Xie Han read the letter before placing it down uninterested. Due to his entrance into this world naturally, certain things would change as well. The setting had changed from two evil stepsisters to two evil siblings. In the sporadic memory that he could catch from the original body, all he knew was that he was enrolled in a Noble Academy in the east of the famed Leviathan Kingdom.
His life was lackluster and dull and he wasn't conspicuous amongst the brilliant and genius aristocrats of the Kingdoms. A typical bottom feeder. He had returned here upon news of the crowning of the crown prince, Cinderella's future husband.
The perfume bottle was delicately wrapped and it was evident that the Duchess had placed much care into this gift. But her effort wasn't appreciated at all by the callous youth and with a careless toss, the rose perfume was thrown directly in the trash at the side.
Xie Han slowly descended the stairs with light footsteps, glancing out the floor to ceiling windows by the side, the rays of the sunset slanted in through the window, and the entire room is plated with a layer of golden orange. A long bright red carpet covered the stairs and when the golden-haired youth stepped onto it, he seemed to be covered with a layer of halo-like a fairy that had stepped into the human world.
The color of entire house was painted with an oversaturated red. In addition to the original lavish reddish-brown, which would make people feel uncomfortable after looking at it for a long time, there was a long line of abstract paintings hung against the wall.
Cecilia's high-pitched laughter came from around the corner, when he made his way to the round dining table, the young girl was holding a pink pearl necklace in her hand and twisting it around her neck. Her eyes lighting up in joy at his entrance, she waved her hand and excitedly pointed to a gold ring lying on the table. "Look, brother, father brought back treasures from the Northland."
His father patted his beer belly and laughed proudly, "These goods were traded to me by those merchants up by the Knight Temple, I heard the pope is coming back for a visit and all the corrupt bastards are scrambling to get rid of their ill-gotten wealth."
His mother patted the seat beside her and he sat lazily at the table and used one hand to pick up the golden ring, slowly twisting it around his fingers and showed rare interest in one of the inhabitants that led to the destruction of the Kingdom, "The pope?"
His father nodded his head, "Yeah I don't what evil got into them, but I heard there was a big fuss at the main church. Some prophecy about a demonic force arising on the horizon."
He slapped his hands on his thigh, "What bullshit! The demonic forces have died out ages ago after the century war, just relying on this kind of bullshit prophecy, they sent out a pope."
"You're father, I took advantage of this and made a big profit."
Cecilia immediately praised him, "Wow, Dad that's amazing."
Xie Han didn't care very much, in his mind, the pope was an old and grey man in a white robe and wielding a holy scepter. His finger unconsciously slipped into the ring, and to his surprise, it fit perfectly, as if it had been created for him. There were some weird grooves on the side that seemed to be a word scratched out but he couldn't recognize it. He tried to take it off but the ring seemed to be stuck, nevertheless, it didn't bring about any discomfort so after a second of trying, he gave up lazily.
Amidst there chatter, cinderella whose original name was Lily, came out of the kitchen holding two plates in her hands flexibly. Her face was covered with even more ash and dust from before and none of the beauty in the fairytale could be seen. The atmosphere became a bit embarrassing and stiff and the original harmonious scene seemed to have been disrupted by an unwelcome outsider.
Cecilia pursed her lips and intentionally showed off the pearl necklace around her neck boastfully, Xie Han could see her mouthing 'bitch' to Cinderella when she placed the food in front of her. Before rolling her eyes disdainfully. When Cinderella finished serving everyone she bowed and hurried away to the servant, presumably to eat the scraps from their dinner.
No-one stopped or thanked her in tactic understanding as if the entire family had regarded her as air. Cinderella leaned against the door and unconsciously a vicious sneer appeared on her dirty face. But it was brief, and quickly a sweet and cheerful smile curled at her lips, like an angel with the purest heart as she began to hum.
Xie Han ignored the steak in front of him and reached for the desert, before cutting up the delicate matcha puff pastry on the plate, forked a piece, and placed it in his mouth. The fragrance of matcha custard blended with the softness of the cake, and it melted in his mouth.
Xie Han supported his chin with one hand, licked the cream on his fork, and then forked a piece of cake and put it in his mouth, squinting his eyes contentedly. Nailu already noticed that this was already the second small cake Xie Han had eaten. Instead, it was the steak next to him, and he hadn't touched it from the beginning.
The air was filled with a sense of cozy warmth, the clanking spoons and the cold breeze that flew in from the window made Xie Han want to sleep again.
His mother seemed to finally remember something and placed her napkin down after wiping her lips gracefully, "Xie Han, well since you are back from the Academy. It's only natural that we have a welcoming ceremony later this week. Your fiancé has been sending out letters to everyone once in a while to acquire news about your return. Since you are here now then go visit her tomorrow to show that you still have her in your hearts."
Cecilia pouted, "Mother–"
She sent her a sharp look and turned back to smile gently at him, "I know you are still weary from the journey, so go take a rest, and tomorrow your sister will accompany over to the Duchess's home."
Xie Han raised his drooping eye lazily, forked the last piece of cake in his mouth, and yawned showing two pointed tiger teeth. "Ok." The chair made a soft sound against the carpet as he pushed it back and with a chick wave, he walked away from his family. The steak on the table remained untouched.
The night was cold and the dark clouds in the sky drifted silently. In the night, the young man who lay on the large bed was deemed to be experiencing a nightmare, his brows furrowed deeply. The ring glowed golden in the cold night.
In his dazed conscience, the scene was like a dream or a memory, he was still himself but he couldn't move and couldn't react, everything seemed to be following a set plot. He was standing before a man covered in a back mist. He didn't know what the man said but for him in the dream was about to respond, but the scent of blood made his reaction less sensitive and he paused.
The consequence of a delay of half a beat was that the mysterious man moved directly and pinched his cheek, he exerted a little force, and the tips of the two pairs of small fangs were hanging above his teeth.
He struggled immediately, trying to use one hand to cover his mouth, but his two hands were directly grasped by a rough calloused one. The him in the dream seemed to be shocked and stuttered nervously.
"Crazy! You... what do you want to do?"
When he opened his mouth to curse, the two fangs were fully revealed. The shadowed man took the opportunity to observe his fangs. He realized this and quickly shut his mouth, not opening it no matter what.
"Why are you so uncooperative?" The man's voice was low and hoarse, "Do I have to force them out?"
He gritted his teeth. Even in a dream, he wanted to beat someone.
"I'll bite directly! I don't need you to teach me!"
"With your short fangs, can you even pierce the skin?"
"....."
"Open."
He couldn't refute.
Maybe he was angry, maybe he was shy, the guy who was forced to show his fangs were already shaking. The slight trembling that dared not raise his head, in the man's perception, is as lovable as a chick born in spring. He loves to see him be free, but he also wants to catch the chick and bring it out of the nest, completely holding it in the palm of his hand.
"Open." The man seemed to know him too well, and despite his anger, the little chick could not resist him anymore. Xie Han who's conscious was awake seemed to be able to sense the thoughts of the man and was even more intuitively aware of this frightening emotion.
The pair of small fangs reappeared in the man's sight. His expression was calm, and he reached out a rough hand to raise Xie Han's lower jaw, and carefully estimated the length of his fangs to see where the best place was to bite.
He seemed to think it was too inaccurate and didn't hesitate. With one hand hands, he reached into the open lips and rubbed his left fang with his fingertip.
"!!!"
The fangs although short were sharp and he unconsciously bit down and immediately regretted it. A blood bead oozed from the finger of the man, and the sweet smell completely flooded his mouth. Xie Han felt that the tip of his tongue was about to move, and he wanted to lick the blood bead.
He resisted it, but some people didn't want to let him go and the man naturally smeared the blood on his tongue.
"Can't wait?" The man laughed teasingly, seeing Xie Han desperately trying to back away, he lightly pressed the back of his neck, like grabbing a flailing kitten, and raised his wrist.
"Your fangs are indeed shorter. It may be a little inconvenient to suck blood, but I will teach you."
His sanity was completely shattered by the man's invitation.
"Come on, bite here."
He bit the opponent's wrist in one bite, and the man seemed to stiffen and pressed the other hand on the back of his neck, soothingly groping the golden at his nape. The blood from his wrist was sweet, pouring out streams, but it was enough for Xie Han to swallow, but he still felt greedy. His mouth was dyed with the scent of red wine.
The other man seemed to see the emotion in his eyes and his cheek was pinched a little harder again, the man wiped some blood from his lips, placed it under his nose, and the him in his dream seemed to be enamored with the scent of wine, he sniffed and followed the fingers, and the man led him to the side of his neck.
"Bite here, you have to use a little force, your fangs are relatively short."
The pale blue blood vessels pulsated in his sight, Xie Han licked the residual blood on his lips, and his completely drunk brain couldn't think of anything else. He was about to bite down instinctively, when he seemed to think of something and paused abruptly, turned his head, and rubbed the man's cheek coquesttishly.
"I'll be careful."
"It won't hurt a bit."
"Valent."