards sat in the clean restaurant, with a delicately painted silver porcelain plate and a slender silver spoon in front of each. The crystal clear jam slowly dripped from the spherical ice cream. Gavin was the first to pick up the spoon.
"Let's get moving, brothers. After we finish this ice cream, we have to take this guy back to prison." He kicked the bound fugitive at his feet.
The young men of the guard team picked up their spoons in unison. The hot weather quickly softened the exterior of the ice cream. With a gentle scrape of the silver spoon, the creamy snow pulp rolled up, carrying the variously colored sweet fruit sauce into their mouths.
"Wow!" It was incredible that they could taste sweet and refreshing snow in Neranka, where snow was rarely seen throughout the year.
The members of the guard team widened their eyes, exchanging incredulous looks.
Ina reminded them, "It won't taste as good when it melts."
The young men swallowed their praises and exclamations, leaving only the soft clinking of spoons and porcelain plates in the restaurant.
Before leaving, Gavin took the initiative to ask, "So, this shop of yours sells this... ice cream, right?"
Ina shook her head, "This is just one of the items. You can come and see when we officially open."
"But I'm not sure when that will be, I have a lot to prepare, at least I need to hire staff, buy enough ingredients, and perhaps even a few guards to protect the customers," Ina joked.
"If you need staff, allow me to recommend a former colleague of mine," Gavin suddenly said. "He's absolutely diligent and can even take on the responsibility of a guard."
Ina raised an eyebrow, "What kind of colleague? The kind who's sitting inside the jail before or the kind who's Hanging out outside?"
Gavin was taken aback by Ina's straightforwardness, and said awkwardly, "If you have to put it that way, both..."
Gavin introduced to Ina that he had a colleague who used to serve in the Imperial Knights, but due to a small mistake, he was sent to Neranka to serve his sentence. Now that his sentence is over, he doesn't have enough money to return to the Empire.
"I assure you, the mistake he made did not involve any moral stain. It was just a misunderstanding."
However, Ina's focus was not on this, "Since you're colleagues, why are you in Neranka and he's in the capital?"
"The Imperial Knights and the Neranka Guard are both under the command of the Knight Commander Asland. We rotate between the two places on a regular basis."
"Alright, have him come over tomorrow," Ina agreed straightforwardly.
Her decisiveness made Gavin hesitate, worried that she might be compromising because he was the captain of the guard here, reluctantly accepting a former criminal. But Donne's character was indeed trustworthy. After much hesitation, Gavin did not explain any further. Words were not as reliable as actions, and things would naturally clear up when Donne arrived.
The guards left the restaurant, and Gavin looked back at the sign of the Dragon Flame Restaurant thoughtfully.
"Go and investigate the owner of this restaurant."
————
The black-haired young man lay on the cold floor of the basement, his strength and consciousness leaving his body along with his blood. His handsome face had turned pale, his dark lashes twitched slightly, and his beautiful amber eyes had lost their original luster, becoming dull and tired.
Just a few minutes ago, he could still smell the heavy stench of blood in the air, but now that smell had gradually faded. This was not because his bleeding had stopped, but because his sense of smell was gradually failing.
He looked up at the ceiling of the basement, his empty eyes showing no emotion. It wasn't until he heard a cold sneer that his blurred vision refocused. Only then did the young man realize that there was a silhouette standing beside him. Seeing that he was still alive, the person said mockingly, "Fool who doesn't know how to appreciate kindness, you would have never known what you lost, but I'm very happy to tell you."
He looked down at the young man's pale face and the wrists that could no longer bleed. "You could have received the favor of the Grand Duke and risen rapidly. But now?"
The young man felt a bloody liquid drop onto his lips. He pursed his lips, not wanting the liquid to enter his mouth.
The man roughly grabbed his chin and forcibly poured a tube of crimson liquid down the young man's throat. The young man gagged continuously, but the liquid had already entered his stomach via his throat. Immediately, the dried-up blood vessels under his skin rose and became hot like winding snakes.
"I heard you don't want to become a vampire." The man looked down at the young man who was trying to vomit out the blood, his tone full of schadenfreude. "Then you better hope this transformation fails. That way, you'll just become a cold corpse, not a newborn vampire ."
"The reward you got for betraying me, has it made you the vampire you've always dreamed of becoming?" the black-haired young man asked hoarsely.
The man exploded in anger as if his tail had been stepped on. "What are you? The Duke has never taken you seriously! In the future, an Earl or even the Duke will personally oversee my transformation ceremony, and you!" He laughed heartily, "Elvys, you will forever be the lowest scum."
The black-haired young man closed his eyes tiredly, a mocking smile playing on his lips.
The dim scene faded away. Elvys stood in the long-lost sunlight and said to the woman in front of him, "Mother, I am going to the Night Tomb Castle."
The woman, wearing an apron, grabbed his hand and asked tearfully, "Why? Didn't you want to be a knight? Why must you work for those blood-sucking monsters?"
"Because the empire isn't our empire, it's not even the royal family's empire. It's the vampires who control the puppet strings of human nobility, making them act according to their whims. If I don't do something, the agricultural and blood taxes will eventually crush us." The young man's eyes shone with a light of defiance.
"But they will turn you into one of those monsters, just like Aiken used to be. After he returned, he completely changed, and even his own family..."
"No, Mother, I won't become a vampire. They need people who can walk in the sunlight to manage their territories for them. I'll find an opportunity, no matter what," the young man grasped his mother's hand tightly, murmuring, "I have to do something..."
The same scene, but this time it was night. The young man's face was hidden under a black cloak. He handed a bag of gold coins to his mother. "Go now, Mom. Take everyone and go far away."
His mother looked at him with sad eyes but did not ask him to remove his cloak or invite him inside. She wasn't afraid of seeing a pair of red eyes, but if the owner of those eyes did not want her to see, then she would not look.
She looked at her son, who she had always been proud of, and her voice was almost pleading, "Can't we go together?"
"I can't leave anymore." The black-haired young man spoke softly. The web of blood ties had firmly trapped him. Even if he fled far away, the "sire" who had provided the blood for his transformation could terminate his life at any moment.
The following scenes were even more chaotic. There were demonic whispers in his ear, broken words about "invitations, appreciation", Elvys' head was splitting.
The blazing fire reflected in his eyes, and two iron-like arms imprisoned him, forcing him to watch this cruel performance. He struggled and roared like a trapped beast, and with the extinguishing of the last flame, the once clean and prosperous town turned into a black ruin.
When he remembered this day much later, Elvys couldn't see the burning flames, couldn't hear the miserable screams, couldn't smell the bloody scent of his wounds, he only remembered all the perpetrators.
The black cat struggled violently in its sleep, then opened its eyes to reveal scarlet pupils. He saw the painting on the wall, realized he was lying on a chair near the fireplace, and his tense body slowly relaxed.
Elvys looked at the cushion underneath him that he had scratched, one of the advantages of being a cat was finally being able to sleep, the downside was always having nightmares.
Two plates were placed in front of him. Ina, disregarding the black cat's protest, ruffled the cat's head and said, "Time to eat, Black Cat."
That's right, Elvys had been mooching meals at the restaurant for so long, Ina didn't even give him a nickname, she just called him "Black Cat" in daily life. "It might have its own name and might not like others naming it," Ina said.
What an odd person. Elvys jumped onto the table and slowly moved towards the plate.
Tonight's dinner was crispy fish fillets and cranberry pudding.
Dusì watched the black cat eating leisurely and somehow saw a touch of elegance. This strange black cat, who had only been in town for a short time before taking up residence in the restaurant, seemed utterly at ease. Its favorite thing to do, apart from sleeping, was to follow the boss, Miss Ina, around.
You see, after finishing its meal, it went to find Miss Ina.