Noble Dining

Molly knew she was in the wrong this time. She should have waited until Adele was asleep before sneaking out to open the window, at the very least ensuring that Adele wouldn't see her.

Molly straightforwardly admitted her mistake. "It was my fault. I shouldn't have done something so dangerous."

Adele held Molly tightly for a while, her emotions slowly calming down after hearing Molly's confession. But it wasn't long before Molly began to scold Adele in return. This was something that wouldn't happen in front of other vampires. If a human maid dared to talk back to her master, she would be killed on the spot. However, with Adele, Molly could speak freely. Her voice was soft and calm. Once Adele released her, Molly sternly said, "But, young lady, what you did was also very dangerous. Even a noble like you could have been turned into a bloody mess if you accidentally fell from that height. Please take care of yourself and don't do anything so reckless again."

Adele sat opposite Molly, in a duck-like position, with her head lowered, looking weak, pitiful, and helpless.

However, Adele only acted this way because she was genuinely worried about Molly. And besides, if Adele really had fallen, Molly would have risked exposing herself by jumping after her, embracing her tightly, and making sure that Adele didn't hit the ground first.

Molly was about to stop talking when she heard a growling sound from Adele's stomach. She paused for a moment. "Young lady, are you hungry?"

"Yes."

"Then please go to the dining hall..."

"I don't want to." Molly thought Adele was sulking because she was scolded and had lost face. She said softly, "You know the saying: a meal skipped leaves one feeling weak. If you don't eat, you'll end up fainting."

"Where did you even get that weird analogy?" Adele retorted before sighing. "The airship doesn't provide artificial blood for guests. The dining hall only serves real blood, and I don't like the taste of it. I'd rather stay in the room and have some tea with a few sugar cubes."

Molly fell silent. She hadn't realized this was the reason. It meant that when Adele first came to school, she might have never gone to the dining hall or even left her room. Molly brushed her hair aside, stood up, and reached out to Adele. "Then, young lady, allow me to prepare the tea for you."

Adele took Molly's hand and stood up. The idea of Molly making tea for her made her quite happy.

The two went to the lounge, where Molly prepared some red tea for Adele and added several cubes of artificial blood sugar from Adele's luggage. After drinking it, Adele asked, "Molly, aren't you hungry? Don't you need to eat?"

Molly thought for a moment. "Okay, I'll go get something to eat." But as she turned to leave, Adele grabbed her hand. "I'll go with you. It's so boring staying in the room all day; I'd rather walk around with you."

Molly didn't object and led the way out, taking Adele to the lower-level dining hall. However, at a staircase landing, Adele stopped her. "Why are you going downstairs?"

"Why? Because the dining hall is down there, of course."

"But there's also a dining hall upstairs."

Molly was aware that the upper floors had dining facilities, but those were meant for vampire nobles, and she doubted they served human food. She hesitated before explaining, "I don't think there will be anything for me to eat up there..."

Adele frowned. "How could there not be? Just ask them to make it. I know some vampires like their meat with a bit of blood or barely cooked, so there should be something prepared."

Molly knew this was true, but she was worried the vampire cooks wouldn't be too pleased to make a meal for her. Molly wasn't afraid of them; she just didn't think it was worth causing a scene over a meal. But Adele was insistent and dragged Molly to the upstairs restaurant. Sometimes, her young lady was just that stubborn.

They soon arrived at the restaurant. A smiling server greeted them at the door. Her smile froze when she saw Molly, but she didn't dare say anything as Adele pulled Molly inside.

Once inside, Molly found herself the center of attention as usual. Whenever she entered a room full of vampires, they would all turn to stare at her, creating a scene straight out of a horror movie.

At first, it was terrifying, but after so many times, Molly had grown used to it and could remain unfazed.

She followed Adele, keeping a step behind her, ignoring the stares of the vampires until they found an empty seat. As soon as they sat down, the restaurant manager hurried over. He looked at Adele with a fawning expression. "Miss Black, what would you like to eat today?" As the manager, he had already memorized the guest list for the VIP suites, ensuring he wouldn't offend any important people.

Clearly, Adele was someone he couldn't afford to offend.

The manager didn't even glance at Molly, knowing that if he told her to leave, Adele would be furious. After all, Molly was a favored maid of the Black family's eldest daughter. Even a dog would be treated better in the presence of its master. So, he wisely held his tongue.

It was clear why he was the manager and not the welcoming girl at the door.

Adele turned to Molly, asking what she would like to eat. The manager's expression stiffened as he reluctantly looked at Molly, though his gaze was much colder than when he looked at Adele. Despite his professionalism, he couldn't hide his disdain.

Molly thought for a moment and decided to make things difficult for the manager. "I'd like fresh mushroom soup and a steak with black pepper sauce, cooked well done." When she mentioned the mushroom soup, the manager's expression soured, then turned disdainful. Molly could guess why.

Vampires didn't eat vegetables. They could tolerate lightly cooked meat but had no taste for vegetables. So the restaurant likely didn't stock much, meaning they'd have to fetch it from the lower-level kitchens.

The manager's disdain deepened as he thought, "Of course, a human would want to eat grass. Disgusting."

But when Molly said "well done," the manager nearly had a meltdown. His expression clearly screamed, "Heretic! Humans are heretics! Why would a human eat well-done meat? How could they eat that? That's not food for vampires!" The expression on his face was the same as when Molly once heard about deep-fried cockroaches.

But Adele simply said, "Did you hear that? Please prepare it quickly."

The manager had no choice. Wearing an expression like he'd just eaten something foul, he respectfully acknowledged the order and quickly left. A short while later, the food was brought out. The manager even thoughtfully provided Adele with a small drink—a champagne glass filled with red blood.

Molly kept her expression neutral. She didn't know whose blood it was, but given that it was served to Adele, it had to be top-tier. Other vampires in the restaurant also had similar glasses on their tables. Some even poured the blood over their already bloody steaks before cutting off a piece of meat and dipping it in the blood to eat.

The one small mercy in this world, Molly thought, was that vampires didn't eat human flesh. According to some of the knowledge she had from her previous life, it was said human flesh was sour and unappealing. Or maybe it was because humans looked too much like vampires. Either way, while vampires sometimes ate beef, pork, or lamb, they never ate human meat.

If a vampire sat beside her, munching on human flesh while she ate, Molly would probably be so disgusted she'd flip the table and kill the vampire on the spot.

Molly quickly finished her meal, with Adele sitting across from her, watching her eat. Honestly, it was an uncomfortable experience, having someone stare at you while you ate.

Fortunately, Molly ate quickly and was done soon enough.

Seeing Molly put down her knife and fork, Adele stood up, ready to leave. But the ever-watchful manager called out to Adele politely, "Miss Black, please wait a moment—I noticed you didn't drink the blood we provided. Was there something wrong with it?"

"It stinks." Adele's face showed her displeasure. She said with complete seriousness, "Didn't you smell it? That blood smells like it's been sitting around with dirty socks. I can't drink it. Just having it near me is unbearable. The fact that I didn't flip the table is already a testament to my manners. Next time I'm here, don't put that stuff in front of me again."

Adele, a vampire who didn't drink blood, should have been a pariah among her kind, someone to be shunned. But she spoke with such righteous conviction and arrogance that the manager couldn't help but feel like the fault was his. Bowing his head, he humbly bid her farewell. The next evening, when Adele returned, there was indeed no champagne glass of blood on her table.

On the second day of their airship journey, the ship docked at a midway station. Molly was out on the balcony enjoying the breeze when she suddenly caught an unusual scent in the air, her gaze shifting to the ground below.

People were lining up to board the airship, and Molly's nose picked up on something strange.

Manager: "Heretic! Eating grass and well-done meat! Heretic!"

Adele: "Why aren't you doing your job?"

Manager (sulking): "Yes, ma'am..."