"I will take you to find her."

The butler's gaze turned cold. "Do you know what you are saying?"

"I know."

In the distance, there was a sudden sound of porcelain shattering.

Soon after, a manservant ran over, his leather boots stepping heavily and urgently on the slate floor.

"Lord Butler, the Lord has already gone to the banquet hall and ordered that the person must be found within half an hour."

The butler's face turned pale.

The shoulders of the two maidservants behind him trembled simultaneously.

The atmosphere in the entire corridor suddenly tightened, as if someone had choked the throat of the air.

Half an hour. If she couldn't be found, it wouldn't just be the tribute who would be punished; not a single person in the entire ancient castle, from top to bottom, would have an easy time.

The Lord never picked targets when he got angry; whoever was nearby was out of luck.

The butler looked at Yu Wantang again.

Yu Wantang looked back at him, with no sign of panic on her face.

She wasn't in a hurry; the ones in a hurry were them.

With a gloomy face, the butler didn't make a sound, but the taller maidservant behind him grew anxious, lunged forward, and grabbed her wrist.

Her fingertips had just touched the surface of the silver bracelet.

Hum.

An invisible force emanated from the bracelet.

The maidservant was sent flying backward, her back crashing against the stone wall of the corridor, and she lay flat on the ground, unable to get up for a long time.

The other maidservant was frightened into taking three steps back.

The butler's pupils shrank violently.

His gaze was nailed tightly to Yu Wantang's wrist, where that silver bracelet quietly wrapped around her wrist bone.

The moonlight fell upon it, feeling cool, and no abnormalities could be seen.

But he had seen the impact of that exact instant clearly.

She had originally thought that in this world she would have to rely entirely on herself to tough it out.

The system didn't show its head or make a sound, and she didn't even have a single trump card in her hands—she was at death's door every single minute.

She hadn't expected that her life-saving item had already been stuffed onto her wrist long ago, and it was too lazy to even give a hint.

The circle of fine lines on the inside of the bracelet flashed in the moonlight, then hid deep into the silver surface again.

Without changing her expression, she pulled down her cuff to cover the bracelet, turned her face to look at the butler, and asked in a flat tone, "Are we going or not?"

The butler's Adam's apple moved, and he stepped aside to clear the corridor, saying, "Lead the way."

Yu Wantang stepped forward and walked at the very front. After modification, her skirt hem wasn't draggy, and every step she took was firm and steady.

Behind her, the butler's footsteps followed closely at a moderate distance, and the two maidservants followed along after recovering their breath, their paces rapid and choppy.

When passing through the eastern corridor, the moonlight poured in from the arched windows, cutting the slate floor into alternating segments of light and dark.

The old chapel was located at the easternmost part of the ancient castle, separated from the main building by an entire desolate courtyard.

The iron patterns on the door were covered in rust, and as soon as it was pushed, it emitted a harsh creaking sound, like someone grinding their teeth in the dark.

There were no lights lit inside.

Moonlight leaked in from the damaged stained-glass window openings, falling upon rows of old pews.

The air was mixed with the smell of dust and withered flowers, a combination that could hardly be called pleasant.

Yu Wantang didn't stop, walking straight towards the row of confessionals on the right.

The first one, the door was half-open and it was empty.

The second one, the door was closed; she pushed it open to take a look, and it was also empty.

In front of the door of the third one, a small piece of white ribbon had fallen on the ground.

Yu Wantang lowered her head to take a look, didn't bend down to pick it up, and simply raised her hand to knock on the wooden door.

"Shen Niaoniao, come out."

There was no movement inside.

Yu Wantang knocked once more: "The silver cross pendant you hid had its chain broken, and it dropped to the floor just now with a clink. You might not have noticed it yourself, but this chapel is too empty; no sound can be hidden."

The silence lasted for three seconds.

Then the door was pushed open a crack from the inside.

A young girl wearing a white dress was curled up inside the confessional, her long black hair scattered over her shoulders. Clutched in her hand was a silver cross pendant; sure enough, the chain was broken, and a small metal clasp was still bent at the fracture point.

"Wantang... How did you know I was here?"

Her voice was soft and limp, carrying an undisguised grievance.

The butler stepped forward and was just about to open his mouth when the heavy doors of the chapel were suddenly pushed open from the outside.

The door hinges emitted a dull, lingering sound. Standing at the doorway was a silver-haired man.

His black formal attire was buttoned up to the topmost button, and a bloodline emblem was pinned to his collar. In the center of the emblem was embedded a pigeon-blood red gemstone, which gleamed faintly as the candlelight flickered.

His facial features had deep contours, his brow bones were high and narrow, his cheekbone lines were clean-cut, and his jaw was hard without a trace of excess fat.

His lips were very pale and pressed into a thin line, revealing no emotion.

Andrew.

The Vampire Lord, the true master of this ancient castle.

The male lead in the original plot who went crazy for the female lead, yet treated other people's lives as mere blades of grass.

The moment Shen Niaoniao saw him, her tears fell in a rush.

"Andrew..."

She stumbled out of the confessional, her skirt hem snagged by the leg of a pew, almost causing her to fall.

Andrew instinctively reached out to catch her, and Shen Niaoniao took the opportunity to grab his cuff, burying her entire face into it while crying with her shoulders heaving.

"I was just scared... I don't want to go to the Moon Banquet... I didn't mean to make everyone worry..."

Andrew looked down at her. The coldness in those red eyes vanished completely because of these few sobbing words.

"Who told you to run around blindly?"

"I don't want to be watched by those people." Shen Niaoniao looked up, sobbing, her face smeared with tears. "The way they look at me is so scary."

Andrew was silent for two seconds, then raised his hand to pat her back.

"Not allowed from now on."

The two people stood in the fragmented shadows of the moonlight, his silver hair hanging down to cover half of his profile, while the young girl in the dust-stained white dress sobbed in the embrace of his black formal attire.

Anyone unaware looking at this scene would think they were filming a romance drama.

If Yu Wantang weren't the person involved, she probably would have cheered them on and shipped them a bit.

She raised her hand and clapped.

"Have you finished acting?"

Shen Niaoniao froze, subconsciously turning her head to look at Andrew.

"Andrew, I really didn't mean it."

Andrew pulled her slightly behind him, shifted his gaze away from Shen Niaoniao, and let it fall coldly onto Yu Wantang's face.

"Enough."

"What, feeling heartbroken?"

Andrew's gaze sank.

Those dark red eyes stared at her without much expression, the sense of oppression pressing over inch by inch, making the temperature of the entire chapel seem to drop by a few degrees.

"She is not someone you can accuse."

"Oh," Yu Wantang said indifferently.

The chapel quieted down.

Even those two maidservants cowering at the doorway fell silent, not daring to draw a single heavy breath.

The butler stood by the door, lowering his eyes and treating himself as a pillar.

Andrew didn't pick up the topic.

He stared at the woman in front of him, the page of information in his head turning back and forth.

Yu Wantang, nineteen years old, no special bloodline, no combat ability, docile, timid, and easy to control in personality.

Every single item didn't match the woman standing right before him who was looking him straight in the eyes.

"You found her, so you have merit," Andrew spoke in a flat tone. "Tonight's matter will not be pursued further."

In his view, not punishing was already a reward.

Yu Wantang understood this implication.

She didn't refute or entangle, simply turning around and walking outward.

When she reached the doorway, she stopped without turning back.

"Andrew."

The butler behind her abruptly raised his head.

In the entire ancient castle, of course except for the one in his arms, no one dared to directly call the Lord by his name.

"Next time she runs away again, don't look for me."

She stepped across the threshold and walked into the darkness of the eastern corridor.

Behind her, Shen Niaoniao started crying softly again.

Andrew looked down at Shen Niaoniao, reached out to wipe the tears from her face, his movements several shades softer than before.

Then he raised his head, gazing in the direction where Yu Wantang had disappeared.

The butler hurried over in small steps, lowering his voice: "Lord, this Miss Yu..."

"Keep an eye on her."

Andrew only said two words.

The butler understood instantly, bowed, and retreated.

The footsteps faded into the distance.

The chapel became quiet again, leaving only the moonlight filtering through the stained-glass windows, casting silent patches of color upon the pews.