The harsh sounds of metal against metal broke through the fog. Ghostly white figures appeared, charging out from behind the wisps of white. Those figures grew sharper as they neared, their eyes glowing purple with ever-burning flames of undeath.

Suddenly, the huge skeleton in the lead skid to a stop and raised its sword, a polished piece of steel coated with blood. Blood, and feathers. Feathers that had once been as white as untouched snow yet were now soaked by blood.

The giant sword, as large as a two-handed sword wielded by normal humans, descended, only to be knocked aside when another figure stepped forward and parried it with a deft flick of her wrist. The figure followed through with another flick, ripping the sword from the armored hands of the skeleton before slicing through the undead’s fingers.

The skeleton lurched back, staring blankly at its severed digits. Only bone, sheared off cleanly, showed through the ragged leather gloves. Movement from the corner of its vision grabbed its vision once again, but before it could even move, the figure raised her hand and a bright light descended from the heavens, piercing through the sparse evergreen needles above them, and pouring onto the frozen skeleton.

Bony jaws opened in a soundless cry toward the sky before the skeleton fell, the foul magic that once animated it purified and returned to void. Following it soon after was the rest of the skeletons in its squad, each dispatched with contemptuous ease with minimal movement.

Victoria watched it all happen silently. She had watched this moment happen again and again countless times, so many times that she could recite by heart every movement that the armored figure before her made and replicate it in the waking world too.

But it didn’t matter because all this happened in the untouchable past.

She sighed to herself, only to perk up as the figure turned around. The figure’s large wings, even furled, caused a gust of wind to blow over Victoria, sending her white hair fluttering. However, Victoria didn’t close her eyes, but instead watched intently as the figure ran over to her side and pulled her up to a sitting position.

The figure ripped off her helmet, letting golden hair spill down over onto Victoria’s face, tickling her cheeks. Two pools of liquid gold stared down at her, worry spiraling within. “Victoria! It’s me! I’m here.”

Although Victoria didn’t move, her body shifted nonetheless. Her eyelids fluttered, opening further, and her eyes focused on the face of the woman holding her up. “…”

“Don’t try to talk right now. I’m so sorry. I should’ve been here for you,” the woman said, pulling Victoria close. But she forgot that she was wearing armor and the movement crushed Victoria against her sloped breastplate, eliciting a muffled, pained grunt. “Oh, I’m sorry. But… you shouldn’t have gone on ahead without me.”

Victoria’s movement moved again, but Victoria heard nothing. But the woman apparently did, for she smiled and shook her head. “It’s my battle. Our battle. Your mother refused to help us, and she’d never forgive us if something happened to you. Please… wait for me. I’ll definitely return. We don’t need to resort to using that. Trust me.”

The woman leaned down and kissed Victoria on the forehead, her lips soft and warm. The kiss lasted only a second, yet the woman remained still in that pose for several seconds more, as if she were unwilling to pull away. Something warm and wet dripped onto Victoria’s cheeks.

Before Victoria could see the woman’s expression, the woman quickly turned away, looking into the forest. A few other winged figures flew out from the mist, landing by her side, saluting to the woman.

“Take her somewhere safe,” she said.

The winged soldiers bowed, their mouths moving, yet Victoria could not hear what they were saying. It was as if the woman was her entire world, and nothing else mattered.

The whole time, Victoria had been watching with no expression on her face, yet as the winged soldiers placed her onto their shoulders and took flight, she couldn’t help but reach out once more. The woman became smaller in the distance, and each flap of the soldier’s wings made Victoria’s heart jump. She was afraid that at any moment, a tree would block her from seeing the woman again.

Her limbs felt like they were encased in stone, yet she managed to lift her arm, grasping toward the distant figure. The woman looked almost like a statue in her armor, hallowed by her white, untarnished wings.

“…wait…”

A thin, raspy voice broke from Victoria’s lips, surprising even herself about how weak it sounded. “Don’t push me away…”

But she was in a dream. Nothing she did here mattered, and she knew this, but it didn’t stop her from trying despite knowing how pointless her actions were. As the thick, straight branches of the evergreens cut off her sight of the figure and the mist closed in like curtains after a show, Victoria grabbed for the last time. When she opened her hands again, she was lying in bed, holding her hand to her chest.

All that remained in her grasp was a white stone carving of a feather that felt warm to the touch, encased in metal to form a pendant.

Victoria didn’t know when she realized that she was never going to see that woman again, but she had a few suspicions. Perhaps it was when those tears fell on her cheeks. She sighed. “Liar…”

Tucking the pendant back under her nightgown, Victoria sat up and changed with a snap of her fingers. Gone was the thin, black nightgown, and in its place was her usual clothes that exuded grace despite her small stature. Only, she didn’t feel very graceful right now.

Pressing on a disguised button on the wall beside her bed, a barrier receded, revealing a hidden compartment. The compartment popped out and Victoria reached inside and took out a box lined with velvet. Quietly sitting inside were two more carvings that looked exactly like the one she wore. Seeing that they were all still there, Victoria breathed out in relief and placed the box back into the compartment.

Victoria stood up, pulling her hair behind her shoulders. As her hand touched the handles of her bedroom door, her movements were interrupted by a series of knocks. Ismelda’s voice came from the other side.

“Victoria? Are you awake?”

Such a silly question. A silly question from a silly girl. Victoria shook her head and pulled the door open. Ismelda stepped back, unsurprised. Both of them could sense the mana of the other after all.

“It’s almost noon.”

“That late?” Victoria blinked. She rarely oversleeps and she gets up at around the same time every day. A little later if she stayed up late, but almost never quite so late. Unless… Victoria’s eyes darkened. Unless she had that dream again.

Ismelda nodded, not noticing the change that fell over Victoria. “What were you doing last night?”

“Why does it matter to you? Who are you, my assistant?” Victoria laughed and the shadow over her eyes disappeared, replaced with her usual smile. “Of course, not a chance. You’ll have better luck asking your mother for help. If she agrees to come back, I might consider it.”

“We both know that’s not going to happen…”

“And we both know you’re not going to be my assistant,” Victoria said.

“That’s not true. I don’t know that.”

Victoria shook her head. Ismelda was as stubborn as ever, but that’s what made her Ismelda. Closing her bedroom door behind her, Victoria walked down the hall toward her office suite. Her niece naturally fell in place three steps behind her and to the right. If it wasn’t for Victoria’s continuous refusal, she would’ve made an excellent assistant.

Even without Victoria teaching her, Ismelda had already learned the ropes of governing. Sometimes, she even gave suggestions to problems that Victoria gave her. It was quite the miracle, considering that Ismelda used to be a troll. What abilities a person was born with did not limit the potential they can achieve after becoming a vampire lord. Ismelda was one such example.

The smile on Victoria’s face widened at the thought, only for it to fade at another. While natural-born abilities did not limit the vampire, these abilities will also accompany the vampire for life, like the human heritage of her own daughter. A sliver of regret and grief crossed her eyes, but the next moment it was gone as if it had never been there.

She had already made her decision.

Her steps quickened, forcing Ismelda to speed up as well to keep up.

“What’s the hurry? If you just woke up earlier, you wouldn’t need to be in such a rush. By the way, do you want elf blood or beast blood today? If beast, what kind—”

“Ismelda.” Victoria interrupted Ismelda’s rapid-fire talking with an utterance of the latter name. The taller vampire closed her mouth, eyeing Victoria with curiosity.

“Yes?”

She turned around, looking up slightly to see Ismelda eye to eye. “Do you know why I woke up late today?”

“No. You never tell me,” Ismelda said, pursing her lips.

Oh, but she did. Every single time. Victoria sighed and decided to try once more, although she didn’t have high hopes. Her heart fluttered as she opened her mouth. Nothing came out. Victoria licked her lips before she took a deep breath and tried again.

“How much of my childhood do you know about?”

“Not much. Why?” Ismelda asked. “What does that have to do with you oversleeping?”

Victoria glared at her. “Never mind. Come here.” She beckoned toward Ismelda, and when her niece leaned in close, Victoria put her mouth close to Ismelda’s ear, and whispered a name before pulling back. Her face flushed at the same time as she covered her eyes. “She was the person I once loved, but…”

By the time Victoria opened her eyes again, Ismelda was shaking her head, blinking as if she had just passed out on her feet and was just waking up. Seeing her like that, Victoria sighed. The red flush had already disappeared without a single trace left to be found on her face. “Come on, let’s go.”

“Alright.” Ismelda followed after her without even a pause, as if nothing had happened.

It seemed that Ismelda still couldn’t remember anything. Although Victoria had expected that result, she couldn’t help but be disappointed that nothing had changed after all those years. She was the only one who still remembered.

At least this way Ismelda will once again forget that she woke up late. Despite her disappointment, Victoria managed a smile, finding a silver lining the stormy clouds.

The two of them quickly arrived at Victoria’s office and the large double doors flew open, seemingly of their own accord. They passed through without issue and with a slight wave of her left hand, the doors shut again with a soft click.

“If I can’t be your assistant right now, then can you at least teach me how to do that?” Ismelda asked.

“Only if you stop bothering me about becoming an assistant.”

Ismelda fell silent and the two of them took their usual positions—Victoria sat behind her table that seemed too big for her, reaching for the documents at the top of the pile, and Ismelda at a smaller table on her right, angled perpendicularly.

At this point, Ismelda was her assistant in all but name.

Time always passed by quickly when there was work to be done, and since Victoria woke up late today, it didn’t take long for the shadows of the windows behind her to be stretched long and be projected against the inside wall by the setting sun.

The sky outside had become orange as well.

After scanning over another document and then tossing it into the wastebasket without batting an eye, Victoria sat up straight as something pushed into the forefront of her thoughts from the back of her mind where it had laid dormant since morning.

“Ismelda…”

“Yes?” The vampire sat up straighter, looking alert and her eyes full of expectation. She couldn’t be blamed since Victoria rarely called on her. Even when Victoria gave her work or papers to look up, Victoria often just floated the items over with magic. Not this time.

“How are the preparations going?”

Ismelda pulled open one of the drawers in her desk and took out a bundle of papers, flipping through them. “Not bad. We gathered a decent number. Any more will probably take more time than we have, though.”

“Have any of the other dukes make any movements?”

“They don’t seem to have noticed.”

Victoria’s mouth twitched, her eyes drooping in disappointment. “Whatever. It’s enough that they don’t make trouble. What about my mother?”

“Nothing. She’s still keeping an eye on the borders.”

“I see. Well, there’s nothing I can do without telling her more, I guess. Can’t tell you either.” Victoria muttered the last part under her breath, quiet enough that even Ismelda with her enhanced senses couldn’t hear. “Anything else to report?”

The sound of pages flipped filled the empty room as Ismelda jogged her memory using the contents. When she reached the end, she shook her head. “We haven’t been able to find any more fragments. It wasn’t in the lakes either. But we did run into some trouble in the Belrian Mountains.”

Victoria drummed her fingers on the table. The Belrian Mountains was a mountain range running through vampire territory, sitting quite close to the border with the humans. It was still over a week’s journey away though.

It was home to a bloodstone mine that produced especially high-quality bloodstone. That said, a month or so ago, there was a collapse in one of the mines. At first, everyone including her thought it was natural, but shortly after a powerful mana signature appeared deep in the cave-in.

“And what about it?”

Ismelda put down the paper, her expression serious. “The teams of hunters that were dispatched to investigate disappeared. I think… Should I go personally to take a look?”

Victoria rested her eyes, rubbing them with the tips of her finger. “Very well.”