As a former Knight of Little Garden, a Floor Master, and now one of Arcadia's main combatants, Leticia had seen and experienced much in her long life.
But even she hadn't detected anything amiss just now.
Only after Su Mo spoke did Jibril suddenly pop out from behind them, quick as a flash.
Wait a second!
So, while we were strolling and chatting, this Flügel girl was hiding and following us the whole time?
Doesn't that make YOU the spy?!
Before she could voice her internal monologue, she saw the Flügel girl seize the attacker from the darkness in a single, swift motion.
There was no room for resistance. The figure that had been cloaked in shadow was dragged out into the open.
"Master, shall I interrogate them?" Jibril asked, tossing the hidden figure onto the ground.
"Not just yet."
Su Mo looked down at the intruder.
It was a young woman who appeared to be in her twenties, with blonde hair and dressed in a maid outfit. She had a fine figure and, despite being pinned to the ground by Jibril, showed almost no sign of resistance.
He was certain she had been targeting him, which was why he had lingered in place, waiting for her to cautiously approach.
He just hadn't expected Jibril to be quite so impatient.
Still, judging by the woman's demeanor, she didn't seem to be here to attack him.
The reason for this judgment was simple.
"This weakling dares to spy on Lord Su Mo?"
Jibril poked the unmoving blonde maid's shoulder. The woman trembled but made no other move.
In truth, based purely on her spiritual essence, the maid wasn't weak. While not on Leticia's level, she was at a standard four-digit rank, comparable to a common soldier from the Asura clan.
In the Lower Realms of Little Garden, that already made her an expert.
However, for an assassination attempt on Su Mo, this was far too low a-spec.
Su Mo had only just arrived in Little Garden. Anyone who knew his name would also know that he had single-handedly vanquished a three-digit Demon Lord and annihilated the entire Asura clan.
No matter the circumstances, it was inconceivable that someone would send a mere four-digit figure to assassinate him.
Unless... her earlier stealth wasn't to evade Su Mo's notice, but to avoid being seen by others?
Just as this thought crossed Su Mo's mind, Leticia's trembling voice reached his ears.
"L-Lord Su Mo! Please wait!"
Gazing at the maid's back, the beautiful and dignified blonde vampire princess was, for some reason, covering her mouth. Her delicate frame trembled, and crimson eyes shimmered with a watery light, a mist threatening to spill over as tears at any moment.
Leticia slowly knelt, one hand reaching out to touch the maid's hair.
"Carla, is that you?" she whispered, a name she hadn't spoken in a very long time.
Hearing the name, the blonde maid's voluptuous body stiffened for several seconds.
Then, still lying face down, she spoke in a muffled voice, not daring to look back at the girl behind her.
"It has been a long time, Your Highness Leticia."
At that long-forgotten title, Leticia finally couldn't hold back her tears.
She looked up at Su Mo, her eyes pleading.
"Lord Su Mo, there must be a reason for this! Please, could you grant her a chance to explain... for this, I... I will do anything!"
It was an unreasonable request, to ask him to spare an attacker, but she had to save her former maid, no matter what. She was willing to sacrifice herself if need be.
Hearing this, Jibril glanced at the pitifully beautiful vampire.
"Anything? Really?" she teased deliberately.
"R-really!" A faint blush finally appeared on Leticia's cheeks, but she nodded with unwavering resolve.
With her personality, once she made a promise, she would never go back on it.
A Gift Game contract wouldn't make a difference.
"Hmph! You'll still have to get in line!" Jibril admired the girl's determination, but that didn't mean she was willing to accept a rival for her Master's affection.
"Yes," Leticia said, lowering her head without objection.
At that moment, Su Mo finally spoke.
"A vampire, as I thought."
He glanced at the blonde maid, then back at Leticia.
"There's no need to plead just yet. She may not be here to attack me. Let's hear what she has to say first."
With no intention of taking advantage of the situation, Su Mo gestured for the blonde maid to stand.
"If I'm not mistaken, you're here to deliver a message, aren't you?"
"Yes! Thank you, Your Excellency!"
The blonde maid rose timidly, dusting herself off to maintain her composure before him.
After sharing a look of immense relief with Leticia, she bowed her head respectfully to Su Mo.
"Your Excellency Su Mo, Mr. Grimm heard of your great deeds and sent me to deliver a message to you."
"Grimm?" The name immediately registered with Su Mo. "You mean, the Storyteller?"
Grimm's Fairy Tales were among the most widely known children's stories.
In Little Garden, the creators and propagators of such tales often possessed the spiritual essence of a Poet, much like the creators of myths.
Even Guinevere, for her part in creating the Arthurian legends, had obtained a Poet's spiritual essence.
As the "fourth" of Little Garden's three strongest species, the power of Poets far exceeded the imagination of other races. From Su Mo's perspective, the potential of a Poet's spiritual essence even surpassed the other three, making it the one with the highest ceiling.
In fact, much of Su Mo's own power overlapped with the domain of Poets.
It was just that what he could accomplish was far beyond the limits of Little Garden's Poets.
"The Storyteller... the Minstrel... Carla, you're following that man now?"
Su Mo's words jogged Leticia's memory, and her eyes widened.
Long ago, when the vampire clan was torn apart by internal conflict over the Ophiuchus Sun Authority and she was powerless to stop it, the Storyteller had suddenly appeared.
He had offered her advice, allowing her to become a Demon Lord and flay, dismember, and utterly destroy the enemies who had killed her parents, sister, and maids.
From the perspective of revenge, his advice had indeed allowed her to succeed.
But for the vampire clan, Leticia's actions had undoubtedly stained their honor, shattering the revered title of Knights of Little Garden and turning them into cursed monsters.
She alone had destroyed the merits her entire race had accumulated over the ages.
And yet, as a daughter and a sister, she hadn't been wrong. Had she acted the "right" way, without damaging her clan's honor, she would never have been able to avenge her family.
Looking back, since she had made the decision herself, she couldn't blame him for manipulating her.
But hearing that ominous name again, Leticia still felt compelled to warn him.
"Be careful! That man is by no means a good person!"
He who reveres vice in the world of men;
He who revels in sighs in the depths of hell;
He who borrows the hand of Death on the battlefield;
He who delights in dancing on the precipice.
Even if he wasn't a Demon Lord, he was a villain who surpassed them.
Anyone who met him would understand this.
At her words, the vampire maid slowly shook her head.
"Rest assured, Your Highness Leticia. I was once a member of the Phantasmagoria, but I am no longer."
"What do you mean?" Leticia asked, confused.
The maid, Carla, immediately looked to Su Mo and presented her Gift Card. "The Storyteller has returned my sovereignty to me. If Your Excellency Su Mo is willing to accept, I will become your property."
"!" Leticia's eyes widened in surprise.
He came bearing gifts, and a rare vampire maid at that.
She wanted to ask why, if Carla had regained her sovereignty, she would still obey the Storyteller and willingly become someone else's slave.
Wasn't being free a good thing?
But in front of Su Mo, it was not her place to ask.
Besides, from what she had observed, Su Mo was a good person. Being under his command was far safer than being under that villain's.
With that thought, Leticia held her tongue.
Just then, Carla the maid added, "Furthermore, the Storyteller said that if Your Excellency is willing to accept the contents of this message, he will also gift you Her Highness Lamia's sovereignty, free of charge."
At that, Leticia could no longer contain herself.
"Lamia? She's not dead?"
It was seeing the ashes of her parents and sister, impaled and burned by their own kind, that had driven her to madness and transformed her into a Demon Lord.
Ever since being awakened by Canary, she had believed herself to be the last of her kind.
To think that today, she would not only see her former head maid but also receive news of her sister.
Her eyes filled with a disbelieving joy, and she felt as if she were in a dream.
"That's right!"
After a quick glance at Su Mo to see he wasn't displeased, Carla rapidly explained to Leticia.
"After Your Highness became a Demon Lord, Her Highness Lamia and I wandered with the remaining clan members. But later, due to the misdeeds of Little Garden's poets, Her Highness Lamia insisted on shouldering the entire vampire clan's curse by herself and eventually fell into madness."
"In order to find a way to save Her Highness Lamia, I accepted the Storyteller's deal and became a member of the community Phantasmagoria. Her Highness Lamia was sealed away by the Storyteller, but even I do not know the location of the seal."
It seemed Her Highness Lamia was the reason Carla hadn't fled after regaining her own sovereignty.
"..."
Hearing this, Leticia bowed her head deeply.
Although Carla's tone held no accusation, every word she spoke was a testament to Leticia's sins.
She should have been the one to bear the curse of the gods and buddhas of three thousand worlds. But her younger sister, unwilling to tarnish her elder sister's name, had taken on a curse comparable to three hundred million gods and demons.
In terms of sheer spiritual essence, the weight of those curses nearly surpassed the three-digit rank, rivaling the two-digits.
But as a curse, it could only transform her once-gentle sister into a terrifying monster.
If she hadn't been sealed, the Divine Army would have likely vanquished her long ago.
"It's all my fault," Leticia murmured.
Seeing her like this, Carla the maid calmly shook her head.
"It is not my place to comment on Your Highness's decisions. But at the very least, you two will have a chance to see each other again. That in itself is a good thing."
At these words, Leticia trembled slightly and instinctively looked at Su Mo with pleading eyes.
Whether the last sisters of the vampire royal family could be reunited now depended entirely on his will.
Facing the gazes of the two vampires, Su Mo neither immediately agreed nor refused.
"Willing to offer such a generous gift upon our first meeting... his request must be a difficult one. Where is the Storyteller's message?"
"Right here!"
Carla produced a perfectly sealed letter from her Gift Card and held it up with both hands respectfully.
From her expression, it was clear she didn't know the letter's contents.
Jibril took the letter and, with a nod from Su Mo, opened it. Her eyes quickly scanned the contents.
"Oh? A letter of challenge?"
A sharp smile spread across her face, and her eyes instantly turned piercing.
"I thought this was some weakling coming to offer gifts and curry favor, but it turns out to be a fool who dares to challenge the Master... Hmph, a thing that doesn't know the meaning of death!"