Chapter 171: Vamps...

Elena wrapped the white gauze tight around Viora’s waist, pulling the bandage firm enough to make Viora gasp out loud.

"Ouch!" Viora hissed, clutching the edge of the wooden table. "Auntie, you’re an S-Rank Healer! You have divine healing magic! One simple healing spell from you would close this cut in three seconds!"

Elena didn’t even blink. She picked up a fresh roll of bandages and looked at Viora with cold, unbothered eyes.

"I know I can heal it in one second," Elena said smoothly, dabbing another drop of stinging antiseptic straight onto the raw cut. "And that is exactly why I’m using manual bandages and cheap salve instead."

Viora winced, her eyes watering from the sharp pain. "Why?! That’s cruel!"

"It’s not cruel, it’s a lesson," Elena replied, setting the scissors down on the table with a soft CLACK. "If I use my divine magic to wipe away your wounds every time you do something reckless, you will never learn fear. Pain is a very effective teacher. I want you to feel every single stitch so you remember what happens when you jump into a gate without telling."

I swallowed hard, slowly pulling my torn jeans up so she could inspect my sliced thigh.

Elena turned her gaze toward my leg. She grabbed a cotton ball soaked in dark brown disinfectant and pressed it directly into my open cut without warning.

STING!

"AGH!" I gritted my teeth, squeezing my fists until my knuckles turned white.

"Don’t bite your tongue," Elena said calmly, wiping the dried monster blood from my skin. "You’re getting the exact same treatment. No holy light spells for either of you tonight. You will sit in your beds, feel the stinging salve, and think about your poor choices until morning."

I took a deep breath, trying to ignore the burning sensation on my leg. "Thank you, Auntie..."

"Don’t thank me yet," Elena said, her voice dropping into a dangerously sharp tone.

She pulled off her rubber medical gloves, tossing them into the small trash bin beside her chair. She slowly leaned back in her seat, resting her elbows on the wooden table and lacing her fingers together. Her sharp blue eyes locked straight onto mine like two ice needles.

The room went completely silent again.

From the kitchen, we could hear the faint sound of water boiling on the stove and the quiet clatter of teacups, but none of the kids dared to come back out into the dining area. They were hiding near the doorway, listening in total terror.

Elena tapped her index finger against her cheek.

"Now," Elena said softly. "Let’s talk about the other little surprise waiting for me when I unlocked the front door tonight."

My heart did a quick flip inside my chest. "The... the other surprise?"

"Don’t play dumb with me, Woo Jin," Elena said, her brow furrowing slightly. "Viora moving into this villa a few days ago was one thing. She is a registered hunter. But who are those three kids in my kitchen?"

"They’re... Carmilla, Leo, and Mia," I stammered out quietly.

"I know their names," Elena snapped, her eyes narrowing. "What I want to know is why my house feels like a shelter for homeless strays! Why did you bring three unregistered kids into my villa without asking for my permission first? Why do I have to find out these massive secrets by myself after coming home from an exhausting S-Rank raid?"

"Auntie, listen," I said hurriedly, leaning forward on the table despite the sharp pain in my thigh. "They had nowhere else to go! Their whole world had been destroyed. I couldn’t just leave them out on the freezing street to die!"

Elena didn’t look impressed by my speech. She kept her face completely blank, staring at me for a long time.

"You have a soft heart, Woo Jin," Elena said quietly. "Just like your mother. But a soft heart in this world will get you killed. You can’t pick up every lost kitten you find on the sidewalk."

"They aren’t kittens, Auntie," I said, my voice firm and serious. "They are good people."

Elena let out a short, quiet hum. "Is that so?"

She suddenly turned her head toward the dark kitchen doorway.

"You three can stop hiding behind the refrigerator now," Elena called out, her loud voice echoing down the hallway. "Bring the tea out here immediately."

Carmilla walked out first, holding a tray with five steaming mugs of hot tea with trembling hands. Behind her walked Leo, carrying a plate of warm bread, and little Mia, holding a jar of honey.

All three of them walked toward the dining table with stiff, robotic steps, as if they were marching toward an executioner’s block.

I don’t know what Elena had done to them but I suppose they fear Elena so much that why can’t even walk properly, including Carmilla.

She carefully set the tray down on the table, not daring to look Elena in the eye. "Here... here is your black tea, ma’am..."

Elena didn’t touch the mug right away. Instead, she leaned back in her chair and stared intently at Carmilla’s face.

The quiet pressure in the room began to rise again. It wasn’t the heavy, crushing pressure of an S-Rank hunter preparing for battle, but a deep, penetrating gaze that seemed to slice right through skin and bone.

Carmilla flinched slightly under her gaze, her pale hands clutching her clothes tightly.

"Your skin is unusually pale," Elena observed smoothly, her sharp blue eyes tracking the subtle movement of Carmilla’s neck. "Your body temperature is much lower than a normal human’s. And you eyes’ color is unusual."

Carmilla’s breath hitched in her throat. She took a tiny step backward, her black hair falling over her face.

Elena slowly raised her hand, resting her fingertips on the table.

"When I stepped through the front gate tonight," Elena continued calmly, "my divine detection aura picked up three faint, cold mana signatures inside the house. Signatures that don’t belong to human hunters, nor do they belong to standard monsters."

I gripped the edge of my chair tight. "Aunt Elena..."

Elena raised one finger, silencing me instantly without even looking my way.

She kept her sharp eyes glued to Carmilla, Leo, and Mia.

"You three are Vampires, aren’t you?" Elena stated flatly.

BOOM!

Leo dropped the plate of bread onto the table, his face turning completely ghostly white. Little Mia gasped, hiding her face behind Carmilla’s back as she trembled in pure terror.

Carmilla stood frozen in place. Her crimson eyes flickered with a sudden, desperate panic. She slowly dropped down onto both knees right beside the table, lowering her head until her forehead touched the cold floorboards.

"Please!" Carmilla cried out, her proud voice breaking into a desperate plea. "Please don’t hurt them! Leo and Mia haven’t done anything wrong! They have never harmed a human in their entire lives! If you have to turn someone over to the Association, turn me in! Just let the kids go!"

Leo quickly dropped down to his knees beside her, tears welling up in his eyes. "No! Don’t take Carmilla!"

"Stop it, both of you!" Mia sobbed, kneeling down too and holding onto Carmilla’s arm.

I slammed my hands onto the wooden table, pushing myself up despite the burning pain in my thigh.

"Aunt Elena, stop!" I shouted, stepping between her and the three kneeling kids. "They aren’t blood-drinking monsters! They don’t attack humans! They buy synthetic blood packs from the black market with Whatever they have left! They are just trying to survive in a world that hates them!"

Viora nodded frantically from her chair, holding her wrapped waist. "It’s true, Auntie! They’ve been living here for days and haven’t touched a single drop of human blood!"

Elena looked at me, then looked at Viora, and finally looked down at the three vampires crying on the floor.

She didn’t raise her wooden yardstick. She didn’t summon her divine holy magic to burn them to ash.

Instead, Elena picked up her mug of black tea, taking a slow, calm sip while the room remained dead silent.

SLURP.

She set the mug back down on the saucer with a soft, clean CLICK.

"Sit back down," Elena commanded softly. "You’re going to tear your leg stitches open if you keep jumping around like an idiot."

I blinked, stunned by her calm reaction. "Wait... you’re not angry?"

"Of course I am angry!" Elena snapped, her blue eyes flashing with sharp annoyance. "I am angry because you kept such a massive, dangerous secret from me! Do you have any idea what would happen if the Hunters Association found three unregistered noble-line vampires living in an S-Rank hunter’s private villa?!"

Carmilla slowly lifted her head from the floor, her crimson eyes wide with shock. "You... you knew we were noble-line...?"

Elena gave a tired, heavy sigh, rubbing her temples with her thumb and forefinger.

"I have been fighting high-level gates beasts and dark species for years, girl," Elena said, her voice dry. "I can recognize pure vampire mana from a mile away. Do you really think a few cheap human masking charms could hide your true identity from me?"

Carmilla bit her lip, lowering her head in deep embarrassment. "No... ma’am."

Elena looked at the three of them sitting on the floor, her sharp expression softening into a look of quiet, exhausted resignation.

"If I wanted to turn you over to the Association, I would have called the patrol cars two hours ago," Elena said plainly. "I don’t care that you are vampires. I care about safety, order, and honesty in my house."

Leo wiped the tears from his cheeks, looking up with a tiny spark of hope. "Does... does that mean we can stay...?"

Elena pointed her wooden yardstick straight at Leo’s nose.

"It means," Elena said sternly, "that from this exact moment onward, there will be strict rules in this villa! Rule number one: No illegal potion crates under my kitchen sink! Rule number two: No going out into the lower district after ten at night! Rule number three: If you need synthetic blood packs, you come to me directly so I can buy certified medical-grade supply, instead of drinking black market trash that will poison your mana channels!"

Carmilla’s jaw dropped open in complete disbelief. "You... you will buy medical blood for us...?"

"I am an S-Rank hunter with a unlimited medical license, girl," Elena said, crossing her arms. "Getting clean medical blood is easier for me than buying a loaf of bread. But it means you answer to me now. If any of you break my rules, I will personally throw you out the front gate!"

Mia’s face lit up with absolute joy! "Thank you, Auntie Elena! Thank you so much!"

"Don’t call me Auntie yet, little girl," Elena grumbled, though a tiny, almost invisible smile tugged at the corner of her lips. "Get up off the cold floor and sit at the table before you catch a chill."

The three of them scrambled up from the floor, bowing deeply to Elena three times before quickly taking their seats around the large wooden dining table.

Carmilla wiped her teary eyes, a genuine, soft smile gracing her pale face for the first time all night. "Thank you... ma’am. We won’t make you regret this."

"You better not," Elena said, finally taking another sip of her hot black tea.

I slowly sat back down in my chair, letting out a long, heavy breath that I felt like I had been holding in for hours. The burning pain in my thigh was still stinging, and Viora was still squirming slightly in her chair from her tight bandages, but the heavy, suffocating fear in the room had completely vanished.

Elena looked across the table at me, her blue eyes calm and steady.

"Your mother always had a habit of turning our home into an orphanage for broken souls," Elena murmured softly, looking at the steaming tea in her hands. "It seems you inherited that exact same foolish trait, Woo Jin."

"Is that a bad thing?" I asked quietly.

Elena looked around the table at all of us, at Viora sipping her tea, at Carmilla passing the warm bread to Leo, at little Mia smiling happily, and at me holding my dirty coat.

"No," Elena said softly, setting her mug down. "It’s not a bad thing. But it means you have to become twice as strong as everyone else if you want to protect all these idiots."