Chapter 21: Kobayashi’s blind wife.

Silvia followed Xiao Lin through several narrow alleys.
The further they went, the more remote and rundown the area became.

The stone-paved road underfoot turned into dirt paths.
The houses on both sides changed from neat and orderly to crooked and slanted, from brick and stone to wooden boards, and finally to barely pieced-together rags and dry grass.

A damp, moldy smell filled the air, mixed with a faint stench of decay.

Silvia had not expected such a place to exist inside the magic market. She frowned.

At that moment, Xiao Lin stopped in front of a house.

The house was about as rundown as the one Silvia lived in.
The walls made of wooden boards were full of cracks, stuffed with dry grass and rags to block the wind. A broken signboard hung in front, clearly left behind after the original shop had moved out and the place had been repurposed.

Xiao Lin pushed open the door.

It creaked loudly.

Silvia followed her inside.

The room was very dark. There was only a small window covered by a filthy rag.
A few thin rays of light leaked through the gaps in the cloth, illuminating the dust floating in the air.

Then Silvia saw her.

A person was sitting on the bed—a young girl, a beautiful young girl.

Her skin was so pale it was nearly transparent. A head of deep brown long hair fell loosely over her shoulders, slightly messy, yet it could not hide the delicate beauty of her face.

Her features were soft, her lips slightly pursed as if waiting for something. The most striking thing was her eyes.

One blue, one yellow—a pair of heterochromatic pupils, colored as beautifully as gemstones.

But those eyes had no focus. They stared straight ahead yet saw nothing.

Silvia was stunned.

She had originally thought Xiao Lin was taking her to a place that sold blood plasma.
But there were no bottles here, no blood plasma—only a person, or rather, a blood slave.

Only then did Silvia remember that on the way here, Xiao Lin had indeed said something. She had mentioned “drinking from a blood slave,” but at the time Silvia had been distracted and hadn’t listened or thought about it carefully.

“My lady.”

Xiao Lin stood beside Silvia and gently poked her arm. The action was cautious and carried a flattering tone.

“Would… would you like to drink blood?”

Silvia turned her head and looked at Xiao Lin. Xiao Lin seemed a little frightened by her gaze, but she forced herself to continue.

“Just give me one copper coin for the guiding fee. As for drinking blood, give me one silver coin—no, five copper coins will do.”

“My lady, I’m sorry. I lied to you. She… she is blind. If it affects your enjoyment of feeding, I deserve death.” Xiao Lin knelt down to apologize to Silvia.

Silvia looked at Xiao Lin—at that thin face, those flattering eyes, that dry yellowish hair.

She suddenly asked, “There’s more, isn’t there?”

Xiao Lin was stunned.

“Her ears,” Silvia said.
“They’re not good either, right? Otherwise you wouldn’t speak like this right in front of her.”

Xiao Lin’s expression changed. She opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but nothing came out. Then she lowered her head, her shoulders slumping.

“Yes, my lady. Her hearing isn’t very good, but she isn’t completely deaf.”

“I’m sorry.”

Silvia remained silent for a moment.

“Never mind.”

She turned her head and looked again at the girl on the bed. That girl—Nora—still sat there quietly. Her heterochromatic eyes stared emptily ahead.

She seemed to know someone had entered the room, yet she made no sound and no movement. She simply waited quietly. Her breathing was very light, almost inaudible.

“Should I give the money to her? Or to you?” Silvia asked.

“To be honest, she is actually my wife. I’m called Nora, she’s called… no, I’m called Xiao Lin, she’s called Nora. We are… a couple.”

Silvia looked at Xiao Lin coldly. Selling her own wife’s blood—this was truly… The slight sympathy that had just risen in her heart quickly vanished.

“I had no other choice, that’s why I let her come out to sell blood.”

A smile appeared on Xiao Lin’s face. It was different from her previous flattering smile. This one was full of bitterness.

“She didn’t have to be like this. We could have… we could have lived normal lives.”

Silvia did not ask what “originally” had been like. In a place like this, at a time like this, the word “originally” was too luxurious.

She looked at Nora again. The blind girl still sat there quietly, as if none of their words had anything to do with her.

“Does she not mind?” Silvia asked.
“Being bitten by a stranger like me?”

Xiao Lin shook her head.

“That’s why I chose you, my lady.”

Xiao Lin turned around to face Silvia and carefully looked over her figure.

“Your build is similar to mine, and your temperament is gentle too,” Xiao Lin said.
“If you wear my clothes and drink her blood while I speak from the side, she won’t be able to tell the difference.”

Silvia was stunned.

“She… won’t recognize you?”

“She’s blind, and her hearing isn’t very good,” Xiao Lin said.
“But she can recognize my voice and smell my scent. As long as you wear my clothes and I keep talking beside you, she’ll think it’s… me.”

Silvia found Xiao Lin even more despicable.

“I really have no other choice, my lady. I already…”

Xiao Lin suddenly laughed.

“I’ve already sold all my emotions except happiness and joy.” Xiao Lin said while laughing.

Silvia looked at that smile and suddenly felt a chill run down her back.

Then she saw tears welling up in Xiao Lin’s eyes. The tears flowed out, sliding down her thin cheeks, drop by drop, falling onto her ragged collar.

Yet on Xiao Lin’s face, there was still that brilliant smile.

She was laughing—laughing so sadly, so painfully, yet so brightly. She had no choice but to laugh, because she had already sold her sadness.

She had sold all her other emotions to that succubus shop in exchange for money to keep them alive.

So she could only laugh. Even as tears fell, she could only laugh.

Silvia stood there, looking at that smiling, tear-streaked face, and suddenly found herself unable to say anything. The disgust she had felt toward Xiao Lin completely vanished.

The room was very quiet, filled only with Xiao Lin’s intermittent laughter that sounded like crying.

On the bed, Nora still sat quietly. There was no expression on her face. She could not feel any of this.

“Clothes.” Silvia turned back to look at Xiao Lin. “Give them to me.”

Xiao Lin was stunned for a moment, then quickly took off her outer robe and handed it to Silvia.

Silvia took the old, thin robe and draped it over herself. She walked to the bedside and sat down.

Nora’s body moved slightly. Her unfocused eyes turned in her direction.

“Xiao Lin, you’re back?” Nora’s pleasant voice sounded.

Xiao Lin immediately spoke up, deliberately raising her voice a little.

“It’s me, Nora. I might have to break my promise. I want to drink your blood. I really can’t hold back anymore. It’ll be quick. Just bear with it.”

A very faint smile appeared on Nora’s face. It was light and shallow, yet it made Silvia’s heart tighten fiercely.

“It doesn’t hurt. I’m very happy. You’re finally willing to drink my blood, Xiao Lin. I… I love you.” Nora said as she leaned forward to kiss Silvia.