Shizuku gave the skewer of meat to Mei, who held it in her hand and looked at it with her normal blank expression. Shizuku smiled and said: “Eat. I got it for you.”

Mei blinked a few times before taking a bite. She was not sure how to feel about any of this, but when the taste of the freshly cooked season meat filled her mouth. Her expression almost broke. But she stayed calm as she slowly took bite after bite, or so she thought.

“Mei?” Shizuku looked at Mei, who was still expressionless, but tears were rolling down her cheeks. Shizuku reached up and wiped the tears from Mei’s eyes, and smiled at her. “I do not know how they treated you as a slave, but I promise you will not be treated badly. I will buy you lots of good things. I just hope you do not mind being with a vampire like me. I will suck your blood every so often and will hug you while I sleep. Bathe with you and treasure you. I will treat you like you should be treated.”

Mei blinked over and over. She did not know why tears were rolling down her cheeks. She did not understand a single thing that her master was saying. Why would she be treasured? Why would someone who was so useless be treated so kindly? Mei stayed silent and continued to nibble on the meat. She could not control the tears that were leaking from her eyes. It was all very confusing.

Shizuku held Mei’s hand and walked slowly as Mei ate her skewer. Shizuku hoped one day Mei would open up to her. While she knew she would do perverted things here and there, she would not do anything outside of bathing, even if it was just an excuse to touch Mei’s body. Shizuku did wonder what happened to Mei in her past that made her like she is now. From what she knew, she could help Mei get rid of her curse by drinking her blood. If this was truly possible, then maybe Mei’s heart could be healed. 

    “Mei. Every day before bed, I will drink some of your blood. If we are lucky, the curse will slowly disappear. The black mark on your body will also be gone. And at that time, if you wish to go free, I will ask a slave trader to remove your slave marking. But it will take time. I will also need to rank up in order to do it. So Mei. Just wait. I will do my best.” Shizuku’s heartfelt words seemed to hit a cord with Mei finally as she stopped, causing Shizuku to stop along with her.

Mei looked at Shizuku in confusion and asked: “Why?” A single word. But it conveyed a lot. She wanted to know why her new master was so kind to her. Why was she making such a promise? None of this made any sense to her. She should not be treated so kindly. 

“Because Mei is cute and deserves a proper life,” Shizuku replied as she reached out and patted the top of Mei’s head. “You finally spoke. Your voice is cute, too.”

Mei was once more quiet. She still did not understand. But she knew one thing for sure, and that was that her new master was very weird. But she did not hate this kind of master…

“We are back!” Shizuku shouted as she walked into the inn. Margret walked out from the outback and greeted the two with a smile. “I see that you got her some clothes. Good. Do you want some blood, or will you be drinking some of Mei’s?” 

“I will take a mug of blood. I am quite thirsty, and I do not want to overdo it on an empty stomach.” Shizuku was slightly afraid that she would not stop sucking blood once she started. She did not know how it felt yet to drink blood directly.

“That is a good idea. Alright, then, I will get you a fresh cup. You want pig or the blend?” Margret asked.

“Mmm…. Pig is fine. But Margret, can I ask you something? The earth dragon blood. How did they get it since dragons are so powerful.” She had only learned today that dragons were very powerful, so to have earth dragon blood confused her.

“Earth dragons are the weakest of dragons and are unable to even speak the world language. So a group of adventurers with enough skill can take one down easily.” Margret explained. 

“I see… So kind of like how Vampires have a ranking system, so do dragons in a way….” Shizuku suddenly understood things more clearly. “I learned something else today. Thank you, Margret!”

“No problems. But no matter how much you butter me up, you will still be training tonight.” Margret gave Shizuku a wide smile, which caused Shizuku to shutter. She still remembered the bumps on her head!

After drinking her fill of blood, Shizuku and Mei returned to their room. “Mei, I will place your clothes here next to mine. You can wear whichever you want, but when we go to fight in the dungeon, please make sure to wear your armor.” 

Mei gave a nod and stood still by the door. She did not dare do anything without proper orders. Seeing this, Shizuku sighed and walked over, grabbing Mei’s hand. “Mei, this is your room too. You can lounge about all you want. You can even get naked if you please. Just feel at home here.”

Mei did not know what to think. She looked into Shizuku’s sincere eyes and felt another tremble in her heart. In the end, after some hesitation, Mei walked over, sat on the bed, and stared at the wall. Shizuku let out another sigh. She knew she had a long way to go with breaking the walls that Mei had put up. But she at least got her to speak once. It was a start.