Lady Dhampir
Chapter 203

A very heavy silence befell the room this time. Ellias wasn't the one astonished. Every man standing there was exchanging glances with their neighbor, unable to believe the Grand Princess's words. It explained her black dress, and her terrible temper that morning, but it was still a major blow.

For a long while, no one dared to address her, and many were wondering if the King would have the backbone to come up with another remark after that; of course, he didn't. Ellias fell loudly into his chair, looking as if he had been slapped, or unable to understand what had been said. Even the Royal Counselor was sending him worried glances. Before this situation went on any longer, the Duke de Nova let out a faint sigh and very politely bowed in the Princess' direction again.

"My Lady, I apologize in advance for the asking, but... is this certain?"

"Yes, Duke," replied Milena with an emotionless voice. "I received intel that my older brother Valentin De Crescent, Commander of the Second Division, passed away a few hours ago from the severe injuries in received in battle."

"...I wasn't informed," said Ellias with a sullen look, but visibly cautious about his words.

It was useless; Milena immediately retorted with an ice-cold glare.

"Why would your Majesty be informed before me of my brother's passing?"

In fact, it wouldn't have been completely out of place if he did. As everyone in the room knew, His Majesty could very well receive any information from the battlefront first, especially one regarding one of the Commanders falling in battle. It was a possibility. However, Milena was clearly hinting at something else there. Another reason Ellias could have expected to know first would have been if he had any involvement in her older brother's passing... He didn't take the bet, however, and simply shook his head, acting solemnly.

"I apologize for my words," he simply said. "My sincere condolences for your loss."

Milena received his condolences with another glare, and didn't bother to answer. She technically didn't have to, thankfully, and all the people present repeated the same word of condolences with a bow, so she really didn't need to answer anyone, and just received it.

She was acting her best not to show it, but Milena was keeping her fists tightly closed, very sullen. This was hard. One after another, they bowed to her and expressed their condolences, and she thought it was merely annoying. What could good words do, now? She knew it was the protocol, but it still felt terribly annoying to her at that very moment; She would have much rather been at home, with her family or crying by herself in her room, rather than to have to go through this. The only thing making her hold on was how much she needed to step up right now, for Valentin, and to protect her family. She had taken the initiative to release the news of his passing first so no one could throw that blow at them, at least. She knew all the dogs would come out and try to bite the weakened wolf as soon as they could. She hated the idea, but her duty towards her family came first and foremost. Right now, enduring this was for the sake of protecting everyone at home. She just ought to endure a little more. "Now, if your majesty is done discussing my qualifications to attend this military meeting, could we finally get started?" She said with a somewhat hoarse voice.

"Certainly," nodded the Royal Secretary, only too happy to step between and raise the white flag. "Here is the latest map we have of our Bataillons' positions, according to the most recent mail we have gotten from the battlefield..."

While he quickly unfolded and opened several maps on the large table, Ellias didn't pay any attention to them. Instead, he was still staring at Milena, with a complex expression. There was anger, doubt, annoyance, and much more painted all over his face. The Princess tried to ignore him. As mad as she was, she ought to focus on the important matters first.

However, Ellias spoke up, interrupting one of the generals.

"How did you get the news?"

His question sent a new cold wind in the room, and even the Duke De Nova dared to sigh loudly. Not only Milena, but several people weren't afraid to show their annoyance at the King's attitude. Some were feeling sorry for Milena to have to deal with this on top of her loss, some were just shocked about the King's inappropriate question, and some were feeling both. She finally lifted her purples eyes from the map to stare at him, looking deliberately annoyed.

"Your Highness, is that relevant right now? As I mentioned, it is intel. Does it matter where it comes from? This is my family's business. I'd feel grateful if you kept your nose out of it."

She wasn't even trying to act polite anymore, but no one dared to mention anything, only waiting for the King's response. He was visibly fishing after something else.

"Oh, I believe it is very relevant," he retorted arrogantly. "If this Princess gets information before this King, I am worried about the efficiency of our information system. How come I still haven't heard of this news? The death of one of our Bataillon's Commander is capital, yet I am only hearing of this now, from your mouth."

"It is about my brother," hissed Milena, a warning tone in her voice.

"It is still a matter of our Kingdom's security," said Ellias with impressive aplomb. "When did you learn of this? Not just this morning, I imagine?"

"Your Highness! This is too much!" Protested the Duke De Nova, unable to hear anymore.

However, Milena raised her hand, indicating she didn't need the Duke to interfere. Her purple eyes were still on Ellias. It was a bit strange, but internally, she was holding on to her grief to stay calm; It was quite remarkable how much crap she was able to take in when she didn't care about it at all. Ellias' inquisitive tone didn't mean anything to her. She was well aware that he was infuriated about her getting this information long before him, and it was true it showed she was getting her information from a different source. Yet, there was nothing surprising about that. All the nobles probably received news directly from their families at the battlefront and, for the wealthiest of them, from their spies implanted there.

No, Ellias was only stubborn like so because he wanted to know exactly how she had gotten a hold of that information. It meant he was still thinking he had the better spies on the battlefield and thought Milena might be double-crossing him. Which was true, of course, but this was no time or place to hold that battle.

"Your Highness, I am not going to reveal how I got that information," said Milena. "Either you drop this matter right here and there, or we can go on for a long while like this, and waste everyone's time here."

This time, Ellias was truly sullen. In one sentence, Milena had managed to turn everyone in that room against him. Even the King's supporters were feeling very uneasy about this whole conversation. They could be enemies with the Grand Princess or the House De Crescent; they all would still observe the most basic politeness over someone's grief. The Princess was already doing an admirable job by showing up there in her state, very composed and enduring the King's attacks one after another.

However, this was something the monarch couldn't see. Instead, his green eyes went around the room, as if he was daring anyone to speak up in her favor right now. In fact, no one was even looking his direction. No man here would speak up, but instead, it was as if they were holding a silent protest by avoiding his eyes, all of them resolutely staring at the maps lined up in front of them. Even the Royal Counselor, the only person present not to stand in the King's field of vision but a couple steps behind him instead, was grimacing and looking up, as if he was silently praying this would end sometime soon.

Ellias's knuckles turned white from how tightly he was holding his chair. It was even worse to be sitting facing Milena and her impeccable calm. She was like an ice queen, not letting win even an inch over her.

"...General De Zinnia. As you've just heard, the Commander of the Second Battalion has fallen," said Milena, the only one who could dare talk. "What are your suggestions?"

The General immediately stepped up, detailing the agreed procedure in case one of the Bataillons' Commanders came to be unable to lead anymore. Milena listened as the men present in the room were only too happy to follow up with their own suggestions, leaving the terrible argument behind and acting as if nothing had happened. Only the King still looked sullen, and remained unusually silent. Instead, his eyes were going on the men, as if re-evaluating them, even glaring at some of his former allies. Milena herself was now witnessing what many had reported to her before; Ellias had lost a lot of his allies' trust with his horrible temper. He was putting way too much pressure on them. Even when he finally participated in this debate, a lot of his sentences were meant to disregards some of his allies' suggestions, or act as if they were a personal insult to him. In fact, he probably couldn't stand that any of them didn't perfectly align with him. It was the complex art of politics; as a powerful figure, one had to master how to find the perfect balance between keeping his followers in the ranks without applying too much pressure on them. Milena had built trust slowly with her own allies, and had won a lot of them over her actions, not words and empty promises. Now that Ellias had indeed become King, he had to pay his debts towards the people who had supported him, and was probably all the more afraid to have them turn on him. In fact, the smallest word or gesture indicating they agreed with Milena or her husband in any way was seen as a potential betrayal. Milena knew better; in fact, it was better to let her allies express their opinions, even those she didn't support, and let them feel validated while she still kept control.

Like now, when she was listening to all the men's suggestions, and letting them debate between themselves before she took her own decisions. Her presence itself was changing the usual dynamic of those meetings, and people who usually let the King make the final decision were at a loss as to which side to turn. Hence, they kept arguing between themselves rather than dare ask for Milena or the King's opinion, which infuriated the King even more.

"Are you insane!" He finally roared after one of the Marquis suggested more men be sent out to the battlefield. "Do you know how many people we already sent? Let the army handle the Giants and let us focus on the matters here! My brother leading them should be enough support!"

Milena grimaced. He was not even hiding how reticent he was to send support to his own brother, and would much rather leave him to fend for himself...

"Your Highness," said the Duke De Nova. "We have to accept that this war won't be the easy win we had hoped for. Already one of the Commanders died, and many more of our soldiers. Not only that, but our people's opinion regarding the war is getting worse every day. Some are thinking we abandoned those men to their death!"

"You are forgetting the rumors about the attacks," suddenly mentioned the Count De Rosella.

"We already know those are nothing but slander," retorted the Count De Zinia next to him. "This is utterly ridiculous, and most likely spread by those bastards Separatists!"

"Rumors grow nevertheless," shrugged the Count. "To be fair, they do work in our favor too. If our people think our Army is attacked by those... things, they are more likely to accept us sending reinforcements, than us admitting we simply cannot win in the current circumstances."

"Have you gone mad! We can't lie and say Wendigos are attacking! We would lie to our people and further deepen the gap between vampires and humans!"

Milena let out a faint sigh. The House De Rosella was truly an eyesore these days... Each generation of it. They were clearly hoping to put the blame for the current state of the war on the vampires' back, and her husband's.

"Can we have some real suggestions here, gentlemen?" She said with a sullen expression, dismissing the Count as if he had been saying nonsense.

"|

I suggest we agree to the budget increase for our medical teams," said the Count De Hycinth. "They have already proven to be of incredible support to our soldiers."

Milena felt a bit sorry for the Count. His own son had been injured beyond repair, and sent home... She nodded, but before she could speak up, Ellias suddenly seemed a lot brighter.

"I agree. My wife's initiative has proven to be one of the best ones taken so far. Give the medical teams the budgets they want, and seek more volunteers to join them."

"I agree your Highness, but this is putting a bandage on a bleeding injury. We need to find more efficient ways to support our men."

"I fear there isn't much more than we can do from where we are," coldly retorted Ellias. "We already sent supplies, men, weapons times and times again. The Bataillons are making great progress, and no giant has been able to pass their ranks so far. It is unfortunate we lost a Commander, but there is no reason to revise our entire strategy over this loss." Milena had to bite her tongue to not insult him, and bury her nails in her chair not to get up and go slap him.

Ellias words were like a slap to her own face. Not only that, but it barely hid how little he cared. Valentin's death meant even the Commanders were in a daily life or death situation, which was not supposed to happen. She took a deep breath, doing her best to remain composed, or at least keep up a front, instead of falling apart. She had to overpower Ellias without completely splitting apart the noble houses. Things were tenser than they seemed, as exposed by the Count De Rosella's words. He would never have been able to utter such things in a normal situation, yet now, there was no shame in directly offering to lie to their people. This mere fact resumed how badly the situation was going.

Milena slowly stood up, gathering all the attention to her.

"We need to revise the current Army formation, and send men only where holes have been created in our ranks. This war needs to be stopped very soon, even if we have to empty our armories for it; it's no like we have any other external enemy to face anyway. Let's increase the budget for the weaponry projects, until someone can come up with something good enough to kill those giants in one go. I want bombs, or heavy artillery. We can recruit people in the outskirts of town to mass-produce them."

"My Lady," sighed the Count De Rosella. "It's not like no one has thought about it before! The many projects already ongoing under the different houses have been fruitless so far, as we all know. We have yet to see anyone present something that could get rid of the Giants, yet you suggest this..."

"I suggest," retorted Milena with an ice-cold glare, "that we stop making our survival a damn competition. For decades, each noble house has been grooming their own companies and weaponry producers have been tightly keeping their doors closed to competition. This is a waste of time and resources. From today on, I will take the lead in creating a massive coordination program between several scientific, military, and tactical factions lining up together. I ask for the collaboration of as many Noble Houses and Merchants as possible, to work with me. I do not care about the titles, money, or relationships, I want all of the best people in their field in one room, working together with all the financing they need. I want all the knowledge we have been cultivating secretly to but put together, for the sake of our survival, and the win in this war. That is my strategy, gentlemen."

A long silence followed her words.

This had never been done, before. As Milena had said, never had all the noble houses, or even more than two or three of them, collaborated together like this. It was a common understanding that each Noble House would finance their own corporations, shops, and societies to enrich themselves, and the first one to put out a new product could usually gain the most until their competitors followed up. Because each house was wealthy yet entangled in politics whether they liked it or not, such collaboration had never been made, not even between allies. It was to the point that many noble houses had specialized in something, unless a new heir shifted their focus, but rarely had several of them overlapped. One house was focused on military matters, another on healthcare, the next one in science. Even for the Duchal House, this was a very clear stance.

Yet, Milena was offereing a revolution. It didn't just take an idea, to be able to have enough people collaborating and sharing information together. It took someone with a huge network, the trust of her allies, and a lot of financial freedom to oversee it all and ignore the potential losses.

It took someone like Grand Princess Milena De Crescent.

"My Lady, the House De Nova will happily join your initiative," immediately said the Duke, bowing with deep respect.

"The House de Zinnia too!"

"The House de Topal too!"

"And mine!"

"It would be an honor, your Highness!"

One after the other, the men in the room swore to dedicate themselves to Milena's initiative. It was just too tempting; those who didn't join knew they would have to face the birth of a never seen before collaboration between many industries. It was the birth of a global corporation, the rise of a very scary new power in the Kingdom. Although it was now created for a very clear purpose, there was no doubt this initiative would have consequences over their trades for many years in the future. It didn't take long for anyone in the room to weigh their possibilities, and quickly bow to Milena to offer their help. Those who didn't were already biting fingers, regretting that they couldn't do so.

However, the King's infuriated expression was a terrible threat to any of his allies. He was watching many members of the court currently bow to Milena was she was about to create a new power like never before.

She had won no money, no crown nor title, but it did look like his sister-in-law had just won her own war.