After perhaps the worst day of his life in many ways, the next few passed with blessedly little fanfare. His schedule remained mostly the same, save for the fact Athena greeted him each morning and insisted on handling his morning routine.

 He couldn’t help but notice that every dress she picked and outfit she coordinated for him was so frilly that he could barely tell where the ribbons ended and the clothing began, rather than the simpler and more subdued style he would’ve chosen…

 And while she didn’t ever vocalize it, he could also tell the maid was both confused and concerned by his choice to willingly drink animal blood. Every time his face wrinkled from the sourness, he could see her biting her lip, fidgeting with her hands and averting her eyes.

 It tasted noticeably worse than the human blood he’d sampled before, but it at least sated him. He avoided thinking about it as best he could; the idea of enjoying a cold glass of crimson liquid each morning still repulsed him fundamentally, even if he didn’t feel like he was committing a mortal sin.

 He didn’t like that his mother had called it a temporary measure, either, but that was a problem for future Lycoris to deal with.

 His most pressing concern was spellcraft training with Lilianna. While Athena tended to just about every whim and need he had—and several more that he didn’t—she left matters involving Lycoris’ education and rearing solely to “Her Majesty” to handle.

 Not that said education was proceeding poorly, but the rather visceral way he had to draw out his densely mana-infused blood was forcing him to confront his new inhuman regenerative capabilities.

 He’d accepted in his mind that he was a human-turned-vampire—something that was apparently impossible, according to Athena—and that there were at least… one, or maybe two, vampires that weren’t that bad… in some ways. But it was like feeling bugs crawl over his skin any time he was actually reminded that he’d become the very enemy he’d sworn to slay.

 Lilianna’s presence at least helped. She remained patient, and any time Lycoris seemed as though he was going to lose his composure, she’d call for a break to ease his nerves, rationalizing and reminding him that this was all perfectly natural. Even if he had no reason to doubt her, it still felt wrong, like his body was defying the rules the Goddess had put forth.

 But ultimately, it was just stubbornness that kept him from accepting himself—herself.

 As a consequence, he was stuck at an impasse when it came to applying magic. No amount of theory could help him get over the hurdles he’d created in his own mind, after all.

 “Let us pause here, Lycoris. We can tell your mind is beginning to wander.”

 For practice, she’d have him draw out his mana and make it into simple geometric shapes. The idea was that if he could rapidly change his blood’s form without conscious thought or hesitation, he’d be able to focus more on altering its other properties, like temperature or weight.

 And from there it would continue branching out into more abstract forms as the focus shifted to mana within the blood rather than the physical manifestation itself, like how Lilianna had placed a geas upon Athena.

 “Magic is all about imposing your will on reality. If your mind falters—”

 “Then I won’t be able to produce any phenomena, I know. And I know full well how important fundamentals are as a basis to build off of… but do I really have to go through this every time?”

 He rubbed his palms, which felt a touch sore after having his mother prick them with her fingers for the Nth time. She’d been incredibly gentle—too gentle, really, given who she was—and made sure to numb Lycoris’ hands for him before every session.

 Though he still managed to horrify himself once when, disregarding her advice, he opened his eyes and saw what happened while she was taking care of “cleanup.” The image of his blood flowing back into his hands was something he could’ve gone without ever seeing.

 “Oh dear, our darling daughter is feeling a touch of childish impatience already? If only we had our phone ready to take a photo…”

 She placed a soft kiss on his head as he shrunk inward in embarrassment. He distracted himself by wiping his hands down with a cloth, staring into the bowl sitting between the two of them that served to catch his blood after each round of practice.

 “It’s not impatience… I just hate that you have to stab open my hands every time. Can’t we move on to the next step or something? I can make whatever shape you want me to, and I’d like to have something I could practice on my own, too.”

 Lilianna hummed thoughtfully. “That’s part of the issue, dear. Your hesitation is keeping you stuck inside of your shell. We’ve done everything we can to make the process as painless as possible, but at some point you have to accept yourself. There is technically nothing preventing you from progressing on your own, now that we’ve given you the tools to practice with. You simply need the will to ‘pierce the veil’ on your own.”

 “I dunno if I can,” he muttered nervously.

 He already knew everything that she said was true, perhaps even moreso than she did. It brought to mind Princess Fawaris’ naggings for some reason, when she asked him why he joined the knightly order of the Goddess’ Rays, instead of…

 Instead of…

 …Why can’t I remember?

 “Perhaps you are simply in need of a more tangible goal, and an extra tool? Technically, we are jumping ahead quite far by doing this, but…”

 She drew Lycoris’ attention back as she tensed one of her hands, before plunging it into her other palm with a sharp thrust. Lycoris winced, resisting the compulsion to shout in concern and look away. He had seen endless horrors on the battlefield, so it really shouldn’t have bothered him as much as it did… but his worry for Lilianna vanished when he realized her hand hadn’t gone through the other end. It was inside her palm.

 Slowly, with the flair of a stage magician, she withdrew a glittering dagger made of carefully sculpted sapphire, small woven mythril-silver threads wrapped around the base as a handle.

 “This is how we stow almost all our most important belongings. As we have been instructing you thus far, the first step is regulating the flow of mana within your blood. To aid in that, we’ve been performing a spell on you with a limited hypnotic effect. Overreliance on it would only prove detrimental to your development, but… so long as you use it sparingly, we shall lend you the aid of this enchanted dagger.”

 Unfortunately, her words went in one of Lycoris’ ears and out the other; his eyes were fixated entirely on the artifact in her hands. “H-How did you…”

 “We’ve spoken before on how our blood is akin to liquid mana. Stowing physical matter as a mana-based concept is a trifling affair, once you’ve grasped the principle. Where did you think we were drawing our swords from?”

 He stared at the dagger in pure awe, like a child that’d seen their first ever magic trick. There wasn’t a speck of blood on it, nor did her hand bear any sign of injury. It was beyond simply instantaneous healing; she had reached inside of herself and pulled the knife out like she was simply taking something out from one of her pockets.

 “A word of caution: this magic is many layers more complicated than what you already struggle with, we do not expect you to succeed right away. The initial goal is to break down those mental barriers you have trapped yourself behind. Needless to say, once you’ve reached the point that such a spell is trivial for you, there will no longer be any need for us to coax your mana out from within your veins.”

 “What… happens if I fail to cast the spell, though?”

 “Naturally, you’d simply stab yourself in the hand.” There was just a hint of nervousness in her voice and on her face as she carefully elaborated, “W-We understand your disinclination toward what you perceive as cruelty, so know that we are not forcing anything upon you. If you do not wish to attempt this, we will continue to teach you at a pace comfortable to you.”

 Lycoris looked up from the glittering trinket to meet her gaze, and answered by reaching forward and grasping the dagger. It felt warm in his palm, as though already suffused with his body heat, and it cast pale blue spots on the opposite wall as its crystalline geometry refracted the ambient glow from the fireplace.

 It was clearly an expensive ornamental piece, but its edge was as sharp as finely honed diamond.

 “I’m not really keen on the idea of self-mutilation… but you wouldn’t make this offer unless you were certain I’d succeed, right?”

 “In accepting the challenge, in a sense you already have.”

 The two of them shared a timid smile, uncharacteristic of the mighty ruler, and Lilianna carefully explained the process by which Lycoris would have to learn.

 ＊　＊　＊

 Lately, Athena felt eyes on the back of her head—even moreso than usual. She didn’t know who, or why, but whenever she was outside of Her Majesty’s private wing of the palace, it was an ever-present weight bearing down on her back.

 Rather than let it get her down, Athena took it as a sign that she should spend more time with Her Highness Princess Lycoris. Not that she really needed additional motivation.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

 Though she would never speak it aloud, and felt terror even thinking about it, it was obvious that the Princess desperately needed someone’s aid with her morning routines. The girl had never once even touched the supply of makeup that Her Majesty had left for her, she only did the most perfunctory job of tending to her hair, and while Her Majesty had found a solution to the girl’s hemophobia, Lycoris still seemed reluctant to take her meals without Athena expressly serving her.

 Not that Athena didn’t understand. Even she couldn’t stomach pure animal blood. At least it wasn’t raw—animals were woefully unclean after all, not that humans were entirely without their blood borne illnesses—but every time the Princess choked it down, the maid felt a pang of concern.

 When she’d spat it back out the first time she tasted it, Athena had made the mistake of suggesting going back to human blood instead… It truly was a miracle that her head remained affixed to her shoulders. Even remembering the look that Her Highness had shot her way sent a shiver of terror through her body—she truly was the Exaltare’s daughter from tip to toe. Though, the fact Athena still drew breath was proof of the boundless benevolence she carried in her heart as well.

 Maybe that was the cause for her human-centric behaviors… Maybe she’d read something penned by a desperate ghoul, and her merciful heart took pity on the misbegotten fool.

 If that was the case, then there was no need for Athena or Her Majesty to worry over it. Those feelings would no doubt fade with time as the girl grew up and her mind matured.

 Aside from having to corral Her Highness into wearing attire suitable for a princess and sitting still while having product applied to her face, Athena’s job was remarkably easy compared to her former cleaning duties. Lycoris didn’t seem to have much in the way of desires, though it was painfully obvious that she wanted to venture beyond the safety of the palace wing she was restricted to.

 Any time she’d asked about going out, Athena had been forced to inform her that such a thing would remain impossible until Her Majesty announced her official position as Heir-Significate, which served as a decent enough excuse to try and get Her Highness to act more proper! She may have behaved with precocious maturity in some ways, but quite a bit of her bearing and speech was decidedly not appropriate for a princess.

 If she truly wanted more freedom, she would have to present herself as a proper princess first.

 All that said, she was an astonishingly punctual girl, waking up before Athena even came to knock at her door at eight in the morning each day; when asked about it, Lycoris had told her that she was something of a restless sleeper, and spent her early morning hours on some sort of routine.

 Athena worried over the idea of Lycoris not getting enough sleep each night, and she wasn’t much reassured by the girl’s response of “I’m fine, really! Please don’t say anything weird to Mom.” when asked if she needed help sleeping. But she chose to avoid pressing the matter, given that Her Highness’ schedule was already fairly relaxed.

 The girl mostly spent her days either training, practicing her speech and posture when she thought Athena wasn’t looking, or laying about pining for her mother—though she seemed quite shy about how much she missed her. It was still plainly obvious to Athena, with how much the girl cherished the locket her mother had given her.

 She didn’t really seem that attached to technology either, which was a shock to Athena. When she found out that Her Majesty hadn’t even supplied her with a phone, she was momentarily flummoxed as to why the Exaltare would restrict her in such a manner, but Lycoris seemed anything but bothered by it.

 Her Highness was truly a bewitchingly mysterious girl, in each and every aspect Athena could think of, from her origin, to her habits, to her manners.

 “However, she seems to have quite the soft spot for foodstuffs. These pastries are supposed to be popular with young girls, I’m sure even the bloodless variety will be a treat for—”

 “AAGGGH!” A terrible, guttural wail came from Lycoris’ room.

 “Your Highness!?”

 Athena nearly dropped the box in her arms as she dashed up to the door and shoulder-checked it open. Reaching for one of the knives tucked under her skirt as she burst in, she frantically cast her eyes around the room.

 Nothing was out of place, nobody was there who shouldn’t have been, but Lycoris was doubled over in front of the vanity and biting her lip.

 Athena rushed over and crouched down, dropping everything she’d been carrying as she put a hand to the girl’s shoulder. She was trembling slightly, and stabbed through her palm was… One of the Empire’s national treasures!?

 “Huh… Where… What in the—”

 “A-Athena? Ah, right this… probably looks pretty weird, doesn’t it?” the little vampire chuckled shyly. “I didn’t expect to succeed on the first try but… Nnggh… Aa–aahaaoowwie.”

 She whimpered while slowly pulling out the Lunar Tear from her hand. Her injury closed instantly, the athame soaking up her blood and emitting a faint sparkle from within its crystalline center.

 “F-Forgive my ignorance Your Highness, but why did you do that?”

 “I was just working up my courage and… following Mother’s instructions.”

 “Her Majesty’s…?”

 Even though she’d been gasping for breath—for some reason—a moment before, Lycoris turned to Athena with a serene calmness in her eyes. She sat with her back straight as she rehashed what she and her mother had discussed regarding her training in spellcraft.

 “I’m not the sort of person to practice pointless self-mutilation or flagellation, Athena.” She stared rather pointedly at the maid.

 “O-Of course! I would never dare to assume that… O-Oh, I see,” she paused, realizing that’d likely been a comment on how eagerly Athena offered up her life on an hourly basis. “*ahem* R-Right, well… There’s quite a few rumors about what sort of power is locked in the Lunar Tear. I’m surprised Her Majesty simply handed it over to you.”

 “It has a name? …Mother worries quite a lot over me, I’m sure she wouldn’t do so without having thought it through. Besides, it should be much easier for me to practice like this.”

 “It’s bizarre to hear you be so frank, Princess… would you like to take a break?” Athena’s eyes wandered to the box of pastries she’d hastily set on the ground.

 “No, I’ve only just started practicing. I don’t want to waste the resolve that brought me this calm. Do as you wish, so long as you avoid disrupting my concentration.”

 “Oh… I mean, yes, Your Highness!”

 Athena slipped her knife back alongside its companions in her garter belt holster, and then checked the box of pastries with a troubled frown, ensuring that the sudden movement hadn’t damaged any of them.

 She’d been wishing Her Highness acted more proper only moments earlier, but this felt… like the wrong way to get there. There was just something unnatural about the way Lycoris looked and sounded, like the dagger had cut away part of what made her so special, part of who she was.

 The girl’s dedication was admirable, at least. Athena had never studied much in the way of magic outside of the compulsory education she was given in school, and yet the Princess was eager enough to homeschool herself through whatever means she could manage.

 Properly placing the package of pastries on the small end table beside the bed, she folded her hands and stood nearby in somewhat awkward silence as she watched Lycoris’ brutal and methodical practice…

 ＊

 Lycoris returned her focus to her hand as she wiped it down with a cloth, before reaching for the dagger and turning it over and around. She was no stranger to enchanted artifacts, but the cruel calmness this item brought about with a ritual offering of her blood could be likened more to a curse than a boon if misused.

 She could reason out why her mother had seemed so nervous, but the woman’s fears were unfounded. Her current trance felt the same as whenever she ventured onto the battlefield, the magic granting her mastery over unnecessary thoughts and feelings. It was like she’d suddenly realized that a glass of water was neither half-empty nor half-full; the only thing left was the fact that “half its volume was liquid.”

 She almost felt like laughing at herself for how shy she’d been about her new form. There was nothing she could do at this point if the Goddess had already decided to abandon her, and Mizar and Elham were both gone. There was nobody around who knew who she’d been or could judge her—Lycoris was the Exaltare’s daughter now, after all. She should have felt liberated with the ties to her past relationships and responsibilities severed. Without those threads to restrain her, she should’ve been able to easily discard her emotional baggage as well.

 Except in her case, the liquid half-filling her glass was her emotional baggage. Without the rationalization behind them, there was no meaning for her actions, nothing to commit her life to, no reason for her to learn or even do anything. In her emptiness, she was left wondering if any of that baggage even mattered. Was it just an excuse? Had she actually changed at all from the soldier who came here to—

 Lycoris shook her head, focusing on the glimmering dagger instead.

 If she was to be less than a blank slate, better to spend the time she’d earned on something she knew would be useful to the sentimental human in her. It wasn’t as though she’d become a wholly different person, the same core principle still spurred her into action. She’d simply gained the ability to set aside her fear and hesitation.

 Lycoris needed to prove to herself that this wasn’t a curse, but a blessing. She needed to prove that accepting who she was now wouldn’t erode her morals, nor his.

 She stared at her open palm with a muted sense of trepidation, like a frenzied animal buried beneath the dirt but still trying to howl in vain. She may have been in a much more potent version of the same trance-like state her mother eased her into for training, but it still hurt when she stabbed herself. Even if it’d heal up immediately, or presumably be completely painless if she performed the spell correctly, she wasn’t the sort of person who enjoyed the sensation of pain.

 Right, she was still the same person she always was. Freed of distraction, all she had to do was commit her focus to the task at hand and push everything else out of her mind. Just like always.

 ‘Do not think of the blade in your hand. Think of it as an extension of your body, the same as your skin, your muscle and bone, your very blood. Let it melt into your palm and return to where it belongs.’ Her mother’s words echoed in her mind.

 Lycoris closed her eyes and focused on her heartbeat, on the blood coursing through her veins, on the sensation of the air against her skin…

…and slid the knife in once more.