Chapter 16: Transformation Potion?

Chloe couldn’t believe her ears.

‘Poor and ragged, like a tramp…’

‘Kid, that’s not me!’

Sure, Chloe admitted her lifestyle was frugal… but not that pathetic!

No way! Absolutely not!

Even if Silia was used to the grandeur of the palace, Chloe’s home wasn’t that shabby, right?

Maybe Silia had broken into more than one house, and this wasn’t even about her!

Chloe’s lips twitched as she forced a stiff smile.

“Silia, can you give more details?”

“I snuck in before the sun set, and he just happened to come back at that exact moment!”

Silia clutched her head in regret, messing up her white hair.

“Ugh, I didn’t know back then that only vampires sleep when the sun rises and wake when it sets! If I’d known, I wouldn’t have picked that time!”

“Well… if you paid attention in class, you might’ve known that.”

Chloe smoothed Silia’s hair, recalling her behavior in class.

She’d wanted to focus, but Silia kept dragging her into chats or games. Unable to resist, Chloe learned almost nothing and had to study the textbook later.

“I can’t stand it… The teacher’s so boring, and it’s useless! I’m going to take over from Mother and be the vampire queen. What’s the point of learning alchemy?”

Silia huffed.

“What queen does her own alchemy? That Reginald—if he’s not dead by the time I’m queen, I’m firing him first!”

Chloe gave an awkward smile.

Silia had some growing up to do. If she took over the vampire realm like this, it’d be chaos in a month.

“Ahem, okay, Silia, go on about what happened outside.”

Silia nodded.

“After that guy caught me, he pinned me over his knee and spanked me! He was ridiculously strong! I transformed back into my vampire form and even used our proud blood magic!”

“But he was like a monster. No matter how hard I fought, I couldn’t win!”

“And after all that struggling, he got even angrier! He spanked me again, harder! I only escaped in the middle of the night.”

“…”

“I specifically picked the shabbiest house. The inside was a wreck, and I couldn’t even find food. Yet that guy was that terrifying!”

“…”

“He even called himself a Sword Saint! Total fraud. No Sword Saint lives like that! He’s just making it up!”

“…”

“Guy like that’s probably just a loser in real life, pretending to be a Sword Saint! Finally found someone to pick on and took it out on me! So annoying!”

“…”

Chloe stayed silent, head bowed.

Her fists clenched, itching to pin Silia down and spank her again.

‘Calm down, Chloe, calm down.’

‘She’s just a kid. Doesn’t understand adult stuff. Just talking nonsense.’

“Silia, is it possible he really was a Sword Saint, just living in hiding?”

Chloe took a deep breath and spoke slowly.

“No way! I saw him recently! Mother beat him like he was nothing—how could a real Sword Saint not even dirty her clothes?”

“A human Sword Saint is supposed to be a top-tier fighter, right? How could he get crushed like that? That armor and weapon were definitely cheap fakes! Holding a prop and thinking he’s a Sword Saint, daring to fight Mother? He’s delusional!”

Chloe suddenly felt wronged.

‘Your superior race is just naturally strong, huh!’

She’d honed her exceptional talent with grueling training to become humanity’s peak, yet to vampires, she was still weak.

“Wah… wahhh…”

“…Huh? Little Chloe, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing…” Chloe wiped her red eyes with the back of her hand. “Just… hearing about Your Highness’s experience, it hurts my heart…”

“It’s fine. As long as I don’t go out, it won’t happen again.”

“Okay… but how’s that related to you not going out?”

“Think about it.” Silia grabbed Chloe’s hand. “Sure, that guy was easily beaten by Mother, but he was just a fake! If a real Sword Saint came, even Mother might not win!”

‘If only I could’ve beaten Larvia…’

“Some random fake could spank me like that. Others must be even worse!”

Silia’s expression was dead serious, no acting.

“So, if I stay inside, I’ll never face danger again.”

“Don’t you ever get bored?”

“How could I? I had Flora buy me tons of novels and comics. I can’t even keep up.”

Silia pointed to a bookshelf across the room.

Chloe looked and saw it packed with colorful comics.

“That’s just part of it. I’ve got tons of rare, out-of-print ones too!”

Silia beamed.

“Humans might not fight well, but they’re pretty good at storytelling.”

“You never want to go out for fresh air?”

“The palace’s back garden is enough.”

“Alright.”

Chloe sighed, frustrated.

She’d hoped Silia would describe her as impressive, but in her eyes, Chloe was a total loser.

“Silia, the outside world isn’t that dangerous. What you ran into was… um, a rare case. You should go out more.”

Silia shook her head like a rattle.

“No way. It’s not as fun as home, and people out there are so mean.”

“Seriously, I was that pitiful, and he couldn’t even spare some food? So stingy.”

“The transformation potion should’ve worked fine. I looked like a normal human girl—how could he have no compassion?!”

Chloe froze.

Transformation potion?