EnCoffin Me Chapter 77
Translated by Q the Panda (ko-fi)
Chapter 77
That day, U once again clearly understood its place.
It quietly lay on the lowest level of the cat-climbing tree, eating the canned food gifted by Dage, while a small flame of ambition burned inside it.
Dage would pet it! As long as it was cute enough!
After U finished eating, it licked its mouth and took big strides to begin its grand plan of rising in rank. Tail held high, it searched all around for Alexio, and finally found its beloved Dage in the vegetable garden.
Dage seemed to be sneaking around. How could Dage be sneaky? It must have been mistaken!
U padded lightly toward Alexio. Alexio was digging up the newly sprouted carrot seedlings. Sensing U's arrival, he froze for a second, then his face filled with alarm. He raised a finger to his mouth, trying to gesture for silence—
“Meooow!”
Good morning, Dage!
U greeted him loudly. Alexio looked at it with a touched expression. U was thrilled. Clearly, it still held a place in Dage' heart. That white-haired cat was to blame for always speaking ill of it!
Alexio looked utterly hopeless. He had only wanted to sneak some carrot seedlings to grow in pots. He had never been caught red-handed before. U's loud meow was like ringing a death knell for him. The lunatic immediately appeared, leaning against the floor-to-ceiling window, staring at him expressionlessly.
The saint glanced at the carrot seedlings scattered in a small flowerpot nearby.
“Anything you want to say for yourself?”
“…None.”
“Plant them back. I'll supervise.”
Filled with resentment, Alexio replanted all the carrot seedlings. On top of that, he had to write ‘I will not steal carrots again’ a hundred times. Sitting on the cat-climbing tree, he started to ponder. Ever since U arrived, nothing had gone his way. Could it be…
Had U mistaken the lunatic for its boss?
Very likely! There was hierarchy in the feline world, after all. U might have seen the lunatic as a formidable cat and taken Alexio as the underling, and was now helping the lunatic keep an eye on him.
As expected of the lunatic! He could even win over a cat. Life in this household was getting harder and harder for Alexio.
Poor U had no idea that it was drifting farther and farther away from Dage. It still treaded carefully, trying to figure out what Dage liked while simultaneously squeezing out that hateful white-haired cat's living space. It also didn't forget to diligently eat its canned food. It was such a struggle.
Two days later, U found another good opportunity. Dage was sitting on the sofa, lost in thought, holding two bags of dark red liquid. U quietly approached and heard him sighing.
Alexio hadn't had any blood for nearly a week. Compared to the earlier days of two bags a day, then one bag every two days, this was a significant drop. Now, even though it was high-quality blood he had previously favored, he now found it difficult to stomach.
Alexio let out a long sigh.
It was hard to go from luxury to frugality.
Maybe today he wouldn't eat at all.
The fact that the blood bags remained untouched had already worried Ellie greatly. She had asked Alexio several times, and he always said he'd eat them right away, but then nothing happened. She anxiously replaced the blood with fresher bags and even consulted Noah at the medical department, but there didn't seem to be any good solutions.
Eventually, the news made its way to Lucius.
He looked at his wrist. Although Alexio had learned how to feed properly, he still often forgot to lick his wounds. The bite marks on his wrist had faded considerably, and it had been about a week since the last bite. During that time, Alexio likely hadn't fed on any blood.
Just thinking about it, Lucius understood the reason.
It was hard to go from luxury to frugality. After tasting richer, sweeter blood, the prince, who had never been picky before, had started to care about the flavor of his food. Only blood of equal or higher quality was acceptable, but from the current situation, it seemed Alexio could no longer find blood he could stomach.
Because his blood was top tier.
Lucius stood on the stairs. Through a gap in the stairwell, he quietly watched Alexio sitting on the sofa. Seeing that the blood bag remained untouched and the scheming cat nearby was restless, he stopped waiting, rolled up his sleeves, and walked down.
“Ellie told me you haven't eaten for several days,” he said slowly. “What's wrong? Is the last meal still undigested?”
Of course not. Alexio's consumption on the northern front was considerable. He burned through as much as he took in, and he had been starving recently. He glanced at the blood bag in his hand, bracing himself mentally, but still couldn't bring himself to drink it. He glared at the lunatic who was clearly enjoying the show.
“You're doing this on purpose!”
“Hmm? Doing what on purpose?” The saint played dumb. “I'm just concerned about your health. If you go too long without eating, you'll fall into a deep sleep.”
Alexio felt his anger steadily rising.
“You seem like you want to say something to me. Just say it.”
“……”
“Not saying? Then I'll go back to my room.”
Alexio's rationality snapped again. He teleported behind the saint, but the other seemed prepared and immediately spun away, putting distance between them. Alexio wasn't about to give up. His hunting instinct was fully aroused. He fixed his gaze on the exposed side of the saint's neck and wrists, anywhere he could bite. He was sure that once bitten, the lunatic wouldn't resist the pleasure brought by his fangs.
Teleportation combined with spatial magic gave Alexio a full advantage in close combat. But at that moment, he was facing a hunter specifically trained to counter him. With much of his memory restored, Lucius was familiar with most of Alexio's abilities and offensive habits, and naturally had ways to dismantle and counter them. For fairness, Lucius didn't activate his domain. Only by fighting Alexio like this could he better gauge how much his strength had recovered.
It seemed he was nearing his peak condition. What was lacking was only the experience he had accumulated in the past. That experience lay dormant in the remaining parts of his memory that had not yet recovered. Only when all of it returned would he be at his absolute prime.
In a split second of distraction, the vampire had already pinned him to the ground, biting down on his wrist with a hint of satisfaction. Suddenly, the vampire's expression froze. The sleeve blocked the fangs. Normally, piercing through was no problem, but his fangs…
Were a bit short.
“……”
“My deepest sympathy.”
Furious cat.jpg
No more eating! He wouldn't eat anymore! He would feed using shadow roses! Without taste buds, no matter how bad the blood tasted, he could drink it!
Lucius used tremendous self-control to keep from laughing. If he laughed, Alexio would probably snap at him right then and there. Holding back his laughter, he consciously rolled up his sleeve.
“Please?”
Cat takes a big bite.jpg
The flow of blood from the wrist was slow, so after biting for a while, Alexio felt unsatisfied. Considering that the lunatic would have to endure two bites, his conscience felt a little uneasy. So he ran his tongue over the bite mark to fully heal it, then moved and bit the side of the lunatic's neck.
The familiar sweet taste, mixed with the scent of deep red wine, came rushing back. Alexio closed his eyes. Besides swallowing, his mind was blank. In a haze, he felt the saint's cheek gently touch the top of his head, and the hand resting behind his head lightly stroked him.
“From now on, I'll feed you. How about that?”
Knowing the vampire focused on feeding wouldn't answer, Lucius asked anyway. After a moment, the vampire just licked and swallowed, so Lucius took it as a yes. His mood was peaceful as he tenderly stroked the vampire's tousled hair.
U, crouching nearby, saw this tender scene of closeness and grooming, and let out a soft ‘meow’ in protest.
Couldn't win, couldn't win. Dage's original underling was too cunning, even showing off being licked by Dage. From now on, it'd probably be the lowest-ranking one in the house!
Later, when Alexio had eaten his fill, settled down, and was having dinner at the dining table, he noticed U was unexpectedly well-behaved. Not only did it bring its food bowl over, it no longer hissed or glared at the lunatic. Its ears drooped submissively, eating whatever it was given, despite having been picky about canned food and kibbles just a few days ago.
U: I'm just the xiaodi among xiaodi, both of them are my Dage meowuhu.
(T/N: xiaodi — young brother)
Lucius put down the last dish, glanced at the very sensible little black cat, and said, “If you don't know what to stream, you can just stream playing games with the cat.” He paused, then added, “I'm sure it won't always be walking in front of your screen with its tail up anymore. You can make it do some work.”
He gestured toward the living room, where a low table held a bottle of water. U glanced at it, then looked back at Lucius. After receiving a nod, it immediately dragged over the bottle and dutifully handed it to Dage.
Dage wants water!
Alexio was surprised. He took the water and patted U's head.
“Did you train it?”
“No, I just made it understand its place.”
“……?”
Alexio was a bit puzzled. After U had eaten and drunk its fill, it obediently ran to the bottom level hole of the cat-climbing tree, happily tearing at a cloth mouse and crawling through the tunnels at the base, clearly enjoying itself.
“Wait… why doesn't it go up the cat-climbing tree?”
Then wasn't buying such a big cat-climbing tree a waste?
“Maybe it feels its status is low. Think about it, the first time U woke up, it saw you sitting at the very top. Of course, it thought that was your spot.”
Alexio looked even more confused. The middle level should be fine too, so why wouldn't it go there?
“It probably thinks that's my spot.”
Alexio laughed outright. U had really taken the lunatic for a cat, hahaha!
Lucius: “……”
Really, you had no right to laugh, Dage.
Holding back a smile, Alexio recorded a video of U and uploaded it. After it went viral, he switched back to the Union of Dark Creatures group chat. Cravenson had left a message, announcing a meeting tomorrow and asking everyone to be punctual. The main topic was how to help the conservation center promote the Carnival.
Alexio had thought they only needed to share posts, but apparently, there would be performances too. No problem. His private messages kept buzzing. It seemed Pupil had sent him several new texts.
【Pupil: Are you there?】
【Pupil: Cat video】
【Alexio: Cat beat you to death.jpg】
【Pupil: Okay, I admit it, you're stronger.】
【Alexio: …】
【Pupil: Actually, I made a game as a warm-up for the Carnival. Interested in streaming it?】
Alexio was about to refuse when suddenly Pupil sent a long message.
【Pupil: In the game, you play a princess escaping upward from a dungeon. Before dawn the next day, you must reach the castle's highest tower. There, a dragon will arrive on the morning breeze to carry you away to the Valley of Dragons.】
Alexio's hand, poised to type a refusal, froze. He stared at the description Pupil sent and fell silent.
【Pupil: It's just a sweet dream where the princess and the dragon find happiness in the end.】
【Alexio: …Alright.】
After sending the message, he let out a soft breath.
Yes. A sweet dream.