Walking down a long hallway, Kho looked around subtly, curious about the place.

"Where are we going?" he asked the maid - or at least someone he thought was a maid - in front of him.

Snorting, the maid replied haughtily,

"The mistress called for you, hal-cough."

'Hal? Is that some kind of slang for boys in this world?'

The thought flashed through Kho's mind, before he quickly turned his attention back to his surroundings.

'Aaah, I really need more information about where I am though… From the looks of it, this maid seems to be human. Her skin isn't really that pale, she doesn't seem to have fangs, and the main thing is -' he thought, clutching his throat.

'This thirst that suddenly took over me the moment I opened the door - I'm now completely sure; I'm a vampire. And since I started feeling thirsty the moment I saw her, that means that she's probably a human. But if she is a human, that means that the owner of this hotel or whatever this place is is also a human. And even if that book might be an exaggeration of the truth, it's clear that humans and vampires don't really get along with each other, so I doubt a vampire would hire a human as their maid. Aaaah, no matter how I think about it, I'm completely f*cked over. A vampire living inside this Empire? I'll be over the moon if I survive even one day here … but wait, I know I'm a vampire, surely whoever this mistress is most likely also knows I'm a vampire, and since she didn't kill me on sight … is there a chance for me to live? Ugh, the only thing I can do is improvise when I meet this mistress…'

So lost in his thoughts, the boy didn't even realise that the maid had stopped in front of a large set of double doors, and kept on walking straight. However, as if she had eyes in the back of her head, the maid simply moved to her side, dodging the boy while simultaneously pushing him into the room.

Stumbling due to the sudden push, the boy looked back to see the maid smirk at him, right before the doors were closed on his face.

Sighing, the boy quickly balanced himself and started to look around and gauge his new environment. Looking around, the room seemed to be a study. With massive floor to ceiling windows that let in the bright sunlight into this room, too much in fact, if the boy had any say. Thankfully for him, the door was opposite those windows, enough distance for the sunlight to stop a few centimetres from him. On the right end of the room stood enormous bookshelves filled with books whose names he couldn't make out, and on the left end stood a massive banner embosomed with an emblem which the boy could only assume belonged to the mistress he had heard about.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

The emblem in itself was quite attractive, a silver shield within which stood a towering mountain. In front of the mountain stood a huge wall, surrounding the peak on all sides. Right below the shield, two war hammers* crossed each other, their colour a similar tone of bright silver.

But what demanded the boy's attention the most was the woman seated behind a desk beneath the banner, clearly the mistress of this place. Even to the boy's untrained eyes, it was clear that this was someone who held real power in her hands, someone who was truly at the top of the social hierarchy.

And while the boy had been looking around the room, the lady was also studying the boy. Gazing at him, she gave a slight smile and asked,

"Won't you come and greet your saviour, young man? Don't just stand there, come and take a seat," she said, waving to the chair opposite to her.

'Wha-?! Does she want me to die? Walk into sunlight? No thank you!'

Of course, he didn't dare voice any of those thoughts. On the outside, he simply bowed and said,

"I'm afraid I'm not worthy enough to take a seat with you Ma'am. I think it is best for me to stay right where I am."

Letting out a rich, almost musical laugh, the lady replied,

"Well, if that is what you want," she said, smirking. "At least you don't seem to be a complete fool. I was worried that I might've picked up trash, but it is glad to see that my intuition hasn't betrayed me. Now -"

"If I ma-"

However, before he could finish his sentence, he felt an inhuman force hit his stomach, enough to lift him off his feet and launch him towards the doors.

Sliding down the doors like a slime sliding down a throne, the boy fell onto the ground and curled into a foetal position, clutching his stomach in immense pain. Gazing ahead, all he saw was a pair of white heels making their way towards him, before hearing the voice of the mistress above him.

"Don't speak unless spoken to, half-breed. Consider this your first, and your final warning."

Suddenly, he felt a hand grab his hair and pull his face upwards.

"The next time," said the mistress, leaning into his face, forcing him to stare into those abyssal eyes of hers,

"Will end horribly for you."

Dropping the boy back onto the ground, the mistress clapped her hands together, as if brushing off dust and slowly walked back to her chair. And as she sat down, she said,

"Take a minute to get yourself together. We shall be continuing with our discussion after that."

Coughing and holding his stomach, the boy slowly tried to get up.

'What - the - hell just happened? How did she hit me so quickly?? And f*ck, it hurts like hell,' the boy thought, constantly trying to push himself up but falling back down.

'Here I was thinking I might have a chance to survive, but I think I've just fallen into a demon's lair. No! Focus! My priority has to be to get up, or else I'm sure she's going to do something worse to me.'

And so, after three or so failed attempts, the boy finally managed to stand up. However, because of the pain he ended up bowing towards the lady at a 45° degree angle .

"Now isn't this better," she said, letting out a wide, and for the boy, a cruel smile.

"Then, shall we continue, Kho Mieres?"