Bloody Princess From The Shadows

by lanceron2Writes

Ever since the Blood Moon and meeting Shadow, Elizabeth's life has gotten more livelier. And yet.. She still felt as if she was empty. Rather than just having one dream, she has two now, and she wants nothing more than to fully realize them. And one confession is all it takes to fulfill the other. (Elizabeth has a daughter with Shadow(Who doesn't even know it))

8. Chapter 8

I DO NOT OWN EMINENCE IN SHADOW!br /
ALL ART ARE BY ME! (Even if it's terrible)br /

RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! PLEASE DON'T KILL ME READERS!br /
I WAS SUPPOSED TO RELEASE THIS ON SATURDAY BUT THEN MY WIFI DIED :SADASSEMOJI:br /
PLUS I HAVE TO DEAL WITH MY SCHOOL PROJECTSSSSSSSSS

So uh yeah, you guys can hate me for that. I'm really REALLY sorry for breaking your expectation and not releasing it on time.

To make it up to all of you, A SPECIAL GRAND CHAPTER!

CONSISTING OF 50k+ WORDS HOLY SHIT

Enjoy.

/-WARNING-/br /
This chapter contains mass amounts of gore, violence, angst and /
And uh, sadly a mostly OC-centric on this chapter.

Read at your own risk

Seriously, this chapter will hit the feels to some of ya'll.

For those really disinterested by a little bit of angst, don't worry it'll only be this chapter.

I'm still aiming for that ElizabethxCidbr /
/-WARNING-/

---

Special Chapter 7 : THE SHADOWS (1/3)

---

A cold wind brushed by her golden forelocks as Alpha stood near a railing, leaning on it and sighing. The light sounds of footsteps came from behind her as Epsilon positioned herself next to her.

The co-founder of Shadow Garden looked dejected, depressed even. Simply looking into the distance and sighing to herself. She was in deep thought, despite their upcoming last mission.

Even with Epsilon next to her, she continued looking far off into the night sky.

Epsilon waited, the silence continued on for a while.

After ten minutes, neither did anything.

Alpha didn't say anything, nor did Epsilon. However the latter simply sighed to herself, preparing to ask her blonde friend's… Troubles.

"It's pretty cold up here, isn't it?" Epsilon asked, but it was more of a way to strike up a conversation, slowly building her way up before confronting Alpha.

"Mhm."

"This is our last mission against the Cult."

"True.."

"Alexia Midgar and Rose Orianna requested to join on this mission, why didn't you allow them?"

"...They had other duties."

"It won't be long until we get to Oshiana."

"...True.."

"..."

"..."

Epsilon sighed. Seeing that kicking around the bush wouldn't exactly get her any far, she simply decided to be blunt.

"Wanna tell me what's wrong? You've been awfully quiet for the past few days, it's making the rest of us worried." Epsilon asked worriedly.

Usually, if asked with something like this. Their co-founder/Leading member would immediately right herself up, being the perfect and graceful, Alpha, Second-in-command of Shadow. However, the blonde elf did not do any of that and remained lost in her thoughts.

"It's nothing.. Just some distracting thoughts." Alpha absentmindedly responded.

'Distracting thoughts my ass.'

Epsilon sighed again, she turned to see Beta and Gamma a good distance away from them. Both equally wore worried faces.

Why was their usually upright and perfect Head-in-command looking as if she'd just lost a date with Shadow-sama? Well that's because she did! A few weeks ago Shadow-sama had decided to travel off to Goddess knows where only he would know, straight up left when Alpha asked him out on a date.

Their suspicions were that he was already en route to deal with the last remaining cult members, which was confirmed just an hour ago.

How? By using the Long-distance communication artifact or what No.712 calls a `Phone`.

' Ohhh but Epsilonnnn, doesn't the phone have a range limittt? ` Shush! That would be because they were actually a day or two worth of travel away from Oshiana! The range was enough for it to reach their signal

Alpha had done some wordplay with Zeta when she contacted her, the Blonde elf said that the rest of Shadow Garden – Or to be specific, how many members they could bring with them – would arrive in a few weeks by sea travel. But she never said that they were going to use the large transportation airships (Plural, they had three Airships with them, she and the rest of the shades were currently at the first and leading one) made by Eta with the help of Lord Shadow's knowledge to travel to Oshiana. Yes they would have taken weeks to get to Oshiana by ship travel, but that was different to Airships, which could get them to Oshiana in just a few mere days.

Alpha had intentionally left that part out because of Zeta. Oh, their so dear cat-therianthrope sister shade, being reckless once more. They knew the cat-girl would try to deal with the last vestiges of the Cult in an act of trying to either redeem herself or flesh out the Cult in revenge.

If Alpha said that they'd arrive by Airship and in just a few days, Zeta would undoubtedly do something reckless to finish things by herself, but by telling her that they'd arrive weeks beforehand she would be more methodical with her approach. You never know when these cult bastards have something up their sleeves.

Okay, she was getting off topic. Point is, they received some… Pressing concerns regarding their beloved leader. First, he was already in Oshiana(Sasuga shadow-sama) however he was currently disguised as John Smith – An information that almost all of Shadow Garden is unaware of, encountering him when he's currently disguised as John Smith would raise some concerns among their ranks. He clearly had a plan of some sorts or reason as to why he had decided to go back to being John Smith once more, fortunately not to betray them again.

Second thing to note, who was the one to have sent them this information while they were en route to Oshiana? Well, you could thank the local Snow Fox who had decided to accompany for this last raid against the Cult, Yukime of the White Tower.

Just like Mitsugoshi, the Snow Fox Corporation was going international as well for business related agendas. Marketing for example, it just so happened that two of her main-subordinates, who were named `Natsu` and `Kana` were there to expand on some marketing.

The therianthropes obviously kept in contact with one another despite the long distance from the Lawless City – Via notes or personally, by at least one of their members, though this time with the use of the `Phone` to make communications faster, since they weren't that far from Oshiana now – The beastkin named `Natsu` reported that their opponent this time around was a man named `Belmo Ontrippofz`, apparently the bastard had gone inactive way before the creation of Shadow Garden. Allowing him to slip by their radar, until now of course. Another was that this `Belmo` had been transporting parts for some pet project that they currently don't have any information about, other than the fact one of them involved the Blood Queen as the target.

Ah, yes. There it is, the most concerning part of this information – Which she wanted to doubt was entirely true. This Natsu had claimed she was able to eavesdrop on Zeta and Shadow/John Smith, the thought was laughable, comedic even – The White-fox Yukime shared this sentiment so Lord Shadow must have seen this coming way and used Natsu as a means of communication, without Zeta knowing probably, he's probably there to keep her in check, that or deal with the cult himself… Actually it might already be gone by the time they arrived there.

Oh well, back to the Blood Queen. According to the beastkin, Zeta was visibly rattled and shaking when she talked about the Blood Queen, honestly the rest of the information just now was just taken into account, but the thought of Zeta being shaken about something regarding the Blood Queen had garnered their attention – She still doubted this information mind you, but it was pressing nonetheless.

Apparently when Zeta told Shadow something about the Blood Queen, she talked about how he had something in-hand or was related to the Blood Queen herself, then when she got to the part where Belmo was planning on doing something with what he had a hand with, their Lord immediately became enraged, though hidden, it still scared the shit out of Natsu..

Okay see, THAT was what concerned them the most, which also got Alpha sulking around. What the hell did the Blood Queen have on Lord Shadow that he would become so pissed off and have Zeta shaking when she talked about it.

That got Alpha sulking, because clearly their Lord was still keeping secrets away from them. Well, he obviously had a lot of secrets hidden with him but that wasn't the point.

The point is did something happen between the Blood Queen and Lord Shadow all those years ago?

Well, they'll probably find out when they arrive at Oshiana.

Best of luck to the Blood Queen she supposed, because even from here, she could tell that Alpha wasn't just sulking. Hell, she was pissed off, the `Jealous` kind of pissed off.

And when that happens? She's usually right about it, women's intuition and all that.

Well… Hopefully she's wrong this time around, she's probably just misunderstanding it. Her Lord Shadow and the Blood Queen probably just had some kind of plan or truce, just per usual.

Hopefully.

Hoooopeefullyyy…

….

Well, her turn to try to talk to Alpha is already done. She'll just leave it to Beta or Gamma, for now, what she needs is some sleep.

This trip to Oshiana is taking too damn long

---

"Well, this is certainly annoying." Rand Omadolcnte, or otherwise known as `Rando` noted, staring at a handful of books perfectly organized inside a bookshelf.

The noble boy furrowed his eyebrows in annoyance, his gaze currently placed at an annoyingly empty spot where a book should be. It wasn't really anything drastic or something, it's just annoying to see everything so perfectly organized just to see a spot missing something it should have.

With that said.

What kind of fiend could have taken his `Stall Wars` Book? That was a new rerelease too. The famous Natsume Kafka having rewritten parts of the story to fill in missing plot holes such as how does Palpakin keep building these ungodly sized super-weapons without anyone noticing, how did the Galaxy forget the Jedi in just a few years and so forth. So far the content it had was a chef's kiss, as great as the original story was, it was irritating when you had mind-boggling questions that were obviously gonna be left unanswered.

Oh and, it's original name `Star it's a trap Wars` was scrapped due to being too long and was renamed to the one we know now as `Stall Wars`. A great move really, the name really fits like a glove.

But enough being a critic, what the boy wanted to know right now, was how in the blazing hells did his book disappear? The one he had was the second volume, having read the first volume from Remilya after Ms. Vlodquinn – The elegant and goofy mother had insisted for her to be called `Ms.` instead of `Mrs.` for whatever reason – bought her the first volume. Last he heard, his friend was complaining about not being able to buy the second volume..

..Of course, who was he kidding? Remilya obviously took it the last she visited, would it kill her to ask instead of trying to act like `Kaito Kid` and stealing his stuff? Yes, she does return them but it would take weeks for her to do so as she would forget it. To top it off, the girl would simply laugh it off as `Borrowing his stuff` before putting on a witch's hat she bought from somewhere and screaming `DAZE` whenever he requested for his things to be returned.

Rando sighed.

"Well, I guess I'll be cut off from finishing the second volume for quite some time..-"

He cut himself off when he heard a shuffling noise, he tilted his head suspiciously, looking at where the source of the sound came from. He narrowed his eyes and slowly walked towards where the shuffling had come from, since the Library's lights were currently turned off – His mother would spank his rear if she found out he was still awake in the middle of the night after they had come back from the Festival's opening an hour ago, because of this he turned off the lights to avoid being found. – He had a directional lantern called a `Flashlight` from Mitsugoshi, which was many times brighter than a candle-lit lantern, Goddess-bless those people for their incredible works.

Angling the light towards a gap between bookshelves, assuming that the sound had come from the gap by listening to it, another sound of shuffling came from the aforementioned gap. He gripped his flashlight and strolled forward, listening carefully at the strange muffled sounds followed by a sound of… Sobbing?

…Nope.

Almost immediately, his heels spun around towards the library's exit.

'Nope, forgive me for my utmost unbefitting language as a noble, but politely, fuck this I'm out.'

His stroll slowly transitioned to a jog as sweat dropped from his poker but inwardly terrified face, but before he could even get closer to the exit, he heard the sounds of sobbing and sniffing once more, this time, clearer than before. Awfully sounding like Remilya whenever she cried.

He paused on his feet and turned, his eyes locked on the spot where the sobbing came.

He immediately pondered his choices.

First, he didn't believe in ghosts but he dared not try to find out now if it was real, he'd read enough books to know the tell-tale signs of a ghost trying to turn you into a Horror-novel main character. So there was a chance that this was an actual ghost imitating Remilya's voice to make him lower his guard.

As for the second one, this may very well be just his mind playing tricks on him after arriving back home tired from the Festival, but there was ALSO a chance of this being Remilya, he knows his best friend would come to him to cry or complain sometimes.

With all that in mind, what in his father's great name should he do? Come on Rando, you're the son of a duke in the process of assuming the position of heir when the time comes, you can't just back down from this…

Besides, ghosts aren't real.. Right?

Definitely, they were superficial at best. Nothing but fiction created by the great minds of humanity to bring some form of entertainment.

Not because they were based on real, actual things. Nope

Haha… Shit.

He's gonna regret this isn't he? That or he dies.

"..Oh to hell with it!" The boy silently cursed, pacing towards the source of the sound with his flashlight.

Nervously braving himself, he neared towards the gap and put on his bravest face.

Cutting close to the corner, he yelled out a war cry that came from his soul.

"In the name of Soul Society, turn yourself in! You haunting-fiend of a ghost!" He arrived at the spot and pointed his flashlight at the fiendish ghost that would likely be the cause of his death for his foolish choices, his eyes finding itself eye to eye with the ghost.

Well that's terrifying, the ghost had assumed the appearance of his friend and was currently huddled against the bookshelf's sides, eyes red from what looks like hours of crying.

Wait…

That's not a ghost..

Said `ghost` was startled. Bright-red glowing eyes(Which was honestly terrifying from his perspective, her eyes were unnaturally bright in the dark) reminiscent of a nocturnal animal stared back at him, her crying interrupted by the blonde boy.

They stared at one another, the deafening silence filling the dark library, they remained still for a good minute, not a single one of them making a single movement.

Rando liked to think himself as a gentleman, brave and courageous, so to say that he screamed like a little girl after Remilya suddenly screamed and startled him would be a lie.. Or so he wished.

He definitely, DEFINITELY did not scream like a little girl.

"EAAAAAAAAH-!" Remilya shrieked.

"AIEEEEEE-" Rando did the same.

It didn't take longer than a moment for Remilya's fist to become intimate with Rando's face out of instinct.

---

"I'm sorry!" Remilya apologized profusely after punching Rando in the face, the noble boy reassured her that it was fine.

"It's fine, neither of us were expecting that." Rando massaged his nose, giving her a flat look. "Still, isn't it kind of un-ladylike of you to suddenly lash out, fist literally armed."

"I-it's not my fault you scared me, I thought you were a ghost."

"I'm pretty sure I should be the one saying that, it's not exactly common to hear someone CRYING inside a dark and quiet library." Rando huffed, crossing his arms.

"Least of all, I was expecting a ghost, not a Gorillya-tan."

Remilya sniffed and smiled at him, before narrowing her eyes. "Huh?! Who are you calling Gorilla?! You girly-scream!"

Rando balked.

"Girly-scream? What kind of nicknaming is that?! And I didn't scream like a girl! Slanders!"

"You did!"

"No I didn't!"

Immediately growing tired of the exchange, she grabbed his shoulders and shook him. "Yes! You! Did!"

"I! Did! Not! " Rando grabbed her wrists and looked at her, countering her with each punctuation.

They locked gazes, a small tension looming over the two.

Before they suddenly gave out warcries, or well, what was intended to be one. It instead sounded more like a bunch of glorified birds dying.

"RAHHHHH-"

"HAAAAAA-"

They continued their intellectual exchange of words for a few seconds before they eventually stopped and gasped for breath.

They locked gazes again, before they started giggling.

Rando stopped giggling and smiled at his friend. "Finally stopped crying? Remilya-tan? Hitting another noble is a grave offense, you know?" The last part being a joke.

Remilya also stopped giggling, realizing she wasn't crying as bad as before. A few sniffles and small sobs were still there though.

Rando internally howled in his success of enlightening her saddened state.

"Y-Yeah, thank you.. Rando-kun." She wiped a tear away and smiled.

"Anything for a friend."

There was a reason he and Remilya stuck together as friends, it wasn't just because they were `Nobles` or of the similar scale. No, it was because they were honest with each other. Remilya may be strange and maybe a bit too over dramatic sometimes but he liked the fact she didn't care about a person's social standing – Although she acted like a `noble` or what was an attempt of being one, Remilya never saw someone for their status and class like he had been taught by his tutors. Not that there was some kind of segregation or inequality between the rich and poor in Oshiana, there were still a few differences between Commoners and Nobles. Such as areas where only nobles were allowed or noble-exclusive services.

Remilya cared none of that, the girl would literally go to lesser areas and invite their other friends, ignorant of the dangers of going alone in such places – Not that it would be a problem for her. He vividly remembers her dragging him out to 'play' one time, he immediately hauled ass when he found out her idea of `playing` that time was to intimidate burglars and gangsters with a paper bag with eyes attached to her witch hat.

Ms. Elizabeth was rightfully upset when she found out what Remilya did, so to say the girl was grounded from ever doing that again. She was never allowed to venture off by herself again after that.

That said…

Why was his friend I'm his house? In the middle of the night and crying all by herself?

Looking at her, she's also wearing a black-red dress with a few golden accents. She must have recently been at the Festival.

Surely Ms. Vlodquinn is searching for her now

"Ne… Remilya-tan." Rando softly called out.

"Yeah?" Remilya regarded him with a questioning gaze.

"Did something happen?"

Remilya froze.

Just like that, her downcast mood that he'd managed to appease came back.

She recovered moments later as she put on a face. A feat she discovered and learn thanks to her mama- …Well, from the mother who had just called her an `Accident`

Her brain filtered out the `Happy` part the moment she heard her mother call her an accident.

Not like it hurt hearing that or anything...

Her eyes glinted, a slight watering covering her eyes.

"N-Nothing.. I hurt my knee trying to get here," She tried to avert the conversation from leading to that topic. "To borrow.. Some books, you know?"

Dealite her attempt at hiding her pain, Rando noticed her tearful state and Immediately took out his handkerchief – Something a noble must always have in their person at all times – and held it out for her. Remilya's eyes darted back and forth at the handkerchief and her friend.

"We both know that's not the case, Remilya-tan," Rando sent her a knowing look, "You wanna tell me what happened..?"

The six year old's gloomy state lessened at her friend's offer, but chose to decline as she shook her head.

"No. It's something stupid. Go away." Remilya says, sitting down back to her spot.

Rando sighed and sat next to her, "Remilya-tan you do realize this is where is live."

"This part of the library?" Remilya quipped while tucking her knees in and hugging them.

"No, the mansion we're currently in," His eyes landed on his friend. "Remilya, it's just me."

You can be honest with me, we're friends. Went unsaid, he didn't need to. Remilya for all the silly and eccentricity she is, was smarter than him despite being a year younger (She's recently turned 6 for crying out loud, he's 7 pushing 8 years old how is she smarter than him educationally?!), she'd know what he meant.

Remilya had the look of someone pondering, it took a few more seconds for her to finally decide. She slumped and leaned on the bookshelf.

"Mama… called me an accident." Remilya stated, weakly.

Rando flinched.

'That's… not what I expected. ' He'd expected it to be some case of her being upset after being scolded or scraping her knee, but it seems neither was true as Remilya had just dropped a bombshell.

Ms. Vlodquinn said that? It almost sounded ridiculous. The woman was the most gushy and kindest woman he'd ever met to the point he wanted to call her Auntie for how caring and attentive she was.

"A-Are you sure you're not misunderstanding it?" Rando balked. "I've seen how protective and caring your mother is of you, surely there's more behind it..?"

"No…" Remilya shook her head. "I overheard Mama saying how she wanted to keep me from meeting Papa… I stayed until she got to the `Accident` part… Turns out I'm nothing more than a drunk haggle."

Rando closed his eyes and grit his teeth. Reaching a hand out to her back and drawing circles. This prompted Remilya to continue on, eyes glittering from tears.

"I-I asked her If I could meet Papa… All she had to do was say no, she didn't have to say all of that.."

Rando opened his eyes and looked away, cursing himself for not being able to do more other than comfort his friend. Hearing the fickle situation from Remilya as she continued to rant in the background, it almost felt surreal, the festival had just started a few hours ago. A time and event where people were supposed to be happy and celebrating, not having fallouts.

He didn't have any other idea on what else to do, his mother was the one experienced with things like these-

Wait! That's it! His mother could help his friend, she and Ms. Vlodquinn were good friends after all, maybe she could force the mother-daughter duo into counseling? Weird as it was, considering Remilya was just five- Excuse me, six years old, but they probably need this both to fix the meltdown of their relationship. He also doubted Ms. Mary(Remilya's Aunt, he just realized they barely interacted.) would just standby.

He felt guilty and helpless for having to ask of his mother to help out, but what else could he do? This was as far his assistance could go.

All he had to do now was convince his mother, which shouldn't be too hard.

Well, not too hard to request some aid for Remilya's situation. But definitely not the same for his sorry ass about to receive a day's worth of ass-beating from his mother for staying up so late and sneaking into the library.

As if on cue, multiple footsteps reverberated just about where the entrance to the library would be. A second later, the lights to the library opened, his mother and a maid came barreling in, his death- Oops, his mother looked tense with a… Frying pan?

No, he wasn't hallucinating, she had a frying pan of all things, even the maid beside her – Anita, who's name if he remembered correctly – had an intimidating spatula, some kind of substance dripping from the tip.

What the hell?

The Duchess-Maid duo were both in aprons, Rando noted.

Were they cooking something before they went here?

His screaming contest probably prompted the two to come here, likely worried for him… Goddess, he's not gonna make it out of this scolding isn't he..?

No wait, nevermind that. Why were they here instead of the guards..? Him screaming could instigate other conclusions such as him being kidnapped, and they went here with kitchen tools?!

Lelaine paused on her steps alongside Anita after seeing her son sitting next to a huddled Remilya.

Frowning, she strode forward, stopping just about a few steps away from them.

Rando met gazes with his mother and nodded, a silent message being passed between the two.

Lelaine's eyes landed on Remilya, who had settled into crying silently. Her frown slowly degraded into a soft motherly look, a grasp on the situation she immediately assessed.

Sending over a quick look to Anita, she gestured for her to pamper up the already cleaned living room, and most importantly, the kitchen. No one must ever know the kinds of horror they've accidentally created.

Anita soon left the library with a quick bow, both the frying pan and spatula in her hands – To get rid of the evidence, what they had tried to cook was definitely NOT a curry.

Lelaine returned her gaze back to the children, she crouched down in front of Remilya and rested a hand over her head.

Rando observed from the side, never leaving Remilya's side.

"Little Remilya..? It's me, Auntie Lelaine."

Remilya flinched, removing her face from her crossed arms.

"Auntie Lelaynee?"

---

She was cooking with Anita in the kitchen when they suddenly heard Rando's scream. Their peaceful session of cooking interrupted, their attempts to recreate the `Spicy Curry` – Which ended horribly – sold at the restaurants during the Festival's grand opening gone forgotten in favor of running to her son's rescue, frying pan in hand, Anita just behind her with a spatula.

Why was she cooking a commoner's food in the middle of the night alongside her trusted Maid? Well, there was a criminally unrecognized and underrated lack of curry nowadays, whereas other nobles saw it as trash, she saw it as delicacy.

How did their attempts go so horribly which ended up creating a weird violet substance? That will go unsaid. For someone like her reputation as a good mother and wife, you'd think such a feat like cooking curry would be simple, but noooo!

She didn't actually know how to cook, scrambled eggs were literally the summit of her capability. Then how come her fellow mothers looked for tips and advice from her you ask? Well, all she quite literally did was slap a book to their faces and they came up with that conclusion, not her fault. Hmph.

Hence her difficulties at cooking curry, but she had an image to uphold, the time where she would be forced to cook in front of other mothers would inevitably come and she'd be damned if she let herself be embarrassed by her lack of skills.

But enough about that, her son's safety came first.

When she and Anita arrived at the Library she held her breath, hoping that her son had not been hurt in any way.

Thankfully, there was no thief or kidnapper in sight. She didn't exactly know how to fight, running here instead of coming to the guards was more of a thoughtless impulse.

That said, her son was safe when she arrived… But uh, there seems to be another variable present at the time.

Seeing her son and her friend's daughter sitting together in the library was unexpected. What's more unexpected was to see said son comforting the crying girl, when she first saw them sitting together her first instinct was to literally grab the scenery-capturing device called the `Camera` and frame the damn picture into the walls.

But that line of thought was immediately extinguished by Remilya's pitiful state, that wasn't the cry of a child who got scolded or wounded. That was the saddening cry of a child who had just gone through some emotional strain.

Her heart as a mother ached, even more as a wife and a friend after finding out her friend. Elizabeth, of all people, had called her daughter an `accident`

What kind of outrageous move was that?!

She wanted to ask if the girl was simply misunderstanding it, a slip of the tongue or misheard words.

Unfortunately, it wasn't.

Truly outrageous this day was.

What's more outrageous was for Elizabeth to say such a thing, the woman was literally the most eager and clumsy woman she'd ever met! Her dedication to becoming a good mother was already admirable for the lengths she would go just to be the perfect mother for her daughter.

Even so as a wife, despite the fact she kept avoiding questions about her husband. Or rather, her partner, who's been rather absent from Remilya's entire life – From Remilya's story, it appears that Elizabeth and whomever her partner was, both got drunk at the former's attempts at wooing the man.

It finally made sense why Elizabeth insisted for her to be referred to as `Ms.` instead of `Mrs.`

For all her wrong doings, Lelaine still respected her, Elizabeth still decided to learn how to be a proper wife even without the presence of her partner, admirable as it sounded, it was still wrong to conceive a child with someone and deprive them of the little one's childhood.

Right now, the poor girl sat next to her on a couch. The living room was clean and bright thanks to Anita's quick work, her son sat across the table on another couch while Anita stood behind him.

The tears had stopped but the young girl never left her embrace, likely looking for some comfort from someone.

Hugs helped with sad children, that's something Lelaine knew and was familiar with.

She sighed.

Lelaine lowered her gaze to the little girl cuddled to her mid-waist. "Remilya, we should get you back to your mother. I'm sure she's worried by now."

Predictably, Remilya shook her head. "She doesn't want me anymore... I'm just an accident."

Lelaine sighed again, this was going to be a pain. Surely Elizabeth never meant it like that, she loved Remilya too much for that.

The little girl must have probably misinterpreted, just like most children would misinterpret something because they hyper fixated on something else.

Lelaine rested her chin on top of Remilya, cradling the six year old, "Remilya, you are likely misunderstanding it. Your mother would never dislike you."

"But she-"

"Shh." Lelaine cut her protest off, "Let me finish."

Lelaine gently pulled Remilya away to face her.

"Let me repeat, your mother would never dislike you. You are everything to her, she herself has told me that, and her actions have spoken louder than her words before." She wiped a tear away from Remilya's face with her thumb. "But do take it into consideration that your mother is not perfect, I do not know what has transpired in her past, why she wanted to keep you for herself, but based on your story… it's clear that she's lost something dear to her before, something very, VERY dear to her, that's likely the reason for her actions. It's likely the very same reason she wanted to keep you close, she didn't want to lose you."

Remilya lowered her gaze, before she looked at Lelaine with the same teary eyed expression. "But she called me an accident."

"Does that mean she hates you? Dislike you? No right? It may seem harsh of her to… call you that , even if she hadn't meant it. She showered you with love, cared for you, took care of you. Would you call that as not wanting you..?" Two hands rested upon Remilya's shoulders. "Little Remilya, everyone makes mistakes. Including your mother, she mperely made one slip up, don't let it ruin your relationship with her. You must treasure it dearly, you don't want to lose something dear to you, right?"

Lose something important to you like your mother once did. went unsaid, even if Lelaine avoided saying it, Remilya already knew what she meant.

Remilya nodded her head, of course she didn't want that.

Deep inside, she still loved her.

She didn't want to hate her, while in return she was scared she hated her, who was an `accident`

Besides..

Her auntie Lelaynee was right, her mother showered her with love, there was no hate there, she cared for her everyday, tolerated her mistakes, taught her and many others things.

Her mother–...Her mama was still her mama, s-she still loved her. She never wanted to run from her, same goes for her friends and Aunties.

It just… Hurt being called an `accident`, a year ago she wouldn't have understood what it meant, but continuous reading of books allowed for new knowledge – It insinuated a lot of things, like her papa not wanting her… Which was probably clear by now, she remembered her mentioning about him not being aware of her existence.

She wasn't sure about her papa though, she didn't know what to think of him. All she's ever known about him came from her mama.

Which… Was not that much, she could count on both hands all the things mama told her about him that wasn't repetitive.

She didn't need to know that her papa was easily teased. (According to her, it was quite an easy task to do, just include gold in the conversation.) Or that he was really strong.

What she wanted to know is what kind of person he was.

That's probably why she felt so frustrated other than the whole `accident` part, to be denied meeting her father.

Lelaine ran a hand through Remilya's hair and smiled, the silence proving as an indicator on her progress at counseling the girl. "Don't you think it wouldn't be fair if you didn't give your mother a chance, it's not too late you know? Don't waste what you have, it's not easy to get back something you've lost."

That was true, though the only experience Remilya could compare to that was when one of her friends stopped being her `friend`, she did not like that feeling one bit.

If she was only a friend and the pain was already that much then, the thought of losing her mama because she got frustrated about being called an `accident` then…

No, Don't cross that line of thought, she didn't want that at all. Auntie Lelaynee was right, she overreacted and ran off without hearing out her mama, she felt stupid for that, but hey what was she supposed to say about it? She's six, not seventeen.

"It seems you've made up your mind." Lelaine commented, easily seeing through her.

Remilya nodded weakly, before she paused to wipe the last of her tears away. "Mhm.. But I'm not ready yet.. Mm' tired, not prepared.."

Lelaine only giggled, she couldn't blame the red haired girl, she'd probably been crying for a while now. "I suppose so, would you like to stay with us for the time being until you're ready?"

"I-Is it fine..?"

"Of course!" Lelaine claimed happily. "You're practically my own niece now, besides, it's the middle of the night and going outside wouldn't be a good idea right now.. I'll have Anita prepare you a room so you can sleep in for the night, until a certain boy who stayed up after I told him to sleep early."

Rando gulped nervously across the table.

"But I'll lessen his punishment for doing his best to comfort you."

"Thank you.. Auntie Lelaynee."

"Anytime-" Before Lelaine could finish, the door to the living room opened to reveal a well dressed man, wearing a suit befitting of a noble, a dirty blonde color was the color that compelled his hair.

Rando straightened his back, the man who had just entered the room was his father

"Oh, Nicholas! Guess who's staying… for the night..?" Lelaine happily called out to her beloved husband, but soon trailed off when she noticed his… uncharacteristically tense and nervous complexion.

That was strange, her husband was normally jovial and a cheery kind of person.. The only times he would be this nervous was when something terrible happened or when that man was present- Oh.. Oh shit.

As if to confirm her fears, another well-dressed man in military uniform entered the room, giving Nicholas a shoulder check as he passed by. It went unnoticed by the two younger audience members in the room while Anita straight up excused herself.

Lelaine tensed up, growing nervously worried.. Worried for the one she currently had in her arms.

"Greetings house of Omadolcnte, I've come to visit once more." The man, or rather, Belmo greeted with a smile that looked rather friendly… way too friendly.

Rando frowned at his parents' reaction at the strange man, but kept quiet to avoid any altercation or any reasons for his mother to whoop his ass. Remilya on the other hand simply cocked her head to one side in confusion, not sensing the tense atmosphere.

Belmo's eyes not so subtly landed on Remilya, which caused Lelaine to tense up even more. Shit, she almost forgot that her family was.. Taken hostage by this man's influence two years ago, he didn't particularly threaten or cause harm to them in any way, but his presence was unbearably suffocating.

However, what he did was always ask for information regarding the Vlodquinn family. One time before, Nicholas had once declined his requests – Which felt like more of an order – and the man threatened their son's untimely death if they didn't follow his whims.

Telling Elizabeth directly about it was a no go too, she didn't know why Belmo was intrigued with Elizabeth but there was definitely a reason for it, her own suspicions was because she was an elf… Why else would Elizabeth have those sharp long ears? Belmo was probably looking to sell her or something worse.

Of course, she did try to warn Elizabeth about it secretly previously at the festival.

But that wasn't her current issue right now, this timing was truly hellish. Belmo just had to arrive when Remilya was present at their house. She doesn't regret being friends with the Vlodquinn family even if it put her own at risk, Elizabeth was a kind and true to her heart person. She'll be damned if she lets Remilya fall into his hands.

But what could she do..? The man had control over the entire kingdom.

"Oh? It seems you had guests over, Nicholas." Belmo said, giving Nicholas a side-eye to which the man looked away from.

Belmo returned his gaze to Remilya and lowered himself to match her eye-level. "Greetings Little Lady, I'm Belmo Ontrippofz. A friend of the Omadolcnte family."

Belmo reached out a hand to Remilya, the girl processed the information and concluded that this man must be an important noble, she quickly got off from Lelaine and brushed herself, giving him a bow and introducing herself. "U-Uh, I'm Remilya Vlodquinn, it is very nice to meet you."

She would have shaken his hand to be more presentable and respectful if not for her instincts telling her that this man was not to be trusted.

Belmo frowned at being rejected but simply shrugged it off. "Likewise, I didn't know they would have a visitor today."

"I'm-"

"-We invited her here." Lelaine interrupted her before she could say anything. "It's the festival, so I thought it would be… Appropriate to invite a friend of my son."

"Ah, is that so?" Belmo looked at her eyes, as if he was looking straight at her soul. Lelaine couldn't help but be afraid under his gaze. Nicholas clenched his fist so tightly blood started seeping out in the sidelines, agonizing at the fact he couldn't do anything but watch as Belmo silently intimated his wife.

Rando narrowed his eyes, his eyes darting from his mother to his father, the latter hiding his bleeding hand.

Belmo pulled his sights away from Lelaine, the woman immediately slumped and released a breath she was holding. Remilya, being the daughter of her father, was still oblivious to what was happening.

"Nicholas." Belmo called out to the man behind him, just like his wife, the man tensed up. Silently grinding his teeth together in fury. "I remember suggesting a small business collaboration a while back, you still haven't given me your answer."

And with that, Lelaine scrunched up, Nicholas' eyes widened in alarm. There it was, one of the signals Belmo had once told them to follow if he were to say the keywords. That meant he was going to initiate whatever plan he was doing.

To Remilya and Rando, they simply heard it as something related to politics and nobles. In contrast to Lelaine and Nicholas.

What they heard was "What will be your choice? The death of your family or follow my orders."

They didn't exactly know the details of whatever he was planning, but it involved inviting the Vlodquinn family to a province, an island which could classify as a small kingdom but was instead regarded as Oshiana's Province named Okeanos.

It was about half a day's worth of travel by ship, but the sights were something worth seeing. Something she thought wouldn't be so pleasing to the eyes if this man had set his eyes on that island.

"So what do you say, Old friend? You could bring a few guests to Okeanos." Belmo's eyes briefly landed on Remilya, before returning back to Nicholas.

Nicholas fought in internal war within his mind, the safety of his family or dooming one little girl they considered family. Even if he fought back against Belmo, he wouldn't be able to do anything, he already found out that this man controlled Oshiana from the shadows, what the hell was he supposed to do?

Lelaine silently begged her wife not to do it, to not put Remilya in danger, she was just a little girl!

Their eyes met, for a brief moment, Lelaine thought he was going to decline as he lowered his head.

Sadly, as tortuous as it is to make the decision. Nicholas chose to protect his wife and son. "Fine."

"Nichol-"

"We'll go to Okeanos… Remilya, would you like to come as a guest? I'd invite your mother too but she's not present right now.. And It will only be for a day." Nicholas grit out in silent agony. Lelaine felt betrayed.

"E-Eh? Okeanos!? The Province?! Is it fine?!" Remilya beamed at that, Okeanos was popular to younger audiences after all. Boasting in its beautiful sight-seeing tourist spots and its popular local food. "I-I don't really think i can see mama right now… so maybe a day wouldn't hurt?" she mumbled to herself.

"Indeed, considering our business there would be nothing more than just a few talks with the local economy, Nicholas did once say he wanted to bring more people there rather than just the two of us, it would be rather wasteful after all." Nicholas bit his lip on the sideline as Belmo said this.

Lelaine inwardly grimaced. Shit, Of course Remilya wouldn't see the obvious snake-paled face of this goddamn monster, her husband couldn't do anything and so did she. Her son looked like he had his own suspicions but kept quiet, smart boy, maybe she could use this..?

Either way, she hopes Elizabeth will somehow understand her very poorly prepared and roughed out plan. If Elizabeth was indeed an elf she must have at least the power to fight them back right? If only to save Remilya and maybe her son too.

"No problem, even I would be furious if someone spoke Ill of my beloved husband." She said before secretly slipping Elizabeth a small folded piece of paper.

If she remembered to read it, Elizabeth's problem with Remilya might have washed out that paper out of her thoughts by now.

Goddess, she prayed that Elizabeth has something that can deal with this man. Her family was already involved in it, she's done all she could.

"Capital! Nicholas, I believe we have to go prepare for our trip, you might want to help your wife and son with that." Belmo cheerfully said. His cheery tone felt so damn plastic it was suffocating.

"Y-Yes.." Nicholas wilted inside.

Remilya stayed oblivious with her zero-awareness and inability to read the room, while Rando furrowed his brows. He'll have to keep an eye on that creepy guy, his way of talking gave him the creeps..

---

The trip to Okeanos took longer than she'd expected, what was half a day's worth of travel by ship took a little longer than she'd like to admit. But hey, it wasn't so bad, Afternoon had only just hit with its bright sun rays and it was already so damn hot.

They left immediately for Okeanos a good few hours ago when it had been dark, middle of the night even, so arriving here in the afternoon made sense.

Her feet touched down on the artistically built and modeled port of Okeanos, and stretched. Rando stepped down from the ship's stairs and stretched too, now dressed in a jacket-like vest with a scarf, why a scarf? She didn't know but it did look good despite Okeanos' hot temperature.

The adults themselves soon stepped off the ship and did their own things. Meh, she didn't like adult talk and stuff. It did make her feel guilty that she went up and hitched a ride to Okeanos after what had just happened with her Mama.

The only reason she came here was because she wanted something to serve as distraction while she mentally prepared herself to talk to her Mama again.

She Immediately ran off to the Okeanos' portside town to sightsee, Rando just behind her with his hands in his pockets. She was careful on her steps to make sure dirt and sand didn't get into her dress, considering she had just come from the Festival.

Speaking of the Festival, since yesterday was the Grand Opening for the Oshiana Festival, people were just as rowdy and busy here. Though, less in population compared to Oshiana's crowds of people.

Her eyes gleamed with excitement when she saw the local food and toys – Even the books! She can even see a few of Natsume-sensei's works from here! Oh how she's going to enjoy this small trip…

Oh and before that.

As if sensing a dreadful premonition, Rando immediately stepped away from the railing he was leaning on and watched as Remilya threw up like hell to the gorgeous sea. He couldn't help but cover his mouth in disgust.

"W-What the hell?, Remilya-tan did you really have to specifically run to the spot where i was leaning on!? The portside had so many other options to throw up! Why my general direction!?" Rando snapped, pointing fingers at her.

Remilya weakly raised her arm in apology. "S-Sowwy.. R-Remilya-tan is not available right now…", her friend simply shook his head in embarrassment, likely from the few locals looking at them with innocent smiles.

Rando took this time to sneak a peek at his parents and that man, for the rest of the trip his father and mother had been uncharacteristically quiet and nervous.

Something was obviously amiss, and it all came from that man.

Tch.

"Whatcha' thinking about?" Rando's soul nearly left his body when Remilya startled him again with her usual sneaky tactics.

"I told you to stop doing that! How did you recover so fast!?"

"Don't know what you mean." Remilya shrugged, giving him a thoughtless shrug.

Great, she's doing that thing where she becomes an airhead without realizing it. Fucking hell…

But hey, at least she's back to being the cheerful girl he knew. A crying and saddened Remilya was something he never wished to see again.

"Ne, wanna go around the town and sight see?" Remilya ran up to him, giving him the `Innocent but airheaded` Remilya-smile.

Or what he liked to call the `Puppy-eyes`

"No, we can't just go around without any supervision, Remilya-tan." Rando reasoned.

Remilya pouted, "Aww… Can't you let me off this time? I really need a distraction…" She closed her eyes, before looking at him with her.. `Puppy-eyes`.

"Please..?" Aughhhh! It's too bright! Do not falter soldier! You must persist against this… This…!

Remilya tried again."Please…?" His defenses weakend, the shining red sun that was her eyes flashed him.

I… Must.. Resist!

"Rando-kun..?" Her voice weakened, soft even.

---

'Fuck, shit.'

He couldn't resist it.

'I've failed! I repeat, we've failed once more to resist the puppy eyes!'

How tragic, the fall of a noble's son.

"It's so beautiful!" Remilya gleefully enjoyed the view of the province, true enough, it was actually beautiful with nature being more prominent, less buildings and all that.

Well, if it makes her happy. He might as well go along with it.

The red-haired girl was currently zooming in from store to store, her eyes gleaming with excitement at the new unique products she's never seen before.

You know, sometimes he wondered. Was Remilya a prodigy of some kind? No he wasn't referring to her ability to quickly learn.

But rather in the field of magic, because dear Goddess, the girl could MOVE if she wanted to.

He's never seen her use magic of any kind of before, nor shown the capacity to properly use it. Everything she's done was all physical prowess like jumping from wall to wall to scale a building. So maybe it's an elf thing?

Well, it kind of feels embarrassing that he's the older one, a male one at that and yet many times weaker.

Genetic advantages are unfair, Boohoo.

Rando sighed, he followed after Remilya for what felt like an hour, which was exhausting given her unnatural speed and excitable attitude.

"Speaking of which, what time is it now?" Rando wondered, he didn't have his watch with him right now so he wasn't sure how much time had passed. Feeling thirsty, he saw a small food stall that served cool beverages for the cost of a few copper coins, he dug into his pockets and went to the stall to get himself a drink.

As beautiful as Okeanos was, it was actually pretty hot during the afternoon compared to Oshiana's perfectly accumulated temperature. He looked at the seller who had a watch strapped onto his arm. Welp, he might as well ask now that he's here.

"Mister, can I ask what the time is?" The man then told him the time, which was 2:21 PM, they arrived here exactly at 1:30 – The ship had a clock – so that meant he's actually spent half an hour with Remilya running around.

They should probably go back, his mother wouldn't take too kindly with him missing for about 50 minutes, his ass whooping for sneaking out at the library was put on hold, angering her would only increase the chances of her exacting her punishments for him. Nuh-uh, hell no.

He got off a wall he was leaning on. Finishing his drink, he made sure to throw it into a trash can, nature needed to be taken care of after all.

Now that he's refreshed, both mind and body.

Time to deal with Remilya and drag her back-

His thoughts paused when he heard the whistling of air, as if something was coming closer to him.

Out of self preservation and instinct someone his age shouldn't normally have – Which stemmed from spending time with Remilya – He cocked his head to the side.

Just in time to dodge a plastic blunted toy knife that embedded Itself to the wall, a plastic toy that looks like it would break if a three year old bent it too much was fucking planted to the wall, near his fucking face.

'A t-toy? That's no toy, that's a weapon of destruction dear goddess-'

Rando's jaw slacked open, a small whimper coming out of him.

His head hesitantly tilted towards where the toy knife had come from.

There he saw the threatening figure of his friend. Posing as if she was a damn novel character, Remilya wryly smiled when his eyes landed on her.

"So what do you thin-"

"-REMILYA WHAT THE HELL?!" Rando immediately snapped, merely comedic and with no hostility. "That could have hurt me really bad!"

"What are you talking about Rando-kun? It's just a toy." Remilya shrugged innocently.

"'Just a toy' my rear! Toys don't embed themselves into the wall after being thrown!" He pointed to the toy knife next to him. "No wait! Where did you even get it?! You didn't steal from a local did you?"

"Of course not, I bought it with my money, in here. See?" She pointed to a satchel bag she most definitely did not have before coming here.

"Remilya." Rando said, his tone flat. "Where did you get that bag..?"

"Bought it with my money."

"And where did said money come from?"

"Pocket money."

"Pocket money from whom."

"Mama."

"..."

"..."

"So you made me buy you a stack of drinks while we were on the ship… When you could have bought it by yourself..?" He slowly said, annoyed.

Remilya raised a finger to say something, but refrained anyway. "I forgot."

…Deep breaths Rando, deep breaths.

Remember, she's not annoying you intentionally.. Only with her airheaded tendencies.

He'll let her off with this one, it was just a few drinks he bought her, and one toy knife nearly giving him a black eye.

"Your Stall War privileges will be taken away for three weeks." Okay, screw it he's not letting that one go.

Remilya visibly panicked, she may have his second volume, but she most definitely did not have his limited early release third volume of the series.

"W-Wait, isn't that going too far?"

"Nope."

"It was just a few drinks!"

"A few drinks that I had to buy with my own money, you took my second volume, and threw a toy knife at me."

"B-But.."

Heh, he might not be able to get back on her physically(He'd never do it), but never said he couldn't beat her using mind games.

"Face it Remilya, I have the high ground now, the consequences of your diddling will cause you three weeks of boredom."

"T-Thats…" Remilya stammered, was it going too far? Not really, since all he did was prevent her from reading her favorite book for three days immediately AFTER she told him she threw a toy knife at him and told him she had had money.

Take my book again without asking now will you? Heh.

He saw Remilya shaking in what seems to be a mixture of betrayal and shock.

Heh, victory. He managed to pacify her without exhausting himself, all there's left to do is get back to mother and the others-

BAM!

His victory monologue was cut off by another toy knife suddenly flying past him.

His eyes widened, not expecting another toy knife from Remilya.

"Ahh.. Right, I'm really sorry that I made you buy me those drinks, I should have remembered I had money with me that time.." Remilya mumbled, she was currently hunched forward not allowing him to see her expression.

"Uh?" Crap, did he make her upset?

Remilya giggled lightly, she said something under her breath but he couldn't hear it. Something along the lines of "You fell for it… now I can make that reference."

What?

Did he just get tricked by Remilya? If so then how? All he could think of is either she's saying it for the sake of it or she was waiting for him to do something that will allow her to do something justifiably.

And when she does the latter, it's solely for the purpose of acting out something… Oh.

"It seems you've finally realized it, But it's too late! You've given me an excuse to finally use these!" She laughed wildly, she dug both of her hands in her satchel and brought out a shit-ton of blunt toy knives. "Ever since I saw these toy knives hanging by that toy store, my urge to make that one reference has been killing me! The act of throwing knives at someone!"

She displayed them and posed, holding the toy knives by their end. "So what will you do now?! JORANDO KUJO?!"

Okay first, how many toy knives did that store have in stock for Remilya to buy so much?

Second, she actually tricked him by having him act as a catalyst for her to do her act, and why is her eyes glowing red?! Is it normal for her pupils to resemble a cat's!?

Third and last, who the hell is Jorando?!

The first thing that came out of his mouth was "WHO THE HELL IS JORANDO?!" after processing the fact that Remilya IS doing this for the sake of another reference.

He then proceeded to dodge an array of toy knives – which were all thrown with mild intensity now, thankfully. – and started running towards where his family would be.

If Remilya was no doubt going to chase him, he'll at least kill two birds with one at one by luring her there.

But first, he needed to survive her onslaught.

"GAAAHHHHHH-" Rando screamed while running away.

"WRYYAAAAAA-" Remilya howled, hot on his tails.

The locals nearby that had been watching them only smiled at the childish display of two kids.

Was Remilya being too excessive? As much as it pained Rando to admit. This wasn't really excessive by their standards, trying to survive Remilya is just another day in his life.

---

Rando gasped for breath, his stamina abruptly reaching its limit as he leaned on a brick wall for support.

G-Good news.. He managed to lure Remidio Brandoquinn to where his parents would be.. A plaza full of stores and stalls, you could even call it a mall due to the size of it.

Moreover, there was a line of carriages on one corner. Probably the transportation used to travel from the port to the main city/town of Okeanos. There he saw his parents alongside that creepy guy talking to some people, probably business-related.

They'll probably use these carriages to travel to wherever they're going to do their work.

"Hehehe…" A low giggle came from directly behind him, causing him to freeze up.

Welp.. That's the bad news to his good news, Remilya had managed to catch up to him.

Heh, at least he could proudly say that despite her superior physical abilities, she was easy to juke. Allowing him to get to the plaza while avoiding her. But it seems this is far as he goes.

"WATAH!" Remilya's hands shot towards his sides to shock him.

"GUH!" Obviously, like anyone else if they were suddenly tickled by their sides, they would flinch. And so he did.

Rando jumped backwards and snapped at Remilya. "Could you NOT do that?!"

"Oops, sorry." She shrugged, before she finally realized where they were. "Whoa! This place looks amazing!"

"Yeah yeah, you would have noticed that we left the port way earlier if you weren't so focused on shanking me with a toy knife." Rando said while rubbing his sides.

"Also we've wasted enough time, we should go to mother and the others."

"The others..? Oh crap!"

"You just remembered we only came here to accompany my father and NOT play, did you.." Rando Deadpanned, his expression just as flat.

She blushed, embarrassed by that. "S-Shut up, we should go to them now or else they could leave us here!" She started jogging to where his mother was.

"You're the one who got carried away and started zooming across the port, then started chasing me for what seems to be one of your stupid shenanigans again." He quipped, jogging beside her.

"Shaddap."

When they got close enough, Lelaine hastily approached them and leaned down, seeing their exhausted forms – Mostly him, he's never seen Remilya sweat or be exhausted before – And frowned.

"What have you two been doing?"

"Uhhh.." Remilya raised a finger to say something but was beaten to it by Rando.

"I had to babysit again to someone two years my junior." Rando answered with an annoyed expression.

"Shaddap." Remilya quipped, pouting at him.

"No-..?" Rando stopped whatever he was going to say when he saw his mother visibly relax, before she had been unbelievably tense, but now she was giggling. The reason for her sudden laughter was because of their Childish display. Perhaps seeing something normal allowed her to temporarily forget the monster that was Belmo.

Seeing his mother back to her usual self gave him at least a small amount of relief as well. "Mother?"

"Y-Yeah? Sorry Rand, I was just thinking about you two." Lelaine slowly stopped giggling, smiling at her son.

"...?" Rando tilted his head in confusion. Something was definitely off. "Is something the matter.. Mother?"

Lelaine perked up, and coughed. "Nothing, Rand. Let us go now." Patting herself, Lelaine regained her composure and peered over the two. "We should go now, they're.. Waiting for us."

Lelaine turned and walked back to her husband and Belmo, Remilya simply nodded and followed after her while Rando narrowed his eyes for the umpteenth time today.

Catching up to the others, Rando patted his clothes of any dust. Any dirt on a noble would be deplorable and a disgrace, if there were other nobles going to be present to the place they were going to, then it wouldn't be proper if he was dirtied, no offense to Remilya but did she really have to throw those knives with such force that they even kicked up dust..?

He saw his father get inside one of the carriages, followed by his mother who was calling for both him and Remilya. Before he went inside the carriage he wondered where the hell Belmo would be, there was no way in hell he's getting in a carriage with him. Thankfully, he caught a glimpse of the creepy man getting on another carriage, that alone gave him a peace of mind.

However, for a brief moment, their eyes met. He immediately looked away, he felt disgusted just looking at him, seriously what was he..?

That thought was on his mind for the rest of the trip, which was damn long, he wondered how far was their damn destination for it to take more than an hour. During the rest of the trip, his parents stayed quiet, looking at Remilya with.. Sympathy? Regret? That really weirded him out, and raised his growing suspicion on Belmo.

Remilya on the other hand was the complete opposite, she was merrily getting along on this trip, she'd been looking outside the carriage windows for a while now, enjoying the unique scenery of the province and its local traditions probably.

As for him, he just took a nap for the rest of the trip, tired from being chased around by Remilya back at the port.

It didn't take any longer for the carriage to stop, Rando immediately noticed the elongated range of the mansion fences they've just entered, so to say he was actually surprised when he got out of the carriage. Because hot-diggity damn.

This place wasn't a mansion, it's a whole damn campus! Even so with the unbelievably large mansion just a few dozen yards away from them. This place was humongous, is this a place for nobles to run a masquerade? It could probably count as a small fortress at this point.

"Whoaaaaa!" He turned to his right, It seems that Remilya was just as flabbergasted as he was.

He'll have to sight-see later when he has free time, but first. He needed to ask his parents if this place was holding some kind of event, because why else would they go to such a ginormous mansion in the guise of a business-related work.

He tugged at his father's sleeves who was talking with.. That creepy man. "Father, Is.. there some kind of event? Aside from Oshiana's Grand Opening of course."

Before his father could even talk, the creepy man cut him off. "How insightful of you, Young Rand. Why indeed there IS an event happening here, it is more or less connected to the Grand Opening of Oshiana."

That explained his father and mother's extravagant clothing, but how come his mother made him wear a suit vest..? he got his answer and pulled away from Belmo after thanking him.

Moving on from that guy, that man never told him what kind of event was taking place, his parents didn't bring a mask so it wasn't a masquerade, what's stranger is that fact, why didn't they bring a mask? Okeanos is a part of Oshiana too, pretty sure the Nation-wide Festival should apply here too, the locals had masks themselves.

And why would they have an event now of all the time? The only conclusion he could think of right is this is either a ball or a gala, a ball is more unlikely since it's already a part of the Festival to be merry.

A gala then? But for whom? Belmo? His parents ARE nobles but that didn't mean they had that much of a business to begin with, taxes from their land already fills their wallets, and as far as he knew they weren't in a shortage.

In conclusion, it's either Belmo or another business partner who had this entire thing going on. But why include father? His father was never too ambitious for money…

They soon entered the gigantic mansion, immediately he was greeted by the extravagant interior of the mansion.

Not bad…

Semantics for later he'd suppose, it was a rarity to be in such a big structure such as this, as a noble he needed to appreciate the very root of this mansion and it's design.

His eyes traveled to Remilya who had sparkly eyes.

Well, it looks like he'd have very little time to do that, if this was indeed a gala then he'd have to make sure Remilya didn't cause any trouble, this was going to be exhausting…

Ugghh….

---

She was amazed by how big the place was, like seriously, this place was STACKED! Remilya's head darted from left to right while walking alongside the Omadolcnte Family.

This mansion – If it was even right to call it a mansion, this should be a palace – Was also filled with people, it made her feel self-conscious despite having gone to the Festival's Grand Opening.

It seemed that whatever this business and was doing was bigger than she'd thought, hopefully she didn't hold them back and made them late by dragging off Rando-kun with her.

Getting closer to a dual-wooden door, she could hear chatter of countless people inside with piano music playing in the background. walked forward and opened the door, they were immediately greeted with the sight of various individuals – Likely Nobles – interacting with one another, feeling nervous she played with her skirt and made sure there wasn't any dirt on them.

She was so glad vampires – Or well, Dhampir in her case – didn't sweat, otherwise her smell would be all over the place after running around. Her nose briefly scrunched up, smelling Rando's strangely clear and good smell despite having run away from her.

Eh, she'll just chuck it up to some kind of Noble thing.

She picked up her pace and stayed near Rando's side after seeing a group of nobility children, some being a few older than them, as much as she liked to imitate a noblewoman, she didn't have the guts to actually try it out against real nobles – With a few exceptions like when she's excited, gosh, she could still remember beaming at and for allowing her to come with them to Okeanos.

A few nobles stopped chattering when they saw at the center of the room, they approached the well-dressed handsome man and started talking about something she couldn't hear from her position.

Mr. Nicholas stayed still in his position, his hand gripping so tightly it was bleeding, airheaded as she was, she wasn't blind to subtle things. She knew Mr. Nicholas had been gripping his hand so hard it was bleeding even back in the mansion, why was he doing it? She didn't know, but it was likely something said, she may hide it under her cheerful personality but her instincts were screaming whenever he looked at her.

Despite all that, she shrugged it off as some weird adult thing, Mama had once told her about nobles who were snakes, people who were up to no good. Maybe was one of them? Unlikely, he was too friendly, he didn't give off the feeling of being a manipulator of such kind. She could see a few similarities to the novels she reads though, but she wouldn't judge things based on something she'd read, her instincts going ham is probably just some kind of vampire thing. Probably caused by ' nauseating blood… Okay, she might wanna stay away from him for the time being, it's making her dizzy.

She was taken out of her thoughts when she heard the barely intelligible voice of her Auntie Lelaynee, she turned around to see her whispering something to Rando, who's eyes widened and looked at his mother.

Auntie Lelaynee nodded at Rando who hesitantly nodded after a few seconds, he walked back next to her and crossed his arms.

Huh, guess she was too distracted with her thoughts she didn't even realize Rando had left her side..

Looking at him, he was now full-on frowning with furrowed eyes.

Did Auntie Lelaynee scold him? If so then oops, if she had any reason for him to be scolded then it was her fault.

Though she was sure he would be upset at her if that was the case, instead he leaned close to her and crossed his arms.

Huh, maybe he's nervous with the amount of people here..

GASP!

That'd be actually so cute and funny, maybe he's sticking close to her because he's actually nervous?!

Hahaha! Another vulnerability to Rando she can use as teasing material, oh yeah it's all coming together. She'll be able to get back access to those sweet books by embarrassing him.

Before she could further Rando's inevitable doom for taking away her books from her, Auntie Lelaynee came to his rescue by tapping on her shoulder.

"Yes Auntie Lelaynee?"

"Little Rem, would you mind if you and Rand go spend the rest of the Gala with people closer to your age?" Lelaine said, pointing to the group Remilya saw earlier.

Ohh! So it wasn't a masquerade but a gala, that makes sense, it's to raise profit after all. Why couldn't they have gone with that earlier?

Rando was close enough to hear what his mother had said, it didn't surprise him as he had already come to this conclusion minutes before arriving. But who was gaining from this gala? He's surprised a whole lot of nobles even came to this event when the Water Spirit Blessing festival was still in effect, a majority of Oshiana's nobility was celebrating the Festival, so for at least a hundred of them to be here was a surprise.

Before he could continue on his thoughts, Remilya grabbed his arm and dragged him to the section where other younger nobility were. Hot shit, dealing with other nobles his age was a pain in the ass, they will literally judge everything about your existence if you're not as high as their rank, with Remilya present, it was no doubt going to be chaotic.

"Remilya-tan! Don't suddenly drag me off somewhere!" Rando complained as he was being pulled by the shorter and younger girl.

"You were spacing out for more than a minute, dummy, I had to move you or otherwise you'd stand out!"

He was spaced out for that long? No wait, Remilya actually did something intellectual for once! What the hell?!

Remilya, did in fact, make an intellectual move for once, UNINTENTIONALLY. Since she thought he was nervous around other people, she thought that he wouldn't make any move to interact or talk to the other younger nobility, her misunderstanding reinforced by the fact Lelaine had asked her to take Rando with her. (While in reality, she was worried for both of them.)

"Remilya you might wanna let go of me first!" Rando snagged his arm away from Remilya's grip somehow. "Listen, those idiots over there will judge everything you do, so whatever you do. Don't do anything stupid." He said, pointing to what was the equivalent of a gala's kids section.

Remilya looked at him, before nodding.

"Good, augh.." At least she listened, all that's left is to endure the inevitable pain the ass he'd have to deal with. "This is going to suck-"

"-Greetings! I'm Remilya Vlodquinn, it is a pleasant afternoon meeting you all." Remilya walked up to the table where a few kids older than them were dining in, greeting them with a lady's bow.

HEEEEEY! SHE DIDN'T LISTEN AT ALL!

Rando immediately increased his pace to catch up to Remilya and protect her from any incoming criticism by the frighteningly annoying people.

Except, they weren't as he thought.

"Greetings!"

"Afternoon."

"Pleasant Afternoon to you as well."

"A pleasure to meet you, beauty."

What.

Multiple greetings and waves were given to Remilya rather than the usual criticism, hell, some of them immediately went into trying to get her hand. That last bit made him raise an eyebrow, but hey, if they were this friendly then maybe this Gala wouldn't be much of a headache to him.

"Remilya-"

"Who's this peasant looking boy?"

"Who invited him here?"

"Flee, we did not invite someone like you here!"

Nevermind, he fucking hated nobles. What's with the sudden change in attitude!? They were all flowery and niceties with Remilya, is there something on his face!?

Remilya, who was being showered in praises – For some reason. – Ran up to him and grabbed his arm, introducing him to her new group?

"Everyone! This is my friend Rando! He's a noble higher than me! He's shy, but don't let that stop you from befriending him!" Remilya spat some bullshit while she pushed him into the spotlight.

Shy WHO!?

Is she misunderstanding something!?

---

Lelaine may have considered herself a good person and a good friend, but sometimes that was challenged when a difficult obstacle confronted her.

Such as whatever they should do here, they've quite literally doomed Remilya of whatever horrible thing was going to happen to her because of Belmo, she hated this.

Hated having to follow through with something that will cause suffering for someone, or in this case, a whole family.

She wanted to fight back directly… So baaddd… But that meant her family being In danger. She already made the decision to be rebellious as much as possible, but anymore would cause the death of her family. Something she didn't want.

Everything was so complicated, her family was in danger here!

Just WHY, why did this man named `Belmo` have to come to their lives. Why couldn't he just leave her family alone… Family.

Family… Family… Family, huh…

Her eyes traveled to both Rand and Remilya.

Right, don't falter Lelaine Omadolcnte, you've already made your decision when you gave Elizabeth that paper.

'You owe me for this one Elizabeth, my son better make it out of here alive.'

---

Nicholas had a congruent personality, he did not like oppression of any kind, nor was he the type to stand by when people were potentially in danger. But that changed when his family was on the line, he felt powerless.

He'd never felt so helpless ever since Belmo came knocking into their door, threatening his family for obedience, it wasn't so bad at first but when he came into light of what he was planning, on who he was trying to involve? That was out of the line.

He'll do anything to protect them even if it costs him his life, but… Was a part of that cost a small girl who didn't even know she was in danger…?

Elizabeth Vlodquinn and Mary Vlodquinn were good friends of his. He liked how the former was honest with her actions, utterly unclouded and not blinded by power or such – He had seen how rich she was before – The woman was true to her heart. Little Remilya on the other hand was like a daughter, or a niece to him, the girl was simply just so excitable. She was good for his son who beforehand was quiet and restrained to a shell, after meeting her he slowly opened up and started talking to people, even making new friends!

He didn't even know whatever the hell Belmo was planning with the Vlodquinns, it was obvious enough that it wasn't something pretty given the fact he's been observing them for years, he and his wife already drew up a few conclusions, like Belmo trying to kidnap and sell them, Elves were a dying race after all… Sadly it wasn't that easy, why observe them for such a long time when all he's going to do was sell them, he had the kingdom under his control, the disappearance of one didn't matter to him.

So that meant Elizabeth had something on them… Goddess, why is this all so complicated! Why couldn't it just be the usual boisterous and arrogant noble problem!?

He sighed deeply, his inner turmoil growing by the second as his will weakened by a fraction.

It's just that.. His son, his wife.. Why did Belmo have to come-.. Huh?

Warm hands gently clasped over his bleeding hand, his eyes found locked with his wife's own.

Lelaine's eyes glinted in determination, before it darted to the table where their son was, before returning back to his. She nodded, sending a silent message to him.

Right, he wasn't alone. Lelaine had already decided to fight back even way before him, she told their son to take Remilya away the moment they gave him the signal, she even slipped Elizabeth a letter way back at the Festival's Grand Opening.

He grit his teeth. 'What am I, a coward..? Heh.' ', That's the woman he fell in love with right there, strong at heart, fast to make decisions. When he was agonizing about what kind of decision he was going to make, his wife had already made one. He made his decision as well.

He said he'd protect his family whatever the cost right? Well, too bad for Belmo.

He and his wife considered the Vlodquinn's a Family.

He clenched both of his fists, gathering his courage to confront Belmo who had been talking to other nobles for a while now.

He stomped towards him with hidden determination, his eyes sharp and features strengthened. Lelaine stayed a reasonable distance between him and their son, if things went for the worst, she'll be able to run away with their son and Remilya.

Belmo stopped whatever he was doing when he heard Nicholas getting closer.

"Ah, Nicholas. How may I help you, friend?" His eyes flashed malignantly.

"What are you planning with her." Nicholas did not beat around the bush, he narrowed his eyes dangerously, referring to Remilya.

Belmo looked at him with a slightly shocked expression, before he smiled ironically. "Ah, finally decided to fight back, did you? What a pathetic man, it took you long enough." Belmo mocked, gently swirling the glass of wine in his hand.

He sipped the glass, side-eyeing Nicholas.

"I'm using that thing over there as a token to victory." Belmo answered after drinking.

"A token.. To victory?" Nicholas questioned, his eyes becoming fiercer after hearing him call Remilya a `Thing`. "What the hell are you talking about..?"

Belmo simply swirled the glass with so little content left. "Nothing that concerns you or your family." Belmo brought the glass up to drink the rest, but paused when an idea came to his mind.

"Humour me this one, have you heard of possession?" Belmo asked the topic out of nowhere.

Nicholas frowned, of course he's heard of possession, who wouldn't?

"Bah, what am I saying, of course you'd know." Belmo jokes, "Then what about Vampiric curse?"

"Where are you going with this…" Nicholas grits out.

"Humour me."

He frowned even further, the man already started to play with him using words.

"It's an illness caused by vampirism." He answered lightly, attempting not to get caught in Belmo's game.

Belmo opened his mouth as if he were going to say something, but refrained.

"Brainless fool." Belmo muttered, "You see, I'm a researcher Nicholas, I love knowledge as much as I love power. Sadly, a few years ago a dear former superior of mine was killed in battle. That thing over there is the spawn of the very person that killed him… Getting revenge on him was impossible, so I thought.. What about his family?"

Nicholas wanted to snap at him, this was about revenge?! If it was then Elizabeth and Remilya were completely innocent, he should leave them out of it!

But he was given a chance to talk. "Before I exact my revenge on him through his family, I wanted to research his wife and child, prime subjects for knowledge, a treasure trove of mysteries waiting to be discovered." Belmo opened his palm, his eye-sight matching his palm with Remilya on top of it. "The wife, The Queen of Vampires, the very Blood Queen herself. And probably one of the rarest beings to ever walk on this plain world, the child of a progenitor vampire."

Nicholas' eyes widened. Queen of Vampires, Elizabeth!? If that was true then it made sense why Belmo was so cautious of her, but it was also difficult to believe that someone so benevolent such as Elizabeth would be the Blood Queen from history, and Remilya is a progenitor's child? That's quite literally unheard of.

"It kept getting better, not only I would be able to take revenge on that man from the shadows, I'd get to research a progenitor's child who not only possesses vampirism, but also shows symptoms of possession!"

Possession and Vampiric curse? Wait, that's also unheard of. Vampires in history were never recorded to have symptoms of possession because they already had vampirism, there were a few dhampirs in history as well but they weren't a progenitor's child and did not display a combination of possession and vampirism.

"She is a combination of two magnificent factors, such knowledge undiscovered within a small girl! But of course, I can't simply take her away and do as I please." Belmo turned his attention to him. "I'm sure you've concluded some conclusions yourself, as to why I used your family to gain knowledge about the Vlodquinns, and why I was so cautious with them."

"Elizabeth." Nicholas guessed.

"Correct! Kidnapping her child meant a death wish, that woman could raise destruction to a whole kingdom on her own if she wanted to, and yet she's here in Oshiana, hiding within a bunch of cattle, degraded into a shit-poor of a mother." Belmo slandered.

"..."

"Not only that, she was the wife of that detestable man within the shadows, taking revenge on her was granted as well. Defeating her meant that I would be able to take revenge on her… Partner, as well as having access to her daughter." Belmo dramatized, "Defeating the Blood Queen will, of course, be a nigh-impossible feat."

"No shit." That thought gave him hope, Lelaine slipped Elizabeth yesterday a letter did she not? Hopefully the Blood Queen will read it and get in here in time.

"Without preparations that is." Just like that, Nicholas became uneasy. "Tell me Nicholas, if a man like you could sweep through an entire army of foot soldiers alone, will you be able to do the same when you're too busy protecting someone who's too broken to do anything?"

Nicholas' breath caught in his throat as Belmo grew a smile that brought shivers to his spine, he immediately understood the implication, except the last part of someone being too.. Broken?

"What did he mean by 'broken' is what's currently going through your mind is it not?" Belmo cackled. "Simply put, when I asked you about Vampirism and Possession, did you not think about the implications and the factors present within this very mansion?! Civilians easily folded like fine paste and an emotional breakdown followed by taking the lives of the innocent!"

He cackled dangerously, Nicholas wanted to take a step back but refrained, standing his ground.

"Simple! Bloodshed and Anguish!" Belmo said a little louder, stretching his arms wide, a few of the nobles nearby looking at their spot. "What do you think will happen if a Little girl who's been reported to have incredible power and yet poor control, fights in an environment where both will be present the moment she misjudges her control!?"

As Belmo said this, his hands glowed. His magic suddenly became erratic, yellow light rumbled from his body.

Lightning thundered and came to life. "IT'S TIME TO COMMENCE PHASE 1"

Nicholas' eyes widened again, survival instincts took place as he angled himself and dived to the right, Lelaine doing the same.

---

Remilya furrowed her brows in confusion, there seems to be some kind of commotion happening where was.

She could see and talking about something from her position.

Rando was too busy deflecting the jealous eyes of his peers behind her – Not exactly sure why said peers were jealous, they all gave him the stinky eye when she told them he was her friend.

Her nose scrunched up, smelling the intensive emotion of from all the way here. She could tell he was angry, furious even, but for what reason..? The smell of blood also grew by the second, it made concentrating a little difficult.

Getting curious, she deafened most sounds and focused solely on and ' conversation, an ability she had thanks to her unique lineage. It was something she rarely used because she found it annoying overhearing details she did not appreciate nor needed to hear.

Eavesdropping on two people, just like how she eavesdropped on her mother, Ironic.

"Tell me Nicholas, if a man like you could sweep through an entire army of foot soldiers alone, will you be able to do the same when you're too busy protecting someone who's too broken to do anything?"

Hold on, What was talking about..? Is he talking about some philosophy or a novel?

"What did he mean by 'broken' is what's currently going through your mind is it not?"

The same thought was going through her mind, but instead she was more confused as she didn't have any context behind their conversation. What she was doing was really rude right now, they were clearly just having some disagreements on their work, although why the use of metaphorical words.

She closed her eyes as her sharp-ears flickered, senses humming low as she lowered her hearing-

"Simply put, when I asked you about Vampirism and Possession, did you not think about the implications and the factors present within this very mansion?! Civilians easily folded like fine paste and an emotional breakdown followed by taking the lives of the innocent!"

-Her eyes immediately opened, her red-eyes finding itself looking at Belmo in shock.

What..How did he-

She gulped nervously, maybe it was just a coincidence!? Her eyes caught the small glint of light being reflected from various places, within the crowds, from the staff's corner and even the ones on the upper floor.

'Nobles!? No, even the butlers and maids… What were those glowing-' Her eyes caught the tell-tale shape of a weapon.

Swords? Knives..!?

They all glinted silver, she gripped the elbow-rest of her chair in fear, she did NOT like the feeling those things were giving off. Rando from beside her finally noticed her now visible panicking.

"Remilya-tan..?"

She didn't turn around to face him or say anything, her eyes now landing on Belmo. Her ears solely focused on whatever he was saying.

"Simple! Bloodshed and Anguish!" A sweat dropped from her temple, she couldn't tell if the man was actually up to no good or if he was acting something out. No, no, no. Calm down Remilya, remember, deep breaths. No one else knows what you are, only Mama and Auntie Mary, if these people knew they would tie her up and Impale her heart.

She grew even more uneasy, now standing up from her seat. The other children were now looking at her with concern, Rando even more.

It's impossible that would know, her ears could be mistaken for an elf's and she didn't drink blood anywhere else other than at her house.

If.. If Rando, Auntie Lelaine and Uncle Nicholas found one what she was, w-would they try to kill her..? No, no, no, no, no! That won't happen, it's impossible! She never gave herself away-

"What do you think will happen if a Little girl who's been reported to have incredible power and yet poor control, fights in an environment where both will be present the moment she misjudges her control!?"

Huh..? L-Lose control?

Upon hearing his words, Remilya instinctively knew WHO he was talking about, who else would fit the bill in this very mansion. Her mind traitorously imagined what would happen if she did use her magic in a… Environment full of people.

Y̷O̵U̶ ̴K̴I̴L̵L̴E̵D̴ ̸T̸H̸E̵M̶ ̷A̸L̶L̸,̴ ̴E̸A̸T̸ ̷T̴H̴E̵I̷R̵ ̶C̷O̴R̶P̶S̷E̸ ̸A̶N̶D̵ ̵D̶R̴I̴N̴K̸ ̶T̶H̵E̸I̷R̸ ̶B̸L̵O̸O̵D̴!̴ ̷F̸A̶L̷L̴ ̷I̵N̵T̵O̵ ̶Y̷O̴U̴R̴ ̷T̶R̷U̷E̴ ̵N̴A̸T̸U̵R̷E̸–

Shivers ran up through her very being within a split second. Out of pure instinct, faster than anyone could see other than Belmo she grabbed the chair she previously sat on and imbued magic on it. Red mist from her body came to life, the chair had now grown a mask of red cloudy mist within an instant. She dashed forward and stood in front of Rando and the others to protect them from the dreadful feeling she was feeling. Suddenly, a bright yellow light came from Belmo's position, Remilya brought the chair in front of her in a swinging motion.

BOOM!

Suddenly the chair exploded, her red mist-like magic protected anyone behind her with the exception of herself.

She felt everything as light, her world had gone white for a brief moment. She was sailing through the air, she realized. The force from whatever had hit her blew her away like a ragdoll.

She immediately fell back to the ground as gravity took place, her back violently colliding with the ground. She tumbled through multiple tables and… Soft things, people.

When her velocity finally ended, she immediately stood up and examined the room. The people she tumbled on unintentionally were all fine thankfully, just on the ground unconscious, Rando and her new friends were all safe too. Aside from a few splinters on their arms.

W-What hit her!? She felt really painful for a moment there.

The piano in the background came to a stop, the giant room fell into silence as everyone – Except the people with the swords and knives. – looked at Belmo in shock, the room stayed that way for a few seconds

The deafening silence came to a stop when appeared behind Mr… No, that guy Belmo with a sword raised overhead, ready to slam down on Belmo's skull.

"Lelaine! NOW!" He screamed, he brought his sword down, only to be met with resistance as he was gut punched by something moving at lightning speed.

"RAND! GO!" Auntie Lelaynee screamed from the side, Rando-kun already running towards.. Her?

Rando grabbed Remilya's arm and started running away, pulling her away while she was still in a confused state.

"R-Rando-kun!? What's going on!"

Rando didn't answer, and instead kept his eyes towards the exit. He kept running towards it with Remilya in tow. But before they could even go near it, a few men blocked their way, all wielding.. Swords that gleamed silver.

Her breath came stuck at her throat, seeing them.

She could hear Auntie Lelaynee from behind her, likely swinging a sword from how she howled. Just like Uncle Nicholas, she was suddenly blown away by something.

The both of them came to a stop when one of the butlers wielding a sword pointed it at Rando. "W-What are you all doing!?" He screamed in alarm.

Apparently his scream was enough to snap out the rest of the nobles inside the mansion, they all started screaming at Belmo, terrified and in horror of what he was doing. A few complained to the staff but were subdued immediately by being knocked out.

"Belmo what the hell are you doing!?"

"Explain this at once!"

"What are you doing!?"

"M-My arm! It got burned by something!"

Various complaints came from the crowd, Remilya's eyes remained implanted on Belmo's form. When she suddenly came into contact with his eyes, she shivered in fear.

Bringing his arms to himself, magic seeped out as he inhaled. Suddenly his magic became sharp and took the form of lightning. "SILENCE!" He screamed, lightning came from his body. The unfortunate nobles that happened to be near him were all… B-Burned..!

The room came to a silence again, mostly out of fear from his command.

"M-Monster." She muttered under her breath, his power was suffocating, terrifyingly so. Rando, who was holding her hand, shook uncontrollably.

"Better." Belmo tapped on his shoulder, cleaning a few non-existent dust, he looked at Remilya which caused the girl to tremble. "So girl, Do I have to spell it out for you or you will do it for me..?"

"U-Uh."

He smiled, not giving her a chance to say anything else, he cleared his throat and spoke in a loud voice. "Everyone, all of you may be wondering.. Why am I doing this? I won't waste any time and cut to the point." He pointed to Remilya. "You may all blame it on that foul red-haired monster over there."

"M-Monster.. Me?"

She immediately became the general-attention of the room, all eyes currently on her, she couldn't help but gulp in fear.

"Of course, You, my dear.. is a detestable vampire are you not..?" He smiled as he said this. Remilya's heart fell, her eyes immediately darted from left to right. The people were already looking at her as if she was some kind of monster.

"V-Vampire?"

"L-Look at her ears!"

"Monster!"

YOU'RE A MONSTER, YOU SHOULD BE KILLED.

BURN HER.

STAKE HER AND ROAST HER ALIVE.

LET THE SUN CLEANSE HER.

She started hyperventilating, w-what does she do!? S-She promised her mama about her vampirism. P-People are gonna start hunting her down now, she'll never be able to live a good life, everyone will avoid her like a m-monster.

N-No, please..

Remilya fell down on her rear, looking at the people with fear. S-She didn't do anything bad, please d-don't kill her..

She wanted out of here. Like right now, please.

She wanted her Mama, her Auntie.

Just get out of here, it scared her.

S-she wanted-

Suddenly, a familiar pair of hands gripped her shoulders as a boy faced her.

R-Rando… H-He's going to hate her, her friend, her best friend.. She didn't wanna lose him, but now that he found out she was a vampire h-he's going to..

"REMILYA! SNAP OUT OF IT!"

Huh?

Remilya blinked, looking at Rando.

"Why are you sitting down on your ass!? YOU KNOW DAMN WELL NONE OF THESE THINGS PEOPLE ARE SAYING ARE TRUE!" He shocked her aggressively.

She blinked again. "E-Eh..? Rando-kun..? You don't hate.. Me?"

"Of course you Idiot! I'm the one who deals with you everyday, I know you better than most! Except your Mom!" He forcefully pulled her up to her feet, the severe compliance of people still ringing.

He's right, she's never hurt anyone before, just because she was a vampire – Or a Dhampir – didn't mean she was a bad person! Did that stop people from looking at her as if she was some kind of alien? No, but it well damn made her regain her composure.

"Adorable." One word came from the man within the crowd, everyone else split apart and stayed away from him when his magic erupted again, bringing the room to another silence. "Funny isn't it? Human nature, when they're afraid and angry, they will find a beacon to vent all that emotion on, no matter how young or who they were. They will do it for selfish reasons just to make themselves feel comfortable." Belmo strode forward to their location.

"W-Where's my mother and father!?" Rando snapped from her side.

"I wouldn't worry about them right now if I were you." Belmo's eyes landed on Remilya. "I must commend you for being able to take my initial attack, girl, sadly you have no control over your power."

He then waved his hand. "From what I've heard… You were the kind of child to read stories and novels, have you read about a scenario like this before..? No? Well, I'm sure you already know what you should do now… With you being the only one capable of fighting back in this very room, no one else has the power to fight back."

W-Was he insinuating… No, he was right, she was the only one in this room who could fight back against this guy from what she could tell.

One defining trait she inherited from her Mother was being protective of others, the same way Elizabeth had ruled over The Haven in her time and protected its inhabitants. Despite her childish notions of acting and imitating a villain or an eminence, Remilya was never the type to stand by while someone got hurt, this trait of hers magnified and nurtured by Mary.

"You don't have to say it, even if they hate me I won't stand by and let you do as you please." Remilya says as she stands in front of Rando. "It's clear that you're not just doing this because you have something against me, you're doing this for something else and Involving all these people!"

Belmo clapped. "Bravo, the child can read the mood and bark a few words." His hand rested on his sword's pommel. "But are you sure of your decision girl? A vampire like you would have taken advantage of this and killed all the people for blood, a simple.. Buffet if you may.."

Remilya scoffed, widening her stance as she tried to use magic properly. "Pfft.. Only Siths deal in absolutes, and I'm sure as hell not a selfish person."

Rando groaned from behind her, ticked off by her untimely joke. "Really? At all times?"

"Shush, let me have this."

Belmo didn't understand the reference but understood what she meant either way, he raised a hand up. "Siopilos, come."

Remilya perked up when she saw another individual suddenly appear next to Belmo, the man was wearing black clothes befitting a ninja with a few armored parts, his face covered with a mask.

Belmo mouthed a few words to Siopilos, the very same man who was able to sneak up on Elizabeth all those years ago, and the very same person who delivered Belmo information.

Siopilos bowed, before disappearing with a burst of speed.

Remilya's eyes narrowed, he didn't actually whisper or say anything to that weird ninja. And had instead mouthed it for the man to lip-read. So that meant he was aware of her superior hearing.

Belmo returned his gaze to Remilya, "Now then, show me what you can do. Girl." he says as his magic unnaturally took the form of lightning again.

Rando, feeling helpless and annoyed at his uselessness couldn't help but ask. "Remilya.. Are you really going to fight him..? Can you even fight?"

"Are you sure.. You're not going to lose?" He asked worriedly.

Despite the situation, Remilya's mind had just about enough childishness to register the last part of what he said, her stomach tickled, getting another opportunity to make another reference before her first real fight. Remilya brought her hands together before taking a stance she's read before.

"N-Nah… I'd win." She said, putting on a brave front despite her actually terrified feelings. This was her real fight after all, she didn't have an actual experience when it came to them other than reading them from books.

She was freaking scared, but if she didn't fight these people could get hurt by whatever that guy was planning.

Her eyes briefly landed on the people with swords and knives blocking the exits, preventing people from getting out, they didn't seem to be doing anything else other than stand so she focused her concentration on Belmo.

Using her usual display of magic, she used Mist-form and disappeared in a cloudy-red mist and reappeared in front of Belmo with unbelievable speeds. Her arm reeled back, ready to punch the lights out of Belmo.

She struck, her clenched fist finding purchase on something solid. Belmo had managed to block it with ease using his forearm.

A small shockwave erupted from where they were as a singular drop of sweat fell from Remilya's brow..

The fight had begun.

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CHAPTER END

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UPDATE : Cut the Original Chapter in Three parts to give new readers some time to breath, will also be rewriting parts of this story.

The previous End notes have been moved to part 3 of Chapter 7.

There I will be talking about how bad I fumbled lol.