Blissful Bite ─ Venti x reader

4. ; TURN OF EVENTS

I glanced at Kaeya, his eyes narrowing towards me. Just like as if I were the prime suspect, perhaps, was I supposed to feel honoured or cry that he paid attention to me. Well, I'd prefer to cry out of embarrassment, not physically, though. I mean—to be quiet frankly, crying is a vulnerability I can not afford. Most would exploit it in case I'd open up. I also can't remember crying.

Not in a long while. But this, having to face Kaeya, it caused goosebumps to run down my spine at lightning speed.

Once I caught myself staring at him, I realized, I was was lost in thought while also trying to conceal my worst nightmares bleeding through the surface, which made me realise it was too late. The heat of the flush was spread all over my face. Even if it wasn't visible, my grimace of embarrassment reached deeper than any other expression would.

I turned my head away as fast as a net shooter. However, in that moment—odd as it may sound, when I found my sight trail over to his eyepatch, I recalled having heard how he lost his brother to unknown circumstances, apparently. Rumours in the dark of the night tell a lot more than the ones during the light.

Some claim he might have lost himself to madness when using a delusion once. Another may say he was lost to vampires. The oddest of them all is that one of the brothers died in a duel.

Well, Kaeya stood here. He wore an eyepatch as a sign of surviving his brother. The same eyepatch he had worn since the fight was a trademark sign he stood out with aside from that gloomy smirk.

His cold demeanour was an expression that made me feel at unease whenever I caught a glimpse of it...

He was an expert in transferring an eerie mood to wherever he passed through. Whether it was the echoing steps or the lack of smiles he brought to a room.

I went as fast as my feet allowed me to carry on without running and stirring suspicion. My eyes darted between the portraits whose eyes stared at me and made the room swallow and small. They were drawing the walls closer to my shaking limbs.

I hated this place.

Oh, yes, I despised it since I had been little.

And yet, the biggest contradiction I've faced in my life was this huge mess. To work at a place only because it was the most legal way of extinguishing the very thing I hated. Which were vampires that would drain me of my blood-which was at least half of them. There were few minorities.

I preferred to stay on this side of history with my blurred line of saving people from harm than work with the group associated with morals that aligned less with me than that of the order of favonious.

I walked along the hallway and stumbled over a book. Lisa snarled at me, "Watch your way," her scolding was one of the few things I didn't despise. Somehow, it reminded me of my parents. They were far away pushed from my memories. I wanted them banished-but every passing interaction with Lisa reminded me of them. Sometimes, I dislike it. Sometimes, it made me feel better.

"Be more careful." she reminded me as I picked up the book. Her thin fingers reached out for the book, and she grabbed it. "I don't want my books destroyed and you on the ground. You're far too valuable for the order." she sighed when her green eyes met mine. Her gaze broke off as swiftly as it met mine, and she pushed a hairstreak out of her face that had bothered her, behind her ear. I noticed time and time again how everyone was just human-like me, even if we acted horribly to each other under stress to strengthen our survival.

The portraits that hung around us stared at us, judging our souls, the scars our skins wore, and the grim expressions we held.

I halted when I caught sight of a dark, violent, chaotic-but incredibly beautiful portrait.