Lady Dhampir
Chapter 274

"Oh by the heavens!" Exclaimed Milena, shocked. "Really? How? Where is she? Is she alright?"

"She's doing alright, considering everything that happened to her," sighed Bella. "If I'm honest, I'm afraid she's pretty traumatized, but she's alive, at the very least." Milena let out a long sigh of relief.

"....Thank God," she muttered. "With no news for so many days, I was starting to think..."

"I was starting to think just the same," admitted Bella, grabbing her cup. "To be perfectly honest, as much as I trust you, Lady Milena, I was honestly beginning to doubt she had survived the incident at all." "Did she tell you what happened to her?"

Bella nodded, softly putting down her cup. In the meantime, Blanche jumped on Milena's lap, the silver-white cat curling up in a relaxed position. Milena couldn't help but pet her as a way to relax herself. "She appeared yesterday, in the late morning at the d'Artsein Domain. Needless to say, everyone there was quite shocked, although Lady Briseis had told them about the whole ordeal, of course. She passed out as soon as they got a hold of her, from exhaustion. I doubt she got to eat much in the past few days... It looks like that poor girl was hiding in the Capital, amongst the commoners, by fear of her pursuers killing her. She had only seen the Royal Guards coming for her, she had no idea you and the De Crescent Knights had been there, too. She slept almost a full day and night, and only woke up a few hours ago to tell us happened to be in the Royal Castle, so Lady Briseis and I went to her residence together to see her, after checking no one followed us, of course. We made sure to look like Briseis was only inviting me to her house, but of course, we interrogated Lady Euphoria as soon as it was possible."

"What did she say?"

"According to her, on the day the Banquet was held, just as Lady Genia was preparing to leave, a group of men barged in the Sevira Residence, immediately going for the sisters. They sequestrated them in their research room, and began to... All four of them were tortured for the antidote... Which they still didn't have, as you and I knew. In any case, they refused to ything at all." "And nobody else in the house noticed? The servants we saw were only talking about the fire, they ne ntioned men barging in!"

"That's the most hateful part. She said the men came in so furtively, and they were immediately locked up in their research lab," Bella shook her head. "They were threatened, and if they screamed, one of their sisters would be killed on the spot. ...It sounded like those men were amateurs, but they had prepared this very carefully to look like an accident. Six men arded the girls, while another man set another part of the House on fire shortly after, as a distraction. It was almost exactly as you had deducted. The servants did try to get to the room, but it was locked from the inside, and the sisters incapable of moving or taking because of the torture they went through." Milena clenched her fist, unable to repress her anger. She couldn't help but boil with anger, just thinking about what the sisters had gone through. It was the absolute worst way to go, with each of their sisters tortured by their side... "How... did she survive?"

"Sisterhood," sighed Bella. "As they refused to talk, and the fire's smoke was getting into the room, the men who had come to kill them fatally wounded two of the sisters, as well as the maid that, unfortunately for her, happened to be in the room with them. Somehow, they were apparently bent on not leaving any traces of their wrongdoing, so they shed little blood and did a... sloppy job, if I may say so. They had run out of time because the sisters refused to say anything. Euphoria's speech was a bit confusing, she was still very much in shock... Apparently, the guards feared for their lives, and left as soon as Genia and Kalliope had died. Perhaps because they were the younger sisters, Euphoria and Nessidie were more spared... Nessidie knew she wouldn't make it, but she was the one who urged Euphoria to swap clothes with their dead maid and escape. They knew at least one of them had to survive... They used some sort of illegal remedy they had been working on, so Euphoria would survive long enough to flee."

Milena took a long minute to let all that sink in. She could almost see the terrible scene play in her head as Bella spoke... She couldn't fathom the pain Euphoria had gone through. Not only from the t*****e, but from having to watch her older sisters be killed one by one, and eventually, having to leave the last one to die, too...

"I'm so terribly sorry," she muttered. "Euphoria is... such a good young woman, and her sisters..."

"I know," nodded Bella. "To be honest with you... she didn't come out unscathed."

Milena saw from Bella's expression that something was wrong. It didn't take long for her to realize, nor to imagine. She tried to brave herself for the truth.

"... How bad is it?"

"Pretty bad," confessed Bella. "No doubt she will survive, but her physical appearance... Not only the torture, but she got pretty badly burned, too. We removed all the mirrors in the room, she has no idea yet. We only let Lady D'Artsein's most trusted servants approach her, of course. Still... for a girl her age, I can't imagine the shock she will experience. Perhaps she already knows... Two of her fingers were cut off, Milena. And... she lost an eye, too."

Milena closed her eyes. She felt utterly sorry for the last Sevira, and, somewhere deep inside, she felt guilt too. She was the one who had put the sisters on that difficult task and research. Although they knew the risks, they had still put themselves in an awful amount of danger for the sake of that research, and paid a high price for it... Milena couldn't even begin to fathom how she would repay the only survivor. Each of the four sisters' bravery was unmeasurable, that was for certain. She couldn't believe none of the four had spoken, until the very end. She knew how dedicated they were to their research, but to think they had gone through all of this without ever breaking their vow of silence...

"Do not be too harsh on yourself, Lady Milena" said Bella, guessing her thoughts. "The Sevira Sisters knew the risks better than anyone. We all do. They probably knew everything that was at stake, and decided to protect the future of this Kingdom with their lives. They were proud women, and their sacrifice is..."

"It can never be repaid," muttered Milena. "Not with anything I can come up with. I'm... I'm just relieved at least Euphoria made it. Thanks to her survival, at least their family won't be completely erased from history. She can carry the family name and go on. I swear I will help her rebuild everything they have lost."

Bella slowly nodded. She had expected that reaction from the righteous Lady Milena, and she could only agree to it. The Sevira sisters had made the highest sacrifice; it had to be repaid accordingly. At least, for Euphoria's sake. That girl deserved everything and a lot more, considering how many lives she could have saved with the secrets she saved with herself. "...What about... the research?" Sighed Milena.

"Euphoria knew as much as her sisters did. Sadly, they were still at a dead end, and she's afraid that, without her sisters, she will have a much harder time resuming their research. Lady Briseis has already offered her help, but we should still expect major delays..." Milena sighed, depressed. So even if everything wasn't lost, they still had lost a lot in that fire. It was quite heart-breaking, but the whole tragedy in itself was already a lot. She took a deep breath in, and grabbed her cup of tea, slowly taking a couple of sips, thinking long and hard about what to do next. In any case, since the fire, she had expected this kind of setback to happen. With Euphoria's survival, at least the worst hadn't occurred, but it was still of little good news, if it could even be considered good at all. "Perhaps finally letting the d'Artsein family help out will bring some surprise advancement," she finally declared. "But please, let Euphoria's health be a priority for now. That poor girl deserves all the rest she can get. Don't stress her out with all of this." "...Are you sure? I feel for that girl as much as you do, my Lady, but given our current situation..."

"We're not a few days short," retorted Milena. "We're already on the edge of a war every single day. Pushing a girl past her limits won't do us any good..."

Bella was visibly on the verge of saying something else, but, after a few seconds, and seeing from Milena's expression that the Grand Princess most definitely wouldn't change her mind, she nodded.

"...I understand. We will do as you said, and I will report your words to Lady Briseis. To be very honest with you though, Lady Milena, I doubt Lady Euphoria will be willing to wait long before going back to work. When I left, she was already chatting with Lady Briseis about the details of that remedy they have been trying to master, and everything that was destroy that they would need again."

"That's alright," muttered Milena. "I would need something to keep myself busy with too if I had lost all of my family to people who wanted to destroy our hard work... If it does her any good, let her work with Briseis as much as she can. Just make sure she isn't overdoing it, and gets some proper rest. Euphoria is still quite young after all, there's only so much she could have endured without some sort of trauma."

"Yes, my Lady....About her physical appearance... Would it be alright if we consult the De Crescent Family Doctor for advice? We genuinely have no idea how to address the situation with her. It is very likely she already has a rough idea of her condition, but dealing with the actual shock might be... yet another source of trauma for her."

Milena hesitated. It felt so cruel that after having lost her family, her home, her hard work and everything she cherished, Euphoria would also have to deal with this.

"...Tell her the truth," she suddenly declared. "But also assure her we will do our best so she doesn't suffer too much of the loss. I don't care how much is spent to heal her, do everything you can. Hire the best specialists you find, and make sure they stay tight- lipped....Do not tell her about it, but I do still hold some hope that the Saint might help her."

"The Saint?" Exclaimed Bella, shocked. "...Hasn't he gone back to the De Winter?"

"Not of his own volition. Of that I am pretty sure," muttered Milena.

This had gotten her thinking. The Saint was still a pending issue she hadn't been able to resolve. She was sure he was held as a means of pressure on both the De Winter Family, and Ellias. It was almost as if he had been confiscated, so to speak, from Philomenie, his real master... Could he somehow be kidnapped out of the De Winter mansion? Milena was terribly tempted, now that the idea had germed in her mind. It would have been a major blow to all of her enemies, as well as a powerful ally back on their side. Although her relationship to the Saint wasn't the best, she was ready to bet her ruby mine that he'd rather work for her than for his current jailers.

"...My Lady?" Bella called out.

Milena had been silent a bit too long. She shook her head.

"Sorry, I got caught in my own thoughts for a second. Anyways. Thank you for bringing this news to me, Bella... Is there anything else I should be made aware of?"

"Nothing significant since my last report, my Lady. The situation is still the same downtown, and as Lady Prudence must have told you, it is still quite tense, to say the least, in the Royal Castle. More than half of the Royal Councils have been canceled over the past ten days, which is irritating a lot of people, and amusing others."

"Hmpf," scoffed Milena, sipping from her tea again. "His Majesty is busy making pathetic excuses to explain a situation he won't face, as always."

"....I happened to see his carriage on my way here. Is everything alright, my Lady?"

"No, but it could be worse," calmly replied Milena. "I guess His Majesty needed to hear some truths I had been withholding for too long. I'm expecting some form of retaliation, from him or whoever has been backing him and tolerating me, but by the time those cowards find the guts to act, I hope we will be ready for it."

Bella's expression wasn't as hopeful. In fact, as much as she admired Milena, she also couldn't help but be astonished at the Princess' bravery, at times. There were hundreds of people now waiting to murder her at any given time, or start a Civil War in her name, yet she was calmly sipping tea, worrying over the fate of another young woman, and how to kidnap a man from her worst enemy... A faint smile appeared on Bella's lips. Although she had often considered Milena her friend and rival, in times like these, she couldn't help but recognize she wouldn't have been able to stay this calm and collected had she been in her situation.

"No wonder you got control of the vampires so easily, my Lady."

"What nonsense are you saying now?" Sighed Milena.

"Just voicing some of my thoughts. I'm glad you won over the stubborn Supremacists. Even if a war begins tomorrow, I will feel better knowing you're at the head of the Vampire Faction, not those old wrinkled men."

"Let's hope there won't be a war at all," she retorted. "At least, not one with weapons and blood. I hope to spare as many of our people as I can, for the longest possible. If we can solve things in time for my husband to return before both sides really collide, then I will truly consider this a victory."

"I understand....I didn't mean to disturb you for so long. Are there any other orders you'd like me to relay? Lady Tiphania says the situation is going fine with the Guild of Merchants, too. They were more than happy to comply with your conditions for financial pressure. I suppose they knew they'd be the first ones at a loss if they dared not to..."

Milena smiled. Once again, the impressive power of the name De Crescent had been a huge support. Not only herself, but also her Father threatening the Guild had been enough to convince a subsequent majority of them to comply.

"No, Bella, that will be all. Please go to the Residence D'Artsein and relay my words and sincere condolences to Lady Euphoria. I wish I could visit her, but tell her I will personally write to her tonight, and make sure she gets my letter as soon as possible. Keep her safe."

"I will, my Lady. Have a good night."

The two of them separated, leaving their cups empty in the salon.

Milena accompanied Bella back to the entrance Hall, and watched her leave. She stayed there a while longer, contemplating the snow once again before slowly going back to her office. The silence in the Manor was strangely comforting. If she listened very carefully, she could hear the wind coming from the rooms that were being aired out upstairs, the maids busy cleaning and changing bed sheets, and the kitchens, cleaning the dishes and preparing for the midnight meal. The house had gone so quiet, yet Miena didn't miss the noise much. Perhaps she was trying to enjoy this calm before the storm came...

Three more days passed like so. Just as Bella had said, the resilient Euphoria resumed work right away, with Briseis' help, but the remedy for the Wendigo transformation was still far from being ready. Milena could only wait, and exert pressure against the Royal Council even further, with more letters sent to the vampires with directions to follow. No vampire even visited the Royal Castle anymore. The King was rendered truly powerless, while the Church was busy trying to save their businesses, choked up by the competition. Milena's strategy was efficient; in a matter of days, the prices of goods had fallen or skyrocketed according to her whims. While the commoners, whose daily goods weren't affected, barely felt the change, all the nobles were getting crazy. People were irrationally stocking up on the most trivial items, before the Grand Princess made the prices change again like a storm brutally shifting directions. Three Noble Houses went bankrupt because of their poor judgment, while the commoners had never benefited so much from the sudden influx of donations from the vampires. It was a scary efficient strategy; Milena controlled half of the Noble Houses, the Merchant Guild and some of the richest aristocrats through the Institute. The more she could drag her opponents' finances around, forcing them to open their vaults and risk their businesses, the less they could afford to start a war. The De Crescent Knights and Special Guards proudly stopped a dozen assassins who had hoped to save their masters in a matter of days, and countless more didn't even get to take a step in the Domain, as more of her and her Father's allies were guarding the Grand Princess.

This incredible period of the Solaris Kingdom would be recorded in History as one of the most important, non-violent internal struggles of power of the Royal Family.

It all ended on the fifteenth day, when a Royal Order was issued at dawn for the arrest of the Grand Princess Milena De Crescent.