Lady Dhampir
Chapter 78

Milena felt like an i***t, sitting at her table for that breakfast, with all the remaining candidates.

The more she was thinking about it, the more she realized this competition had sounded ridiculous from the start. To think that one woman alone could decide on so many girls' futures and her sons'. Milena didn't even bother to touch her plate, her stomach knotted by anger. She only took very long, quiet sips of her cup of blood, enjoying that taste on her tongue. Sitting next to her, Bella was glancing from time to time, a bit worried about the Duchess ice-cold attitude, but was smart not to say a thing. Something seemed a bit wrong about Lady de Crescent and Lady de Winter today, but no one else dared to bring it up, not in front of the Duchesses. Only Rachael de Nova was drinking calmly, while all the young countesses were left to wonder. Both girls had stayed quiet during the full breakfast, too. The Queen had brought up an interesting subject, the most historic court cases in the History of Solaris, but no one had been very active in participating. The young Countesses were at a loss about what to do. As neither of the Duchesses wished to talk, they tried to answer the Queen and avoid a complete silence. However, no matter how they looked at it, something must have happened between two of the Duchesses for them to remain quiet, and now even the third one was playing along.

It was truly the most dreadful breakfast possible... Even her Highness' smile felt fake, and the subject eventually died down in awkward silence.

"So, Ladies, as I had mentioned previously, it would certainly be best for us to enjoy some outdoor activities. After all, it won't be good if you all spend all of your time inside locked up aside from those dinners." Milena put down her cup, not looking at the Queen once, waiting for what was about to follow with a sinister expression on.

"Hence, tonight, I have decided for us to have a little hunt in the Royal Gardens."

"What a marvelous idea, your Highness," exclaimed Aurora with a wide smile.

While the Duchesses remained silent on purpose, the young Countess had monopolized most of this conversation to shine. She was almost overdoing it, but with no one to play along, she was simply winning by default. "Lady de Crescent, Lady de Nova," suddenly called the Queen. "I believed the two of you were fond of Hunts. Shouldn't you be the most pleased right now?" Rachael and Milena exchanged a quick glance.

"I wouldn't blame Lady de Crescent," said Rachael with a little snicker. "If I remember correctly, she ended up being the prey, last time she attended this sort of event within the Royal domain..."

The Queen was a bit surprised at this answer, but she managed to remain composed nevertheless.

"Of course. However, a lot of time has passed, since then. Lady de Crescent, surely that matter is settled, isn't it?"

Milena remained strangely quiet. After she had been addressed by the Queen directly, this kind of attitude was making everyone very uneasy. Even Bella gently pushed Milena's foot with hers, a bit worried for her.

However, the young duchess was perfectly calm and composed. Milena made the Queen wait, until she had taken a new long sip of blood, slowly put her glass down, and even gently wiped her red lips with a napkin. Everyone could tell how the atmosphere around the tables had become tense just because of that.

"It is, Your Highness," she finally answered, letting everyone have a little sigh of relief.

The Queen, however, wasn't blind. Milena had delayed her answer on purpose, and given a very brief one like that.

"I do hope so. After all, you surely had quite the compensation, with the Vermillion Lands. Not every young Lady has the luck to inherit such a large piece of Land so young."

Once again, the atmosphere in the room got a few degrees colder. Rachael had to grab her cup to hide her smile behind it. This was truly too entertaining. It was like witnessing a fierce battle between two snakes with half a dozen poor mice caught between them. Surely, the Queen was insisting on the fact that Milena had received a large compensation, thanks to her, but there was no way the young Duchess de Crescent was going to leave it at that. Even Rachael would have felt insulted, and knew what to answer. "Of course not, Queen Lyriana. Surely, not every young Lady here goes through the pain to take a bullet to get this kind of favoritism, your Highness," retorted Milena.

One of the girls almost spat in her cup.

What was Lady de Crescent hinting at now? Favoritism? Towards who? As the girls slowly caught on the hidden meaning of her words, everyone started looking at everyone, confused. However, Milena's eyes were fixated on the Queen, with a smile that didn't reach her eyes.

Queen Lyriana hesitated for a second, but she decided to play it off.

"Anyway. All of you are invited to this hunt, tonight in the Royal Gardens. Of course, you are free to participate or simply watch."

"Will there be any extra guests, your Highness?" Asked Aurora.

Though she didn't mention which guest she was referencing to, everyone knew exactly who this was about. All the young countesses turned to listen to the Queen's answer, who smiled.

"Of course. Both of my sons will surely attend, as well as a few more guests of my choosing."

"Are we free to invite some quests of our own, your Highness?" Suddenly asked Milena.

The Lady Dhampir's cold smile made everyone tense again.

"If you have time to, Lady de Crescent," said the Queen. "I'm afraid a Hunt happening tonight will make it a bit complicated for you to invite anyone."

Everyone had thought the same. There was no time to send any letters that would arrive before tonight to their families, not when they were f****d to use the Royal couriers. No one could get out of this aisle, so they couldn't even let their friends or siblings who worked inside the Royal Palace know.

Bella glanced at Milena once more, intrigued. There was no way the Lady de Crescent had asked without knowing this, so who was Milena thinking about and, more importantly, how was she going to invite them to tonight's hunt? There was definitely something going on between the Queen and the young Duchess...

However, Milena didn't say anything else until the breakfast was over. Of course, her family's butler had prepared a couple of hunting outfits within her luggage, just in case, and the young Duchess was actually too happy to jump into a pair of pants and, more importantly, flat shoes.

Blanche watched her change, tilting her head while sitting on the floor.

"Millie looks excited."

"I am, Blanche; I love a good hunting field to settle my debts."

"Oh... Scary Millie is back. You bite butts?"

Milena chuckled, putting her head into a high ponytail with a couple of elegant glass hairpins; She regretted not having her own weapons for tonight's hunt, but there was no way the Security of the Royal Castle would have allowed the candidates any kind of fire weapon, or even blades, she had to smuggle the ones she had for self-defense.

They would probably be given what they needed at tonight's hunt. Truth was, while getting prepared, she couldn't help but blush a bit, thinking she was about to see both Princes again. She couldn't show anything about her relationship with Rayan. It was obvious that Ellias had caught on the fact that she was close to his brother since the Wendigo incident, but he probably didn't know how close exactly.

She had agreed not to show off her relationship with Rachael, but after what she had discovered earlier, there was no way she was going to show any more weakness.

"Still mad. Blondie cheat."

"I'm mad too, Blanche, but don't worry. She won't get away with it."

"Not fair. Blanche mad too."

"I know. Honestly, I'm madder at the Queen than Philomenie. She always pretended this was going to be a fair competition, but this is clearly not. I don't know how Philomenie gets those notes, but it has to come from the Queen's entourage. There's no way she doesn't know."

Milena couldn't help but wonder. Was the Queen behind those notes, and pushing for Philomenie to stand out among her rivals, or was she just aware of it, and letting it happen? There was no way the Queen was that blind that her schedule could be disclosed to one of the Candidates without her knowing. Since when had Philomenie been receiving these notes, anyway? She had some brilliant answers, but she had some really stupid ones too, and apparently, her family didn't like it. Milena frowned. And they knew, quite fast... Was Philomenie allowed to leave this aisle, too?

Milena was so mad, she was afraid she was going to take some harsh decision and ruin her own chances. She couldn't provoke the Queen too much. Especially if Queen Lyriana was pushing for Philomenie to be picked, it meant either Rachael or Milena could be eliminated. Even if she doubted that the Queen would dare to kick a Duchess out of the competition, Milena didn't want to take her chances, not after her promise with Prince Rayan.

She bit her nail, trying to analyze the situation.

Why Philomenie de Winter? The Queen had never shown much favoritism until now for either of the Duchesses. If she did, it wasn't leaning towards Philomenie. Queen Lyriana wasn't the type to support a doll-type of candidate. What had changed that, then? Now that she thought about it, the only factor was probably the Saint...

Milena's eyes fell on Blanche, who had shape-shifted into a cat for a little nap. What was she missing? If the Wendigos were only failed version of the Saint or the Oracle, it meant things went way before the competition. According to her brother, the Oracle had been by the Queen's side for years, even before she was named Queen. How did they mean? Moreover, those two weren't as close as Blanche was with Milena. The Oracle had hinted at that fact several times. Were they just together because they had no choice? Or for a common goal?

Milena regretted not being able to discuss it with Prince Rayan. She felt he would have been able to ask the right questions, and helped her think twice faster. Actually, thinking about the vampire prince made her even more frustrated. She couldn't start relying on him already!

No, the competition had to be taken separately from their investigation. They were almost sure that there was no other Wendigo terrorizing the City for now, and they could always investigate more after the bridal selection. For now, Milena was confined in here anyway. She had her own battle to fight.

First, she needed to address the Queen's favoritism. Milena could allow a bit of cheating between the candidates, she had done so herself to get rid of Valentina, but she hated playing a rigged game. The Queen was the one supposed to be the fair judge, and she wasn't. Her reaction to Milena's earlier comment was clearly showing that she knew very well what was going on. Truth was, despite the age and status difference, Milena couldn't stay quiet about this. She was almost disappointed in Queen Lyriana about this. It wouldn't have been as bad if Philomenie was the only good candidate, and deserved the favoritism. However, aside from Rachael and herself, Milena thought there were at least three or four young countesses that deserved their chance. Bella and her sister, or Clorence, or even Verona, would have been decent candidates. Even if the Duchesses were one step ahead, the countesses shouldn't have just been invited as stooges. Or else, the competition should have been between the three Duchesses only. Milena was cunning herself, but she hated to see a figure of authority bending the rules. She thought cheating a bit was part of the game, but the judge should have stayed out, or it wasn't a competition anymore. Moreover, this wasn't just a child's game or a competition for a meaningless price. The whole Kingdom was at stake, people's lives could be affected by the Queen's choice. The two future Princesses needed to be picked among the real best, not through some favor. She could always replace the Queen's reasons later, but politics were also Milena's playfield. She had her own tricks to play.

First, she once again sent Blanche to do her deeds. It was indeed a short time, and her guest would never have complied if it wasn't to help her, but she didn't care. Milena could bet she wasn't going to be the only one with a guest. She was actually curious to see who would show up.

While Blanche was gone, she actually took some time to decide on her outfit. A modern hunting outfit involved some leather pants and a blouse, but this was going to be outside. Milena needed an extra layer of skirt, a thick coat, and, of course, some accessories. What color to pick? She didn't want to take the red or midnight blue, as she already knew those were Rayan's favorite colors on her. She didn't felt like picking anything too bright or flowery either. This was a hunt, not a fashion show or a tea party. Eventually, Milena settled for a velvet brown. Something simple could always be flattered, with the right accessories. Hence, she picked some diamond earrings and velvet ribbon, ignoring her glass set for once. The only thing left was the necklace and perfume... Milena hesitated a second in front of her mirror. Why did she felt strange, looking at her own white neck? She bit her lower lip, hesitating. She had a gorgeous white necklace that would have paired perfectly with the earrings... She hesitated and grabbed her rose oil first, rubbing it between her hands before putting it on her neck. She couldn't help but glance at the necklace, and feel like an idiot.

She checked again, but all trace of the bite was gone. Yet, Milena blushed uncontrollably. After a hesitation, she stood up and went back to check her luggage. Finally, she found a long ribbon, a velvet one, meant for her hair. Milena walked back to her little dressing table and rummaged through her jewelry box until she found a little pendant. She quickly combined it with the ribbon, and put it around her neck. It actually looked nice. She was now wearing a velvet choker with a little diamond pendant. She nodded, satisfied. This was just in case, just in case...

Once she was ready for the evening hunt, Blanche returned, covered in snow, but her task accomplished. The shape-shifter ran for a new nap under Milena's warm blankets, and the young duchess waited for the evening hunt by studying quietly in her room. She knew her friends might look for her, but she didn't felt like seeing anyone until then. She didn't want to answer their questions yet, and she knew they would be dying to ask about earlier.

When it was finally near the time for the gathering, Milena was hungry, but ready. Her friends were waiting for her outside of the room as she stepped out. Only Bella was in a hunting outfit, while Clorence was in a winter dress. Sadly, the poor Prudence had a slight fever, and would be staying in her room for tonight. Milena feared a second she could have been poisoned, but Clorence immediately confirmed that she had already seen a doctor, and was fine.

The three girls left for the hunting grounds, escorted by Royal Guards. No one could ignore Milena's little smile when she arrived on the Hunting field, but neither of her friends asked. If her mood had changed so radically from earlier, it could only mean one thing: the young Lady Dhampir was ready to fight back.