Ch. 63
Drinking Fresh Blood
Thud!
Serea suddenly sprang forth, pressing Celia down onto the carriage seat, leaving Celia's mind spinning, unable to process what was happening.
But before she could even push Serea away, Serea had already pinned her hands against the carriage wall with both of her own.
Seeing this, Celia struggled, but since Serea had not yet come out of her 'Blood Frenzy' state, her strength was immense. Celia didn't dare to break free by force, afraid she might hurt Serea's body that way.
"What are you doing, hiss—"
Celia's words were only half-spoken before a sharp pain on her neck made her eyes widen. She couldn't believe what Serea was doing to her.
"Is something wrong?"
Lola, hearing the commotion inside the carriage, leaned up to check through the side door. However, what she saw was Serea pinning Celia down onto the carriage seat. Uncertain as to what was happening, Lola blushed.
"The Queen... actually..."
Lola was stammering, unable to finish her sentence. The pure Elves blushed even at the slightest touch, let alone witnessing such an intense scene (though in reality it was just blood drinking).
"Lola, what's wrong? Did something happen?"
Vina asked worriedly, but Lola, her mind overloaded, was still frozen and did not answer Vina immediately.
"Hey, don't scare me like that. Don't tell me...!!!"
Thinking something had happened to the Queen, Vina pulled out her dagger, ready to climb up to the side door as well.
But seeing Vina about to come over, Lola hurried back to push her down.
"It's... it's nothing, w-we'd better keep going."
After holding Vina down, Lola fanned her flushed face furiously, as if trying to cool herself down and calm her nerves.
"You're making me worry even more like this."
Saying so, Vina ignored the dissuasion and was about to go inside to check, but Lola quickly held her back again.
"Don't look—you'll break!"
"Huh?"
Vina, confused, gradually quieted down. Utilizing her Elven sense, she heard some strange noises, like someone resisting inside.
After a couple of seconds, a blush rose on Vina's face. She covered her mouth and stared wide-eyed at Lola.
Lola was covering her own face as well.
"W-we'll be out of the city soon, right?"
"Y-yes, just about to leave the city."
The two quickly grabbed at a random topic to ease the awkwardness. Meanwhile, they didn't notice Cain tightly gripping a black sphere in his hand.
Clip-clop, clip-clop!
The carriage arrived at the city gate. The guards, who had just dozed off for a moment, were startled awake by the sudden sound.
"Who's there?"
At the end of the street, they saw a convoy rushing toward them. Because it was nighttime, they didn't immediately see the crest on the lead carriage, so ten black-armored guards stepped forward to stop the carriage.
"Halt! You are... Lord Cain!"
Recognizing the man sitting outside the lead carriage, the guard's mind instantly cleared. Looking again at the crest, he saw it was indeed the Terance family's emblem.
"Is Lord Cain leaving the city overnight?"
"......"
Cain did not answer immediately. Just then, a dagger quietly pressed against his back, and seeing this, he quickly replied,
"Y-yes, we have cargo that must be transported out quickly, so I'd trouble you all."
"Ah? Oh, Lord Cain, you're too polite. We'll open the city gate right away."
Being treated so politely by the usually overbearing Cain, the squad leader felt surprised. Little did he know that was actually Cain's cry for help.
Rumble!
The side gate opened. With night-trading rights and inspection exemption, the Terance family was not subject to suspicion.
Seeing the side gate open, Lola prepared to drive the carriage out.
"Gulp."
Suddenly, a strange noise came from within the carriage, causing Lola and Vina's hearts to skip a beat. They were a little frightened, as the soldiers also heard the sound.
"Hm? Lord Cain, there seems to be some strange sound in your carriage."
"Huh? Is there?"
At that moment, another sound of collision came from the lead carriage—
Thud!
It sounded like something had fallen to the floor.
"Hm?"
The guards felt even more suspicious, but since the Terance family had inspection exemption, they couldn't just go in and check.
Inside the lead carriage, Celia was pinned to the floor by Serea. Serea's gaze was dazed, as if her consciousness was not entirely clear.
Pinned on the ground, Celia could feel a burning pain on her neck—the spot where Serea's teeth had broken her skin. Serea was sucking the blood that was oozing from the wound.
"Drinking blood?"
Celia seemed to realize what Serea was doing. At that moment, Dogsius' voice sounded in her mind.
"Though I don't know the reason, I can clearly sense that Mistress is craving fresh blood right now."
"I understand."
Saying so, Celia gradually began to struggle and moved her hand toward Serea's waist.
Finding the dagger hilt, Celia drew Serea's short knife, but just as she did, Serea pinned her down again.
"So troublesome!"
With impatience flashing in her eyes, Celia moved the short dagger to her own shoulder. Since she could only reach there, she gritted her teeth and cut open her own shoulder.
Blood soaked the fabric armor at her shoulder.
Smelling the scent of fresh blood, Serea instinctively pressed her head to Celia's shoulder and began suckling the blood, just like a little kitten.
Feeling her own blood being drained bit by bit, Celia gritted her teeth against the pain.
Thankfully, Serea calmed down after this, and they probably wouldn't attract the attention of the soldiers outside.
Back outside, once the strange sounds from within stopped, the guards scratched their heads, failing to notice Cain's pleading glance.
"Let them pass!"
The guards stood aside and opened the road for the convoy. Lola whipped the reins.
"Hyah!"
Seeing the carriage about to take him out of the city, Cain knew that once he left here, he'd have no further use and then...
Escape! He had to escape—even at the risk of being killed!
With this in mind, Cain smashed the black sphere in his hand onto the ground.
Poof!
A cloud of black smoke burst forth, quickly engulfing the lead carriage. Seizing the chance, Cain jumped off the carriage.
"Don't even think about running!"
A dagger stabbed out, its poisoned tip catching Cain as he hit the ground and rolled several times after falling from the carriage.
(To be continued...)