"Miss, Lord Murphy requests your immediate presence. He has important news to tell you."
Lady Adele hurried into a hidden tower in the city and quietly spoke to Miss Femis, who was studying some ancient tomes.
The latter had been so absorbed in her reading that Lady Adele's words startled her. She instinctively covered the book in her hands, an action that made Lady Adele blink, though she showed no further reaction.
"What is it this time?"
Femis seemed to be in a poor mood. Her tone was rather unpleasant as she complained, "I've never met a vampire as troublesome as Murphy. He really is an oddity among us. He's nothing like a vampire—more like a human turning into a shrewd, scheming mastermind."
"It concerns the current threat."
Lady Adele didn't offer an opinion on that. She lowered her voice and said, "Lord Murphy seems to have detected a new danger approaching. He needs you to know about it as well. Lady Triss is waiting with him at the defensive line."
"You actually want to call him 'Master,' don't you?"
The young lady left her hiding place and looked up at the gloomy, strange sky. As she spread her Blood Eagle wings, she said to Lady Adele, "I imagine you've already felt the compulsion of the bloodline contract.
"There's no need to resist that instinct. Vampire society is simply like this. It's difficult for those below to resist the control of those above them. I can only be grateful that Murphy isn't a shameless, vile man. Otherwise, I'd have pushed you into a fire pit with my own hands.
"Do you blame me?"
"You gave me this life."
Lady Adele blinked her scarlet eyes and shook her head. "Without you, I would have died twenty years ago. How could I