Lady Dhampir
Chapter 236

"You should really get some sleep, Millie." "I'm alright," she lied.

No one in the room believed that. Raphael let out a long sigh and exchanged a look with Olivia, who was standing behind her mistress' seat. Both her and Dinah looked tired and depressed. Despite their endless loyalty to the Grand Princess, her personal maids hadn't escaped the Duke's ruthless interrogations. They had lasted a full day and night already, and absolutely no one in the Manor had been spared. Most of their servants were absolutely terrified, some had even tried to quit or leave before their turn had come, but it was no use. After several weeks in the dark and quiet, the Duke De Crescent was like a mad beast who had awoken from its slumber to look for blood. And blood there had been.

The Duke had already unmasked two servants who were actually spies, and gotten rid of them in a gruesome manner to set an example. The atmosphere in the Manor had turned scarily dark while everyone was trying to pretend a mini-inquisition wasn't happening. The only people able to endure the heavy atmosphere were the older servants and the De Crescent family itself. In fact, since their fight, Eugenie and Milena had politely avoided each other. Her sister-in-law wasn't getting over Milena's accusations, and Milena had no intention of apologizing either. Raphael was the only one who seemed to be feeling sorry about the situation between the two women, unable to reconcile the two or say who was actually right. There was a hard truth in belonging to the family De Crescent: they would always be exposed and vulnerable to conspiracies, plots and spies, and there was no avoiding that. As someone who had married into this family rather than been born in it, Eugenie was having a hard time enduring Milena's ice-cold temper and the Duke's terrible wrath. Aside from Raphael, no one dared to get in between the two women, and the already emotionally exhausted staff was just trying to get from one task to another without crying.

Raphael's eyes went down to the little piece of wood his sister had been holding onto for several hours now. She kept moving it between her fingers, turning it and touching every single bit, so much that the tip of her fingers had gotten a bit white from the wood dust.

"You're... sure that's from him?" He asked again in a soft voice.

Milena slowly nodded.

"He carved similar ones for Maria and Elizio. That squirrel is a message for me... to tell me things aren't what they seem."

Raphael glanced towards the door out of reflex. Since they had confirmed there were spies inside the De Crescent Manor, they had been holed up in a single room, behind heavy doors and guarded by guards, just him, Milena, their personal servants whom the Duke had already cleared of any doubt, and a warm chimney fire. The snow kept falling heavily, which made Raphael feel relieved. Although Milena seemed to have forgotten about visiting the Queen, he suspected she would suddenly want to go there at any moment, and hoped the thick coat of snow would dissuade her.

"I wish I knew what happened..." She muttered.

"It's odd that's all he left," sighed Raphael. "He could have left a note or something."

"Sofia's possessions were gone. I think he wanted to make sure to leave something only I would understand. So that if someone else found her, there would be no chance for a note to be robbed. No one would want a piece of wood."

Milena's eyes also went to the little piece. It was very roughly sculpted, not as well designed and precise as the ones Lucian had gifted his niece and nephew. Either this was a rough draft he had from before, or he had taken a few minutes to do this... She had no idea how long it would take to carve a small piece of wood. Perhaps Lucian had even left Blanche's hair on the scene deliberately too. In any case, it made sense only to Milena. Even Raphael had been confused until she explained that her childhood memories with Lucian were the key. She was a bit impressed he had thought of something so simple yet so impossible to decipher for anyone but her.

Milena had memories of a white squirrel running around the Manor, whenever she and Lucian were up to no good. It was an appearance Blanche hadn't taken much since they had grown up, but as a child, she had seen it many times. The squirrel had become Blanche's favorite appearance to cause a distraction. Whenever she and Lucian needed to sneak away, she'd take that appearance, act as a diversion, and come back. Milena wasn't exactly sure of what had happened, but she knew Lucian hadn't chosen the squirrel by chance. There was something more going on than meets the eye, and he was letting her know Blanche was still on their side. Perhaps he had used her as a distraction for something else, but she wasn't sure. In any case, this piece of carved wood meant that, at the very least, Lucian and Blanche were still together. He had put this on Sofia after her death, so Milena was holding onto the hope that there was something that had escaped them but made sense out of this. Because she couldn't believe for a second that her best friend would have killed her nanny.

"How much longer for the results?" She asked.

Since she was avoiding Eugenie, she hadn't moved from that room in hours, and Raphael was the one going in and out to update her on the situation in the Manor. Her brother yawned, a bit tired from staying up for two nights and a day straight, before answering. "... Hard to say," he sighed. "We sent the samples yesterday morning, but the Sevira sisters didn't say how long it'd take for them to analyze it, so..."

Milena grimaced. She hated waiting, and she hated even more when she didn't know how long she'd have to wait; however, there really wasn't much she could do. She had taken a couple of naps since Sofia's death, but the faces of her knight and nanny kept haunting her, and she just couldn't rest quietly. Worse, Milena kept thinking about her babies. They had no news of the twins, and even if she was holding on to what her brother had left behind, it wasn't enough to reassure the heart of a worried mother. She was dying to know how her babies were doing. She kept replaying the last few days in her head, wondering where she had gone wrong, what she should have done differently. Playing each scenario over and over wasn't making things better, and it wasn't easing the guilt either. Sadly, she knew she had run out of options.

"... Do we know if..."

"The Queen hasn't given birth," Raphael rolled his eyes. "If that were the case, I pity the Royal Messengers; the King would certainly not miss the chance to send them all across the Kingdom to spread the news that his royal seed has created something other than a whole lot of crap and issues."

Milena scoffed bitterly. At least her brother's dark humor towards the King was more than welcome... The only reason she was grateful for the snow was that she was left alone right now. No one would come to visit and inquire about her. While the Duke's furious interrogations and frantic control over the Manor would keep spies at bay, the snow kept coaches away as well, so no noble would pay an official visit. In fact, they were probably all staring towards the Royal Castle at the moment. The Queen's baby was going to be quite an event. Milena felt a bit bitter, once again. Her babies' birth should have been celebrated all the same, but instead, she had no choice but to send them away like criminals...

Suddenly, the doors burst open, making them all jump. The Duke stepped in, looking gruesome with blood on his face and hands. Milena grimaced, while the bravest servants trying to keep up with him insisted on offering him a wet towel.

"... Father," said Raphael. "Did you replace the spies? ... The ones we were looking for, I mean."

"I did."

The Duke suddenly threw a body in front of him, a young woman already dead, her eyes open wide and stuck in a look of absolute horror. Raphael covered his mouth, half disgusted and half shocked.

"No way... Isn't that... One of Eugenie's maids...?"

"Yes, Master Raphael," Digory appeared behind the Duke, bowing politely. "This young lady came with a letter of recommendation from the Countess De Iris herself as reinforcements after Lord Antonin's birth."

Milena and Raphael exchanged a look. So the spy had really come from Eugenie's side after all... Raphael felt a bit sorry for his sister-in-law. Not only was Milena proven right, but now the Duke's wrath was definitely going to put his only daughter-in-law in a difficult position. "W-What do we do?" He asked Milena, a bit worried.

"What are we supposed to do?" Retorted Milena. "The De Iris Family will have to answer for this."

"But two of your own ladies-in-waiting are from that family! This is Eugenie's parents we're talking about!"

Milena sighed.

"That maid had a recommendation letter from the Countess, Raphael. I'm not saying Eugenie or her sisters or behind this. There are at least five possibilities: first, our sister-in-law is involved, which I really don't believe either. We both know how loyal she was to Val. Second, her parents are involved, which, in all honesty, is more probable; the Church could have gotten to them despite their daughters. Third, the letter is a fake and they never sent that maid in the first place. Fourth, the letter is real, but the maid was replaced. The issue is that Eugenie would have probably been able to tell if a maid never came from her family, so those two options are unlikely."

"... What's the fifth?"

"Fifth is that maid turned on her own master and sold information she knew would also betray Eugenie and the De Iris family. It is the most probable in my eyes, although there might be more...Father?"

Their eyes went to the maid, who obviously couldn't talk any more. The Duke glared at her corpse, still as scary as ever.

"... She refused to talk."

Behind him, Digory let out a small sigh, his eyes also on the body. Although, knowing their butler, Milena suspected the stoic butler to be more sorry about the carpet than the deceased... Next to her, Raphael looked just as desperate. "Great," he grumbled. "Now I suppose we will have to interrogate our in-laws as to why the maids they sent here are apparently working with other ambitions! The next family reunion is going to be a joyful one for sure..." Milena didn't care much for her brother's rant. It wasn't as if there had ever been such a thing as a family reunion with the County Family in the first place; however, she was already thinking of writing to the two De Iris sisters working for her to let them know this had happened. She trusted both Prudence and Clorence even more than Eugenie, and had no doubt they had no idea about this. The two of them had been working hard for her sake for weeks now; they had proven their loyalty long ago for sure. "There are spies everywhere nowadays, anyway," she suddenly said.

"... What do you mean, Millie?"

"It's going to be hard to pressure the De Iris family into confessing anything if they are indeed working with the Church."

"I can pressure them," assured her father.

"I don't doubt that, but we might alienate another family in the meantime," Milena shook her head. "All their daughters are allied with our family, and their son is barely at the age to take over when he comes back from the war. Isn't it odd?" "... Do you think they could have made an alliance with the Church because of their son?" Raphael frowned. "If anything happens to their heir, it will be hard for them. I mean, most noble families have had succession issues since the war started..."

That was the sad truth. Valentin had sacrificed himself because as long as their father was there, he knew the family would be strong enough to endure, and her brother maybe didn't have that confidence in himself. In other families, however, the nobles might have sent their sons with the fear their heirs wouldn't return. Milena couldn't help but feel disheartened. It's not that they didn't have the power to crush the De Iris family if necessary; that family might disappear on its own. No one was really safe until the outcome of the war was known for sure, and even after, who knew what conflict Rayan's return would bring. Milena was sure her brother-in-law was no stranger to the delayed return of the Army, but she doubted Ellias had the power to do this all by himself. There were more people pulling the strings, people who did not care about the noble heirs and the men held hostage in between.

"Father, just send a letter to the Count for now," said Milena. "Just enough to scare him into telling us what he knows, and tell him what we already know. Perhaps that will be enough to scare them into talking, if they do know anything..." "I will."

"Let's wait until the results of the analysis come back," muttered Milena. "Perhaps the Sevira sisters will be able to replace out why the hell Blanche would have attacked Sofia..."

"We won't have it for a couple more days, at least," said Raphael. "Milena, I promise to wake you up the minute I know more about this, but please, go to bed. You're supposed to still be pregnant, but no one will believe that if you stay up night and day like an old vampire. Just go and get some actual sleep, have your maids prepare you some herbal tea or something, but try to sleep today."

Out of arguments to oppose him, Milena only grimaced a bit, defeated. It was true she was tired, despite the front she was trying to keep up. Not being able to sleep properly for several nights in a row was starting to take a real toll on her body. She even missed being pregnant, and the heavy sleep that would hit her at the most random times.

Hence, she didn't argue anymore and, just as her brother suggested, she was escorted to her bedroom by her maids. At the very least, her father seemed to be back to his former self, even if it was just for a moment. Milena held high hopes that this would relieve her own work in the Manor, and perhaps, scare their enemies away for a short while.

Genuinely wanting to sleep, she did her best to try and replace a comfortable position, letting Dinah and Olivia close the curtains and set her favorite scented candles in the room, but nothing felt right anymore in this bedroom. Even long after they were gone, Milena found it useless to keep her eyes closed. Her childhood bedroom didn't feel familiar or comforting anymore.

Blanche was gone. Her babies were gone. Rayan was gone... Even Lucian and Val had left the Manor. Sofia, Jeremiah... Nothing was like before anymore. She heavily sat up on her bed, glaring at the dim daylight that filtered behind her heavy curtains. She just wanted to cry herself to sleep, but she felt too tired to cry, yet too sad to sleep. Nothing felt right anymore, and Milena wondered how she had gotten herself to that strange state of mind. Perhaps because she wasn't sure of anything. She wasn't sure if her babies and husband were dead or alive right now. What she knew was that there was still a bit of hope, like this ray of light, harassing her and making her believe. Milena had never called herself a believer, but right now, she was ready to pray with all of her strength for her family to somehow survive this. She was scared of what she would have been able to do to ensure their survival, but she was a different woman now. She had seen too many of her loved ones die already, and she wasn't ready to lose anyone else. Not Rayan, not her babies. Not her brothers, not even her father. If she fell asleep, would everything turn into a dream, or a nightmare? Her eyes drifted from the curtains, to fall onto the little cabinet instead. In a split-second decision, Milena got up and opened it. In every adult noble's room, there was always a little supply of alcohol, and for vampires, blood. Right now, Milena wasn't tempted by the latter, but by the promise of alcohol's sweet, numbing poison. She opened it without thinking much of it, smelled the fruity wine, and drank directly from the bottle, letting the sweet taste get all over her tongue. She hadn't drank a drop since she had learned of her pregnancy, so it hit her a bit quickly. A part of her was ashamed, but the other part was welcoming this little moment of insanity. She took the bottle with her, and her bed sheets, and curled herself on one of the large armchairs in front of the dim fire, waiting for the alcohol to take effect, one sip after another.

Milena didn't even realize she had fallen asleep, but she was brutally awakened by a faint knock at her door. She grimaced, a terrible headache kicking in with all of her memories from the previous day.

"... What?" She grumbled, pushing away the half-empty bottle.

"Millie, it's me! There's news from the Castle. Her Majesty gave birth this morning!"