Lady Dhampir
Chapter 139

Milena only had a very vague impression of the three days that followed.

She stayed in bed with a fever, isolated from the world. After she was moved to her Royal Bedroom, only her ladies-in-waiting and her family were allowed to visit her apartments. Even the maids and servants that were allowed to enter the bedroom were carefully picked, and two Royal Guards watched the door day and night. The rumor that the First Princess had been poisoned spread like a wildfire among the Noble Houses, and soon, everyone began to fear her husband's wrath.

As he had promised, Rayan spared no means to find the culprits. Although his wife was kept away from everything going on, a real earthquake shattered all the Noble Houses. Quickly, two servants who had entered the office through a side door while Milena was gone were arrested and interrogated. As soon as they had whimpered their master's names, they were executed without trial.

The House De Bertrilly.

Overnight, that name spread like a disease everyone wanted to stay away from.

Four members of the family were arrested that very same evening and sent to trial at dawn. Although it was only an abortifacient, the Vampire Prince accused them of attempted murder on a member of the Royal Family, claiming that if Milena had been pregnant, her child would have been killed. Moreover, with the Princess being so sick herself, no judge could save them. Three were sentenced to death and the one who had seemingly escaped the highest sentence was found dead in their cell.

The rest of the Bertrilly family had no escape. Some fled, fearing the Prince's anger wouldn't be appeased by those deaths, but their carriage fell into a ravine, with no survivors. Those who remained behind were ruined. All their previous business partners and affiliates, terrified that the Prince wouldn't leave them alone either, abandoned the House De Bertrilly overnight. Without hesitating, they all paid high fees for breaching their contracts and closed their doors. Any price was low for the guarantee of saving their lives. Just like that, it was as if one of the Noble Houses had been erased from History overnight.

The one issue that remained, though, was the House De Bertrilly's relationship with the House De Winter.

Although all of the De Winter House claimed they had no idea of their doings and spoke against the House De Bertrilly, no one was blind. The fact that First Princess Milena had been attacked by a family attached to the in-laws of Prince Ellias escaped no one, or at least, Rayan's allies made sure it didn't.

If Philomenie's incredible popularity kept her safe from all those rumors, Ellias was pushed at the very center of it. At the Council meeting that followed, one of the Vampire Senators pointed out his close relationship to the House De Winter, infuriating the Second Prince. Though no one dared to speak out, the accusing stares followed Ellias and left him no rest for a long while...

Milena only heard about all of this once she woke up and felt healthy enough to sit up in her bed.

All she had seen those last few days were the familiar faces of her friends and family telling her to get better, and the Doctor and servants her husband let in. Blanche stuck by her side the whole time. The wolf was growling at anyone who dared to disturb Milena's sleep and guarded her mistress like a watchdog. Only Rayan or the De Crescent House were allowed in with only a suspicious glare.

"Are you feeling uncomfortable at all?" Asked Prudence again, looking worried. Milena chuckled.

The Princess was actually feeling great. She had gotten all the sleep she needed and she didn't have to lift a finger; Olivia or Dinah were running to her side to cater to her needs. Both maids seemed like they blamed themselves for what had happened to her; however, Milena already knew what had happened, and if anyone, she would only have blamed herself.

"Have you sent the thank-you cards?" She asked.

"Yes, Princess. The young Duchess De Nova said it wasn't necessary, but she did receive it, and all your ladies-in-waiting were sent one, as well. I also took care of your mail today; I only brought the most important ones you'd like to see!" Milena smiled and nodded, glancing at the little silver tray on the bedside table. That was a ridiculously thin pile compared to the one she had left on her desk just a few days ago.

While she was ill, all of her ladies-in-waiting had come forward to help her out. Tiphania, Clorence, and Briseis had taken over her office, and even Yasina and Chartiana had put their activities to a halt to help out. Not only that, but Milena had even received some unexpected help from Kelyn, the youngest of the Tourmal daughters and Lilyn's younger sister, who had gone to the Vermillion Lands. Under the pretense of doing some sort of business internship with Milena's glass-producing ventures, Kelyn was going there to reduce the intermediaries and filtrate Milena's work.

Milena had always been one to keep her friends close and trust only a few of them, but at the moment, she was overwhelmed by how many people had come forward. Not only her close friends, but the list of people who had sent cards to wish her well, bundles of flowers, or gifts was unbelievably long. Of course, a lot of them may have been motivated by the wish to stay away from her husband's wrath and acted benevolent to the Princess, but it was still incredible nonetheless. She had received almost as much mail as she did on her wedding, to the point that Briseis had gotten angry at the Royal Mail Secretaries. The flowers she received, too, had spread all across her apartments and the nearby rooms, and the Royal Castle had never seen so many white roses. She wondered who had spread the word about those...

Another unexpected outcome of this tragic event was that Philomenie was finally getting her share of the work. Milena had no idea if things were actually getting done or not, but apparently, after her ladies-in-waiting and husband had admonished the Royal Staff over her unreasonable share of hours, the volume of paperwork coming to Milena's desk had decreased proportionally to what was coming to Philomenie's.

She was strangely feeling very happy about all this. Even the news of her husband terrorizing the Noble Houses had made her smile. Knowing that Rayan was going to such lengths for her sake made him more irresistible.

"How is His Majesty?" Asked Milena, slowly sipping the tea she was given.

"Oh, he's doing well, Princess; he actually was very sorry he is in no state to visit you."

"Visit me? He's the King, why should he even apologize for not visiting me!"

"You have no idea, Lady Milena! After what happened, everyone was extremely worried about you. I heard the Senators even enquire about your state at each Council Meeting!"

Milena chuckled behind her cup. Of course, her health was the new barometer to judge her husband's mood these days... However, it did worry Milena a bit that the trust between the two brothers seemed definitely broken. Even if she only remembered little bits of their conversation while she was sick, she remembered enough to know that this time, neither of them would concede to the other ever again. Rayan was acting all gentle with her and worried, but the anger in his eyes anytime Ellias or his wife was mentioned was a dead giveaway.

Neither of them had tried to visit Milena after that. The House De Winter had sent a well-wishes card that she hadn't even been given; Briseis had thrown it on the trash pile without blinking. Philomenie, too, was carefully staying away, probably still scared of Rayan, or ordered by her husband. Ellias' sudden fall into disgrace had reached Milena's ears too. The once popular Prince was now struggling to rebuild the trust people had in him, and even his wife couldn't do much to help. Rayan had planted a seed of doubt in people's minds and now, Ellias was seen as the Prince who had tried to murder his unborn nephew or niece to get his way; it looked like everyone had forgotten Milena wasn't really pregnant. Strangely enough, she was the first one surprised by her husband's overbearing reaction; yet, Milena hadn't asked Rayan about his motives. She felt like she had missed something.

"Your Father also insisted you go and rest at the Manor if you feel the need to."

"I know, Valentin said the same yesterday, but I'd rather stay here. My husband would throw a fit if I have to move between houses..." Prudence chuckled and took down some notes on her little notepad.

These days, she was thrilled to be acting as Milena's close aide and spent more time with the Princess than anyone else. As Milena was stuck in bed to recuperate and no one allowed her to leave it aside for getting washed up, Prudence was taking notes for her, helping her sort her mail, and keeping her aware of everything going on outside of that bedroom. More than her new position, the young Lady d'Iris seemed thrilled to be of help to Milena and was thriving with all the paperwork. As she looked down on her little to- do list Milena had given her, Prudence frowned a little.

"...Princess, may I ask you something?"

"What is it?"

"...How come your family didn't act along with your husband?"

Milena, surprised, put down her cup. Blushing a little, Prudence glanced towards the door, making sure no one was listening to them. The only ones in the room were Dinah, standing to the side and carrying the tray with tea and refreshments, and Blanche, napping as always on the other side of the bed, a big bundle of white fur against Milena's legs.

"I don't mean to be too intrusive!" Exclaimed Prudence. "It's just that... I've been trying hard to learn about the interactions of the Noble Ladies and their families, and... I couldn't help but notice. As soon as the House De Bertrilly was pronounced guilty of trying to harm my Lady's life, the relationship between them and the House De Winter was mentioned and Princess Philomenie and Prince Ellias' names as well. When His Highness... did, uh... get mad for my Lady's sake, I was surprised the House De Crescent didn't act as well. Won't people think that there is some bad blood between my Lady's family and Prince Rayan?"

Milena chuckled. Prudence was really learning a lot day by day. The Princess sighed, and stretched her arms and neck a little. She knew everyone wanted her to get some rest, but she was starting to feel bad about staying in bed all day and doing nothing. "It's probably not that they didn't do anything, they just didn't in the public eye. Moreover, why would they repeat the De Winter mistake?"

"Which mistake?"

"As soon as the Bertrilly family was mentioned, everyone thought of Ellias. He promoted his relationship to his wife's house too much. By now, everyone knows how much the De Winter's wanted this wedding. The amount they put into the wedding and all the De Winter's businesses Ellias invested money in after were meant to demonstrate their close relationship, but now, it backfired." "Oh... I didn't think of it that way."

"That's the fragile balance of marrying into the Royal Family. The Princesses have to remain their families' daughters so they can support their husbands, but once their husbands ignore them and use their families directly, it's never good. If Philomenie had been more powerful in her own family, she would have been targeted by all this bad press after my... incident. Yet, she is seen as a good-natured Princess with no agenda while Ellias flaunted his closeness to the De Winter's, so people completely skipped her and targeted him instead."

"So, Prince Rayan wants to avoid that, right? He doesn't want the people to think he relies on the De Crescent family..."

"That's right. I am the Princess, but I am also a De Crescent. If I get mad, I'll use my family's power and my husband's. If my Father didn't trust Rayan, he would have ignored my husband and acted by himself, but it would have depicted a bad relationship between them. Instead, this shows my family trusted my husband enough to not get involved unless we asked them to. People already know how close I am to my brothers and father, but they don't know about Rayan's relationship with them. Now it's up to me to act once I am in an official state to."

Prudence's eyes immediately lit up.

"What will you do, Lady De Crescent?"

Milena smiled.

"Just push the House De Winter a little. They pissed my husband off, shouldn't I get some payback too?"

"Aren't you the victim yourself!" Said Prudence, upset. "I'm glad Prince Rayan got mad for your sake, but shouldn't you be madder yourself, my Lady?" Milena chuckled.

She wasn't feeling too mad, actually. Maybe because Rayan himself had gotten so angry, she felt like it had been washed from her hands. Moreover, she had received so much help and good sentiments these days, she wasn't feeling in the right mindset to become truly mad.

If she had been with child, things would have certainly been different. There would have been nothing capable of stopping the Princess' wrath; however, Milena had a grudge against the De Winter Family, but there was no emergency after what Rayan had already done. They were disgraced enough at the moment and she almost wished they climbed up a little before she threw them off the cliff again. She could certainly bite the bullet and let it simmer a while longer before she found her way to a proper payback for this. Milena was the type to hold grudges for a long time.

"Dinah, get me a proper dress."

"What? But, my Lady, you shouldn't get up..."

"I've kept to the bed long enough. Even the Doctor said I was fine, and there isn't any reason to keep this show on any longer. I'm sick of laying around doing nothing; I'll feel bad for my ladies-in-waiting and become lazy if this continues." "Yes, my Lady. Right away!"

Although Prudence had a disapproving look on, it was unlikely Milena would listen now that she had decided to get up. More maids came in to help her get cleaned and ready. The weather had gotten a little warmer while Milena was ill, so she was happy to put on a lighter dress than usual, a new patterned dress that Yasina was probably trying to set some new trend with.

It felt good to finally be able to get ready after so long and get all dressed up again. Milena felt like she had lost ten years worth of life by resting just a little, and swore to herself she'd take better care of her body from now on. She let the maids brush her hair and dress her up beautifully. After all, this would be her first public appearance after being hidden for a while. She was curious about what was going to happen.

Once she was ready, Milena stepped out of her bedroom. Even the royal servants who ran into her looked surprised to see the Princess up, but they bowed lowly without fail. Behind her, Prudence was happy to see Milena finally back to her usual self and followed her with her little notepad held tight in her hands.

First, the Princess stopped by her office and was surprised to see that, indeed, things had changed there. Not only was there no trace of the ridiculous pile of paperwork from before, but it even had been organized on new little wooden shelves. Briseis, sitting behind her desk, jumped up as soon as she saw the Princess walking in.

"Lady Milena! How are you?"

"Doing better than ever thanks partly to you, Lady Briseis. I don't think I've seen the color of this desk in a while..."

Briseis bowed politely with a faint smile, which was a rare sight on her.

"We did our best, my Lady. Oh, the little shelves are a present from Lady De Pristin's father and her own concept! It makes it a lot easier to sort things out."

"I wish I had known this before sending out those thank-you cards," said Milena, glancing at Prudence, who muttered an apology. "Anyways, I owe you a lot. I won't forget it."

"Please. We are honored to be your ladies-in-waiting; this is the least we could do when you need us."

The two of them chatted a little while longer, the subject quickly shifting to Briseis giving her a more detailed explanation of the current matters at hand.

"...Is there a Senate meeting at the moment?" Asked Milena, surprised.

"Yes, my Lady. Your husband is there too."

A smile appeared on Milena's lips. The timing couldn't have been more perfect to put a little bit of pressure on Ellias' shoulders. She knew Philomenie was good, but Milena could play pitiful when she needed to as well. "Let's go greet those good men then, shall we?" She chuckled.

As Milena turned her heels to leave, the two young women behind her exchanged accomplice smiles. It felt like the Princess was going to enjoy torturing a few guilty people now that she was back..