Lady Dhampir
Chapter 308

The man chuckled, amused by her anger.

"You are as feisty as ever... No wonder you escaped me for so long. I did have to give up after a while of course, once you were back under your Father's protection, I thought it was too late. Moreover, I would have missed some interesting developments, wouldn't I? To think you were the one to mess up all my plans, once again..."

"What do you mean?"

He moved another of his pawns forward.

"After what had happened to you, the Queen and King were more suspicious than ever. The House De Boreal lost control over the Queen and I lost control over the Oracle... I needed to regroup to understand what I had done wrong with her. Luckily, I still had some dhampir blood... Thus, the Saint was born next, and I focused my efforts on the House De Winter instead. Those self-righteous idiots were almost easier to manipulate. Of course, if I could get their daughter to marry Prince Rayan, I knew I'd finally get a way to tame those stubborn vampires."

"That did not go well," Milena scoffed. "Pawn in A6."

"Foolish choices from people who could not see the bigger picture," he frowned. "It mattered little, in the end. Both the Queen and the future King were in the palm of my hand..."

"Except Philomenie did not stay as obedient as she should have," Milena retorted. "Not only did she grow closer to the Saint than you had anticipated, but she freed herself from her family's grip."

He sighed dramatically, hesitating. His eyes were scouring the chessboard with a hint of annoyance.

"I underestimated the White Ones, I'll admit. If only I had gotten a stronger hold of all of Sleverin's research. Sadly, for three centuries I had to navigate almost blind through his notes, making one mistake after another, waiting for the generations to catch up to my brother's genius."

"History books said you were the one who destroyed his research."

"I confiscated what that foolish man didn't destroy," grunted the former King, moving another of his pawns forward. "He had always been one hell of a coward. After what happened to Raelius, he got scared. He dismissed all the incredible potential of his own work, burnt most of it before I could get my hands on it. We fought, of course, and I had to imprison him. He spoke too much and too loud."

"So Raelius wasn't the first White One."

"He was the first intentional one," scoffed Silvius. "He was always willing to make himself interesting, suppose being Sleverin's latest trial subject was another of his pathetic attempts... Your move, young Lady."

"I don't understand," she said. "What happened between you and your siblings? You went as far as framing Severin, and changing history into thinking our first King was a human. You erased most of the records we should have had today, but if you were a vampire, you should have known how Wendigos would be dangerous, and rightfully feared. You should have understood what Sleverin was desperate to achieve!" "Your move."

"Bishop in D6."

He sighed, and retreated her bishop.

"Sleverin wasn't trying to achieve anything," he muttered. "All he could do was make one great scientific breakthrough once in a while, but never when we needed it. Do you have any idea what it was for me, to have to rise above every other noble family? Our Kingdom was on the verge of dying, and all those pathetic people could think about was preserving their wealth, their titles, their assets. We saw the collapse of an entire Nation, Princess De Crescent. What's happening outside this tower is but merely a fragment of the nightmare it was back then. Imagine hundreds of families starving, sick and missing everything to live a decent life, while the nobles refused to let go of anything! Someone had to stand up. I worked like a madman to negotiate, argue and force those people to obey and follow us. Those who didn't, paid it with their lives, and those who obeyed got to live their old days! I knew better than everyone what to do, and until today, this Kingdom had endured thanks to me, Lady Milena." "You forgot to stand down," Milena retorted.

He glared at her, and moved his Bishop.

"This generation isn't any smarter," he retorted. "Cowards like King Silverius, Greedy Ones like The Duke De Nova or Lazy snobs like the House De Boreal will always be the norm, child. Think about all those pointless, useless Royal Councils you've sat at. How many times were decisions really taken for the greater good? And now, we have twenty-year old children trying to save what's left of this Kingdom."

He moved one of his own bishops, a wry smile back on his lips.

"No, Princess. I knew that if I wanted to make sure our Kingdom survived, I had to act behind the scenes. Being a King only made me more vulnerable to the greed of those bastards. Once you stand at the top, everyone's trying to pull you down. But if you can be the one to pull the strings from the shadows, then..."

"Was it worth it?"

He frowned, and glared up at her.

"You sacrificed your own brother," she muttered. "And now what? You force your descendants to fight their own brother too. Is that what you wanted?"

"No, this is what happens when they disobey," he hissed. "Three years without a war, Princess Milena. And when I finally get a hold of the power again, the new White Ones, they all try to get their own way!"

"Yes, Your Majesty," she scoffed. "Some people do appreciate having their own will. So what if they make mistakes? So what if we're younger and younger when getting in power? Even if our Kingdom is bound to doom, that shouldn't be any of your business since at least two centuries ago."

He was about to answer when a violent boom came from far below. Milena turned her head back to the door, her heartbeat accelerating. Rayan's army had reached the Castle! Finally! This had to be the defense wall collapsing, from the sound of it. Just a few more floors.

Facing her, the man chuckled, his eyes on the doors too.

"Ah... Troublesome twins. I should have known it was going to be a hassle with those two. I never liked harming children, you know. Those I could, I did... Prince Rayan was one of these. I almost regret that he couldn't become the King. He's bright and smart, but... That's also my issue with that boy."

"What, my husband wouldn't have let you manipulate people like you were so used to over the years?" Scoffed Milena.

"Precisely," he muttered. "I do admit, you two are quite a pair." "...Castle."

He frowned, and looked down at Milena's dark Chess Pieces. He chuckled. That unique move allowed her to move both her King and Rook at once, putting the first one in a safe position, protected by her rook. He diligently moved the pieces for her. "...Protecting your King, of course," he smiled. "However, sacrifices have to be made, Princess Milena. I'm afraid you won't be able to win if you keep playing defensive." "You underestimate me," Milena retorted.

She wasn't trying to win this game anymore, but she had to be cautious, or he'd suspect something out of her attitude. Who knew how long it would take for Rayan to get up here? And she had yet to find out more about this man's ability. She needed to keep him talking, and right now, this game of Chess seemed more interesting to him than what was going on downstairs. She couldn't hear more of the battle than what was going on outside, past the open windows. She shivered, still cold, and her shoulder was horribly painful. She could only hope what she had taken before would soon be more effective. She slightly moved her body, the position of her wrists quite uncomfortable. She couldn't move much, but she had to do what she could to try and free herself. In other circumstances, Blanche or Ruby would have intervened, but for once, she was desperately alone and vulnerable. All she could rely on was her own strength, what she had left of it, and her ability for Chess. Milena couldn't help but smile bitterly. To think that after all this, it was all settled on a chessboard... Still, it seemed strangely fitting. While she had always been a woman of action, she was also a strategist, and most battles were won thanks to the brain, not the brawn.

"Women can't help but try and act defensive," he sighed. "That's one of the most common mistakes they make. Look at Lady Lyriana. If she hadn't been so desperate to save her sons, she would have ended very differently. Even the Oracle! That woman went mad the minute she was with child."

Milena frowned.... He knew about Rowena? That explained why the Oracle had fled to the De Crescent Family's protection of all places. They were the ones who had escaped his clutches once already...

"...Was that the same for your sister?"

He suddenly froze. Touché, thought Milena. She had yet to mention Princess Silvra, but she was hoping those history books would have held at least some hint of the truth. He could manipulate many things, but there would have been no point in him putting his sister on a pedestal. Moreover, his opinion on women had to come from somewhere. There was little known about King Silvius' wife, but Milena had read all about Princess Silvra. Her death had never been accidental, so why would he have let her become a historic heroic female figure if he had hated her...?

The look on his face was one he didn't even try to hide, visibly unsettled. His eyes went down on his Queen. He let out a faint sigh, and after hesitation, put her forward, just one square.

"Silvra... My dear sister," he muttered. "We didn't always agree on everything, but she understood me enough. Of course, she was the first one shocked at Sleverin's creations. This was one of our biggest fights yet. When Raelius' life was almost lost to those experiments, she refused to leave it be. Our brother was in a deep coma, we had no idea when he would wake up, but we had also seen some wonders created by that research... We agreed to arrest Sleverin, but while I wanted to make use of his creations, she thought it was best to seal it away. We only agreed on not destroying it. Even if it was generations away, someone else would come to the same results as he did, and Silvra thought we ought to leave the next generations ready for it... I saw it differently. If we left it at that, I was sure the vampires would one day rise, using wendigos to attack humans. At the time of course, I was unaware those creatures mostly sought vampire blood. I thought we had to use that power for ourselves."

"...So you got rid of her," Milena muttered.

"I couldn't," He chuckled. "I loved my sister too much. But... conveniently, someone happened to poison our drinks that day. I knew about it. She didn't. I thought it would be... less cruel, if she thought she hadn't died by her own brother's hand." Milena was beyond shocked.

"You're... disgusting," she muttered. "You let your own sister die rather than saving her or killing her yourself?"

"It was for the greater good, once again," he sighed. "I loved my sister. I just knew there would never be a day when we would both agree on what was best for this Kingdom, and she'd oppose me on the White Ones' matter. If I could have Sleverin tell me how to create more, she'd try and stop me. Sadly, neither of us got what we wanted, in the end. My beloved sister died, and Sleverin had a hunch I was behind it. He escaped, and, as I now know, he took Raelius' body to his fiancé."

"... My ancestor," Milena muttered.

That explained a lot. Her relationship to Raelius, and how he had ended up hidden in the De Crescent family's basement for three centuries. Sleverin himself had told the first Duchess De Crescent how to wake up her ex-fiancé, but Milena could already guess what had happened. It would have been too risky, on so many levels. If they knew the King himself wanted his brothers dead, bringing Raelius back wouldn't have saved anybody. It was safer to pass him for gone, just like Sleverin, and simply tell her descendants that one day, their ancestor would come back to give a hand... Now, his presence actually made more sense than ever. Things had to become drastic for the House De Crescent to wake him up, and that meant this Kingdom would have been on the verge of a war. If Sleverin had told the Duchess how powerful her ex-fiancé would come back to be, that's exactly how she would have decided to keep his power hidden away, until the right time came to request his help. Ironically, the threat was just the same, only three centuries later.

"But Sleverin didn't let you get your hands on his research," Milena muttered. "In the end, you underestimated your sister, her plan prevailed. No, even worse, you got rid of your own sister without knowing she was exactly what you were missing, weren't you? The key ingredient to prevent one from turning into a Wendigo was her blood, but you had killed your own sister, the only Dhampir of your time."

"The one Lady Dhampir," he sighed. "I almost... died. I found scraps of a sample of her blood with Sleverin's notes, and I drank it without knowing what it was. Almost too late, and not nearly soon enough. The transformation... destroyed my body prematurely. Luckily... It just turns out that my power adapted as such."

A cold shiver went down Milena's spine. They were getting to it. His power as a white one. So he had lost his first body this very way. Because of his own foolishness, his overconfidence. His siblings had managed to stop his ambitions, or at least slow it down, but he had still managed to obtain such a scary power."

"It took me years to get used to it," he muttered, raising his hand. "I could use my own body, but as it was dead, I had to hide it... And that's how I began using other bodies to get the work I needed done. More and more. This power of mine... It may serve my purpose, but it's also my curse. There's a limit to how much you can use a corpse, see. Once it's too damaged, it's too damaged. Nothing moves, everything is just... stuck. It's no better than a coffin. A couple of times, I had to wait years to get a new body!" Milena's breathing almost stopped. There was a limit. He couldn't use too damaged bodies, but he also couldn't swap unless there was another body in good enough condition within his reach! She tried to remember. He had kept swapping in the cells, without going to the closest one. He had managed to flee from Sofia's body to another, too, without Blanche being able to track him down... The distance had to be great, but if he had been stuck a couple of times... She tried to think, quick and hard. How could they trap him, kill him? There had to be dozens of bodies scattered on the Capital's grounds now, all the way down to the Castle's courtyard, even next door! Milena shivered again, moving her ankles a bit more inside the ties. Perhaps they would never manage to stop him... Suddenly, a new smell rose to the air. It wasn't subtle, but to Milena's surprise, the King facing her didn't react. It took her a few seconds to realize why, but he didn't react at all. The body in front of her couldn't smell it. He was... dead. He had no sense of smell! She took a deep breath. Rayan was downstairs, and he had met with the men. Her husband knew what to do, and so did she.

"Queen in F7," she muttered.

He moved her Queen without commenting on it.

"Silvra's death was... inevitable," he muttered. "I had no way to know Dhampir blood was needed. Sleverin, that bastard... Once I found him, he laughed to my face, for murdering our sister! He said I had lost to them! As if Silvra hadn't been on my side always, as if he was the one calling the shots!" As expected, his emotions were showing when he was talking about his siblings.

Milena tried to listen again. How far were Rayan and the others? Five floors? Six? She could very faintly hear the shoutings and clashing of swords. So they hadn't just won, they had pushed the battle all the way downstairs. What about Ellias? Had Rayan... slayed his twin? She couldn't imagine.

"They are busy," he sighed.

"What will you do, once they get here? Even if you get rid of me, they will know."

"Oh, it doesn't matter," he scoffed. "Princess, this isn't the first time someone found out my little secret. And every time, it ended the same. One man made the right choice and kept the crown, and my secret, while I got rid of his enemies and blessed his reign! Isn't it quite perfect? To have your reign blessed by the previous King himself. Let's think about it. Don't you think King Ellias would be quite happy with it? That boy is already so weak, so desperate. It will be the easiest one yet!"

Milena suddenly remembered. Ellias' state had been far from normal, for a while now. She frowned, watching this man move his Bishop in front of his Queen.

"Some are King in name only, Princess De Crescent. Men like Ellias are too weak, unable to let go of their desires."

"Pawn in C4....What have you done to him?"

"Nothing he didn't agree to," he sighed. "You know how it is. Men are easy to manipulate, especially when you can tempt them with that thing called desire. A boring, too righteous Queen... gets replaced by a more tempting Lady."

He grabbed her pawn, taking it with his Bishop. He chuckled, rolling Milena's lost piece in his fingers.

"And slowly, slowly, the poison makes its way to the King's body and mind."

Milena's blood went cold. So that was how. He had used Ellias' mistress to d**g him all this time!