Lan Jia paused for a moment, then tried to step forward into the manor. He found that the blood-light barrier that the vampires had been unable to breach the previous night had not appeared. Relieved, he smiled and nodded at Sophia.

He noticed that the door to the castle hall was unlocked, so he knocked politely and called out, "Prince Grete, I am Langa, King Dracula's close attendant, and I have come to visit on King Dracula's orders."

Sophia was still weeding in the garden when, three minutes later, she saw Lan Jia leave looking flustered and looking quite panicked. Curious, she returned to the hall and asked Chu Nian, "What did Lan Jia want with you?"

Chu Nian said, "He came, probably because of Anna getting old."

Sofia asked, puzzled, "'Maybe'? What...what did he tell you?"

Chu Nian sipped her freshly made juice and said, "He didn't say anything at first, but when he saw me finish making the juice and turn around, he said to me, 'Hello, I would like to meet Prince Nian *Stuart *Greet.' I said, 'That is me.'"

He stared at me for a long time, as if I were a ghost, and then asked, "Why can you drink fruit juice?" I said, "This juice is made from an evergreen fruit that grows on Mount Alsino. Historical records state that this fruit is edible for vampires."

Sofia frowned and asked, "And then?"

Chu Nian: "Then he left in a panic."

Sophia stared at Chu Nian suspiciously: "So, he didn't mention Anna at all?!"

Chu Nian nodded and said "Mm".

Sophia became even more suspicious and said, "Since he came on Dracula's orders, why didn't he ask about Anna before leaving? How is he going to explain this to Dracula when he gets back?"

Chu Nian pondered for a moment and said, "I think he might be too surprised by what he was seeing, so he forgot to ask about Anna."

Sophia smiled helplessly, "How is he supposed to report back like this? Isn't he afraid Dracula will blame him?"

"Uh, it seems he's back again," Chu Nian said helplessly, quickly finishing the rest of her juice.

Sofia was a little confused by her actions: Was she afraid someone would steal her juice?

Lan Jia had regained his composure and politeness outside the door. He knocked again and said, "I'm sorry, Your Highness, it's me, Lan Jia. I hope you'll do me the honor of seeing me again."

His tone suggested that he had lowered his stance considerably.

Sophia shrugged and said, "I'd better go weed!" Then she went to open the door, let Lan Jia in, and went to weed.

When Lan Jia entered, she was surprised to find Chu Nian sitting on the sofa eating snacks, forgetting to even bow. She asked, "Excuse me... what are you eating?"

Chu Nian: "Dessert."

Lan Jia: "This is... a blood food that you specially developed yourself?"

Chu Nian: "This is just a regular dessert."

Lan Jia: "The kind of dessert that humans eat?"

Chu Nian: "Yes."

Lan Jia felt like his soul was leaving his body and asked, "Aren't vampires forbidden from eating human food?" One minute it's juice, the next it's dessert; he felt like he was living in a fantasy world.

Chu Nian: "That's true. However, there's a lake on Mount Alsino called the Salt Blood Lake. The lake water can alter the digestive system of vampires. After drinking it for a few days, we can eat small amounts of human food."

However, the lake water isn't drinkable in the long run. If I want to be able to eat human food indefinitely, I'd better improve my overall physical strength. My physical strength has already been honed by Dracula's beatings.”

The last sentence was her true feeling; even Dracula probably never imagined that the various forms of abuse he had inflicted on the original owner over the decades would actually increase her physical strength. In the days following her exploration of the entire library in the Chamber of Thought, Chu Nian ate nothing but Jia Lu Fruit and drank water from the Salt Blood Lake. As her body grew stronger, her digestive system underwent a complete transformation.

The Evergreen Fruit, on the other hand, is a special fruit whose pulp is extremely similar in composition to human blood, making it truly the most suitable fruit for vampires. Its nutritional value and effects on the vampire's body are in no way inferior to human blood.

As Chu Nian had said before, Dracula only made vampires drink human blood, without seeking out natural food for them to eat, which was truly a targeted approach.

Lan Jia felt that what he had heard was too fantastical, but he didn't think a second-generation vampire would need to deceive him, a fourth-generation vampire, in this regard. His lineage destined him to remain a servant even after more than two hundred years.

He murmured in disbelief, "But I've lived for over two hundred years and have never heard of vampires eating...human food."

Chu Nian: "That's because you've all been too obedient to Dracula. You've never thought about broadening your own horizons or finding what's truly suitable for you. His mental manipulation of the next generation as a father has greatly limited your development, and also limited the development of the vampire clan as a whole."

Lan Jia stood there, seemingly bewildered. For over two hundred years, he had regarded this as divine decree—a vampire common sense—as shattered, leaving him somewhat unable to accept it.

Seeing him standing there in a daze, Chu Nian asked, "What brings you here?"

Lan Jia then remembered the purpose of her visit. Looking at the young and radiant Chu Nian, she smiled and said, "You have regained your youthful beauty. Lan Jia sincerely congratulates you." As she spoke, she bowed.

Chu Nian said, "You didn't come here just to congratulate me." She then picked up the coffee on the table and took a sip.

The rich aroma of coffee wafted into Lan Jia's nostrils, filling him with a sense of longing: he hadn't touched coffee for over two hundred years, but before being embraced by a third-generation vampire, he often drank it at home. Back then, he was the crown prince of the Hillman Empire.

However, after becoming a vampire, he was taken away from the human world and entered the vampire territory, where he went from being a crown prince to his father's servant. He worked hard for over a hundred years to gain King Dracula's trust and become the king's close attendant, but he was still a servant.

Lan Jia quickly regained his composure and said, "King Dracula sent me here to convey his intention: as long as you can restore Princess Anna to her former state, he will try his best to meet your conditions. You can name any conditions you have."

Chu Nian thought for a moment and then said, "Alright, my condition is that Dracula opens Mount Alsino and allows all vampires to go to Mount Alsino to worship or visit."

Mount Alshinor, the well-known origin of vampires, has been guarded by the royal court for hundreds of years. Although no one has set up barriers around it, no vampire has ever set foot on Mount Alshinor without the king's permission.

However, this situation seems about to be completely changed by Prince Stuart Grete.