Yulia had no idea Principal Elias was currently grading her as "a girl with a few tricks up her sleeve".

Back at the Temple of Abyss, she dropped the bomb: she was leaving for Gaia Academy in two days.

Jojo was the first to hit the floor, clutching her leg like a lifeline. "Princess Yulia! If you leave, who handles the crops? I'm buried in ledgers and dirt already! You're leaving me alone with... Him?".

Yulia patted his fluffy hair. "Lord Caerus is right here. Ask him for help".

Jojo went silent, his eyes screaming: Do I look like a man brave enough to ask a dragon to weed a garden?.

"Send letters through Ollie," Yulia commanded. "Keep the restaurant going. Send me a report every week".

She packed light. With "Uber Dragon" at her service, the trip between the Temple and the Academy was a blur.

For her final dinner, she wanted to use her new iron pot for a proper stir-fry, but the vampire genes were still screaming for blood.

She checked the kitchen. The wooden basin was dry. Clean. Not a single drop of the deer blood remained.

Yulia clutched the empty basin, watching the others eat their delicious dinner while her own stomach twisted in knots. She retreated to her room, starving.

Grumble...

The hunger wasn't for bread. It was for something thick, warm, and sweet.

Click.

The door opened. Caerus stepped inside. Before he could turn the lock, a shadow lunged.

He stumbled back, his spine slamming into the carved wood of the door with a heavy thud.

"Lord Caerus? Is everything alright?"

Menningen knocked from the hallway.

Caerus didn't answer immediately. Yulia was wrapped around him, her legs locked around his waist like a vine.

She had tried to eat common food, but it was like chewing sand. The lunar cycle was peaking, and her thirst for divine blood was a physical ache. She buried her face in his neck, searching for a pulse.

"I'm fine," Caerus rasped to the door.

"Was that the Princess?" the Knight asked. "I was wondering if I should have dumped that leftover blood...".

Yulia's head snapped up. "You threw it away!" she hissed into Caerus's ear, her voice weak with hunger. "I never let you go hungry. How could you do this to me?".

Caerus looked down at her. He could lock her in this temple forever. He could turn her into a silent anchor for his own existence.

But as her golden-sand hair brushed his skin, he felt a strange, jagged hesitation.

"Hungry?" he asked, his hand resting on her head.

"Starving," she whispered.

"What do you want?"

Yulia tilted her head, her sapphire eyes glazed. "Your blood".

Caerus stroked her hair like a master petting a doll. "And if I say no?".

Yulia stalled. She slowly slid off him, dragging herself across the floor and burying herself under the quilt.

"Fine. Don't give it to me," she muttered from the blankets. "I'll just starve. Nobody loves me. I'm just a stray leaf in the dirt...".

Caerus stared at the lump on the bed. He knew she was acting—a pathetic, calculated performance—but he couldn't bring himself to hate it.

"Lilly. Come here".

The lump didn't move.

"Lilly," he repeated, his voice dropping into a low, uncharacteristically soft hum. "I'll give it to you".

The quilt shifted. Yulia crawled from the head of the bed to the foot, her eyes fixed on his hand. She leaned forward and took his index finger into her mouth.

A single drop of divine blood flowed. It hit her system like lightning, a rush of power that made her toes curl. She wanted more. She bit deeper.

"Enough." Caerus shoved her jaw back with his other hand. "You'll get addicted".

Yulia didn't care about addiction. She only knew he had dumped her dinner and was now being stingy with the replacement. She snapped at his finger one last time before curling back into the darkness.

Caerus stood in the silence, watching her fall into a heavy, satisfied sleep. He hid his hand in the folds of his black robe, as if the moment had never happened.

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Morning arrived with a clear sky. White pigeons took flight over the spires.

Yulia climbed into the carriage Elias had sent to the drop-off point. She turned to wave goodbye, but Caerus stepped in after her.

"Why are you here?" she asked.

"I'm coming along".

Yulia hesitated. "It's a bit... weird. You look like my dad dropping me off at the dorms".

Caerus's eyes narrowed into golden slits. "I don't have a daughter that stupid. Stop listening to Elias".

"Right. My bad".

Yulia touched her throat. "The taste for food is coming back, but it's not perfect. What if I get hungry at the Academy?".

"You'll see when we get there," Caerus said, his voice flat.

Yulia leaned in, flashing a bright, dangerous smile. "If I behave, will you let me make you some dessert when I visit? Black sugar jelly? Milk pudding?".

I give you food, you give me blood, her eyes screamed.

Caerus offered a non-committal grunt, his gaze fixed on the passing scenery.

The carriage bearing the hexagram of Gaia Academy rolled through the gates.

Caerus stepped out halfway through the campus. "Business," he said, vanishing into the crowd.

Yulia watched him go, assuming he was heading for the Principal's office.

"...Is this the carriage for the new students?"

As the carriage pulled to a stop outside the main castle, a man's voice echoed from outside.

"Yes, Professor Priestley," the servant replied.

Yulia stepped down. The teacher waiting for her was a man in his thirties or forties. His face was grim, deep furrows etched between his brows—the quintessential face of a terrifying dean.

"Lillia Bird, correct?"

That was the alias Yulia had chosen for herself, with all the paperwork already handled by Principal Elias.

"Yes."

He scanned her from head to toe. His gaze felt capable of peering straight into her soul. A chill ran down Yulia's spine.

"Follow me."

He set off at a sharp pace, not waiting for her in the slightest, his speech clipped and even faster than his strides.

"Your textbooks have already been delivered to your first classroom. Your daily necessities and luggage will be sent to your dormitory. Go directly to class now. It takes fifteen minutes to get there from here, and the bell rings in two minutes. I'm deducting five academic credits for your tardiness."

Yulia: "???"

"But I just got here!"

"Then I hope you can use this to quickly integrate into the academy."