Chapter 271 - Similarities And Differences

After Athan laid Nathalie on the bed as she was in deep sleep, he raised the cozy comforter to her chest, and sat at the edge of the bed, looking at her.

Unknowingly, his hand hovered over her head and caressed her hair while pondering with his thoughts.

"Yes and no, huh..."

He narrowed his stares at her, even heightened his senses, and her condition was far better than normal. While she got saved from the curse to stay for another day, he couldn't help but believe in her earlier.

'She didn't lie, not one bit earlier...' He thought about how her heart rate neither rose nor dropped in his presence and faced him like no other. 

So much he got convinced that she was Mystique, on top of the curse that happened to her.

His gaze trailed alongside his fingertips, from her forehead to her cheekbone, and down to her nape.

Nathalie was as delicious and delicate as Mystique; however, even before they had the conversation, she already had tasty blood that lingered in the air— like most humans here.

Which was the only thing different from Mystique, aside from color features between them, as the villainess that she had a rotten stench of witch's blood running through her veins but not that it was impossible to drink unless she was at the peak of euphoria.

'Yet even now, she still smells so sweet and intoxicating...'

He stopped his tracks and let out a growl, as though to control his fangs that protrude as soon as his mouth went agape as he got too tempted in front of her.

'No! I won't! She's fragile already!'

Upon shaking his head, he looked around, and the room was built as luxurious as a noble's suite except for the lights and the buzzing sound from a white box mounted on the wall breathing out frigid winds.

So many similarities but different approaches.

Right now, it crossed his mind that it was no different from a parallel dimension.

'What a weird place this is…"

Foremost, magic was the symbol of omnipotence and omnipresence, yet not an ounce of magic was found here despite how rich human blood was in this place.

He looked at his finger, flickering to a small fire, and he couldn't help but drew his lips thin.

'I can feel like the force drawing out so much and to my fingertips, feeding it to a fire…'

When he fizzled out the fire, he blew the pillar of smoke, then flicked his hand.

'But I'm fully intrigued now that I'm here—'

All of a sudden, his stomach began to grumble, which had him prop his palm on his chin. "Wow, even after the whole meal. I'm exhausted..."

Looking at her one last time, he stood and tossed her lingeries to the side while he picked up his trousers and wore them before leaving the room.

Within the living room, he ended up wandering around where he could find a tasty meal. Having no choice, he tried to detect any signs of lifeforms but surprisingly, something caught his sight.

'A bag… With blood in it?! Wait, there's two of them?!' He was more than taken aback when he found a perfect meal waiting for him several feet away from him. 'Who even did?'

So far, everyone he encountered was all humans and not one bit turned out rather unusual. Though as much as he was too confident of his abilities, the people he met weren't masked under a facade an actual human.

'Humans were no different from livestock, and I could only count a few who are that noble or a vassal of somebody else's— might as well be a slave… But this...'

Not that he heard of it since especially strolling around with such freedom and leisure.

But he was too hungry to think of something else and went along at his pace.

He trudged against the polished ceramic tiles and went to the large metallic cabinet. To his surprise, there were about two handles in it like it was no different from a door.

Whatever he did, there were no signs of trap nor danger awaiting him, at least what his gut instincts crept to him.

'Right. This should be fine….'

Opening it had him scrunch his face when it was another round of frost bursting out of his face, albeit not that it hurt his skin with the kind of cool it had.

'Seemed like a strong, valuable cooler to me.' However, his gaze locked on the frozen bag with a rich crimson hue in it, leaning against the corner among the pile of goods found inside.

"Look what we have here." He grabbed the two of them out before closing the door and shuffled his way towards the table.

To his surprise, he could distinguish two types of blood. One was his ultimate favorite, and the other one gave him a sudden onset of nausea whenever he had it so close to him.

Groaning, he pondered, 'Ugh, smells putrid! How dare someone to stack some pig's blood in here?!'

He dropped it onto the table and looked at the other one that pleased his eyes.

Athan grazed over his hands, wiping the thin sheet of ice covering the view. 'Is this even ripe and fresh? In such a transparent container at that—'

Suddenly, his stomach grumbled again, and he didn't dare think of something else, other than warming it up with his hands. When steam came out and water trickled, the bag turned fluid, jiggling on his grasp.

But then, there was a note at the back that he saw, and to his surprise, it was from Daisy.

"Tear the side— the one with a white line — and drink it… Can't believe it... I had to get some in the blood bank… Hope it's enough. "

Turning it back, he stared at it as he mused, "Blood bank? The heck is that… Anyway, let's get on with it."

While he appreciated that she got this for him, he followed and went on it as he pleased. From there, he couldn't help but nod as he sipped to indulgence.

'Tastes so good! This is bloody delicious!'

Somehow, it got him invigorated and took his time wandering around while he enjoyed a tepid beverage.

Though he ended up going back to the living room and looked at how their clothes got the set of couches in a mess. 

Along picking them up, he accidentally stepped on something with a beep, and the magical screen turned on again.

Colored him surprised, it was one lady he was familiar with….

'Why is she there?'