"Ohhh! Ethan… What an honor! What brings a guy of class like you to come to this humble home today?"
Leaning casually against the wooden doorframe, Ruby tilted her head with practiced elegance. A radiant smile suddenly appeared on her face - a stark contrast to the icy expression she had worn just a moment earlier when she first saw Ethan.
Ethan couldn't help feeling a bit uneasy as he looked at the gleaming fangs peeking beneath Ruby's luscious red lips. Unlike Autumn and Royce - Vampires who always kept their fangs hidden in public - Ruby seemed to relish every opportunity to show hers off.
Suppressing a sigh, Ethan let his gaze wander around the room behind Ruby, deliberately avoiding her deadly stare. And he couldn't hide his surprise at the extravagant and flamboyant design of the room behind the otherwise ordinary-looking door.
Under normal circumstances, the VIP girls' dressing room inside Harmony High's Grand Theater should have looked elegant and luxurious. That is - if it weren't crammed with furniture that seemed to have absolutely nothing to do with each other.
For instance, hanging right in the middle of the ceiling was a massive crystal chandelier. Its dazzling light sparkled brilliantly, casting a strangely stifling glow over the enormous grand piano below - an instrument that already occupied a ridiculous amount of space in the room.
To the right side of the room stood four makeup stations, each mirror framed with LED lights. The tables were pushed so closely together that Ethan initially thought they were connected into a single unit. Their surfaces were a chaotic mess with cosmetic boxes, bottles, and jars scattered everywhere, mixed with withered bouquets of flowers, empty snack wrappers, and half-finished cups of milk tea.
Where there was trash, there were bound to be cockroaches. And judging by the tiny black specks scattered across the makeup tables, those could only be cockroach droppings.
Across from the makeup stations, on the left side of the room, stood a row of wardrobes and racks displaying flashy outfits - clearly stage costumes. Although the racks and cabinets still had plenty of empty space, most of the shoes were strewn wildly across the floor without any order whatsoever.
At the far end of the room sat a cute little tea table and a white leather sofa set. Behind them stood an entire mirrored wall that reflected every inch of the room - doubling the already overwhelming sense of chaos and clutter.
Absolutely dreadful.
Absolutely…!
Being a math prodigy who rarely had the chance to read books or novels, Ethan simply didn't have the vocabulary to properly describe the level of mess in this room.
In short, the room was the complete opposite of the Femme Fatale - the most beautiful girls in Harmony High, who always appeared flawlessly perfect from head to toe.
Ethan forced his facial muscles to stay neutral, trying to hide his horror. As someone who preferred a minimalist lifestyle, the mere sight of piles of clutter surrounding him made him feel suffocated, almost short of breath.
He didn't like this room. He didn't like the Femme Fatale. And he certainly didn't want to approach Ruby under these circumstances. But there was no turning back now. He had no other options left. This was his last resort.
"Ha! What's this?"
Ruby smiled mockingly when her predator-like eyes noticed the figure lying in Ethan's arms.
"Oh ho ho. Looks like someone couldn't control her instincts."
Pushing past the doorway to stand beside Ruby, Yara immediately noticed Autumn's condition and burst into delighted laughter. Anya, still unsure what exactly had happened, joined in her twin sister's laughter anyway.
In contrast to the girls' excitement and barely concealed glee, Kai sat quietly in the center of the room, his slender fingers gliding across the piano keys. He was playing a sorrowful melody - so melancholic it seemed to swallow the room - completely indifferent to the chaos unfolding by the door.
With graceful, almost theatrical steps, Ruby guided Ethan to a place where he could lay Autumn's limp body down. It was a sofa in an old royal style - yet strangely cute, and oddly fitting for Autumn.
"She's not breathing. Her heart's not beating either. And her body temperature is dropping. Maybe she really did die. But how could it happen so suddenly? Could it be a stroke? Or maybe a heart attack?"
Anya hurriedly announced her conclusion after checking Autumn's vital signs herself - exactly the same way Andrew the Detective had done earlier.
"You idiot. Didn't you realize she got shot by the Anti-Vampire Defense System? Haven't you been hit by it before? Or do you need to get blasted a few more times before that memory sticks in your goldfish brain?"
Yara smacked Anya hard on the back of the head. The pink-haired girl with the "goldfish brain" wasn't about to take that quietly. She shoved her twin sister straight onto the floor. Within seconds, the two sisters were clawing and hair-pulling each other in a chaotic tangle.
Yet in the middle of the room, Kai continued playing the piano calmly… as if nothing in the world could possibly disturb him.
Meanwhile, Autumn's face remained completely still, utterly unaffected by the commotion around her. Her clear brown eyes - whose pupils had dilated to an unnatural size - stared blankly into some distant void.
"Shhh."
The twins finally fell silent after receiving a murderous glare from Ruby, the leader of the group.
Ruby carefully brushed the loose strands of hair away from Autumn's face. Something unusual was revealed. A tiny needle - so small it was almost invisible - was embedded just behind her ear, right near the salivary gland. The blood vessels around the puncture had already turned dark black.
"All this time she's been criticizing us for not hiding our instincts. And now she dares to enter Awakened mode and attack a human right inside Harmony High? You're not the victim, are you?"
"No. It wasn't me. It was Andrew the Detective from Class 11B… He provoked her first."
Ethan shook his head and briefly explained what had happened earlier in Classroom 11D to Ruby and the twins.
"So… where's Royce? Why didn't you ask him for help instead of lowering yourself to come to us?"
Ruby asked with a mocking smile. As she spoke, Ruby's slender fingers - decorated with elaborate gemstones and meticulously painted nails - kept gliding gently across Autumn's cheek.
"My phone is broken…"
Ethan frowned as he remembered his battered old phone.
After surviving countless impacts during recent incidents, it had finally given up when Autumn snatched it from his hand earlier to stop him from transferring money to Andrew the Detective.
"And that little Vampire Hunter girl of yours? Didn't she help you either?"
"Camellia wasn't at the Library… She left a letter on the desk. In it, she wrote that…"
Ethan suddenly caught himself and bit his lip, stopping his words just in time.
He told himself it would be unwise to reveal - especially to Ruby and her companions - that Camellia had gone to pick up another Vampire Hunter in Harmony Town to investigate the Blood Giver.
After all, Ruby herself was still the prime suspect behind the series of incidents happening in town.
Hmph. The irony of the situation was almost laughable.
Ethan had originally planned to approach Ruby carefully, to investigate her in a more professional and effective way. Yet now… He had come here to ask her for help. It was a situation he had never imagined in his life.
"Hah! Normally Autumn's so close to Royce and Camellia, yet when she actually needs them, neither of them is anywhere to be found."
"… I can't unlock Autumn's phone. That's why I need your help. I'm not asking for much. I just need you to call Summer for me."
Ethan cut Ruby off. He didn't like the way she was criticizing his friends.
"I don't have his phone number."
"Then could you call Celestia?"
"Why would I suddenly call my sister?"
"Celestia is Summer's girlfriend, isn't she?"
"Oh right. I almost forgot. But Ethan, what does their relationship have to do with me?"
Ruby giggled. The twins immediately joined in her laughter.
"Autumn has always considered you family."
Heat rushed up Ethan's face. It felt as though a flame of anger had suddenly ignited in his chest. But he forced himself to stay calm and spoke as gently as he could, trying to persuade Ruby to help.
"Ha ha! Ethan, you're so naïve. Just because two people are in love doesn't mean they'll end up together. As far as I'm concerned, my sister's boyfriend - that penniless guy named Summer - is nothing but a stranger to me. And his little sister is practically a nobody in my eyes. You've seen it yourself. My relationship with Autumn has never exactly been… pleasant."
"Please! I'm begging you, just help me!"
Ethan suddenly shot to his feet. He roared so loudly that the girls fell silent at once, and even Kai, playing the piano in the distance, stopped mid-note.
He knew full well that no one begged for help with that kind of temper. But Ethan couldn't control himself anymore. Because the dark root-like veins spreading from the spot behind Autumn's ear were expanding outward - so fast that the change was visible to the naked eye.
"Help you? Why should I help you? Why are you so desperate over her? She's not even family to you. Or is she? Or maybe… you actually have feelings for her. You're in love with her, aren't you?"
Ruby stood up as well. She pointed a finger straight at Ethan's face, her posture proud and imposing. Her voice rang out sharp and commanding, like a prosecutor interrogating a defendant in a trial…
… A trial of the heart.