Lady Dhampir
Chapter 240

"The Saint?" Repeated the Royal Butler.

"Yes. I heard he hasn't... been in the Royal Castle as of late," said Milena, trying to hide her annoyance. "Do you know where he's been?" "I regret, your Highness, I do not. However, I believe your Highness might try asking the Church. I believe the Saint was affiliated to it." "...Nevermind, then."

Milena turned around, a bit annoyed. That was the second person she asked who had no idea about the Saint's whereabouts. It was unlikely that man had vanished, and she didn't believe the Church, Ellias or anyone else would have had interest in getting rid of him. Unlike what they all seemed to think, she had a hard time believing the Saint would have gone back to the Church of his own volition either, unless he hadn't been given a choice?

Now that she had settled her affairs, gotten up to date with Prudence who was doing great on her own, Milena felt like she was wandering aimlessly around the Castle. She had come there to show she was still pregnant, but what good was that if this place was empty? She couldn't even attend a meeting, there would be none following the Princess' birth, and thanks to her husband's paranoia, no one had really come to greet the Queen either. All of this felt a bit pointless, aside from the fact that she had managed to bring some comfort to her sister-in-law.

"Should we go back, my Lady?" Suggested Olivia, who already understood the situation well.

Milena stopped walking, staring outside from the window, a bit at a loss for what to do. Why was she hesitating to go back? At the very least, Ellias and Philomenie had seen her still pregnant, as well as a few Royal servants they had crossed paths with, which would probably be enough to spread rumors. Moreover, there was no need to put extra efforts into faking a pregnancy before faking a miscarriage... She should have been in a hurry to go home and wait to hear about her babies, but something was holding her back. Milena looked around at this gloomy castle, unable to get rid of that odd feeling.

"...My Lady?"

"...We should leave," she nodded.

She felt sorry for Philomenie that she hadn't been able to replace out anything about the Saint, but she could always keep looking from the Manor using her connections. Moreover, she had a hunch that Raphael might be better at this hide-and-seek game. Milena felt like she was under a microscope simply by standing inside the Castle, empty of nobles and full of guards... nothing felt familiar anymore. While walking back to the entrance, she missed the days when she was just an innocent child discovering this place with eyes filled with admiration. Even during her teenage years, those rooms would be filled with young women holding tea parties, young students preparing to become the spearheads of politics, and once in a while, a ball would be held for everyone to dance and party together. To think she used to dread those social activities... Now, she missed those superficial displays of wealth. Each and every noble was focused on their family's survival now, and the vampires almost confined to their home to avoid being accused of murder. She truly hated the current atmosphere.

"My Lady!"

Milena turned around, and, surprised, recognized Bella almost running in her direction. From the snow on her hood and coat, the young vampire Countess had literally just arrived.

"Bella," exclaimed Milena, a bit relieved to see her friend for the first time in a while. "...What brings you to the Castle?"

"I was on my way to see Lady Prudence, then I recognized your coach outside... I should be the one asking you! How come you've come all this way, my Lady?"

"I needed to congratulate my sister-in-law on my niece's birth... As well as remind the child's father of his position."

Bella grimaced.

"From what I've been hearing, I fear the reminder would need to be repeated every hour of every day, my Lady... But I am glad to see you alive and well. I hate to say, I was left to worry about you from afar lately, and I'm not fond of it. Some things couldn't be put in letters, and I know you asked us to not come to the Manor unless necessary these days, but there's a lot of unrest among the vampires, my Lady, more than ever before. With all this p********a splattered across the newspaper, no one dares to make any ripples, but I fear we're only getting more and more at risk of a tidal wave."

"I know. I'm trying to have my brother quiet things down, and my father will be a bit more active from now on as well, but..."

"I'm afraid the unrest will come from more sides than one," Bella shook her head. "The Duke De Nova has begun to openly voice his opposition to the King, and the House De Boreal is being more ambiguous than ever, too. The vampire nobles are restless, and afraid there will be another scission."

"Are you kidding me?" Milena hissed, furious. "...Come."

The two women walked up to her coach, and Bella went inside with her. The carriage slowly began driving off the Royal Castle's ground, giving the two women some privacy away from the Royal Castle's numerous ears. Bella sighed, taking off her hood. "I'm sorry I didn't get to notify my Lady earlier, but the last two days have been quite hectic. Following the news that the Queen was nearing delivery, many vampire nobles gathered at the Duke De Nova's residence."

"How come my family was not invited?" Milena hissed. "Have they lost their minds?"

"I'm afraid so! I said the same to the Duke, and he said there was no need to concern your Highness with this, and that the House De Crescent had become much too passive. Ironically, his own daughter's Ladies-in-waiting is trying to convince him otherwise, but the old Duke seems more stubborn than ever. Some of the Supremacist speeches have really gotten to him, and a lot of people are getting impatient after being confined by all that slander. Many think the King is dragging the war and turning a blind eye to the murders on purpose."

Milena grimaced. A part of her did believe this to be true, also. If it was true some wendigos were purposely preventing warriors from coming back, there was almost direct proof of that. "...What of Lady De Carseus?"

"There's no sign of her coming back, and from what I understood, the Duke hasn't had news from his daughter in a while either. Many nobles confirmed the communication was slower than ever with the front, if not completely cut off. People are getting extremely restless..."

Milena went a bit pale. The situation was gradually becoming worse on this side as well. For the vampires to gather without her knowledge was already a big blow, but now, it was clear something was going very wrong at the warfront as well, which was bound to bring even more unrest. She didn't like this at all. Milena bit her nail, glancing outside and thinking.

"Damn those old crones. Raphael is already almost at the head of the Society of Vampires and they had to go and do this!"

"...I can't blame them, my Lady," muttered Bella, lowering her head. "To be honest, many of them have been terrified to be considered as murderers by the population, and vampires fear being ostracized more than anything. Not only that, but since the Queen's baby was born this morning, many think the King's position will solidify, and things will get even worse..." "And you were on your way to see Prudence first?" Groaned Milena, a bit upset.

Bella lowered her head, a bit apologetic. Her fingers fidgeted for a little while on the hem of her dress before she sighed.

"Please my Lady, do not get mad at me," she said. "I was trying to be... considerate of your situation, not overstepping. I know how much you trust Lady Prudence and how good she is at handling your affairs. I wanted to ask her what the best way to reach out to you was, considering the circumstances."

Her eyes went down on Milena's fake belly, making the Grand Princess even more annoyed. Now this whole masquerade of a pregnancy was starting to become the source of troubles, of all things, and making her ladies-in-waiting believe they had to walk on eggshells around her. As if she needed to be given any more time off... If anything, Milena was dying for some action right now, something to do. Directing her anger at the old vampire nobles seemed quite timely, although a considerable issue. "If it wasn't for the Duchess De Nova, I wouldn't care for that old crone of a Duke," she groaned. "He always was on the borderline with the supremacists, but now that his daughter is gone, there's no one to talk some sense into him, it seems... He was barely answering my letters anymore, now I know why. Turns out he did not appreciate my help as much as I thought."

"The young Duke De Boreal was there too," said Bella. "Luckily, he's much more moderate, and he even believes the House De Winter could be, huh... of some use." "Henry said that? Is that what you meant by saying he's been more ambitious?"

"Can you believe in anything more ambitious than trying to tie families that have been at odds forever, my Lady? Many gasped out loud when they heard that."

Milena frowned. Indeed, it was completely unprecedented. The two Ducal families had ties as the non-vampire families for so long, but now that the future Duke De Boreal was a vampire, it felt near impossible to have them collaborate again. Not only that, but the House De Winter had taken a head start with their daughter becoming Queen, whilst the De Boreal had been quite... quiet. Why would Henry believe the House De Winter could help the vampires out of this situation? Their parents had always been on the other end of the radical side against vampires, and even dismissed the new heir of the House De Boreal several times. She was too young back then, but Henry's birth had been quite controversial, and the main reason their family had been in a neutral position for a while, too, even if it had eventually served the De Winter's purposes. They couldn't provide candidates for the Bridal Competition either, so the fourth house hadn't been at the heart of politics in a while... What was Henry thinking? Milena had already heard his position about vampires and humans, and while she understood he was by no means a Supremacist, she also could not believe a single second that Arseus would agree to an alliance with him either. Which meant Henry was thinking about an alliance with either of the other two heirs... Was he close to Philomenie? Or her younger brother, perhaps? She couldn't remember hearing or witnessing anything about that...

"I was surprised too," said Bella. "But he seemed quite adamant that a form of peace was still possible... He mentioned your name too, my Lady, but the others were still quite dubious."

Milena's heart was beating fast, and her head gears spinning even faster. She was definitely missing something. The three Ducal Houses seemed to be moving their positions incredibly fast, and this was not working in her favor. What was Henry thinking now? Had he thought she was on the sidelines for too long?

"... What of House de Hyacinth?" She suddenly asked.

"They spoke moderately too, if any at all. However, Chorea de Zinnia seemed interested in the Supremacist ideas. My understanding is that she hasn't heard from her younger brother in a while..."

"...So she has her eyes on the Count's title. I guess not everyone is worried about losing a sibling... Damn it. With my husband and Duchess De Nova gone for so long, there's almost no one left to keep a tight hand on those old vampires' leashes."

"I'm afraid so, my Lady. And the younger vampires, when they can't dissuade them, start to get persuaded instead. I have to say, that meeting left a bitter aftertaste. I am afraid the King's actions have been causing a lot of damage that even we won't be able to repair."

Milena was thinking the same. She had thought this might happen, but it was too soon. A part of her couldn't blame the vampires, she had almost predicted this as soon as the murders had begun. Once cornered, it was inevitable the vampires would want to bite back. Not only were their numbers already naturally diminishing, they were now losing their heirs and risked being arrested at each outing. She massaged her temples, thinking.

"...Raphael will take control of the Society of Vampires, I need you to take control of the Aristocrats."

"....I am only a Countess, my Lady. I'll do my best, but..."

"The older nobles will be my responsibility," said Milena. "My Father also will have to do his share. It seems they forgot there was another vampire family, and another vampire Duke. If my Father makes a comeback now, at least some of them will have to think twice about their options."

Milena only wished she wasn't too late for that. For a meeting to have been held without her or Raphael's knowledge was already a big blow, and quite a shocking example of how low their influence had fallen.

"...I need more power," she muttered to herself. "Or else, everything will collapse before my husband is back..."

This was Milena's worst fear, that things would go downhill before Rayan could return. She wasn't just desperate to maintain the balance, she was scared by the idea of a Civil War breaking out into the Kingdom. Even worse, if she couldn't save the vampires from the King's tyranny, her husband would lose almost all of his power as well. It was a nightmare scenario she did not want to see happen, but things were rushing anyway. If only Ellias had been more moderate, the vampires wouldn't have felt so cornered, and ready to strike back. However, those who were really pulling the strings on all this were probably hiding in the throne's shadow...

"You're already powerful enough, my Lady," said Bella, "but I do believe you need to come back to the political scene as soon as possible. I know your father, the Duke holds strong influence, but many young vampires will look more up to you and your brother instead. The Institute will be a great weapon as soon as it is ready, and we will do everything in our power to support you. If we can put the blood trade in motion, we might be able to dissolve that conflict."

Milena nodded. Yes, the Institute was her best bet so far. If things kept going smoothly, it was only a matter of days. She would reunite all of the vampires to launch it, and assert her power once more. There was no vampire noble who would be able to ignore the Institute in the current situation, and it would be the perfect weapon to counter Ellias' insanity as well. Things could still work out, she only needed to accelerate her plans a little.

"Can you accompany me back to the Manor?" Milena asked Bella. "My brother will most likely want to hear your report as well, so we can prepare our plan. Those greedy old farts..."

"Of course, my Lady. I was ready to head over as soon as Prudence had confirmed your whereabouts, so this is even better. I couldn't sit still and simply write about this....I can't even imagine how furious Lady De Nova will be once she hears of this..." Milena scoffed. The mention of Rachael strangely made her feel a bit better. She knew the Duchess De Nova would be even madder over her father and the older vampire nobles behaving this way while she was gone. While the younger generations were fighting at the front, it seemed like the elders were getting restless as well... Milena was only hoping there was still time to repair their mistakes.

"Are you alright, my Lady?" Bella asked, frowning. "I mean no offense, but you seemed quite preoccupied already before this, and... tired."

Milena sighed.

"Since you're here, you'd better hear it from me already... Things have not gone well as of late."

Just like for Prudence, Milena quickly updated Bella on what she had gone through in the past few days, and once again carefully didn't mention her children's birth. Although, she did believe the smart Countess had already caught on, seeing how her red eyes diverged several times to her belly with a slight frown. Bella was one of the smartest women she knew, and probably the one with the most similar way of thinking. She could almost hear her think very fast and analyse each of her sentences to replace what Milena did not say out loud.

".... see," she sighed when Milena was done. "I did think you had been exceptionally discreet lately, so when I saw your coach outside of the Castle, I figured something must have happened, other than the Princess' birth. Heavens, His Majesty is a debauched pig. Although I was never fond of her, as a woman, I feel sorry for the Queen. And for him to pick De Rosella, of all people... I thought my sister had loose morals, but this woman belongs in a brothel."

Milena grimaced at the reminder of Bella's younger sister's existence. Another one she'd better not cross paths with ever again, unless she was married and tightly bound to a husband. Seeing the Princess' reaction, Bella coughed a bit awkwardly. "Anyways. If his Majesty doesn't get rid of his new playtoy, we might as well try and use her. Men have loose tongues near their mistresses."

"... Fine," sighed Milena. "Find someone to monitor her closely, but make sure not to involve the Queen. I'm feeling sorry enough for her as it is, and even if I don't kill the King's mistress right away, I might at least spare her the trauma."

"I do feel there won't be much we can do, my Lady. Things like this are always known sooner or later."

"Not always," chuckled Milena. "You'd be surprised as to how many-!"

Her words got lost in her throat as the carriage window suddenly blew out. A sharp pain stung under her eye, and she heard Bella shout. Soon after, several gunshots followed.