Cursed Together With Mr.Vampire; I need to drink his blood!

15. A Different Vampire

"Y-you are… restraining yourself?" Triana repeated.

Vlador blinked his eyes slowly, then raised his gaze on the girl. "Don't you understand what the curse says? I crave your blood. If I didn't restrain myself, you have been a dried corpse since last night."

"I-I understand the meaning of the curse. However… I don't think you have to endure it so hard." Triana said in a lowered voice as she dropped her gaze.

Then Triana quickly raised her head again and stared at the vampire with widened eyes. "I often have cravings for sweets, hot soup, and steak… but I have to hold them in because I have to maintain my weight. I always managed to suppress my urge to eat if I shifted my focus to something else. I'm quite sure you can do it too, Mr. Vlador. Actually, it's not as difficult as you say, I believe,"

A chuckle escaped Vlador's pomegranate lips. "Gosling, the craving I have is different from yours."

"Well, Mr. Great vampire, I believe you will not underestimate me if you can taste the delightful cakes, savoury stew, tender lamb steak, and freshly baked meat pies made by the cooks at my castle," Triana replied with a risen chin.

Suddenly… Krrrrr!

Triana's eyes bugged out. She quickly hugged her stomach, then smiled embarrassedly at the vampire in front of her who also looked a little surprised at the loud sound.

"Forgive me. It seems that imagined all that food is starving me,"

"I believe it's not just because you imagined all that food." Vlador rose from his seat. "You should thank me. I have made food for you,"

"You made food for me?" Triana's eyebrows rose high.

"Don't repeat my words," Vlador said as he walked towards a table on the other side of the room.

Curious, Triana watched the vampire whose figure seemed to have almost disappeared in the dark side of the room which was not exposed to light because all the candles had been extinguished, so they only relied on the light from the sunlight that penetrated through the slightly opened window.

Mr. Vlador was right, indeed. Triana was starving even when they had just come out of the witch's house. Now, knowing that the vampire had prepared her food, she was naturally touched. She thought he was as bad as the vampires that people always told her about. But apparently, he had a good side in him.

Triana began to think about what Mr. Vlador had prepared for her. Was it bread and stew? Or, was it just a simple vegetable soup? Ah… In fact, she would devour a loaf with butter alone. She was extremely starving to swallow anything!

A wide smile spread across Triana's lips when Mr. Vlador came to her with a tray without plates. Well, that was a little odd, but she chose to not give a mind.

"Enjoy your meal," Vlador said as soon as he arrived at the bedside, while holding out the tray.

Jaw hanging down, Triana stared in a stun at the pile of pinkish white meat with a very odd shape on the tray. It didn't look like food, but rather something her aunt's dog once brought from the woods as a toy.

"Pardon me, but… what is this?" Triana asked without taking her eyes off the strange meat.

"This is grilled rabbit meat. You humans eat cooked food, don't you? Enjoy it," Vlador replied.

"W-well, Mr. Vlador," Triana raised her face awkwardly and stared at the vampire. "In advance, thank you for your hospitality in serving me food. To be honest, I've never eaten rabbit meat and I wouldn't mind trying one bit.  However… may I know how you grilled this?"

"I burned it, then skinned it," Vlador answered while staring flatly at Triana. "I can see that this is not to your royal taste. But at least the meat is cooked and I advise you to just eat it so you won't starve to death."

Triana was silent, staring at Mr. Vlador's face. He was afraid that she would starve herself so he was willing to cook rabbit meat on a fire, which basically the vampire nation hated? It looked like he was not that bad.

"If you die, I will die too. I don't want to die for a ridiculous reason; because you are starving." Vlador continued.

'Oh… Right. Never mind,' Triana pulled a wry smile. How could she forget that? It's a fool of her.

"Well… At least you have cutlery here," Triana said, about to take a knife and fork from the side of the tray. However, her hands stopped midair just before she touched them. "Wait. Silvers?" she turned her gaze to the vampire.

Vlador nodded. "You think we are afraid of silver?"

"Well... That's what's written in the book,"

"Then, it means you haven't read enough," Vlador smiled faintly until his dimples appeared for a moment.

Triana cleared her throat as she returned her focus to the cutlery. At first glance, she found his smile to be cute.  However, lots of men with sweet smiles around her. It shouldn't be so special.

"Let us try it," Triana muttered as she cut the meat into small pieces.

Taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, Triana opened her mouth and stuffed the piece of rabbit meat into it. She chewed it with a hard frown on her face. Then, she nodded and covered her mouth with the back of her hand.

"Unseasoned," She said after struggling to swallow.

"Our way of eating is not as complicated as yours. Getting the meat done should have you thank me very much - No need to bother me with seasoning it." Vlador answered as he folded his arms across his chest and leaned back on his chair's backrest.

"Quickly finish your food. Didn't you say you'd take me to an acquaintance of yours who can read witch writing?" He continued.

Triana closed her eyes tightly for a moment. Then she nodded. "Please give me a little time to finish this,"

"I am doing it. But if you keep  complaining, the food won't finish." Vlador replied.

"Well," Triana let out a long sigh. At least the vampire understood that the food tasted like a nightmare, so he gave her time to swallow this thing.

If it wasn't for her starving stomach, Triana wouldn't be able to swallow this burnt, smelly, ​​and tasteless meat. She had to chew them very quickly while holding her breath before actually swallowing them. She hoped this horrible food didn't make her sick to her stomach.

However, something quite surprised Triana when the meat was half finished. She realized that the contents of the rabbit's stomach had been cleaned.

As far as she knew, vampires ate like beasts. They never clean their food first. Basically, they only drank human blood. But in some cases, they also ate their flesh.

But the fact that Mr. Vlador thought about cleaning the rabbit before serving it to Triana, again changed her view of vampires.

Were all vampires actually not as heartless as written in the book? Or was it that Mr. Vlador was a different one?