Lady Dhampir
Chapter 241

"My Lady!"

The shock of the detonations shook the whole carriage, pushing the women violently against the opposite wall, and Milena landed against Olivia. She felt a violent wave of nausea, and the familiar smell of blood. "We're under attack!" Shouted the driver.

"No kidding!" Bella angrily retorted.

Two guns had appeared in the Baroness' hands, who banged the door open.

"The Grand Princess was hit! Don't let any of those rascals flee!"

Bella's orders to the knights came to Milena like a distant echo while she was trying to regain her senses. She felt Olivia shake her shoulder firmly.

"My Lady! My Lady, are you alright?"

Milena could feel a stinging pain in several places, so diffused she couldn't pinpoint it more precisely than the area on the left side of her body, from her face to her elbow. She glanced to the side, spotting the figure of the Baroness busy shouting at their attackers outside, and the knights fighting. Next to her, Olivia's red eyes were filled with panic, and there was blood dripping down her forehead.

She felt her senses coming back to her quickly. She moved before the thoughts were even clear in her mind, opening the secret trunk and pulling out several weapons. She pushed one in Olivia's arms before leaving the carriage.

"My Lady, you're injured! You should stay inside!"

If she heard that, Milena wasn't listening. Leaning against the carriage to support herself while standing, she put the long-range g*n against her cheek, quickly replaceing their opponents. Little dark silhouettes fleeing behind the trees, those her knights hadn't managed to force to fight.

"You scum," she hissed, pulling the trigger.

The gunshot resonated and sent several birds flying loudly, while one of the silhouettes fell. Milena didn't wait before shooting another one. They were trying to use the trees to hinder her, but they weren't far enough that her g*n couldn't reach them, and the Grand Princess didn't care about blowing through a couple of branches that were blocking her shot. She shot repeatedly, one after another, at as many of those people as she could, only stopping to recharge and hitting about once every three or four shots. "My Lady!"

Milena felt the attacker come her way, and swung her weapon like a metal club, hitting them violently in the face. The weight of the g*n made it as good as any cudgel, and the facial bones got crushed in one blow. She didn't even wait for her victim's body to have touched the ground to resume her firing. Milena was like a machine, tirelessly shooting at their opponents. When it was clear she had gotten the last of them, she threw the g*n inside the carriage, and took out her dagger, going to the closest of her knights to stab his opponent in the back, ending their duel.

She turned around, looking for where else to attack, but the fight was already over. She let out a long sigh, and suddenly staggered, her body catching up to her.

"My Lady!" Exclaimed the Knight, rushing to support her.

"Lady Milena!" Shouted Bella, appearing from the other side of the carriage.

The baroness ran to her while the Knight laid her in the snow. Milena turned furious eyes to him.

"Did we get them all?" She hissed.

Her serious and angry tone had the Knight throw himself down on one knee.

"We are going to fetch those my lady shot down, Grand Princess! We will not let any escape!"

Behind him, some of his colleagues were indeed already running to the woods. Milena felt a bit relieved, but the pain did not allow her to feel the happiest. "My Lady, you're bleeding..." muttered Bella.

Milena's eyes finally went to look for the wounds her body had been painfully complaining about. The first ones to meet her eyes were the many cuts on her arm and shoulder, from all the sharp pieces of glass that had stabbed her during the window's explosion. That explained the stings, and from the scattered pain, she guessed her face and neck had been injured in the same way. Bella's eyes were focused lower, though. Her eyes went down, and that's when she saw the three holes in her belly.

That vision caused Milena a big shock. Each wound was bleeding, And she realized the whole attack had been about this. Hitting not her, but her belly. Her shaking hand touched the three holes, her fingertips covered in her blood. "... Are you alright?" Muttered Bella, in shock.

From Milena's late reaction and their discussion earlier, the Baroness had probably already understood there were no babies to be hit by the bullet. Which meant all the blood was solely Milena's. She wasn't only assessing her state; she was also waiting to know how she was supposed to react, given the circumstances. The fake belly made it hard to know how injured the Grand Princess really was, and the little streams of blood weren't as alarming as they could have been either. Milena glanced around. The Knights were either busy pursuing the attackers, circling her or taking care of the carriage and her maids. "We... Need to go to the Manor," she muttered with a weak voice. "...Hurry."

"You heard the Grand Princess!" Shouted Bella, taking over. "Help me get her back in the carriage! You two, go ahead and warn the manor, have the doctor ready! Someone stays here and make sure we drag that scum back as well, the Duke will interrogate them!" Milena didn't realize much of what was going on around her as someone put her back inside the carriage. She knew she wasn't injured that badly, but her body was already in poor condition before, and it was all coming back to her now. The bit of blood she had lost was enough to make her dizzy, and her body didn't have what it took to fight the pain either. She hadn't fed in too long.

"How are my maids?" She muttered as soon as she felt the carriage in motion again.

She was lying down, but somehow struggled to keep her eyes on the carriage's ceiling. The seats had never been so uncomfortable.

"I'm alright, my Lady," said Olivia. "Dinah was injured, but she'll hold on until we get home..."

"...Bella?"

"I'm fine, but my pride is seriously hurt. To think I didn't realize we were followed! Those bastards probably just waited until you had left the Royal Castle's domain, and wanted to attack before we got too close to the Manor!"

Despite Bella's rant and the pain, Milena was a bit relieved. Thankfully, this attack had happened when there was no child left in her womb... And it could even serve her purpose in a better way than she had imagined. To know that they had been able to capture their attackers had a faint taste of victory. Milena knew her father would hold back nothing to get the answers they wanted, and learn who had been aiming for his grandchildren's lives. She would happily lend a hand for the interrogation, this time. It was nice to have someone to unload all of her anger onto... With this thought in mind, she kept lying down and closed her eyes, resting for the remainder of the trip.

Milena was passed out when the carriage reached the Manor. Her brother and the Duke, along with several servants and the family doctor, came out running to check her state, but most of her wounds were superficial. Ironically, her fake belly had prevented the bullets from going very far in her stomach, and no injury turned out to be life-threatening. By the time she regained consciousness, her treatment was already over, and a large cup of blood was waiting by her bed.

Milena sighed, and grabbed it, gulping down the blood to regain her strength. While slowly remembering the past events, she felt a bit sorry her favorite source of blood wouldn't be around anymore...

"Millie. How do you feel?" Asked Raphael.

She sat up with a grimace. Although the wounds weren't deep, she still felt the pain from the three holes that had to be stitched closed on her stomach. She glanced at her right arm, only to replace it almost completely bandaged. She could feel the cold gauze against her neck and face as well.

"I've been worse, and better," she grimaced.

"You're alright, then. You scared the hell out of us... what a comeback, huh?"

"How is everyone?" She groaned. "Dinah was injured..."

"Dinah is receiving treatment, but she will be fine. One of the bullets hit and passed through her wrist, though, so not only will it take her weeks to recuperate, but she might not be able to keep her position as your personal maid."

"I don't care, she'll still be my maid if she wants to be. Make sure she is treated the best we can...Anything else?"

"One of the knights was less lucky, one of the bullets hit him right in the head. The others who came back apparently got away fine, only minor injuries. Their opponents were here for an assassination, not a fight. The fact that they focused on fleeing was their downfall, our knights chased them all. Lady Bella is completely fine, but very angry. She already updated me on the situation, but she said she wanted to wait for you to be awake before she left, so she's still here. I also... had the doctor officially confirm your miscarriage. I figured this would be too perfect of an opportunity to ignore..."

"You did well," Milena nodded. "I had thought the same. Just make sure the knights won't talk..."

"They won't. Several of them had no idea and were genuinely panicked, too, I even feel a bit sorry for them. We do have servants who will carry the rumor around as soon as they can, and this way, you can stay here and recuperate... for real."

"I'm fine," she groaned. "Things are not going the way we want, I can't just stay here and pretend to be hurt..."

"Milena, you are hurt. I didn't want to alarm you, but... Your face is going to have some scars; the glass shards injured you pretty deep. Same for your arm and neck. The doctor did his best, but..."

She frowned, and lifted her fingers, finally touching the side of her face. There was really cold gauze wrapped there... She hadn't even felt any pain in that area, most likely because of the painkillers. Even the tension around her stomach was bearable, which made her think they had really drugged her so she wouldn't feel the pain. Milena frowned. It probably wasn't as bad as Raphael made it sound, but for a woman known for her beauty, she certainly was going to lose some of it. Now that she looked around, she wasn't in her room, but in one of the salons, lying on a couch. There was no mirror around...

"How is it?" She asked, trying to repress the need to touch or check it.

"Small little cuts scattered... It won't be too bad, to be honest. Just... well, you're going to have some scars."

Milena chuckled, almost nervously. This was the same side as her husband's burn scar... It certainly wasn't comparable, and she was grateful she hadn't lost her eye or something, but the coincidence did feel a little funny.

"It's alright," she said calmly. "It's not like I'm still a young maiden waiting to replace a suitor... and I'm pretty sure my husband won't care at all."

"Lucky you," sighed Raphael. "I don't know how you can be so calm, after the fright you gave us... Father was ready to chop off a few heads." "Is he interrogating them?"

"As we speak. Two of them committed suicide before we could drag them, but the others are very much alive, at least until we are done with them... Lady De Camellia is absolutely furious as well. Actually, we had to separate her and Eugenie..." "And Eugenie?" Milena repeated, shocked. "...Why?"

Her brother grimaced and sighed, brushing his dark hair back.

"Well, your friend was not happy to hear we had found a spy sent by, uh... our in-law's side. She got mad at Eugenie for being so inactive at trying to replace the culprit behind it, and so on. I don't think I had heard this much yelling in a while; we had to intervene before it got physical."

"...I didn't think Bella was the type to get this mad..."

"Oh, trust me, she was a real demon just half an hour ago. I think your attack also got her very riled up...Does she know? That you were not really..."

"She's smart enough, I'm pretty sure she figured it out. No, she's most likely mad at Eugenie for real. Bella loves Prudence and trusts her; she must have been upset by the news about the spy. No wonder. Plus, at a time like this, vampire families really need to check who their allies are. For a spy to have come from our in-laws... I think Bella got mad in my stead, to be honest."

"Well, I do like her spite, but I think Eugenie's not responsible for it. She's just... doing her best, but she was not born into the House De Crescent, and without Val around, it's hard for her to assert her position..."

"She's going to have to step it up regardless of the excuses we can replace for her, Raphael. Things are getting serious, and being nice will not suffice much longer."

"Are you still mad at her?"

Milena sighed, and shook her hair, trying to sit up a bit straighter without ripping her stitches. This time, she did feel the pain and grimaced a bit.

"I don't have the time to be mad at her," she groaned. "I don't care. But this attack clearly was aiming at me, and my children. I was sitting in a carriage, with two other women, yet they very clearly shot my belly, three times. They didn't bother trying to hit my guards, or even my head, Raphael. Only my belly. They weren't trying to kill me, they were making sure I lost those babies... or I already had." "...You think someone wanted to check if you were still pregnant?"

"Perhaps. But if they did, they obviously didn't care about the outcome, or my life. If I had been still pregnant, and not wearing one of the fake bellies Yasina made, not only would the twins have died for sure, but I might not have survived either. I owe her a lot. It was her idea to reinforce them with layers of leather since there had been a blade attack on Philomenie..."

"b****y bastards..."

"...I just replace it odd that I was attacked on my way back. Few people knew I was leaving the Manor to visit Philomenie today. Anyone could have heard news of me visiting, but I didn't stay that long. I replace it odd they had the time to prepare and send people to attack me on the way back. I bet those guards followed us from the Castle and just waited for the right time and place to carry the attack, far enough from both the Castle and our Manor... If it weren't for Bella being with me, I wouldn't have been able to retaliate, no one would have given the knights orders to capture them, and they would have focused on my safety rather than the attackers."

Raphael was gradually going whiter and whiter. He glanced around, as if he was almost expecting to spot someone listening on them, but they were obviously alone. He got a bit closer to his sister.

"Millie... Who did you see in the Royal Castle? Who do you think could have... sent those men?"

Milena hesitated for a few seconds.

She was mentally replaying the scene, but really, the answer was almost too clear. She just had a hard time believing he had resorted to this kind of method. Unless someone had done it for him? A part of her was perhaps hoping she was wrong, and this was just her thinking too much. After all, she hadn't spoken to many people, but perhaps there were more people in this Manor. Someone could have seen her arrive and sent men. The Royal Castle was vast enough, it didn't mean it had to be someone she had necessarily run into. It was late evening, there might even have been vampire nobles over. However, no vampire had any interest in her losing her babies. In fact, even amongst the human nobles, there weren't many that would have been both hoping she'd lose her children, and not cared for her life at all.

"...You think it was the King?" Raphael whispered, shocked. "Milena, tell me."

"...I don't know," she muttered.