When Adele spoke, her eyes sparkled. Usually dimly glowing, her eyes now shone brightly like a crescent moon in the night sky. However, words can often be inadequate. Even though Adele's words were sincere and eloquent, the humans in front of her did not believe them.
Adele felt a pang of frustration, but Molly gave her strength at that moment. "As she said, perhaps we can forge a new path, one different from what we've known before."
The room fell into a heavy silence. After a long pause, the commander finally voiced her thoughts, her voice dry and rough, "Dawn Lady, are you asking us to accept vampires?"
Her words were a challenge to Molly. The commander scrutinized Molly, but as always, Molly's expression remained unreadable. After a brief moment, the Dawn Lady responded, "Not just vampires. Any being, whether human, vampire, or another race, who genuinely desires peace is our ally."
Someone in the room couldn't hold back. Emboldened by the Dawn Lady's unwavering respect among humans, he protested, "Accept vampires and other races? What about the blood we've shed and the comrades we've lost?"
Many others in the room echoed this sentiment. Molly, however, softly posed a question, "So what do you propose? Do you want to kill all the vampires and other races until only humans remain?"
Her question stunned everyone into silence.
Molly continued, "Even if that were possible, how would that make us any different from the vampires who oppress humans now?" Leaving them with that thought, Molly took Adele by the hand and walked out of the room.
Adele didn't bother pulling up her hood again. She walked under the moonlight, resembling a moonlit elf, but everyone who saw her looked at her as if she were a demon. Adele, who had spoken so confidently and righteously moments before, now felt uneasy, her previously proud demeanor as a noble lady nowhere to be found under the weight of their hostile stares.
"Mo… Dawn Lady, where are we going?" Adele asked.
"To my room," Molly replied.
Molly had her own house at the human resistance base, a well-built, two-story building with a dedicated cleaning staff. The living conditions were far superior to what she had while traveling with Adele. Adele followed Molly all the way to her house and stepped inside with her.
Once inside, Molly reverted to her maid persona. She watched as Adele, the moment she entered, lost all pretense of formality and collapsed onto the sofa. Her feet still touched the floor, but her upper body slumped sideways, her cheek pressing against the sofa cushion.
Not only that, but she also let out a heavy sigh.
Molly, sitting in a small armchair nearby, nearly let a smile slip. "This path will be difficult," she said softly.
Adele rolled over, now lying on her back, one leg resting on the sofa. Staring at the ceiling, she mumbled, "I know, but I won't be defeated by something so minor." She resolved to stay at the human resistance base for the entire month before school resumed.
Molly truly admired Adele. If she had been in Adele's shoes, she would have likely chosen to flee. Molly wasn't the type to "face the scorn of thousands" if those she helped didn't appreciate her efforts. She would have tossed them aside and made a quick exit.
But Adele persisted, even in the face of others' hostility, to achieve something they couldn't yet understand.
From that day onward, Adele and Molly entered a tug-of-war with the human resistance. The resistance prepared food for Molly—delicious, appetizing food. But they completely ignored Adele, which didn't bother her much since she didn't consume animal blood. Instead, she drank synthetic blood.
The humans were initially surprised to see Adele go so long without drinking blood, then grew horrified at the thought that she might be drinking the Dawn Lady's blood. The commander herself rushed to confront Molly about it.
Molly's response was even more shocking. "No, she drinks synthetic blood." Molly even kindly showed her the synthetic blood. Out of curiosity, the commander sampled it, tasting a faint hint of iron, but it wasn't quite like real blood.
The commander had been on the battlefield and injured before—she knew what real blood tasted like. This synthetic blood had a similar flavor but was fundamentally different. Molly didn't know exactly how synthetic blood was made, but she likened it to the difference between artificial sweeteners and real sugar.
Similar taste, but not the same.
Seeing the commander's disbelief, Molly didn't push her to accept it. "She's different. You'll come to see that in time," Molly said.
Adele's time at the human resistance base wasn't easy. Few people were active at night aside from the patrolling sentries. Whenever Adele walked under the moonlight, the sentries would glare at her with hostility. Their true anger was directed at the vampires who had oppressed them, but since Adele was a vampire in their midst, she became the focus of their transferred hatred.
They stared at her as if they were staring at the vampires who had once tormented them.
Adele didn't give up and continued trying to build relationships with the humans. Though she made no progress, the rumor that "the Dawn Lady brought back a vampire" began to spread throughout the base. Within a few days, everyone knew there was a vampire among them.
The news caused panic, but their fear was tempered by the knowledge of the Dawn Lady's strength. Some of the base's children had never even seen a vampire before. They had heard their parents describe vampires as terrifying, detestable creatures but had never actually encountered one.
Children, naturally curious and fearless, decided to see for themselves what a vampire looked like.
On one moonlit night, they crept to the Dawn Lady's house. They had no hatred for the vampire nor any awe of the Dawn Lady. They simply pushed open the door to the room where the vampire was said to be.
Long before they arrived, Adele and Molly were already aware of their approach. With their sharp hearing and sense of smell, the children's stealthy footsteps were as obvious as if they were shining flashlights and banging on the door.
Adele felt awkward and unsure of what to do. She wasn't fond of children, a fact that was clear from how she had treated the little girl at the Spark Farm and her own sister. To Adele, children were nothing but trouble.
Molly, on the other hand, saw this as an opportunity for Adele to start building a relationship with the humans. Of course, if Adele didn't want to, Molly wouldn't force her to interact with them. But despite her discomfort, Adele didn't seem opposed, so Molly let it be.
Soon, the children pushed open the door and saw the two figures sitting on the sofa. For a moment, they couldn't tell who the vampire was. One had long silver hair, pointed ears, and glowing red eyes—by their parents' descriptions, this person certainly seemed like a vampire.
But the other figure, dressed in black, blended into the shadows, only outlined by the moonlight streaming in from outside. Her dark eyes bore into them, sending chills down their spines…
Wasn't she the vampire instead?!
The children shivered in fear, remembering their parents' warnings: "Be good, or the vampires will take you away!" But this was terrifying! There were two vampires here!
Overwhelmed by fear, the children burst into tears. They were small, but their voices were loud and shrill, echoing through the night with alarming intensity. Adele glanced at Molly, silently pleading for her to do something, but Molly merely looked back, expecting Adele to handle it.
After all, it was likely Adele who had scared them—not the Dawn Lady, who saw nothing wrong with herself.
Adele had no choice but to get up.
When the commander heard from the sentries that children's screams were coming from the Dawn Lady's house, she was stunned. Although she believed the Dawn Lady had been bewitched by an evil vampire, the Dawn Lady was still the hope of the human resistance. She couldn't let the children be harmed by a vampire. But the sentries' reports forced the commander to act. She quickly gathered a group, including a mage, and rushed to the Dawn Lady's house. The mage even confirmed, "There's vampire magic inside!"
Taking a deep breath, the commander burst into the room, only to see…
The vampire that the Dawn Lady had brought back was conjuring small flames in her hands, performing magic for the children.
Everyone who had stormed in froze, and the vampire herself seemed just as startled.
Adele thought, *Oh no, I've been caught!*