Lady Dhampir

Smile and Silence

Milena just couldn’t wait to evade Prince Rayan’s eyes. His red, cold-blooded eyes always made her feel terrible. She was used to the crimson eyes of Vampires, she could even make out the different shades from one to another, but the Vampire Prince’s eyes just seemed terrifying compared to others. She shivered as she walked away.

“Are you alright, my lady?” asked Olivia, worried.

“I am. He’s just making a sport out of getting on my nerves… Unfortunately, he’s good at it.”

Hence, Milena made sure to get away from Rayan, trying to find where her friends had gone. The place was actually crowded. The Hunt was taking place on some of the Palace’s farthest grounds in the Fae’s Forest, but many tents had been installed and a lot of nobles were participating. Milena greeted a lot of people for a while before meeting up with Chartiana, who was standing to the side, intimidated.

“My lady! I’m sorry we had to go away…”

“It’s fine, Chartiana, you didn’t have a choice anyway.”

“I’m glad I found you; some young man greeted me earlier but I had no idea who he was…”

Chartiana was very awkward in most social gatherings and despite her best efforts, very bad at remembering all of the nobles’ names, houses, and titles. Milena sympathized with her since she had faced the same issues not too long ago.

“It’s fine, just stay with me.”

“Milena!”

Appearing from nowhere, Philomenie De Winter was smiling brightly at her. As usual, the young duchess was easily the most beautiful lady around. She was wearing a pastel green dress with lots of lace and a white fur coat. Her gorgeous blonde hair was down and she wore a white fur hat to protect it.

Milena smiled back at her.

“Good evening, Philomenie.”

“I’ve missed you since her Highness’ last tea party! How have you been?”

“I’m great, thanks. Did you receive my last letter?”

“I did! Milena, your advice was brilliant, they loved it.”

Milena simply smiled, and the three of them started walking while exchanging trivialities. Philomenie was a genuinely kind and graceful girl. Her popularity among the people was rising since she had started actively participating in numerous charity events with her mother and attending almost every single social gathering.

“I wonder when her Highness will come…”

Milena stopped, surprised.

“Her Majesty the Queen will be attending?” she asked.

Philomenie nodded.

“Surely, she told me she would! She was very curious to see what her sons would bring back now that they are seventeen…”

Other than the fact that the Queen had plans to attend the Hunt, Milena was more surprised to hear how Philomenie seemed close to her. Had they grown even closer without her knowing? The Queen always displayed such a reserved attitude towards all of her sons' prospective brides, even Milena could never tell what she was thinking.

But Philomenie’s innocent remark was a bit disturbing to her. Had she heard this from the Queen herself?

“I see…” she replied, trying to hide her troubles.

Suddenly, Chartiana made a little sound of surprise, and everyone turned around. A young girl with blonde hair, looking no older than seven or eight, had obviously run into her and fell onto her butt. Immediately, Chartiana panicked a bit, but Philomenie ran toward them before she could say a thing.

“Oh my, are you alright, your Highness? Here, let me help you up. Did you hurt yourself?” she asked the little girl, looking concerned.

“This idiotic girl was in my way!” instantly yelled the child, pointing at Chartiana. “How dare you! Apologize to me!”

Chartiana was completely lost. She had no idea who that little girl was, or what exactly she had to apologize for. Next to her, Milena immediately gave her a cue.

“Good evening, Princess Alessia.”

“G...Good evening, your Highness,” said Chartiana, bowing awkwardly.

“I don’t want your greetings! Apologize! Now!”

Milena frowned. Since when were the Royal Children educated so badly? But Philomenie spoke first, crouching down to be at the little girl’s level, smiling gently at her.

“It’s alright, your Highness, Lady De Pristin didn’t mean anything by that… This was merely an accident.”

“I don’t care! Wrong people should apologize!”

Milena clicked her tongue and stepped forward to confront the young Princess.

“Well said, your Highness. Now please do good on your own words.”

The young Princess was a bit surprised by Milena’s cold and calm tone. From her purple eyes, she knew exactly who she was, and they had even encountered each other briefly a couple of times before, but she didn’t remember anything remarkable about her.

“Lady De Crescent, this doesn’t concern you! This lady should apologize to me right now!”

“Whom should apologize, your Highness?”

“She should!” insisted Alessia, still pointing her finger at Chartiana.

“You’re being extremely rude to my friend, your Highness.”

“I’m not! She’s just a lowly baroness or whatever, and she stood in my way! I even got hurt because of her! She should apologize before I ask my aunt, the Queen, to punish her!”

A few people, hearing the Princess’ yelling, had started to gather around, and this sudden attention was making Chartiana even more scared. To Milena, however, it was as if those people didn’t exist. She was entirely focused on Alessia and was not going to stand down to that child.

“You did wrong by running into her, and you are now scolding her unfairly to cover up your mistake.”

“I am a princess! I will not apologize to her! How dare you talk back to me!”

Milena stepped forward again, and the child retreated, a bit scared by this woman who didn’t fear any of her threats.

“A princess, you say? All I hear and see is a whimsical, impolite, and rude child dressed as a princess.”

The young princess became red with anger, unable to swallow those words. Philomenie frowned.

“Milena, you shouldn’t be too harsh on her… She’s just a child…”

“She is the one who started using her title as a means to offend my friend. If she wants to be treated like a princess, she should act like one. I am not impressed nor sorry for a child who thinks she can have her way by screaming and using someone else’s authority to cover her wrongdoings.”

Alessia was totally speechless. She looked around as the many adults stared at them. They were mostly looking at Milena, impressed by her guts, but Alessia felt like she was being scrutinized by all those adults, and looked down, on the verge of tears.

“I didn’t… She should have apologized…”

Seeing that she was about to cry, Philomenie was about to comfort her, feeling sorry, but that only angered Milena more.

“You knew you shouldn’t have been running around, yet you bumped into Lady De Pristin and put the fault on her. This could have been settled with a simple apology since you’re a child, Princess Alessia.”

“Milena, that’s enough, I think her Highness understands. And she is willing to apologize to your friend now, aren’t you, your Highness?”

Alessia hesitated but looking around, so many eyes were on her… and the Duchess De Winter was offering her a way out. She looked up at Lady De Pristin, red, and muttered an apology before running off.

Chartiana sighed.

“Milena, that was the Queen’s niece… Aren’t you worried she will say something?”

“Lady De Pristin is right, Milena,” said Philomenie. “How could you hurt the Princess’ feelings like that? She is very young and still learning, such a little thing should have been fine…”

This time, Milena had enough and turned to Philomenie.

“Fine? Since when is it fine to let anyone insult a friend who has done nothing wrong? She is a child growing up with many teachers for etiquette and noblesse oblige. How can she not know when she is wrong in the first place? If we let her get away with such whims because she’s a child or the Queen’s niece, what does that make us, Lady De Winter? Since when is it fine to let someone of lower rank be abused unfairly right in front of us?”

Philomenie was totally speechless. Around them, the nobles who had heard the conversation were either staring at Milena, stunned, or chattering among themselves about her attitude.

“She is just a child! Yet you’re making such a big deal out of this!” exclaimed Philomenie. “Her Highness is so young, why do you have to be so rigid! It would have been fine to let it go this once, she just bumped into Lady De Pristin! If we had said nothing, I’m sure Lady De Pristin would have been happy to apologize and this would have been enough to settle the incident! Did you have to scold her in front of everyone?”

“Such wise words, Lady De Winter.”

The three young women turned to the man who had spoken.

“Baron Verheim,” saluted Milena and Philomenie.

Despite that, the Baron didn’t bow and kept smiling.

“The young Duchess’ noble heart is truly admirable.”

“Thank you, Baron,” said Philomenie, smiling.

“It is so sad to hear young women argue. With such beautiful faces, I would rather see you smile more instead.”

Milena stayed silent, but her purple eyes were glaring like fire at the Baron. Philomenie and Chartiana, who didn’t understand the insult behind his words, kept smiling.

“Sorry we got a bit noisy, Baron,” said Philomenie. “This is all a bit embarrassing….”

“Oh, it happens! Women wouldn’t be women without a few arguments!”

This time, Chartiana frowned. She glanced at Milena, and seeing her friend’s cold anger, understood right away. But the Baron didn’t see that and turned to Milena, unwary.

“You shouldn’t get so angry, young lady, it is truly a sad sight. A dignified, reserved, and smiling young woman is the best, after all.”

“A silent woman, you mean?”

“I did not say that, but if you had been more understanding of that child, surely it would have been a better sight for everyone, young lady. You–”

“It’s Lady De Crescent.”

The Baron got confused for a second.

“Excuse me?”

“You may call me ‘Lady De Crescent’ or ‘Duchess.’ The next time you call me ‘you’ without using my appropriate title again, Baron, I will take it as a personal insult.”

Her ice-cold tone suddenly reminded everyone listening of the Duke De Crescent, her father. The Baron was a bit taken aback by her imperious voice. The young girl was thirty years younger than him, but she acted like an adult! He tried to answer with a smile, but he did a poor job of hiding his uneasiness.

“Surely you’ll pardon me, my lady, you–”

“I’m not a silent or forgiving woman, Baron. I won’t apologize for not meeting your ideas on how women should behave, but please be reminded, I am to act as I desire so long as I uphold my rank.”

“But… you…”

“Or maybe you would like for us to have a talk with her Highness about how you want women to stay silent and smiling, Baron? I’m sure her Highness would feel very enlightened to hear that.”

“You–!”

“You may call her Lady De Crescent,” suddenly insisted Chartiana, unhappy.

She could endure being disrespected, but she definitely had to support her friend Milena in that situation! Philomenie, on the other hand, was frowning, unhappy. The Baron’s face suddenly turned angry and he excused himself before walking away.

A quick glare at the people around made everyone disperse. Chartiana sighed in relief; however, Philomenie turned to Milena, agitated.

“You’re really too much, Milena. You’re cold and rigid, why can’t you relax once in a while! In front of so many people too! I feel bad for your attitude!”

“Please do not feel bad for me, Lady De Winter, because I don’t.”

With those words, Milena walked away, leaving the Duchess behind. Chartiana hurried to follow her friend.

“I’m sorry, Milena, all of this–”

“Stop apologizing, Chartie. This is what we have to live with on a daily basis. The fact that Philomenie and I have different points of view on how to resolve things doesn’t matter. I am not one to stand aside and wait for people to trample over me.”

“My lady,” whispered Olivia, “many people from the Queen’s entourage were watching.”

Milena had seen them too, but that hadn’t stopped her. She couldn’t figure out the Queen’s thoughts anyway, and she suspected that her Highness was slowly being drawn to Philomenie’s gentle and kind heart. She was not going to change just to please her.

As they kept walking among the tents, they saw the Baron a bit farther ahead, talking to Astra De Verheim, his niece-in-law.

“Shall I kill him, my lady?” whispered Ruby, angry.

“He’s more useful alive than dead… I want to know what they’re talking about.”

“Understood.”

Ruby disappeared in a flash, and Chartiana, who had been focused on other tents, didn’t even realize one of Milena’s maids was gone for a while.

“The Hunt should start soon now, Chartiana. I’ll find my brothers to kiss them good luck before they go.”

“All right. Do you want to meet later in my tent? I arranged for Lady D’Artsein and my cousin to have tea with me there.”

“With pleasure.”

The two women parted, and Milena did as she said. As usual, Lucian was very confident about his hunting skills, especially since he wanted to show off in front of his friends. Valentin, on the other hand, had a hard time focusing. He leaned to kiss Milena’s forehead with worried eyes.

“Be careful, Millie. Stay with Blanche and your maids at all times, okay? If anything happens, ask for our uncle’s help.”

“I will, big brother. Do not worry, you should be the one to be careful. Have a good hunt... ”

She watched them get on their horses, their guns by their sides, and wait with all fifty of the other young men for the signal. A horn resonated, and suddenly, all of their horses were gone in a flurry of dust. Milena sighed.

“My lady?” asked Olivia.

Next to Milena, the silver snake, who had been wrapped around her wrist like a bracelet, slithered down and shape-shifted into a hawk, settling on her shoulder. Milena put her hand on Blanche’s head, caressing her.

“Let’s go back for now.”