"Neither, I think?" Even they were unclear on what the answer was.
Jiahao didn't respond, she didn't really know how to. The idea that somebody could be devoid of any gender is foreign to her. But until recently so were vampires, and goat-human chimeras.
"They only bother to check the sex of the ones they keep for breeding, the ones who are kept for feeding, don't have a sex. It's to make us seem less like actual beings, and more like objects to the vampires that own us." Arden explained after seeing the clear confusion on Jiahao's face.
"I guess that makes sense." Jiahao mumbled, still not fully understanding this concept.
Arden stood up, and stretched out their arms before bending over, and picking up the wooden bowl now full of different sized blades of grass.
"Thanks," They mumbled before heading inside, leaving Jiahao in this garden alone.
Still feeling lost, she began to inspect the walls that surrounded her. It took a moment for her to realise that there were more entrances than the one she initially came through.
The other doors were all the same drab colour as the walls, allowing them to blend in with ease, not to mean there's no door handle on them. "Easy to enter, hard to leave." She mumbled to herself, remembering what Arden had just said.
There's over a dozen entrances into this garden, but only one clear exit. The one that leads to Arden's bedroom.
Jiahao began to wander the manor once more, but almost every room was the same, dusty, white cloth covering every piece of furniture, and enough spiders to make anyone's skin crawl. It seemed the only rooms that actually got used were the dining room, Alice's bedroom and Arden's bedroom. Every other room looked abandoned.
A small headache came over Jiahao, she took a seat on the hard cold wooden floor, deciding to rest for a second. The manor was huge, she felt exhausted already.
Her hands were shaky, and her vision felt blurry, she took a few deep breaths. She couldn't give up now.
She can't give up now. That is until she suddenly passes out.
It took some time before anyone found her.
"Arden, why has this happened?" Alice seemed genuinely confused at the state Jiahao was in.
"Was she just tired? She could've gone to bed, do humans not go to bed?" She shook her head, seeming disappointed in Jiahao.
"Um, no, I think she fainted." Arden added, seeming a little dumbfounded at Alice's reaction.
"Why?" Alice spoke in a way that sounded more commanding than inquisitive. Almost demanding that Arden provides a suitable answer.
"I'm not a human professional, I don't know." Arden shrugged, not seeming to be all too concerned with the situation at hand.
"Malnutrition?" They posed waiting for an answer.
"Elaborate." Alice demanded once more.
"Didn't you used to be a vampire prince? Shouldn't know what malnutrition means?" Arden became increasingly more dumbfounded as this situation continued.
Alice glared at them, waiting for them to finally answer the question.
"Human's need food, like meat-" Alice cut them off.
"But what about blood?"
"I'm not sure that will get the job done." Arden scratched their head, sure they knew a lot more about humans than Alice. But at the end of the day, they're only part human, they don't really know what humans need to live.
"But I mean, I haven't seen Jiahao eat since she's been trapped here." They were just thinking out loud now.
"Jiahao?" Alice raised an eyebrow.
"It's her name." Arden clarified, their brows furrowing at just how daft Alice really is. They felt a small headache coming over them too, but it was just frustration.
"Well bring Jiahao downstairs to bed, and fix this situation." Alice commanded, much to Arden's shock. They thought Alice wouldn't really care if the human died or not.
After Arden thought about this for a moment, they came to the conclusion that a dead human did seem like a huge hassle. Without any complaints Arden slung Jiahao over their shoulder effortlessly, and began bringing her down to the dungeon.
Arden was unsure of how to really fix this situation, they were good at a lot of things, but nursing a human back to health was out of their expertise. They were better at harming humans than fixing them.
Feeling lost, Arden went to their room and began to scan through their books, they grabbed the small few books they had on humans, and their two notebooks.
'Wait, why do I only have two notebooks?' Arden thought to themselves. There's no way Alice has it, she wouldn't read a book even if you paid her. Arden checked a few other rooms in the manor, but couldn't find the missing notebook. Eventually they gave up, assuming that the book couldn't have gone far, and began reading up on what to do.
Most, if not all the books Arden owned had been written by vampire scholars, and for the most part, they were relatively factual. However, the books about humans weren't.
Vampires had stopped actively feeding on humans hundreds of years ago, and instead switched to goat-human chimeras. Current vampire society was extremely out of touch with how humans worked.
It would be easier to find more factual information on the God's than a human.
Arden sighed, this was proving to be more than a challenge.
With what little knowledge they did find, they knew Jiahao needed water, and food. And apparently grass on its own was not suitable food.
They went to the garden, and foraged every plant they knew was edible, before boiling them, trying to make some sort of soup. The manor didn't actually have human food so this was yet another challenge.
By the time they made it downstairs again Jiahao had awoken.
Without hesitating Arden presented the bowl of soup. "Eat."
Jiahao took the bowl without words and began to drink from it, grimacing slightly with each sip. It didn't taste amazing, but Damien had created much worse concoctions before. She couldn't remember the last time she had eaten, without complaints she inhaled what was in the bowl.
Without missing a beat, Arden took the bowl away from Jiahao and replaced it with a glass of water. One of the very same fancy crystal glasses she had tried to steal only days prior.
She paused before taking a sip, the water was… clear. Completely clear the whole way through, it had been a long time since she had seen water with no dirt in it. She slowly sipped from the glass before mumbling a quiet "Thank you," to Arden.
The pain continued to ring throughout her head, but she was grateful nonetheless.