Lady Dhampir
Chapter 66

"Thank you, Your Highness!" said Philomenie, radiating. "Thank you, Your Majesty," added Milena right after.

Milena almost couldn't believe her ears, and had the hardest time hiding her excitement to focus on her plate. She could feel Blanche moving in her dress' pocket, too, sharing her happiness. The Queen, who was desirous to end the subject here, invited everyone to start

eating.

For a while, everyone ate in a religious silence, enjoying the feast, until someone broke the awkward silence to compliment the chef. Milena glanced at Rachael's plate next to hers. Of course, Vampires and humans had a different diet. Rachael, the Queen and her friends were given little plates filled with hot blood, as if it had been a soup... The humans, however, at light but more complex plates. Milena was starting to be a bit jealous of her table neighbor's plate, though. Of course, she would be perfectly fine with sticking to the human diet, but she usually enjoyed a cup of blood once in a while, and she felt like she hadn't drunk one in forever. Seeing some fresh red liquid right next to her was a bit too much of a t*****e.

Her thirst for blood slowly took her to the memory of that afternoon, and the way the Prince Rayan had selfishly drank from her. That man truly had no shame... This was already an act intimate enough between two people, but for him to do such a thing in her own bedroom! She should have slapped him.

However, Milena was also sure of one thing: she had enjoyed it. Rayan was the only man who had ever bit her, and somehow, she enjoyed that sensation more than she wanted to admit. Despite Raphael's explanations about the tight relation between blood- drinking and s****l arousal, Milena felt like there was something very wrong about how much she enjoyed it. She should send her brother a later letter, just to ask his opinion... She wasn't fond of the idea of letting Raphael know about her wild relationship with the vampire Prince, but Milena felt like she was going to go crazy if she couldn't confide in someone.

"Well, you ladies are rather quiet tonight," noted the Queen. "Shall we open today with a new topic? Lady de Iris, what were your recent reads?"

Clorence went on to explain the article from her favorite scientific journal she had read most recently, about a new species of flowers she was trying to reproduce in her own greenhouse. Any scientific matter was an occasion for the sisters de Iris to shine, and Milena was only too happy to let them take over the conversation. A couple of other girls at the table participated, but for once, Clorence and Prudence were the most educated on the matter of hybrid plants.

Everyone finally got to join when Valentina very subtly went on to talk about her favorite kind of flowers, and soon enough, all the girls were asked what their favorites were. Milena was a bit annoyed to hear Philomenie's was the white roses, as she declared hers were the red ones. Only Rachael didn't care at all about flowers.

"Flowers are a luxury nowadays," she said with that haughty tone of hers. "It is ignorant of us to be talking about those when most people can only afford to watch them."

Milena agreed a bit with that. With the whole country overtaken by ice and snow for years, flowers were awfully hard to bloom and preserve. Only in the spring or in private, acclimated gardens could the richest families afford to grow them. Milena's family had such gardens, but she was well aware that this was one of the most incredible luxuries she could experience.

The flowers of their time were, for most of them, either imported from the south and put in big greenhouses, or breeds that had been modified and improved to resist the cold a bit longer. Of course, that was still a wide range of flowers that they could see in beautiful gardens, but compared to all of the varieties she had seen depicted and drawn in the old biology books, it was only maybe a tenth of those... Milena couldn't help but feel a bit sad about it. If this ice age went on, perhaps the future generations wouldn't even get to know what some of the flowers in her time looked like. That would be truly too sad...

"I think it isn't ignorant at all, Lady de Nova," she replied. "Actually, I'm glad some scientists like the one my friend Lady Clorence admires are here to care about those flowers and work hard at preserving them. If ladies like us didn't love looking at those flowers so much, and comparing their individual beauties, wouldn't they truly become insignificant then?"

Rachael seemed a bit surprised to hear Milena talk back to her, and remained quiet.

"Thank you, Lady Milena," said Clorence, looking a bit proud. "Our family takes pride in the preservation of national treasures such as flower species who are weakened by our climate."

"We are very thankful for your dedication, Lady de Iris," said the Queen.

After that, the girls freely went on to talk a bit longer about the flowers, but next to Milena, Rachael wasn't hiding how bored she was. Her plate empty, she was just waiting for this dinner to be over, or the topic to change.

Even Milena got a bit bored after a while. She wasn't an expert, and aside from the few flowers she liked, she couldn't even recognize all the names the girls used. Some of the Ladies were using that subject to brag about their skills on floral composition, another hobby she absolutely didn't care about.

By the end of the dinner, everything that could be said on the topic had finally been said, and once again, Valentina had shined in the debate. Prudence, too, was doing a great job of learning from her and mimicking her, though it was a bit too obvious at time. It didn't bother Milena, though, as that only made Valentina's flaws even more obvious. Clorence had also been able to share her knowledge, like the bookworm she was. Milena liked that despite not having the same tastes, Clorence and she were similar in the fact that they could learn books almost by heart if they loved them. Finally, another thing she had noticed, was that, the only girl who had remained absolutely silent throughout the dinner was her cousin Helena. Milena couldn't help but wonder what was going her with her. Surely, Philomenie had other plans than using her cousin as a decorative ornament when she befriended her, so how come Helena had been quieter than the servants recently? Milena did her best to ignore her, but that question was lurking at the back of her mind...

"Your Highness?" Suddenly asked Rachael.

"What is it, Lady de Nova?"

"Is it true we are on the verge of war with the Giants?"

Most of the young ladies immediately put on some shocked expressions. Milena looked around the table, and surely, only a handful seemed aware of this fact. In front of her, Philomenie looked almost panicked, exchanging worried glances with her table neighbor Valentina. Milena noted which girls didn't seem surprised, and most of them were the ones from military families, or with knight siblings. In that sense, it wasn't such a surprise that the young Duchess Rachael would know. Her family had always been involved with the military, and they even built weapons and defense systems since the new Era. Rachael herself was deeply involved in the development of new weapon technologies.

The Queen, for the first time, seemed truly surprised. Milena guessed she was trying hard not to seem offended, or maybe even angry. This was probably still on a confidential level for the Royal Family, yet Rachael was, once again, so blunt as to put it in the open here.

"Lady de Nova, I don't know what you are talking about. If you have any suggestions about our military strategy, I strongly suggest you submit it to the Military Council."

The Queen's cold tune froze the whole room. Rachael kept defying the queen with her eyes, and the exchanges of glares lasted for such a long minute that even Milena felt like sweating.

"Your... Your Highness, maybe we should discuss military accomplishments then?" Suggested Valentina with a tiny voice.

The answer was awfully long to come, for everyone seating there. Finally, the Queen slowly turned to her, and put on a smile so fake, everyone felt even more awkward.

"What a great idea, Lady de Rosella. Well, if Lady de Nova is so happy to chatter about military matters, maybe she should let us know who inspires her most in terms of accomplishments within the army?"

Once again, Rachael waited a long while before answering. She was almost defying the Queen with her eyes and a smirk no one else would have had the balls to keep at that point. Finally, Milena couldn't take it anymore, and pushed her gently with her feet, having her stop her little act. Rachael glanced at her and sighed.

"If you insist, Your Highness. For me, the most interesting one is Lady Carmine de Nova. She was the first female knight of the Kingdom, and was said to be the best fighter of her generation, demolishing all misconceptions about her gender and everyone who had tried to put her down. Her son was a great inventor too, and built the wealth of my family. Her portrait is hung in my desk at my manor, to remind myself that women grow stronger in adversity."

Milena smiled. She had read lots about Rachael's ancestor, too. She was a knight under King Silvius, and actually a great friend of Princess Silvra, so Milena naturally knew about her. After Rachael, several other girls around the table proudly talked about their own family's ancestors with military accomplishments, some of them having fought in the first war against the giant. For once though, not all the Ladies were eager to participate. Milena could see some of them frowning, trying to think of someone. Of course. Not everyone had ties with the military, and in any case, wars and battles, or the development of their military forces were not anywhere near the main subjects a lady would be given to study.

Clorence and Prudence too were frowning. When Philomenie was asked, Milena wondered what she was going to answer. As far as she knew, there were only a few knights in her family, but no one really involved in the Military. The House De Winter was more focused on Charities, Hospitals, or Businesses, but they didn't have any good stories about being in the wars, other than giving away medical supplies...

However, Philomenie had a bright smile on.

"My brother Arseus, of course! I know he is doing his best as a Knight, and he just got another award, too! We also take rounds into our family's Hospital to see the injured soldiers. I think because I see him grow and improve everyday, I have so much admiration for him!"

Milena felt utterly shocked to hear those words. Who would pick their own older brother to flatter in terms of military accomplishments in front of the Queen? There wasn't even the slightest battle going on! All Arseus de Winter did was exactly the same as any other knight in this Kingdom! No matter how much she loved them, Milena wouldn't have picked Valentin or Lucian to try and impress the Queen!

The Queen didn't answer Philomenie, but she probably wouldn't have had anything to say. She couldn't speak ill of Philomenie's own family, but still. Milena sighed, and to her surprise, Aurora de Camellia was even bold enough to roll her eyes at her. The Queen immediately noticed.

"Lady de Camellia, would you happen to have a better answer for us?"

Aurora immediately re-positioned herself straight to speak with confidence.

"Of course, my choice would be King Silvius. The Founding Father of our Solaris Kingdom rebuilt an army that had been reduced to dust, built a new city and improved its foundations, and even entirely reshaped our Knighthood system. If we speak about military accomplishments, better than any battle or some knight's doing, the first King of Solaris would definitely be the one to be mentioned."

Milena was slightly impressed. That was a way to flatter the Royal Family, and even make her answer sound better than all the previous ones. Rachael herself was slightly nodding to agree, and no one else at the table dared to add anything after her. Who could come with a better answer than that?

However, the Queen smiled like a cat who had just caught a bird and turned to Milena.

"Lady de Crescent? I don't believe I have heard your answer yet. Do you have one in mind?"