Chapter 90: A Bloody Awakening

Gern groggily opened his eyes. For some reason, he felt a faint, delicate fragrance wafting through the room.

The scent held a hint of familiarity, yet it wasn’t the usual aroma of his dragon girl form.

‘Had someone secretly crept in while I was asleep?’

Gern furrowed his brow, attempting to sit up. But in the next moment, an overwhelming weakness washed over him, as if his body had been completely hollowed out.

This symptom was far from unfamiliar to him; in his previous life, he had often experienced this very sensation: anemia.

“Hiss, how strange. I haven’t even been injured, so how could I be anemic?”

Suddenly, a terrifying thought surfaced in his mind.

Gern stiffly turned his head, his gaze falling upon the peculiar blanket beside him.

He snatched a corner of the blanket, pulling it back to reveal a strand of gray hair.

Gern felt as though he had plunged into an icy abyss, a wave of profound chill rising from the depths of his heart.

He desperately wanted to examine his body, to see if it still felt familiar, but his current state was one of extreme weakness.

Merely lifting the blanket had already drained most of his strength, leaving him no choice but to lie back down.

His heart hammered wildly in his chest, and Gern felt as though he were suffocating, utterly devoid of strength.

In a daze, he noticed a small wound on his arm, where a faint trace of blood still lingered, though it had already scabbed over.

Just seeing this sight, Gern could already surmise what had transpired last night.

‘The vampire girl attacked me in the night, draining me until I couldn’t even get up.’

Gern couldn’t shake the strange feeling that something was amiss.

Just then, a sudden commotion erupted downstairs. Lilia’s voice drifted through the window, reaching Gern’s ears.

“Gern! Wake up, Gern!”

“If you don’t get up soon, the sun will be shining on your backside!”

Instantly, cold sweat beaded on Gern’s forehead.

‘Oh no, oh no. Why is Lilia here at this exact moment?’

Gern hastily sat up, a wave of dizziness immediately assailing his mind.

He desperately clung to consciousness, his hands bracing his body, striving to keep himself from collapsing.

Yet, in his current weakened state, accomplishing this proved far too difficult.

Gern’s hands gave way, and he tumbled back onto the bed.

“Mm?”

Beside him, Aivia, previously curled into a ball, instantly roused from sleep due to Gern’s sudden movement.

Outside the small courtyard, Lilia frowned in confusion. She pulled out her pendant, glancing at it to confirm Gern was indeed inside the house.

This only deepened her bewilderment. Given Gern’s habits, he would never sleep in this late. As a commoner, his early rising routine had been ingrained long ago.

Even if he hadn’t fully awakened, he surely would have heard her voice and responded. It was unlike him to remain silent.

‘Something is definitely amiss!’

Lilia’s eyes narrowed. With a powerful kick, she burst open the tightly locked main door and strode into the courtyard.

****

Inside the room, Aivia awoke, first rubbing her sleepy eyes. Instinctively, she reached out and embraced Gern’s injured arm.

Seeing this, Gern hastily pulled his arm away, causing Aivia to bite at empty air.

The gray-haired girl, Aivia, knelt on the bed, rubbing her stomach with an undeniably adorable expression.

She would have been even cuter, if not for the fact that her true form was a vampire.

“Mm, good mor—”

Then, with a subtle shift, she fully awakened.

Aivia’s eyes were filled with a greedy glint.

Gern’s scalp tingled under her intense stare. He wanted to retreat, but his body was utterly devoid of strength.

Noticing Gern’s pathetic state, a flicker of guilt crossed Aivia’s face. She spoke with a hint of embarrassment.

“Classmate, I… I couldn’t quite control myself last night. I’m so—so sorry.”

Gern’s mouth twitched. ‘Couldn’t quite control herself?’ If his strength had been a fraction weaker, he might have gone into anemic shock last night, and never seen the light of day.

“You… get out!”

Although Gern attempted to put on a stern demeanor with all his might, his voice was so weak it carried no authority whatsoever.

Of course, Aivia paid Gern no heed. She licked her lips, then leaned close to Gern once more, whispering softly.

“Just one more sip for me, only one.”

At that moment, Aivia produced a delicate small knife. Her blood-stained hands, coupled with the slightly sickly expression on her face, made her look utterly deranged.

One hand seized Gern’s arm, while the other was poised to strike. Just then, the room door burst open with a resounding bang, kicked in from the outside.

A streak of golden light instantly dispelled the gloom within the room. The golden-haired girl, Lilia, upon witnessing the scene before her, her eyes wide with shock, could no longer suppress the fury blazing in her heart.

“Release that girl… boy!”

Aivia, still oblivious to the gravity of the situation, tilted her head and looked at Lilia with a puzzled expression.

“Together?”

Lilia’s enraged expression froze. She surveyed the two of them, and her gaze gradually took on a rather peculiar glint.

An ominous premonition stirred within Gern’s heart.

“Um, perhaps you two should attend to me first? I believe I can still be saved.”

“Don’t rush it. First, I’ll catch this philandering scoundrel.”

Lilia’s gaze returned to normal, and in the next instant, a ball of fire shot forth, hurtling directly towards Aivia.

Seeing this, Aivia unfurled the wings on her back and dodged to the side, not forgetting to drag Gern along with her.

Gern now found himself suspended in mid-air by Aivia, feeling incredibly uncomfortable.

“Put him down!”

“No! If you won’t eat him, don’t try to steal him from me!”

Lilia’s teeth ground together in fury at Aivia’s words. She hurled several more fire spells, all of which Aivia deftly evaded.

The once pristine white walls, struck by Lilia’s magic projectiles, were now blackened and charred. An outsider would surely assume a fire had broken out.

‘My dormitory!’

Gern felt an urge to weep. His luxurious dormitory, which he had only occupied for a few days, was now a complete mess thanks to the two girls. How was he supposed to explain this to the dorm manager?

Surely, any damage to such a lavish dormitory would incur hefty compensation fees.

‘To think, in this life, I would be burdened with enormous debt at such a young age.’

As Gern pondered this, a fireball grazed past his temple, the intense heat causing his heart to pound uncontrollably.

He had nearly been hit by Lilia just now. In his current state, a direct hit would surely transform him into his dragon girl form on the spot.

Lilia, who had almost struck Gern, offered an apologetic smile. Then, a pair of fiery wings unfurled from her back.

“Put Gern down!”

“No! He’s mine! Catch me if you can!”

With that, Aivia soared out the window and into the sky.

Lilia gritted her teeth, her fiery wings beating as she pursued closely.

****