“Hey, Athena?”
“Yes, Your Highness?”
“Does Mom… have any hobbies?”
After they finished bonding over greasy junk food, Lycoris had propped the pile of luxurious silk-covered pillows against the backboard of his canopy bed and was resting with his hands folded over his lap, while Athena had chosen to pull up a stool beside the bed. He’d tried to offer her a seat beside him on the bed, but she’d gotten quite flustered and refused, and even rejected the notion of sitting in one of the proper chairs…
The thought had occurred to him as he sat there staring at the image of the prim and proper little girl reflected back at him, wondering what he could even do to relax. He’d never had the time for hobbies himself, but Princess Fawaris loved tending to and painting pictures of a small garden in the King’s castle.
But as for Lilianna… he’d never given it any thought, as he’d spent forty-odd years seeing her as nothing more than an absolute evil to be destroyed. But she obviously had to fill the thousands of years she’d been alive for with something.
When Lycoris turned and asked the maid his question, she fell quiet as she puzzled out an answer. He was impressed that she didn’t immediately spout servile platitudes, more than anything else.
“Hmm… I’m not actually sure. Even a woman of her outstanding caliber must have at least one or two—aside from tending to Your Highness, of course! There’s nothing she’d rather be doing than spending time with you, I’m certain of that much.”
“H-Huh!? Where’d that come from, and why are you so certain of that?”
“As a vassal in Her Majesty’s service, one learns to read her mood or perish otherwise! When she’s impatient, when she’s about to reach for a weapon, when she’s liable to grab someone by the throat and—”
“Why is every example so violent!?”
“*ahem* Though it is presumptuous of this foolish maid to voice Her Majesty’s thoughts on her behalf, it was plain as day that she barely restrained herself from dropping everything to sprint to your side the moment I brought up your hemophobia.”
Lycoris frowned in embarrassment, as his thoughts inevitably wandered back to Lilianna’s words on love. “I… suppose she does seem pretty attached, doesn’t she? W-Wait, you did what!?”
That shyness was short-lived however, evaporating when he realized what Athena had said. The color washed out of his pale cheeks as dread supplanted embarrassment.
Nothing good could possibly come of her tattling on Lycoris…
“It’s a serious condition! I’m sure Her Majesty will know just the cure for you though, Princess! At least, she certainly seemed to realize something in the moment.”
Yeah, I’ll bet… he scowled internally. He’d rather not linger on the thought of what his mother’s idea of “treating” his refusal to drink blood would be.
“So? Hobbies?”
“Oh! Right. May I ask why Your Highness is so curious?”
“Well… it’s a little late to do any training—plus I’m tired—so I thought… maybe I’d go for a walk and see what else is here. I’ve only really seen a few rooms, and I’ve never left Lilianna’s private wing… aside from that trip to the armory I guess… This is the first time I’ve ever really felt like I have free time.”
“Armory? A-Ah, but it makes sense Your Highness would want a change of pace. Hmm, but where could we… oh! I have just the idea!”
The maid’s overwhelming exuberance—rather than optimism—instilled only a foreboding sense of anxiety as Lycoris’ stomach twisted in concern.
Athena smiled brightly as she stood up and excused herself with a bow.
＊ ＊ ＊
The Sefer boy had proven more helpful than Lilianna initially expected.
He explained that there were three ghouls involved, one of whom had found a home with the Sefer family after managing to win his way out of Vanas servitude, where he then served as an advocate for ghoul rights. It was immediately obvious to Lilianna that he hadn’t escaped the Vanas, so much as they let him go—she knew full well the measures they took to ensure the obedience of their ghouls and lesser followers.
Everything else he said was useless fluff that amounted to shirking personal responsibility—she ignored it all and ordered his immediate imprisonment. She’d decide his fate later, depending on whether she needed extra bait to lure the Traditionalist family into overextending, or potentially to pressure Sefer if they were about to risk upsetting the established order with more unhinged and careless proposals.
Regardless, the ghoul’s custodian couldn’t be let off easily; not just because his lack of foresight had put everyone in the Transfixion of Heaven at risk, but he’d put her little flower in harm’s way.
Such a crime demanded merciless retribution.
If she hadn’t considered his potential use as bait, she might’ve killed him on the spot.
It seemed as though he knew that too, given his reluctant acceptance when she’d ordered his incarceration… though admittedly she’d acted partially out of impatience. She wanted to hurry the day along so she could tend to her distraught daughter.
But when a towering slate-gray figure covered in shaggy moss and sporting an earthy brown toga entered alongside the Tamisrah courtier, her optimism plummeted.
He was a geolle. Their entire race looked like roughly hewn golems, with nazca line-like sigils etched into their bodies, and a set of four marble-white smilodon-esque tusks sprouting from their mouths; their arms were as thick around as Lilianna’s waist and their legs rather squat, giving them a somewhat lopsided appearance not unlike a gorilla. She hadn’t spoken with many of them directly, but knew enough to tell this one was male based on the fact he grew out the moss on his body, rather than his head.
More importantly, she knew how… abrasively stubborn they could get, especially when it came to trade. And they often displayed little respect for vampiric decorum.
As complaints about Geolle price-gouging (particularly on precious minerals) began to flow from the Tamisrah’s mouth like a river, Lilianna sank into her throne and rested her cheek against her fist, wondering if she could find some way to blow them off without causing any political fallout.
The expressionless geolle had a ponderous rebuttal ready for every single individual point the Tamisrah made, and as he went through them one by one, she felt her eye twitch each time.
＊ ＊ ＊
“And… why exactly are we wearing these?”
Athena had left Lycoris alone in his room, returning after several minutes with a pair of reflective white full-body suits. They were reminiscent of the skintight undersuits that frontline Vampire shocktroopers wore beneath their armor. Except the ones Athena had brought were clearly more than just under-armor.
They were both obviously crafted with adults in mind, as the one she offered to Lycoris was far too big for him to move around in comfortably. The material bunched up around his elbows when he pulled the gloves tight enough to articulate his hands, he had to pull up the waist in order to move his legs, and the neckline of the suit hung loosely off of one of his shoulders.
“Because they’ll protect us from the sunlight, of course!”
They hadn’t left Lilianna’s private wing, but Athena had instructed Lycoris to put on the bodysuit all the same, which left him stomping awkwardly down the hallway as she cheerily led the way.
“Is every single vampire this blithe, or did I pick up a cursed relic at some point that doomed me to an eternity of getting the least useful answers to every question I could possibly ask about any subject? Am I fated to spend the next hundred years slowly going mad?”
“Hehe, Your Highness sounds just like your mother when irate.”
“Do you want me to take your head off!?”
“Augh! P-Please forgive this foolish maid for forgetting her place! No— if my life is what you desire, I’ll gladly offer it up for your sake, Princess! …Though it would fill my last moments with deep regret to leave you in the care of someone else. Besides your mother, of course.”
Lycoris let the suit flop down as he put the oversized gloves to his face.
“Just answer the question, why do we need these suits on? We’re not going outside, are we? No, wait, the sun doesn’t even shine on these accursed lands.”
He left unspoken the part that actually bothered him, as his thoughts inevitably wandered toward the question of whether or not the Goddess’ light would reject his cursed new body.
If they really were going somewhere that would put them at risk of exposure to the light, he was thankful that the outfit would at least delay the answer until he could mentally prepare himself.
If he ever could be prepared for such a thing.
“Your Highness is quite dedicated to that roleplay… Hmm, I could answer that, but please understand that I have a very, very good reason for this, Princess. I’d like to keep it something of a surprise.”
“Haven’t you already ruined the surprise by saying that?”
“Hehehe, oh you’ll see~ Would you like me to carry you? It seems like you’re having a bit of trouble with your sun-suit.”
“I’d rather die,” he flatly replied, pulling back up his so-called sun-suit and catching up to her.
With a hurt frown, Athena turned back around and resumed leading the way. The almost exaggerated way her shoulders sank annoyed Lycoris, though he couldn’t decide if he was more annoyed with her or with himself for actually getting under her skin and… hurting her feelings.
Despite her obsequious tendencies, she’d seemed surprisingly unflappable, and she’d forced him to drink blood not once but twice. Surely that much deserved at least a little payback, but…
Why am I even feeling bad for her? Ugh, it’s all this stupid tiny body’s fault! If I was my old size this wouldn’t be so cumbersome…
“Why’d you make me get changed before we arrived at… wherever it is we’d need these sun-suits anyways?”
“Ghk! U-Um, I thought it might help Your Highness acclimate to walking around in one!”
“Athena,” he raised his voice, angling his head and folding his arms in the haughty and annoyed pose that his mother had meticulously taught him how to hold, “I realize that I likely come across as a precocious—and perhaps naive—child,”
The maid rather tactfully avoided expressing her opinion.
“However, I am still your… master. I demand honesty from, um, a-all those beneath me. If you can’t even manage that much, then I see no reason not to have Mother dismiss you from your position. …Preferably non-fatally.”
“Your Highness…”
The maid paused at the end of the hall and turned around to look back at him, her eyes sparkling with tears. The way she clasped her hands together as she looked down at Lycoris in the comically oversized sun-suit brought a sudden pang of self-consciousness to his pose and behavior.
“Wh-What is it? Did I say something weird?”
“N-No! Anything but! I was just momentarily taken aback at how much like your mother you were behaving. Though I really shouldn’t be surprised, she did raise you after all. Oh! I should reward proper behavior, um… Right, well, you caught me. I was hoping Your Highness might ask me to carry you like a princess.”
“It's only been like three weeks though… wait, what did you say?”
“U-Um, oh, hey, look! We’re here~!”
Athena expertly evaded the young princess’ fury by diving around the corner and rushed up to an adamantine door, with a mana-signature panel where the doorknob would normally be.
Other than that, it looked like a perfectly ordinary door, not nearly as grand as the ones Lycoris had seen when Lilianna took him to the armory. He looked up at the maid, still frowning and wrinkling his eyebrows expectantly, waiting for her to explain why one door at random seemed so much more high-security than all the rest.
Completely ignoring his gesture, Athena put her helmet on and clamped the seal on it, before assisting Lycoris in doing the same and then putting her hand over the panel. It lit up as a beam strobed over her palm, and the door opened with a gentle hiss after a short alert countdown.
Inside, Lycoris saw…
＊ ＊ ＊
“The price we charge for untempered quartz is exactly within our metrics for base operating costs. If we didn’t upcharge, there’d be no profit in selling it in the first place; we wouldn’t be able to reinvest in tunnel maintenance or the development of new deep vein mines. Please understand, many of our cities are beginning to exhaust their mines, and can scarcely feed their children. We can only dig so deep before we reach the Ancients’ ruins.”
The geolle—whose name was… Drekk, if she had been paying attention properly—had argued back and forth with Selene Tamisrah for at least a solid eighty minutes now. Lilianna had spent that time considering her vast repertoire of spells to find one that might let her escape this tedium, but his mention of children tugged her back to reality.
For the first time since the criminally unhumorous comedy duo entered, the Exaltare lifted her head from her palm and sat up, fixing her scarlet gaze on the geolle.
“You can’t be serious! It’s quartz, the stuff is everywhere and your rates are highway robbery! And that’s before tariffs factor into it. And I’m sure Her Majesty is fully aware of the lack of… exclusivity that your cities’ mines have demonstrated.”
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“We’d have to charge even more if we were to cease selling to the Sylphs and Piscin!”
“That isn't what I am speaking about. Look here, Your Majesty.” She produced a written missive—clearly not vampiric in origin—and handed it over to one of the guards, who brought it to Lilianna.
“Wait, what is that—”
With her mind still on what the geolle had said about their young, Lilianna glanced down at the sheets of coarse parchment paper. Though once she read what was on it, her attention shifted wholly to the paper.
They were instructions, shipping routes, and records of the sale of untreated orichalcum to Human settlements. It was practically an open admission of sedition.
Her eyes looked up from the parchment, settling not on the geolle but the vampire.
“Why was this not the first thing to be brought to our attention?”
“M-My apologies, Your Majesty! If it wasn’t for this brute attempting to dodge the issue for so long—”
“You’re the one who started off talking about improper quantities of elbinaut ore being imported,” the geolle said reproachfully.
It was difficult to read his body language and expression, given their quite literal stone-faced nature, but the way he clenched his hands gave away his awareness of what exactly these papers were.
“I felt it was important to—”
“Silence!”
Though the room had already been quiet, at her command it fell oppressively still. Not a single soul remained standing on two feet. Save for the geolle, who tumbled onto his backside and sat with a stupefied—presumably—look, every other person within the grand hall knelt reverently facing the Exaltare.
“We appreciate the attempt at stringing them along, Tamisrah,”
“Thank you for your understanding, Your—”
“However we are a busy ruler, with many, many matters that require our specific attention. Geolle.”
“Y…Yeah?”
Though lacking the same decorum as the vampires, Drekk still bowed and trembled in terror as her focus shifted toward him.
She could have him killed, his city caved in, and let that be warning enough to the rest of his race. But she was feeling uncharacteristically charitable today, and would rather not have to leave the capital for an extended period of time. Especially not when Lycoris was having issues with eating.
Lilianna stood up from her throne, thrust forward with her arm, and proclaimed, “A disciplinary force will be sent to thy own city’s mines, and a second division to thy capital. Should anything come to light that corroborates this tale of mineral goods being handed over to Humans between now and their arrival, thy home shalt be reduced to mere pebbles and used to repave our garden. Long have we shown a gentle hand to thy kind, but our patience is not boundless. There will be no third offense. Tamisrah.”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
“Gather thy fellow councilors, we shall leave the matter of who forms this disciplinary force to you. But ensure the Sefer appoint the overseer. Do not fail us.”
With her ultimatum declared, the Exaltare vanished from the room in an eruption of scarlet flame, leaving behind the missives on the throne’s armrest.
＊ ＊ ＊
A world of flowers stretched out along rows upon rows of raised planter beds.
Lycoris was overwhelmed by the sheer volume of color as Athena pulled him into the room before the door automatically slid shut.
The indoor greenhouse was almost as spacious as the training hall Lycoris frequently spent his days inside. He wasn’t quite sold on why the training hall had to be as large as it was when only a single person—or, two people now—ever made use of it, but when that much room was being put to use on such a vibrant arrangement of various types of flora…
“Fawaris would love this…” he mumbled inside the suit.
“Your Highness?”
He found himself absentmindedly wandering down the line of planters, covered in lush greenery punctuated with meticulously sorted and matching bright colors blooming all around. It was reminiscent of the royal gardens of Traskia, though instead of carnations and azaleas, there were roses of every hue, neatly sorted by gradient within one planter; another held an assortment of daffodils, irises and orchids, all meticulously arranged to catch the eye; bright red daisies lined another, while pastel-hued hydrangeas formed a cul-de-sac at the far end of the chamber, a simple wooden chair and side table resting in their center.
The entire space was brightly lit by overhead lamps, and as Lycoris walked through the bountiful garden, a thin haze of mist began to descend to delicately water the plants.
He moved to take his helmet off, wanting to take in the aroma of the flowers as awe overtook and quashed his sense of reason and caution.
Before he could undo the clasps on his helm, Athena’s hands tightly grasped his own and dragged him back to reality.
“Your Highness! You must keep your suit on while the lights are on!”
“Eh? But I wanted to smell the flowers. I’ve never even seen some of these before…”
Lycoris’ eyes wandered over to the nook with hydrangeas in it, noticing an empty glass tumbler resting alongside a leather-bound book on the table. He couldn’t make out what the cover was, but it didn’t look like anything heretical at a glance. Just a quiet place to read.
It reminded him of a moment long ago, before he’d lost his position in the Rays but after he’d taken Mizar as his pupil. The two of them had paid a visit to Castle Draloth at the King’s behest, and while waiting for the reception hall to be prepared for His Majesty, the two of them had stumbled across Fawaris reading a leitnovel in a guest room.
She’d been hiding from her instructor and sought a moment of solace, and that was when Mizar first met her. Lycoris could tell even back then that the two had clear chemistry… even if the young hero completely botched his first impression.
A wry smile creased across Lycoris’ lips as he recalled the way she nervously chuckled in confusion, and when Mizar boyishly asked his teacher for courtship advice later on.
He certainly didn’t have anything to offer there, much to the hero’s dismay. And ultimately, that seemingly fated meeting was why…
Lycoris chased the thought away, turning back toward the maid as she idly trimmed one of the plants.
“So… Mom’s hobby is…”
“Growing flowers. Though, Her Majesty is often too busy to personally tend to them, so the process is mostly automated… and I come in and do pruning now and then.”
“Why would she take up such a hobby if sunlight is so dangerous…? I mean, it’s very pretty but…” he looked at the rows of lights hanging from the ceiling, confusion overtaking him as he considered the implications.
“I would never dare to presume Her Majesty’s thoughts, but… perhaps it’s because flowers are beautiful. And as I said, it’s a very hands-off process.”
“Even going as far as to imitate Her radiance… Is this what Her teachings were cautioning against? To think that vampires could even create an artificial environment that mimics nature… Though I suppose they’ve done the same with the perpetual clouds overhead.”
It was undoubtedly blasphemous, but at the same time, his mind leapt back to the gratuitous number of servants dedicated solely to tending the King’s gardens.
He’d asked Princess Fawaris just what the point was back then, too, when the King himself never actually came to admire the flowers. Her response had been… something. A symbol of his position? That sounded right… The Princess enjoyed the flowers though, and would often invite the knight to show off her favorite newly sprouted blossoms now and then.
She certainly knew a lot about different types of flowers. It’s a shame she never had the chance to meet Elham, I bet the two of them would’ve been fast friends.
He smiled as he wandered around the garden, letting the mysterious nostalgia wash over him as faded memories of a sunlit past drifted alongside. If only he could clamber out of the suit, it would’ve been perfect—having to stomp around inside the muggy pile of sagging cloth was an incredibly awkward, distracting, and generally miserable experience.
Lycoris would even prefer wearing ceremonial full-plate, at least that had been fitted to his body.
Athena expertly faded into the background, letting him get lost in the foliage. His commander had often summoned him for meetings in the royal gardens, though whether it was mere habit or if she had some ulterior motive, he never found out.
For a moment, he thought he heard the tiny voice of the Princess as she ran up and tackled his waist from the side. But when he turned around, there was obviously nobody there.
She’d barely been seven years old the first time they met, but with how he looked now, she’d probably treat him like a little sister…
“Not that they’d let me anywhere near Traskia, much less Castle Draloth, now,” he sighed.
He was starting to get tired of hauling the sun-suit around, but just as he turned around to find Athena, the lights dimmed as a filtering layer of glass slid over them.
Instinctively, he unfastened and doffed the helmet, shaking his hair loose from the suit as he let it fall down around him. He barely had to unfasten the zipper to step out of it, though he still frowned as he noticed the wrinkles that’d formed from the awkward scrunching of his dress.
Immediately he was assaulted by the fragrant aroma of flowers, and at the same time a soft pair of arms wrapped around his shoulders from behind.
“Huah!?” He nearly jumped out of his skin.
“Did we not say that thou must always be prepared to conduct thyself with grace and poise?”
“L-Lilianna!? What are you doing here?”
“We should be asking you that, dear.” She placed her hand atop Lycoris’ head, squeezing him against her with the other. “This is our private garden, though it seems a much sweeter flower has found her way into it. Lured by a devious maidservant’s surreptitious whispers, perhaps.”
“Ugh…”
“And we've heard rumor that this adorable little flower is as dishonest as ever. Not that there isn’t a certain charm in that, when not over dire matters. We are glad to find you in fair spirits, Lycoris. After the servant informed us of your condition, we grew quite concerned.”
“Conditio—ah. Right.”
He’d gotten so lost in the past that he nearly forgot. He wished he had.
Lycoris looked down at his feet and fidgeted with his hands, unsure where to put them with no weapon to hold. He eventually settled on gripping Lilianna’s arm, his tone apologetic and shy as he continued.
“I was so wound up before that I forgot to bring up the whole reason I even lost my cool to begin with. I’m sorry.”
“We are not without fault or flaw either, and we are here now, dear. If you wish to speak on it, you may.”
He failed to wriggle his way out of her grasp, craning his neck instead to look around for his maid. He didn’t see her anywhere… though the flowerbeds were a little bit on the taller side, relative to Lycoris, and dense enough that he couldn’t see through them.
“Where’s Athena?”
“Out of earshot. It was… bold of you to confess to being raised by humans. There’s certainly no need to explain why you mustn’t do so again, we presume.”
“…Is there really nothing else I can eat or drink?”
Lilianna remained silent for a long moment, an assortment of complicated expressions drifting across her face before her grip tightened around him. As though she were protecting him from something, or like she was afraid of something.
Lycoris couldn’t place why, but every time she held him like this, it calmed him down. Even though he was still terrified of the idea of spending the rest of his life drinking human blood, paradoxically, he felt less scared after asking her.
Choosing her words carefully, she finally spoke. “There is… no way around it, unfortunately.”
“Oh…”
The tension left his shoulders, his body trembled, tears began to well up of their own accord.
“But perhaps we can still help. What about it bothers you so? Unfamiliar with Human custom as we are, we did not presume that the mere act of drinking blood would be… met with such revulsion.”
“I mean… it’s human blood. It’s why we… Why humans fight to stop you all from destroying our homes and harvesting us like… like we’re just animals.” He should’ve sounded angrier, but his weariness had returned in force. “The Goddess says that you consume our very essence, trapping our souls until you’re slain and our kin are free to return to Her side.”
She gave him a pitying look, like a soldier incapable of telling someone their relative would never return home.
“There are many truths to this world that are unpleasant to hear. ‘Twould be far easier if they hadn’t instilled such foolish notions within your head… We do not cull humans merely to reap their blood, but… It sounds as though you would be fine if it were not human blood?”
“It’d be easier to tolerate.”
Not even Lilianna could contain the sudden shock of laughter that brought about. “Hahahaha, really now?”
“Don’t laugh! I’m serious,” he frowned.
“Most people would have the exact opposite response, dear Lycoris. Animal blood is considered commoner fare, and heavily treated with chemicals to make it palatable. We’ve never partaken ourselves, but it's apparently deathly bitter when consumed raw.”
Wait—
His heart skipped a beat.
“—you mean I don’t have to drink human blood!?”
“We won’t have our daughter consuming peasant fare, Lycoris.”
“N-No wait, please! You can’t be serious!”
“We’re quite serious, dear. We see no reason for you to cling to such petty paralogisms.”
“I-I don’t… want to eat people… What’s so hard to understand about that?”
He looked down at his feet and clenched his hands around her arm, tears pattering against the ground as his nails dug into her skin. She neither winced nor recoiled, showing no reaction if his vice grip was hurting her.
His voice had become a pitiful, hoarse whimper.
“It would… I’d become a monster, the Goddess would never forgive me. If She even still does now… Please, I’d rather do anything else, just… please…”
“Such cruelties they’ve imposed upon our daughter.” She rubbed the side of Lycoris’ head, turning him around to hug him properly. Her eyes wandered over to the bright violet dahlias just behind him. “It will undoubtedly invoke suspicion to bring animal blood into our palace… and you might hate how it tastes besides. What will you do then?”
“I’ll tough it out. I’ve put up with worse.”
Lilianna sighed, realizing that he likely wouldn’t budge on this now that she’d brought up the possibility. “In that case, for now, we’ll accommodate our capricious child’s picky tongue. But know that this is a temporary measure. You will eventually need to push past those dogmatic biases… but we do not wish to torture you to tears.”
In the quiet garden, the only sound beside Lycoris’ thumping heart was the distant sound of shears, snipping away in the background. Around them, the audience of flowers silently stood by and watched the proceedings. At last, the knot of anxiety within him truly abated.
Gradually, he brought his own arms up around her and, for the first time, returned her tender embrace with a timid squeeze.
“Thanks, Mom…”