“Click.”
The sound of the lock turning rang out three times every day.
Once in the morning, once at noon, and once in the evening.
Xu Fengling could now pinpoint that sound down to the second.
Not by a clock, of course—there were no clocks in her room, and her phone had long been taken away.
She told time by how hungry she was and the type of food Sister Ling Yue brought.
Breakfast was bread, lunch was rice with three dishes and soup, and dinner was sometimes noodles, sometimes sandwiches… and of course, there was always blood with every meal.
At noon, the lock clicked.
Feng Ling sat up from the bed and instinctively straightened the collar of her sleeping dress.
She saw Ling Yue walk in carrying a tray.
Today she wore a dark gray knit cardigan over a white top, her black hair pinned up with a wooden hairpin.
She looked like the kind of gentle big sister who would make pancakes for the whole family on a weekend morning.
But her eyes were cold—pure indifference.
Ling Yue set the tray on the bedside table and turned to leave.
Feng Ling stared at her back, lips moving, but in the end, no words came out…
The problem was, what could she say? No matter what she said, she couldn’t keep Ling Yue there, nor could she make Ling Yue say a single word to her.
“Bang.”
The door closed again, and the lock made another turn.
Feng Ling picked up the bowl and took a sip of soup.
Mm, it was tomato egg drop soup—still as good as ever.
Even during the cold treatment, Sister Ling Yue’s cooking never declined.
Or rather, she would never let it decline… because her standards for herself were higher than anyone else’s.
Feng Ling set the bowl down and looked at her arm.
There were a few scratch marks from fingernails, mostly healed now.
Vampires had strong regenerative abilities, but Sister Ling Yue’s nails seemed to carry something that inhibited healing.
Every time she was scratched, the wounds took days to fully disappear.
That was probably intentional too… to make her remember.
Feng Ling finished the soup, then the rice and the shredded pork with green peppers.
Actually, she wasn’t that hungry, but she knew that if she didn’t finish, Sister Ling Yue would be even more displeased.
Though Sister Ling Yue no longer showed “displeasure”—she would just take the leftovers away, and the next time, the portions would be a little smaller.
Feng Ling placed the empty bowl and plate back on the tray, then lay back down on the bed, staring fixedly at the crack in the ceiling that stretched from the chandelier to the corner of the wall.
She had stared at that crack for who knows how many days—she could draw its shape with her eyes closed.
Then she turned over and buried her face in the pillow.
The pillow smelled of Sister Ling Yue… and Feng Ling used to love that scent.
Every time Sister Ling Yue held her, she would secretly take a deep breath… but now it only made her throat tight.
Because every time she smelled it, she remembered those eyes that held no warmth at all.
After an unknown amount of time, the lock clicked again.
Ling Yue came in to take the tray, not even glancing at her the entire time.
Feng Ling could no longer remember how many days she had been locked up.
At first, she kept count: one day, two days, three days… by the seventeenth day, she got confused—because one day, Sister Ling Yue only brought food twice, and she couldn’t tell if that meant two days had passed or just half a day.
So she stopped counting.
It didn’t matter anyway.
She lifted her head and looked at the window.
The window was sealed shut.
Also, this bedroom was on the second floor of the castle, with the window facing the interior of the mountain, so even if she broke the glass, there would only be a stone wall outside.
Sister Ling Yue had even considered that detail.
‘Really… too professional…’
Feng Ling muttered to herself.
She hadn’t talked to anyone for a long time.
Since the second day after she was brought back, Ling Yue hadn’t spoken a single word to her… it was as if the gentle, smiling Sister Ling Yue had never existed.
Actually… she didn’t really want to talk to Sister Ling Yue that much.
She was just too lonely—with no one to talk to.
Back in the human world, even though she was bullied and abused, at least there were those annoying voices at school, her mother’s nagging at home, and the honking of cars on the street.
Now there was nothing—only her own breathing and heartbeat.
Occasionally, she would sing loudly in her room, talk to herself, or speak to her reflection in the mirror.
But that only made her feel more pitiful.
A golden canary locked in a cage, with no one to listen to its song.
‘Enough… stop thinking. What’s the point?’
Feng Ling rubbed her eyes hard, then went to the desk and sat down.
The room was luxurious, but now that Sister Ling Yue’s warmth was completely gone, there was nothing that made her feel like this was home.
It was just a nice-looking prison.
…
After another unknown stretch of time, Feng Ling saw Ling Yue enter with a tray.
This time, it was a bowl of noodles and a small dish of pickled vegetables.
“Hey, Sister Ling Yue.”
Feng Ling suddenly spoke.
“The noodles smell really good today… and I can’t finish that much… can you… can you eat with me?”
She had mustered all her courage to speak to Sister Ling Yue.
But Ling Yue left the room without even turning her head.
Feng Ling stared at the door for a long time… then looked down at the bowl of noodles—her favorite, tomato egg noodles.
Back then, when Sister Ling Yue made these noodles, she would sit across from her, smiling, watching her eat, and ask: “Is it good? If it is, I’ll make it again next time~”
But now she wouldn’t even look.
Feng Ling picked up her chopsticks, lifted a strand of noodles, and put it in her mouth.
It was still delicious… but as she ate, tears fell.
…
So how long did this go on?
Feng Ling didn’t know.
All she knew was that her mental state was getting worse and worse.
Sometimes she would suddenly talk to the air, only to realize there was no one there.
Other times, she would sit motionless on the bed, staring at the wall for hours.
And sometimes, she would bite the back of her hand hard until she tasted blood, then let go.
Her vampire constitution made the wounds heal quickly, leaving no scars.
Just like herself—no matter how hurt she was, she would appear intact in this room the next day.
Feng Ling looked at the teeth marks on the back of her hand.
They were fading, disappearing at a visible rate.
‘How funny… even self-harm is useless.’
She laughed bitterly, then turned over to face the wall.
At that moment, chaotic images began to surface in her mind.
When she was little, her mother bought Xu Feng the toy he really liked, only for his father to smash it with his own hands.
In third grade, a deskmate drew a birthday card for him, with the crooked words: “Happy Birthday, Xu Feng!”
And then there was Sister Ling Yue—the one who turned around in the sunset and said with a smile, “Xiao Feng, what are you doing here?”
The one who held her in the castle and said, “From today on, you are mine forever.”
And also the one who bit her neck in the dark and said, “Pain will make you remember that you belong to me.”
Feng Ling buried her face in the pillow and cried.
She thought that maybe she really had made a mistake.
Not in running away, but in the way she did it.
If she hadn’t designed that “trust test,” if she hadn’t tricked Sister Ling Yue, if she hadn’t purified herself after Sister Ling Yue sealed her powers and then run away… maybe Sister Ling Yue wouldn’t be this angry.
Maybe they would still be like before.
She would curl up on the sofa playing games.
Sister Ling Yue would read beside her, occasionally scratching her with a fingernail.
That kind of life… though not normal, at least wasn’t lonely.
At least someone talked to her… and someone watched her.
Feng Ling wiped her tears and sat up.
No, she couldn’t go on like this.
She had to find a way to make Sister Ling Yue forgive her, to bring everything back to how it was.
No matter what it took.