# Chapter 122: Side Story (2)
"Where are we?" The speaker was a frail girl, her voice small and trembling. It seemed that fear had overtaken her, her slightly hunched frame shaking uncontrollably.
Before them stretched nothing but darkness. In the cramped, damp room, not a single lamp burned. An unpleasant, strange smell invaded the noses of these boys and girls as they looked around. Only from the faintly glowing window could they tell they had been taken far from the lives they once knew.
Beyond the window lay a dense, black forest. Towering trees silently surrounded the little house, and in the distance, mountains could be faintly glimpsed.
This was no longer the bustling city they called home.
"Stay close to me in a moment." The speaker was the only person among the group still composed. His voice was calm and level, as if the situation they found themselves in was nothing to be surprised about.
Everyone immediately looked up at him. A somewhat hurried, sharp voice broke the silence: "Chang Liang, do you know how to get out of here?"
The young man ignored him, his gaze sweeping past the crowd to a secluded corner. Standing there was another young man who was also looking up at him, as if he hadn't expected to be noticed. His beautiful pupils dilated slightly, then quickly dropped to the floor.
Chang Liang's eyes darkened. He stepped forward. The boys already paralyzed by fear immediately shrank back, parting to give him a path. Chang Liang finally stopped before the young man he'd been watching. "Qi An, stay close to me."
"Ah?" The named young man lifted his head, and under Chang Liang's intense gaze, could only nod in bewilderment.
"Your Highness, please calm down." Perched on a tall tree, a young man with bat-like wings on his back quickly spoke to the person beside him, whose entire being radiated a freezing aura. "Have you forgotten what we discussed earlier? Don't you want to display your handsome and dashing side before him? You've seen it too—he's so delicate. If you burst in like this, you'll only frighten him!"
"Did you see that commoner? He actually... actually dared to—" The expressionless prince's voice was as cold as ice. "I haven't even spoken to him yet, haven't stood that close to him, and I still... haven't even had the chance to say his name in front of him..."
The handsome prince had started quite boldly, but the further he went, the quieter his voice became. Though the prince's expression hadn't changed one bit, Zhang Du could somehow hear the thick委屈 (resentment/hurt) seeping through every word.
The kind of hurt that required serious coaxing to fix.
The leaves rustled overhead. The proud prince, who was usually so untouchable, seemed to grow more aggrieved by the second. "This is all your fault. If you hadn't scheduled my entrance so late, this prince... this prince wouldn't be standing here like a fool, watching!"
Zhang Du's expression flickered. His mind raced, and he summoned a startling amount of survival instinct. "No, no—Your Highness, you must think of it this way. The more important a person is, the later they make their entrance! You're more handsome than this fellow, your status outranks his, your power surpasses his. Even if you're a little late, it absolutely won't matter. This waiting is an investment in your future! Don't you want to see that look in his eyes—the look of admiration a heroine has for a hero? Soon, very soon, it'll be your turn for the hero-saves-the-damsel scene!"
The little wife's admiring gaze.
As if envisioning exactly that, the lofty prince elegantly pressed his lips together. His entire person became noble and aloof once more, though an unmistakable aura of blissful anticipation now radiated from him.
Zhang Du let out a silent sigh of relief. He was a newcomer to the Quick Transmigration Bureau. His mission in this world was to change the original protagonist's tragic fate. He had made countless attempts and designed numerous plans. But never in a million years had he expected his assignment to be so theatrical.
That very prince—one who held supreme power and could reshape Zhang Du's destiny—had suddenly sought him out. Just as Zhang Du thought he'd won over this powerful figure through sheer charisma, the prince had given him a cool look. "Help me pursue someone."
"What?"
"Aren't you the author of *The Arrogant Vampire and His Little Wife*?" The prince's expression instantly darkened.
Zhang Du remembered freezing at that moment. To save his own life, he frantically searched his memory for any connection to this. Finally, he recalled the book the original author had written:
【He is the lofty vampire who holds supreme power. Cold and arrogant, yet he lost his heart to him.
He is a blood sacrifice with delicious blood. Delicate and kind, defenseless in this blood-soaked world—but fortunately, he found him.
Two different species, two people of heaven-and-earth status, bound together by love...】
And so, his mission in this world had bizarrely transformed into helping this arrogant vampire prince court his little wife.