In the end, Freyern left alone. According to the elder's instructions, Freyern had to prove that Cynthia obeyed him. The research institute needed to draw her blood for three to four days before allowing Freyern to take Alice away. At first, Freyern refused, but his sister said it was fine because now that a non-pure vampire had been found, they would not harm Alice anymore.
When Freyern left, Cynthia was in the process of having her blood drawn. With her half-human heritage, she was bound by the same blood-drawing rules as humans. Otherwise, even though non-pure vampires had strong self-healing abilities, they would die from excessive blood loss.
"Are you leaving, Master?" Cynthia raised her little head and gave a sweet smile.
"Mm, stay here obediently, I'll come back in three days." Freyern still couldn't bring himself to look into Cynthia's eyes, as if he feared seeing condemnation in them. But Cynthia would never give him that kind of look. She didn't blame him. She had originally planned to save Annalise, but had entered in a different way.
"Mm-hmm, Master, remember to come see me!" Cynthia mischievously winked.
Freyern pressed his lips together and avoided looking at the needle in Cynthia's arm. He admitted he was being selfish. After nodding, he left. However, he couldn't stop thinking about Annalise. He had only caught a fleeting glimpse of her before leaving. He still wasn't sure whether Annalise was pregnant.
"Move aside, if you touch my stomach, I'll have the elder drain all your blood for my child to drink!!"
Cynthia, who had been dozing off in her cell, immediately perked up at the commotion. It was Annalise!
But why was Annalise speaking so domineeringly? And from what she said, was she really pregnant?
Cynthia couldn't sit still anymore and called out loudly, "Is there one of my companions here? I can feel them."
Cynthia intentionally raised her voice, hoping that Annalise, who had already vaguely heard the noise, would recognize her location. Sure enough, after she spoke, she saw the familiar figure.
It had been so long since they last met, and Annalise no longer wore the clothes she had when she was captured. She now wore the white dress designed by the Hunter Association. The skirt had double-layered lace, a unique waist design, and puffed sleeves, resembling the homewear of a noble lady. Of course, if one didn't ignore her slightly bulging belly.
"Cynthia!" Annalise almost lunged forward, and the maid quickly grabbed her.
The maid, a woman in her 40s, gave Annalise a threatening look as she held her back.
"Miss Annalise, don't forget that the reason you have such privileges is because of the vampire in your belly. You better be careful. One wrong move..."
Annalise clearly heard the threat in the maid's words. Her red eyes narrowed slightly, and she casually rubbed her stomach.
"Then let's see, who dies first? You or me, still pregnant?"
After a moment of silence, the maid let go of Annalise's arm. "Please, Miss Annalise, do not make any sudden movements."
"Annalise, are you... alright?" Cynthia looked at the white-haired woman across the iron bars.
"How could I not be alright?" Annalise smiled bitterly, rubbing her belly. She could feel the child inside her, but she knew it wasn't a non-pure vampire. She didn't know whether that was a good or bad thing.
"Quickly open the door for me, I'm not feeling well," Annalise said in a rather spoiled tone, pointing to one of the guards.
The guard hesitated, looking at Annalise's slightly swollen belly. After a moment, he opened the door. The maid quickly instructed the guards to bring several soft cushions, worried Annalise might feel uncomfortable.
Cynthia reached up and touched Annalise's belly. As she carefully sensed it, she detected a powerful force—magic.
The two women exchanged a glance. The information in their eyes was unreadable.
After a while, Annalise left, but she came to talk to Cynthia every day.
Meanwhile, Cynthia continued her routine of having blood drawn daily but paid special attention to Alice's condition in the next cell. Alice had stopped suffering and had returned to her normal appearance, but no matter how much Cynthia tried to chat with her, Alice refused to answer even a single word.
Cynthia wasn't angry. She had long seen through the true nature of this so-called research institute. What Alice had suffered couldn't be resolved by a casual conversation.
This so-called research institute was, in fact, a dark organization secretly studying vampires and humans. They sought to combine the immortality of vampires with human genes to create a type of "perpetual laborer" that could serve them indefinitely.
But that was nothing more than a pipe dream.
The power of vampires was far too great. Ordinary humans, once infused with vampire blood, would either suffer severe illness or die from their bodies exploding.
But the researchers were unrepentant. They were convinced they would eventually create an immortal, powerful human.
This underground research had already claimed the lives of countless people and vampires. The vampire population had dramatically decreased over a hundred years ago, especially the great vampires, even vampire kings, who were relentlessly hunted by the Hunter Association. In recent decades, very few had fallen victim to vampires.
While vampire heads, hearts, and teeth were widely traded, only a few highly skilled vampires still remained undetected, alongside a few low-level ones.
But the greed of humans was just beginning to be exposed.
They never questioned why humans, who were so smart and logical but short-lived, and vampires, who were immortal but few in number, existed the way they did. They were driven only by endless desire, using their sinful hands to perpetuate evil.
They would eventually face retribution.
4o mini