Lady Dhampir
Chapter 235

Next to her, Raphael went whiter, his eyes opening wide. Their father was staring from across the Lobby, too, probably had he heard this even before them. Milena's hand was shaking. "M-Millie, that fur, it looks a lot like..."

"....Where did you replace it?" She asked coldly.

"On Lady Sofia's body, my Lady."

"I want more details."

Her ice-cold voice sent a shrill down the soldiers' spines, who exchanged a quick nod, making sure they would back each other in this.

"Yes, my Lady. As per my Lady's instructions, we rode as far as we could to catch up to Lady Sofia and ensure her protection. We followed the path she should have taken, and made our way to her son's house, but to her surprise, he immediately told us his mother had never arrived. He was about to send us a message to signal this to the Manor. We interrogated him further, but it was clear Lady Sofia's son was distressed about his mother's disappearance, so we turned back, searched within the area, and enlarged our research perimeter. After a short while, we... We found her body in the woods, much further east."

"The wounds on Lady Sofia's body don't match a blade, my lady. Those were clearly animal bites."

"What size?"

The two men lowered their heads, visibly very uneasy.

"There were several sizes... From a dog to something larger, like a bear..."

Milena's throat tightened. She couldn't make sense out of all this.

"Damn," grumbled Raphael. "Milena, this really sounds like... I mean..."

"... Was that the only kind of fur you found there?"

"We gathered every proof we could, my lady. Ugh... Truthfully, it looks like it's been... a couple of days since the attack. Her body was under a pile of snow and in a bad... state."

"Did you bring it back?" Raphael asked.

"We are working on it, my Lord, two of us stayed behind to dig it out of the snow and release it from the ice."

Given the temperatures, if the body had spent the night outside, this was expected. The snow had piled up for two days, and given how low the temperatures fell at night, it couldn't be helped that the ice would trap the body.

"... Is there a possibility something else did it?" Muttered Raphael. "I don't doubt our knights, and we will see the body soon, but... Would there be another... like Blanche?"

Milena had thought about this too. The Church clearly was looking to create more White Ones, and they had met Blanche already. That priest they had met had seemed very interested in her companion, too much even. What if the Church had tried to recreate and shape-shifter, and was using it against them?

She slowly brought the bit of bloodied fur under her nose, and tried to smell it, but it was wet and hard to tell. Finally, with a frown, she presented it to her brother, who grimaced, but came to smell it as well, his sense of smell sharper than hers. "That's... It smells like a bit of your perfume, and... leather. From a saddle, maybe..."

Everything pointed at Blanche, but why? Why in the world would Blanche have attacked Sofia? She knew Sofia. They had both spent almost as much time with the gentle nanny that had raised all their generation of the De Crescent family! Since her mother's passing and upon her return, Sofia had been the closest person to a mother figure to Milena, and Blanche knew that. Milena felt frustrated; none of it made sense.

"...Where exactly?"

Her father's deep voice took her by surprise. The Duke had approached them as silently as a shadow and was now staring down at the two knights, who both got down on one knee in the same movement.

"Further East, my Lord. As we said, for some reason, Lady Sofia was taken far off her path. There were no indications as to why she had gone there either, or if she had been dragged off-road." "...Someone get me a map."

Digory took this occasion to go get it himself, and for a second, everyone in the hall was a bit awkward as to what to do. All the servants had been assembled to be interrogated by the Duke, but now the Lords and Lady looked busy with something more important, but no one had dismissed them yet. Hence, most of the De Crescent Staff was left to wait in unorderly ranks in the lobby while Digory went to fetch that map.

In the meantime, Eugenie arrived, her hair in a mess and wrapped in her thick velvet robe, looking completely at a loss.

"What in the world is going on?" She asked, walking up to her siblings-in-law. "I just got up, half my personal servants are gone, and it looks like we're preparing for a siege here!"

Raphael sighed, shaking his head and putting his hands on his hips.

"We, uh... Alright, let's get a bit of privacy for a second."

He pulled the two girls to the closest salon and closed the doors behind them. With all the servants assembled in the lobby, it made sense he would want to make sure not to say this in front of them, and the Duke could watch their staff too, so there was no way someone could eavesdrop either.

Milena refused to sit down when he offered her to, so all three of them simply stood in a room. It felt odd to be there with no servants around, not even their personal maids, but the situation was quite exceptional anyway. In a few words, he explained the situation to a shocked Eugenie, who covered her mouth not to scream as his explanations went on. Although she was already up to date, Milena felt a headache surge from hearing her brother summarize the tragedy of that night. They had lost both Sofia and Jeremiah before dawn... She couldn't believe two of her most trusted people were gone just like this. It felt unreal. Even worse was the knot in the stomach from the whole mystery about the situation.

"My God," muttered Eugenie, in a complete state of shock. "Oh, my God, Sofia... She raised our children, and even you... Oh, Lord... And even Jeremiah..."

"So, we believe there's a spy in the house," concluded Raphael in a bitter tone. "Milena asked Father to, uh... Take care of the interrogations, we'll say."

Eugenie nodded, but she was still visibly too shaken up. She took several deep breaths in and wiped her tears to regain her countenance before turning to Milena. "D-Do you think Blanche could have..."

"No."

Her answer was cold and final. Milena didn't even want to consider that possibility, not even a single second. Raphael and Eugenie exchanged a look, both a bit conflicted. They knew Blanche as well, and they had heard what the knights had said. Her brother turned to her, uneasy. "Milena, I love Blanche too, she's part of the family. But... Can you please consider..."

"I said no."

"Milena, she's still an... an animal," muttered Eugenie, visibly even more nervous. "I know she's been with you all along, but she's... We don't even really know what Blanche is. I'm not saying that's what happened, but perhaps... She... I don't know, if someone did something to her, or she felt threatened, and by mistake..."

"No," retorted Milena, her amethyst eyes piercing like daggers. "Blanche did not kill Sofia. She would have never hurt our nanny. She knew her. She loved her, and she wouldn't have been mistaken, either. How would she? She can smell someone that's on the other side of the manor. She can see anything far better than a hawk, and she can become anything she needs in case of danger. So why would she have attacked Sofia? She was with my babies. Blanche would have never left my babies' side without a good reason, and she would never attack someone without one either."

Raphael grimaced. He knew Milena had a point. Lucian had taken a different route from Sophia, on purpose. Why in the world would Blanche have met with Sophia, if they weren't supposed to cross paths at all? It would only have made sense if she had at least made it to her son's house first!

"... What if something happened to Sofia?" Muttered Milena.

"What are you thinking about?"

"I don't know! Something... must have happened. Maybe she arrived after Sofia was dead, and tried to dig her out..."

"What we heard did not sound like that, Millie."

"I don't know! We're missing parameters here. Blanche wouldn't have left L-... I mean, my babies' side without a good reason."

Milena's blood went cold. If Sofia was murdered and Blanche had gone off the designated route, what had Lucian and the twins become? Was Ruby at least still with them? Even if Blanche had gone rogue, and she hated to even consider that idea, at least Ruby would come back sooner or later. Her guard had promised she wouldn't come back until she was sure Milena's children were safe... For now, that was all that Milena could hold on to. She was doing her best to remain composed, but everything had gone tragically wrong so far. Her plan that had seemed perfect just a couple of days ago, was now completely shattered. Blanche, Sofia, Jeremiah. Three people she had trusted her whole life, and yet now Milena felt like she couldn't trust anything anymore.

She suddenly turned to Raphael, furious.

"Who knew?"

"W-what?"

"Who knew of our primary plan!"

"I-I don't know, like the handful of people we had told... Sofia, Jeremiah, Eugenie, our personal maids, and Digory..."

"Someone betrayed us," muttered Milena. Either Blanche or Sofia betrayed us, or someone else did and put everything into a mess." "Blanche is..."

"Even if Blanche had betrayed me," she hissed, "that would not explain Jeremiah's assassination! Blanche knew where my babies were, why would she have bothered with Jeremiah? No, someone else knew of the initial plan, the one I had to send the babies with Jeremiah and then Sofia. They were both killed before they even made it far enough, which means someone knew exactly what was going on!" Raphael didn't add anything. Milena was right. None of this made sense, and it would have taken a spy from the inside for her plan to fail. No one who was merely watching the domain could have intercepted both the knight and the nanny so fast, and yet let Lucian through... Milena's first plan being compromised was the most probable explanation, although it did not explain why Blanche would have attacked Sofia.

Milena turned her head to Eugenie.

"...Who did you tell?"

Her sister-in-law's expression fell.

"Excuse me? Milena, you can't be serious!"

"Milena, don't do this," muttered Raphael. "This is really not..."

"Tell me," she insisted, ignoring her brother.

"Milena, you're going too far," Eugenie retorted. "This is my family too, I would never do anything to harm my neph-!"

"My Lady," Olivia suddenly knocked at the door. "Lady Sofia's body came back!"

As the two women were still fiercely glaring at each other, Raphael let out a long sigh of relief.

"Oh, thank God... Let's just go and see for ourselves, please. Milena, Father will interrogate every single person in the Manor first. And then, we can start focusing on, uh... O-other possibilities, alright? Please?"

The Princess and Duchess kept staring at each other for a while, before Raphael gently pushed them out. Milena was the first to walk away, although she hadn't calmed down one bit. Instead, she was just more interested in replaceing more clues, if possible. Sofia's body had been brought just now, it seemed. The knights who had transported her were both still out of breath and sweating profusely. They had probably ridden as fast as they could to bring her back. The old nanny was wrapped in one of the De Crescent cloaks, but her appearance still sent a wave of shock throughout the servants. A few maids began to cry loudly, and Digory appeared at the same time, carrying the map. The Butler's expression fell as he saw the nanny, but he carried on and brought the map to the Duke right away.

"Where?" Anton asked coldly.

"Here, my Lord," said one of the men, showing a point on the map. "In this area."

"...This is further than I thought," muttered Raphael, looking over their father's shoulder. "It's far off Sofia's road to her son's house. She... had no reason to be there."

"... Neither had Blanche," added Eugenie with a sour expression.

Milena ignored her, and leaned over the old nanny's body. It wasn't just her death that had choked the maids, but her corpse's gruesome appearance. It really did look like several savage beasts had attacked her... And the ice had preserved a lot of the bites in a half-bloody state, too. The carpet of the lobby would have to be replaced for sure. Milena tried to keep her sadness concealed. In fact, it was bottomless at this moment, but she needed answers. With febrile hands, she began searching the older woman's clothes. She could remember precisely what Sofia looked like when she had left, and it was nothing like this. Her clothes had been torn apart, the flesh ripped open. She had visibly been attacked from upfront, and Milena could less and less push back the idea that Blanche had been responsible for this.

After a sigh, Raphael appeared on the other side of the body, and began searching with her, although he was making a disgusted expression all along. Only the Duke and Eugenie stayed further back, each for their own reason. "...She used a weapon," muttered Raphael.

"What?"

"Look at her hands," he said, raising it for Milena and their Father to see. "There are recent traces of holding something very tight; her palm is... damaged like someone who would have burnt their palm on a leather handle." "...Did Sofia have a weapon?" Eugenie muttered.

"I believe so, Lady Eugenie," said Digory. "A small dagger, for self-defense."

"...Sofia was right-handed, right?...Well, there's no... Oh, I found the holster, but that dagger is not there."

Raphael and Milena exchanged a look over the body, and resumed their searching. As she moved her fingers close to the nanny's damaged face, Milena's eyes fell on two little punctions on her lower nape.

"What the... Sofia was bitten?"

Raphael rushed to her side, seeing the bite for himself.

"What the... Sofia never fed anyone! ... Not that I know off."

"She never did," confirmed Digory. "Not in the manor."

This was definitely odd. The more they observed the injury, the more the siblings could tell something was off. The bite was deep and still very vivid, unlike most vampire bites that could be healed quickly. Finally, Raphael leaned over to sniff it. "....What is that odd smell," he muttered. "It doesn't... It doesn't even smell like blood!"

He tried to push against the skin, making a couple of drops come out. He took it to his tongue and immediately, made a disgusted exception.

"That's... gross," he muttered. "I don't know what the hell bit Sofia, but it's... there's something abnormal in that bite. ...I'll contact the Sevira sisters. We need to analyze that crap, if possible. It might be a poison or something. I don't know."

Milena wasn't so sure. She thought Raphael would have recognized the taste of most regular poisons, and poison wouldn't have explained the situation of Sophia's death either. There would have been no reason for Blanche to attack if the nanny was already poisoned... Unless there was something else going on. Once again, Milena felt like a huge part of this was escaping her. She kept looking through the wet and cold clothes, sometimes grimacing when her fingers reached wet flesh instead. Suddenly, something small came to her hand. She struggled to take it out of the small space it had been stuffed into... But the touch felt oddly familiar to her hand. Milena pulled it out. Something like a faint, small wave of relief appeared in her heart. "... What is that thing?" Muttered Raphael, confused.

"A message," Milena muttered, suddenly feeling very tired.

She turned the little object in her hands, and when it was clear there was nothing more about it, she handed it to Raphael, who took it, confused.

"A... Is that a... a squirrel carved into a piece of wood? Millie, I don't understand. What does that mean?"

"...I think that... He means we should trust Blanche."