Lady Dhampir
Chapter 242

"I... I argued with him before I left, but it doesn't mean it was His Majesty. I think it's a... a possibility, for now. I really don't know, Raphael. Let's wait and see what Father can get out of those men, alright? I am fine, don't worry." "Milena... You have to be more careful! We both know His Majesty is getting out of hand, and you had to go and argue with him again. You're not going to be able to survive long if this keeps happening!"

"...I know. Don't worry; I'll stay at a distance from now on. What happened tonight was... a clear reminder, we can't trust anyone. But that reminds me... Have you heard from Henry De Boreal lately?" Her brother's jaw dropped, staring at her.

"...Are you kidding me? You just survived an ambush and three bullets, and you're concerned to ask me about Henry De Boreal!"

"Raphael, I'm serious. You heard it all from Bella, too, didn't you? We need to be sure of where the vampire actions are standing or aiming at. If the House De Boreal starts to move their position, we absolutely need them to be on our side. Have you heard from Henry or not?" Her brother sighed, visibly frustrated.

"Yeah, but nothing very alarming... In fact, he was interested in the Society of Vampires, recently. He offered to help shift it into a more official but neutral position. As you can guess, it wasn't received well by everyone. The main objective of the Society has always been to defend the vampires' interests while giving them the protection of secrecy. Needless to say, someone offering to put it in the daylight was not well-received. Many think he's just scheming with the human factions to bring us down. You know how... complicated Henry's situation is. I do believe he wants the best for both sides, but he has to be very careful with how he navigates between them. Things are tenser than ever..."

Milena knew that all too well. Both sides felt in jeopardy. On one side, the humans were under attacks of unconfirmed creatures and had provided many of their own to the war effort, while the vampires were lying into the potential culprit position, which was worse. From what Milena could hear and see, even the families mixed between vampires and humans were almost bound to choose between the two.

"We need to clear up the vampires' names as soon as possible," she muttered.

She tried to move, but her injuries made her grimace. Seated opposite to her, Raphael sighed, his eyes going to the bandages. He knew it was no use telling his sister to calm down, but he couldn't help but be worried for her. It was incredible how stubborn she was, given the circumstances. She was almost killed, yet there she was, worried about politics... The true mind of a devoted Queen.

"I know. There are talks that since they took in the bodies, the Royal Guards are investigating and getting closer to the truth... But it's been a while now. My opinion is, either they have no clue what they're doing, or they already know the results, and they are stalling not to reveal them. We tried asking to see the bodies or participate in the investigation, but everyone was refused access to the corpses." "Everyone?" She frowned.

"It's not just us who want to solve this situation, Milena," sighed her brother. "The older vampires might be upset because they know their heads are hanging in the balance... The people are growing upset about the lack of answers, and soon, they will start concluding themselves. The people from the Army aren't coming back either, and rumors only grow..."

"b****y hell....Can we buy whoever's investigating the cases?"

"I tried. The Sevira sisters tried to inquire which family was on the case, but the Royal Family... No, the King won't have anyone interfere."

Of course. That situation could only be beneficial to Ellias if he controlled every aspect of it.

"There aren't many other people the King could have involved," she hissed.

"I think so too. Perhaps someone from the Chalm family, that would be the most plausible... I'll put someone to watch them, just in case. The other families have been too quiet as of late. Since the Celebration, there have been little to no parties held due to the circumstances, so there's no way to know where everyone's at. I don't like this."

"I don't like this, either," groaned Milena. "... Let's use the Institute's launch to see how the nobles react, especially the vampires. They know I will be aware of the recent power shifts, so it's time to see who's running back when their master calls them..." "speaking of the Institute," said Raphael with a smile. "There's good news."

Milena's heart missed a beat from the shock. From her brother's smile, she could tell it was exactly what they had hoped for.

"...Really?" She muttered.

"Yeah. I thought I should wait until you're better to show you, but still, you absolutely don't care about your health, apparently... You, bring it in."

The maid nodded and walked out of the room. Milena had barely noticed his vampire maid standing by her side all this time, but it made her think of her own.

"What about Olivia?"

"She's resting. I figured she deserved some rest since it's the middle of the day, and she stayed by your side for as long as she could... Dinah's under surveillance, too, but as I mentioned, both your maids earned some rest..."

Milena couldn't agree more, but it felt odd to be alone, without Blanche, Ruby, or her maids to accompany her. She had never been really alone for over a decade, and now, it was just her and her brother... She didn't like this.

The maid returned, carrying a little chest the size of a noble lady's jewelry box. She politely put it on the little table in front of Milena. The unique craft of wood and metal of the box made Milena a little bit excited to open it. She brought her fingers up to the box and slowly pushed the small lock. Raphael opened it for her, the content being facing her way. A smile appeared on her lips. Finally.

"Lady Kalliope De Sevira personally brought it an hour after you left," said Raphael. "She said this is the best prototype they have achieved, and they are ready to duplicate it as soon as you give it the go."

Presented on a dark silk cushion, the fruit of decades of research had the appearance of a thin ruby bar. Milena's heart accelerated as she took it out of the box with curiosity. It was heavier than she had imagined it, and about the thickness of her index finger. The gorgeous red almost shined in her hand as she turned the object around. She could tell it was some glass container around, from the thin transparent layer that appeared when she held it at her eyes' level and horizontally. "...There's no smell," she noted, amazed.

"Nothing," Raphael nodded. "According to Lady Kalliope, it's hermetically sealed using their own process. The perfect mix of glass and refrigerated, ice-cold steel allows keeping the blood at consumable temperature without any risk of it going bad. Their earlier research says this can be kept perfectly fresh in a cupboard for months. No more need for refrigerated, untransportable rooms."

Milena turned it again, this time noticing an intricate design on the glass. A golden circle with what seemed like a moon and a letter on it.

"... What is this?"

"Your new crest, apparently. Lady Genia said your product needed some trademark. Apparently, she conspired with Lady Tiphania to come up with this simple design... Oh, and the golden leaves used to mark it was their idea, too. Apparently, it makes it a bit more chic and likely to appeal to the nobles. I thought the letter M was a bit too much, but with the Calligraphy, it does look like any rich noble product. I say it gets my passing mark."

"I bet it does," chuckled Milena.

She was excited, and almost annoyed she couldn't properly hold this thing with both hands. According to the explanation she had received in their previous exchanges, this glass container was made to break itself in two instead of being shattered, allowing the user to consume the blood without risking losing any drop or swallow pieces of glass. She could indeed see the very subtle marking of where it was supposed to be broken into and imagined they had changed the alliages so it would open up this way. "Amazing..."

"This is only the first product," said Raphael. "They said that now that they have the formula, they can work on various designs if you wish, but for now, this is the best. This is the volume of a vampire's weekly intake of blood, give or take, in terms of consumption. As soon as this is launched, the first blood shop will open, with an actual cold room like those we all own in our private domains, although those will be so the product is even fresher upon buying. They will be ready by next month." Milena nodded, a bit excited. She had been developing the blood shops, packaging and all the trade details for a while now. All she needed was the final product, and thanks to all the financing they had recently received, it looked like the Sevira sisters had recently been able to make giant steps towards this first achievement. Milena was amazed. She was holding the very first stepping stone of a new change in the vampire and human relationship dynamic... Humans wouldn't have to let their masters bite them anymore, and they could provide blood to a center and get money for it. In exchange, vampires would be able to consume more blood anytime they wanted instead of repressing their thirst. The Sevira sisters suspected this might even be the key to improve vampires' health, including their fertility rate. The vampires only ate enough to sustain themselves so far, but what if they could drink anytime they wanted, to their hearts' content, and even be pickier about their choice of food? There would be a grading of blood quality, new room for studies on the effects of various blood on the vampires' health. Milena's blood shop would be the largest gear in the machine that was her future institute. How could she not be excited?

She put down the precious blood bar, glad to have finally received some great news.

"Happy?" Chuckled Raphael.

"I needed at least one bit of good news this week," she muttered.

"....True. It's been quite the shitty one... Well, the good news is, this is one of our plans that has succeeded. Even if some investors pull back now, they will be the ones crying once we announce the success. The Sevira sisters are so excited, they probably will have a dozen more ready for the launching party. Lady Kalliope said she felt like Prince Sleverin's student after she had spent so long studying his work."

Milena could share her excitement, but her heart was still a bit too shaken up by all the recent events to really shout an early victory. Instead, she nodded, with a weak smile, her eyes on that little ruby bar that seemed to come from the future. Raphael caught on her expression, and his smile dropped as well.

"...Sorry, Milena. I know that's not exactly... The piece of news you need the most right now."

"It's alright," sighed Milena. "One at a time is fine as well, I suppose... Anything is fine at this point. At least, we know we are headed in the right direction, and... there are still chances to save this Kingdom. I want to believe that this is the first good piece of news in a long list that is going to follow."

Her brother sighed and nodded. There were too many things they still hadn't gotten satisfactory answers for. Her children's safety, and Lucian's. The real outcome of this war, what was going on at the border. When the army would return... and her husband. Who was behind all the murders in the city, and who was pulling strings? So many questions that had yet to replace answers, yet it felt like, once one would come, the others would come down like a violent landslide...

Following this, Raphael insisted that his sister eat a bit, and regain some strength. Much to Milena's relief, Dinah and Olivia came to see her as soon as they felt better. Dinah's injury was pretty bad, and she had to keep her arm wrapped in a shawl around her shoulder, but she was adamant about staying by Milena's side, even if she could only use one arm. As if to compensate, Olivia was twice more careful about their mistress' needs. It was clear she felt some guilt being the only one coming out unscathed from this, but Milena didn't care at all. Just a couple more inches, and Olivia might have received a bullet as well. She was just glad her maid had been luckier than most of her staff recently...

They were quick to report on the fight between Bella and Eugenie, though. Raphael hadn't downplayed it at all, and Olivia gave as many details as she could to Milena. To her surprise, Bella had personally helped chase one of her pursuers, and had already written to Chartiana, Prudence, and Tiphania to let them know of the situation. Milena didn't even have to write to her ladies-in-waiting, as they all personally came to visit and enquire about her state. In fact, it served her purpose; upon leaving, they all had to act sorrowful, as if she had lost her children.

The staff of the House De Crescent, most ignorant of the truth as planned, quickly put up the funeral banners, and a grieving act, everyone walking on eggshells around the family apartments.

While Eugenie was apparently still not ready to face her again, Milena was fine with being left on her own a bit. She couldn't stand the pitiful looks from the servants and was fine resting by herself, Raphael only updating her when needed. He was enquiring about the Saint and Henry De Boreal in her stead, while Milena was once again engulfed in paperwork, finalizing the details of her Institute creation. She had yet to choose the main shareholders but had decided to pull out the Duke De Nova to punish his recent conduct. It was a low blow, but Milena thought it was well-proportioned to the trust he had broken between them, and this wasn't something that would impact his daughter. She also decided to write to Rachael, to let her know of the situation between the vampires. She had to be careful with her words in case someone found her letter, but she let just enough to be read between the lines for her Duchess friend to grasp the situation. Milena was feeling disheartened each time she wrote to someone missing, though. She hadn't heard from Rayan or Rachael in a long while now, and their absence was weighing heavily on her heart...

"b****y hell!"

She almost jumped as Bella walked into her office, some blood on her chin, looking furious. The Countess threw her gloves into the chimney, the high-quality leather slowly burning. The distance between them had been considerably reduced since the ambush, and the Countess wasn't pretending to act all polite and composed anymore around Milena.

"...If Yasina saw this, she would not appreciate how you're handling her latest collection."

"My apologies... But those are ruined. I was interrogating one of the men we caught when he killed himself, some strange device imploded from his stomach. It was absolutely disgusting, and there's no way I'm getting that smell out of my gloves, ever." "No luck, then?"

"Not for me. Whoever sent those men, they were well-trained. Half of them managed to commit suicide before we even dragged them to an interrogation room. I can't blame them, to be fair. The Duke is quite... efficient with his methods."

Milena raised her eyebrows and sighed. She knew that. Since her father had found his motivation again, a handful of men to interrogate had probably been his latest and best way to vent... The maids would probably work for two days and two nights to clean the interrogation room after that. Milena grabbed a new quill to resume her writing. "...Weren't you left-handed?" Bella frowned.

"For guns, yes. For writing, I'm ambidextrous. Makes it easier..."

"Always the overachiever, Lady De Crescent. You should watch it and slow down, though. If people saw you working already, they'd wonder why you're not grieving instead."

"I'm sending a letter to the Royal Castle to let them know of... my loss."

"The sooner the better... But I have a feeling they don't need it."

"How so?"

"Those men were trained, and we both noticed the... surprising timing of this attack, Lady Milena. Don't we already know where the attackers came from?"

"...I'm giving His Majesty the benefit of the doubt," sighed Milena. "At least for a short while... Plus, he's not the only one with power in the Royal Castle, although he'd like to think overwise."

"You think someone might have... done this?"

"I think someone might have been pulling strings for a while."