The sun was still up. Morning was mere hours ago. It was only midday. It was not the usual time for any furtive business, but night wouldn’t be any different. The Lavans were humans. They were demi-humans, half beast, half human. Their eyes could see in the dark. There was little to no use of the night’s shade for those who had furtive intentions. The peak of the day would be their best bet as most of them would be busy with their duties, and the guards would be changing their shifts.

  Under the cover of the dense vegetation and the abundance of trees, Luciana, the princess of the ruined Argon Kingdom, snuck out of the vilge furtively. She would rather do this at night, but this time of day was the only time when the security detail was the loosest. She could only sneak in at this hour of the day. It wasn’t the first time she had done it. The first time had been the third day of her arrival in this vilge.

  There was a small grove some distance away from the borders. Trees and pnts concealed the path leading to the grove. The dense vegetation also shielded the grove from the eyes of the scouts at the ramparts. It was a twenty-minute walk, but Luciana reached her destination in fifteen. She was making haste. Something was happening in the vilge. She didn’t know what. The Lavans kept their lips sealed whenever her presence was near. They were still distrusting of her. In a way, they were right to distrust her.

  “You are early, Your Highness,” said a vampire who was waiting at the grove. There were remnants of a ruin in the grove, but even the remnants themselves were starting to become remnants of their own. There had been a civilisation here, but time had cast nearly all of its existence out of its memory.

  “Is that a compint that I hear?” Luciana retorted, eyeing the female vampire with long cascading hair.

  “It’s a compliment,” said the other vampire, a male, but one with beauty that would make any young girl envious. “Aqui was simply complimenting you, Your Highness.”

  “For the st time, I’m not a princess, tentatively.” Luciana grimaced and sat down on a boulder in front of the two vampires with a sigh.

  “Something happened?” asked Aqui.

  “Your presence may have been discovered,” answered Luciana. “They still distrust me, but I overheard some of the soldiers' compints and grumbles. They are pnning to triple their guards. The only time that security is being reinforced is when the presence of spies or intruders is discovered.”

  “That is not very likely, Your Highness,” said Myron, the male vampire. “We’re not amateurs. We don’t leave behind any clues, and we don’t meet within the vilge.”

  “Then it has to be the informers. They have been found. I kept my mouth shut, but what about the others?”

  “Others? What are you talking about?”

  “Don’t bother with the fool’s act. I know there are others amongst the Lavans besides me.”

  Myron chuckled. “There are no others besides you amongst the Lavans. However, there are others in Ulrum, and they just happened to be visiting at the moment.”

  “Have they talked?”

  “I wouldn’t know, Your Highness. Unlike your kingdom, no offence, the Lavans have excellent security against spies. The moment I step even half a foot into the vilge, I would be exposed. However, you may be right. Someone must have talked. What about you?”

  Luciana scowled. “As I said, I didn’t say a word.”

  “I mean, have they suspected you?”

  “If they had, I wouldn’t be here.”

  “Or you have been suspected, and that’s why you’re here,” said Aqui with widened eyes that seemed to have come to a realisation. “To have you lead them to us.”

  “No. That’s not—”

  “You are absolutely correct,” said a voice from the trees.

  Immediately, Aqui and Myra sprang into action, taking their combat stances.

  Luciana jumped up to her feet and stared into the trees, terrified.

  From the shade and shadows of the forest, Henry emerged. A veil of the distorted background seemed to tch onto Henry, breaking off from him piece by piece as he walked out of the cover. Behind him were Kierra, Yu, and Rayne.

  “Lord Henry,” Aqui greeted with a bow despite having just taken her combat stance. “What brings you here?”

  “Really? We’re going down that farcical road?” Henry scoffed. “I’m really disappointed. I didn’t think your mistress would be so… deceitful, given her history. Perhaps she deserved every bit of the betrayal, albeit prematurely.”

  “You dare to mock Her Majesty?!” Myron snarled.

  “I dare. What will you do about it? What can you do about it?”

  “Steady, Myron. Remember why we’re here,” Aqui reminded.

  “And why are you here?” Henry asked with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes.

  “You’re slow, Lord Henry. The corruption is spreading, yet you and your people linger on the side without doing anything. Her Majesty is patient, but patience is no virtue in these circumstances.”

  “Oh, Vishara doesn’t know you’re here or what you’re doing here?”

  “Her Majesty is not involved with our personal decisions.”

  “Liars,” it was Rayne’s turn to scoff. “Vishara knows all. They are her thralls, turned by her own hands and fangs. She knows everything that her thralls do and think.”

  “Even if Her Majesty does, this is something we did on our own will.”

  “Faeces of a cow,” Yu giggled.

  “Doesn’t matter whose will it is. You have broken the agreement, not that it wasn’t already broken, but now it is fully broken. There will be no more peace between us. I have been naive, truly.”

  “You will go to war with Her Majesty over such trivial matters?”

  Henry snorted and clenched his fist.

  Aquial and Myra dropped to their knees all of a sudden, as if something yanked them to the ground. Their knees hit the ground so hard that cracks were formed.

  “There’s nothing trivial about this matter.”

  “Kill us, if you must. Our lips are sealed,” Myron jeered.

  Henry shrugged and turned to Luciana, who was frozen in fear where she stood. “I have been truly naive. My mistake.”

  “I-I can expin…”

  “Your reason means jacksquat. You betrayed our trust… not that you have our trust to begin with. Thank god. Save us all the heartbreak.”

  “You don’t understand, Lord Henry. They have my friend… the only person that I considered my family. And the Lavans were not doing anything to help me get her back.”

  “So, instead of directly telling us your frustration, you sought to go behind our back and make a deal with the devil.”

  “Watch your mouth,” Myron warned. “Our respect for you is only at the behest of Her Majesty. Our tolerance of your insolence is not limitless.”

  “Your tolerance can go fuck itself along with Her Majesty.”

  “That does it!” Myron roared. He broke free of the unseen shackles with his sheer will and lunged at Henry.

  Henry made no attempt to retaliate. He simply stood there and stared at Myron disparagingly.

  Before Myron could get anywhere close to Henry, shadows erupted from the ground in strands. The strands moved to constrict Myron. He tried dodging the shadows, but they were fast, and they were close. The shadows managed to wrap around Myron. “Damn it!” he shouted in frustration.

  Aqui swooped in and sliced off the shadows with a sword made of blood. “You’re too hasty, Myron. If we had pyed the weak a little longer, we would have been able to surprise them.”

  “They were mocking Her Majesty. I will not let it slide.”

  Aqui sighed.

  “Hmm. I should have made it stronger,” Henry mused with an indifferent expression.

  “Aqui, you cover with me. I will be the vanguard.”

  “No.”

  “No?”

  “We are no match for him, Myron. And he brought along his women. We will certainly lose if we fight. And remember our duty.”

  Myron clicked his tongue. “Fine. I’ll cover you. You go and fetch her.”

  Without another word, Aqui lunged towards Luciana. At the same time, Myron lunged at Henry. This time, a veil of raging aura protected him.

  “Oh, no, you don’t,” muttered Yu.

  Shadows rose from Luciana’s feet and covered her in a shadow casket.

  Aqui snorted and sliced the casket into pieces without hurting the princess. She reached out for the princess, but she retracted her arm and leapt away at the st second, just as bolt of energy shot past where she had been.

  “You sensed my spell?” Kierra questioned. “I have even made sure to conceal its presence as much as possible.”

  “You underestimated me, Magus,” Aqui retorted.

  “I can the say the same,” said Rayne who had appeared behind Aqui.

  The vampire spun around with a kick, but there was no one. She looked up, just in time to see the fist coming for her face. She jerked sideways, dodging the punch. However, she was still hit by something she couldn’t perceive. She went stumbling. Tendrils of shadows were rushing towards her from the girl with the impressive bosom. She recovered her bearings quickly and cut down the shadows. She manifested another blood sword and raised it to block a punch from the Zeva. To her shock, the punch broke through her blood sword and continued towards her face. She had no choice but to flip herself out of the way.

  “Nope~”

  A wall of shadows blocked Aqui’s path. She ended up flipping into the wall. She kicked off the wall, just before the shadow hands emerged from the wall to grab her.

  “She’s quick and agile,” Yu grumbled.

  They were not trying to kill her, Aqui realised. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have been long dead. She could use that to her advantage— or at least that was what she hoped. If Her Majesty wasn’t just exaggerating, the Dragon would have incapacitated them by now. However, he was passive for the entire ordeal. Even now, he was simply toying with Myron. He was only dodging and defending as Myron unleashed a flurry of attacks on him. “What are you pying at?” she mused.

  “You don’t seem focused.”

  “Do I?” Aqui responded dryly as she dodged a kick from Rayne. This time, she dodged at least two feet away from Rayne’s attack. Even at this distance, she felt the slight tremor at the end. The Zeva possessed deceptive attacks. She had made a mental note of it.

  “Now, that’s insulting,” Yu chimed in. She summoned walls of shadows that surrounded the vampire.

  Aqui tutted and sliced the shadow walls in half with a swing of her remaining blood sword.

  “My shadows are too weak against her bde,” Yu compined.

  “That won’t be a problem,” Kierra said and began chanting a spell.

  “Whoa…” Yu gasped. “I can feel something surging within me.”

  “It’s a strengthening spell. Your shadows should be stronger now.”

  “A buff! Sweet!” Yu cheered and unleashed a barrage of shadows at Aqui.

  “This is bad,” Aqui muttered grimly under her breath. She had only been faring well so far because the shadows were too frail against her sword. Now, she had the feeling that her sword would be ineffective against the enhanced shadows. She gnced at Myron, who had already been subdued by the dragon. As expected. No way a mere vampire thrall like them could defeat a dragon. She then gnced at the princess, who was their main objective. Even that would be impossible to achieve now. It was time to retreat.

  “I know what you’re thinking,” Rayne said, appearing in the vampire’s path of retreat.

  Aqui spared no words and thrust her sword towards Rayne, but the Zeva caught the bde with her bare hands and snapped it in half. Before Aqui could come up with another means to escape, the shadows behind her crashed into her. Thankfully, the shadows were not sharpened or barbed, or she would have turned into shreds. With the strengthening spell from Kierra, the shadows smashed the consciousness out of Aqui.