Chapter 15

"Today I met Xiuhe. He said that since you came here, you haven't gone back home. I happened to be free tonight, so I came to check on you. Xiuhe came looking for you, but when you saw him from afar, you turned and walked away. He went to ask Mr. Alexander, and Mr. Alexander said that you were staying as a guest with this gentleman who runs the dance hall." Liam looked at Emil's back and whispered, "Did he not let you leave?"

He had heard from his friend about Delin Sarah's purpose for coming here. She was not someone who would forget her responsibilities, so it was highly likely that she was being coerced by Emil.

"No, I stayed voluntarily."

Emil had proposed a threatening condition, but it was her own decision to agree to it. She would bear the consequences herself and hoped that as few people knew about it as possible.

"Please tell Xiuhe that I'm fine and will be back soon. Ask him not to mention to anyone else that I'm here."

She had worried that her foster mother would bring people to find her, but only Delin Ivy came. She felt relieved, but this lack of concern also brought an inexplicable sense of despondency.

Liam nodded in agreement and naturally glanced at her neck, hesitating before asking, "He didn't do anything to you, did he?"

"No, he didn't." Her cheeks flushed slightly.

He was asking if Emil had taken her as "food," but she misunderstood. However, in another sense, she had indeed been consumed.

She quickly changed the subject, "You look great in that outfit."

Liam smiled at her words, his handsome face looking mischievously charming. "I used to wear women's clothes for fashion shows, but this is the first time I've gone out dressed as a woman. I was constantly thinking about how to walk gracefully and worried that someone might recognize me. I was really nervous." Despite his words, his excited expression clearly showed that he found it fun and thrilling.

Being a young master of a prominent group, risking being caught by reporters, and dressing as a woman late at night to visit her made Delin Sarah quite touched. She smiled and said, "You look more like a woman than I do."

"Looking good is secondary. If my parents saw me like this, they'd probably faint—" Before he could finish, a cool male hand landed on his head, pressing down with a threatening force.

"Kid, trying to hit on my woman?" Emil drawled lazily, glancing sideways at Delin Sarah's beautiful smile that she couldn't hide in time, before turning his sharp gaze to Liam.

"I wouldn't dare. I'm just here to chat with Sister Sarah." Liam knew this man was not to be trifled with, so he quickly raised his hands to show his peaceful intentions. As for the bold claim of "my woman," though he had many doubts, he didn't dare to ask.

"He’s just here on behalf of Xiuhe to check on me, not to send a message back." Delin Sarah quickly explained, afraid that this unpredictable man might hurt someone.

"Don't worry, I know you keep your promises." Emil released Liam and instead put his arm around Delin Sarah's waist, planting a kiss on the back of her neck. The intimate gesture made Liam's eyes widen. "Let's go to the kitchen. I'll make you something to eat."

Delin Sarah only had time to throw a quick "Don't tell anyone what you saw..." to the stunned Liam before Emil half-dragged, half-embraced her into the dark passageway behind the bar.

"He came to see you on behalf of your cousin? Such touching friendship," Emil clicked his tongue in praise. "You didn't go back, and your family's maid didn't come to get you. Does she think you're dead in my hands? At least she should come to claim your body, right?"

"Because she believes I can complete the task, so she doesn't interfere."

"Maybe she thinks you'll never return once you came here, so there's no need to interfere. Are you really the precious heir of the Delin family maid? You seem more like an abandoned pawn to me."

His words were like a sharp blade, stabbing into the part of Delin Sarah that worried the most. Even she didn't understand her sudden panic, angrily retorting, "You don't understand at all! Our Delin family has always worked together. This is a test for me, so she—" Her eager explanation was abruptly cut off by his kiss.

He suddenly pulled her close, fiercely sucking away all her words, and just before she could bite him back, he accurately evaded. He caressed her flushed cheek with his finger and said, seemingly off-topic, "You should show more emotions. Smile or get angry, just like this. You look much more beautiful with some expression. However, you can only practice this with me. If any other man sees these adorable expressions of yours before I do, I'll gouge out his eyes and feed them to the wandering demons outside."

Nonsensical! She gritted her teeth and slapped his hand away. "My emotions are none of your business!"

Emil didn't get angry; he just chuckled lightly and walked into the kitchen, opening the fridge. "What do you want to eat? It's cold, so how about some soup?"

It was the first time Delin Sarah had encountered someone with such thick skin. She felt a surge of anger with nowhere to vent it and coldly said, "I'm not hungry!"

"Hmm, you want soup, right?" He misinterpreted her answer on purpose. "Let's make some vegetable soup."

She watched him take out a bunch of ingredients that needed washing and chopping and mocked, "You can cook soup? Aren't vampires supposed to eat 'ready-made' food?"

He didn't turn around, just laughed softly. "If you lived as long as I have, with time dragging on endlessly, you'd learn a lot of trivial things too."

For some reason, his back exuded a sense of melancholy and age when he said this. She momentarily forgot to retort and just stared blankly at him handling the food.

The kitchen fell silent.

It wasn't until he had put the ingredients into the pot that Emil turned to open the cabinet next to the fridge. The cabinet was full of medicine bottles; it was time for him to take his medicine again.

He poured various pills into a cup, the colorful array looking like candy, but he couldn't find the last one.

Delin Sarah couldn't help but remind him, "It's in the bottom layer of the cabinet, behind the green bottle."

He followed her instructions and found it. He looked at her, a joyful smile spreading across his face. "So you pay that much attention to me, even remembering what medicine I take."

"Watching you take it every day, it's hard not to remember." She had initially thought he had a strange and unpredictable personality, but she hadn't expected him to have such a thick skin. "Why do you need to take medicine?"

Vampires are supposed to be immune to all diseases. Even if he was half-human and occasionally got sick, he wouldn't need to take so much medicine, right?

She couldn't help but speculate that he might have some kind of terminal illness.

"I'm benefiting humanity." The colorful pills emitted a pungent odor. He grabbed a handful and put them in his mouth, frowning as he swallowed the unpleasant taste.