There were three different reactions to the incident after everything calmed down a bit. One reaction was immediately obvious as all the servants kept staring at me deathly silent as I strolled through the mansion. They still didn’t know what to think of the vampire that cried for her victim and left me alone for most of the time. Only when I asked them for a bottle of animal blood or for something to write did they interact with me. Basically, it went exactly as intended in that regard.

Only Mary showed the second reaction. It was excitement, although contained probably because I went a bit overboard. Someone was finally doing what she couldn’t or didn’t try. She didn’t talk to me instantly as she entered my room during the next day, but picked up a book and began reading, this time for real. Very rarely, she looked over at me while I did my best to ignore her.

“The three heroes journey … it is a great book.” She said after an hour or so passed. Indeed, my current book was named like that.

“Hmm.” I only read the first few chapters so far and I honestly wasn’t that impressed. There was too little information about this world in my opinion and some even seemed to contradict what I already knew. Maybe it was outdated information though … which also had its value.

“I never took you for someone that likes romance though.” I furrowed my brows because I didn’t read anything about love in this book yet. Additionally, I highly doubted that there was a book like this in the study which was the collection of a man.

“Romance?” And yet, I couldn’t help but ask.

“Yeah, romance. It is a fantasy book ab-“ She said, rather enthusiastic for some reason. I didn’t want to hear the contents of this book anymore, so I swiftly interrupted her.

“… fiction?” I muttered aghast as I noticed that I just wasted ten minutes on … fantasy books. In the first place, who would even write such things?

“Yes. You are reading a fictional book.” Disappointed by her answer, I closed the book, looked at the cover and threw it to the other side of the room. The cover hit the stone wall perfectly and with a dull sound, the uninteresting book fell onto the ground. Angrily, I glared at Mary as if she was the reason that I read a completely useless book.

“Shit … help me sort these books out.” I said while standing up from the comfortable sofa. Mary still sat down, gazing at me questioningly.

“What do I get in return?” There wasn’t much I could give her, but I didn’t think that there was a need for that anyway.

“I presented you the first chapter of the play of the year yesterday.” I said and pointed in the direction of the gallow.

“Fair enough.” Gracefully, she stood up and walked towards the pile of books where she promptly began to sort the books based on their contents. The fictional books were clearly the minority, but still had a worryingly large percentage of all. Just as I wanted to complain about the person who brought them all, I saw Mary patting the cover of a romance book as if it was her baby.

“Are you envious of the woman in these books who find true love while you are …” I asked, but trailed off as I noticed the overbearing sadness in her eyes.

“No, not at all. Arthur is such a wonderful person who makes me the luckiest woman on this planet.” Her answer seemed a bit too ironic to be true. I suspected that someone was spying on us, but didn’t have definite proof yet. Before I replied, she went through the pile of fiction and soon found the book she was searching for. I haven’t read it yet, but I did know that it contained the answers as she gave it to me with a smile on her lips. “What about you? Is there someone you love?”

“In a far, far away place out of reach for the living.” I answered while making sure that Mary and whoever was listening in misunderstood me. My love was not dead, he was death itself.

“I am sorry to hear that …” Silence spread through the room, only interrupted by me as I picked up my next book and threw myself on the sofa. Mary was the first one to speak again after a few very, very awkward seconds.

“Can you help me?” Mary didn’t even lower her voice one bit but rather talked so bluntly that I nearly couldn’t believe it. If there was a spy in front of the door, that person must have heard her plea for help.

“No.” Even when my answer would have been different, I would still say no. I couldn’t risk angering Arthur even more as the issue on hand still hadn’t been resolved yet. First, I needed to have something I could use as a leverage against him.

“I haven’t even told you what I want.” She said, a bit louder than usual. I was quite confused by her behaviour. It was as if she had a death wish or wanted her freedoms to be restricted even further by Arthur.

“It is obvious what you want. And my answer is no. You have nothing to offer.” I concluded and stared her down.

“I am a duchess.” Said she, pointing out the obvious. And yet, it wasn’t anything she could use to convince me.

“Only in name.” I stated. As she said, she was a canary in a little shiny cage. Wealthy … but still a canary.

“But what about after the time when you helped me?” Well, then she would wield the power Arthur held at that time, but that wouldn’t improve my situation much, would it?

“Nothing would change for me. I would just switch the one out who controls my life.” I concluded. Even if I was going to help her, it would be on my terms, not hers. I knew I would never be able to wield the powers of a duke, most importantly because of my dubious heritage and my vampirism which stopped me from aging. I needed either Arthur of Mary to do my bidding … but I didn’t have anything to threaten them with yet.

“I …” She muttered, failing to find any incentive for me to help.

“I believe in two types of relationships where both parties are equal. One is where both benefit continuously. You wouldn’t benefit from keeping me around after I solved your problem. Betrayal is the only logical result.” I explained a part of the reason why I didn’t want to support her yet.

“And the other type of relationship?” I grinned as she said that, but still shook my head. I didn’t want to tell her this early under which circumstances I was going to help her.

“… someday, I may answer this question, but not now. In addition to the betrayal problem, I am not entirely sure that you will be the better ruler for me. And as such, I am taking the safe bet.” I lowered my voice considerably so only Mary should be able to hear me. “If you manage to survive for several months after this conversation though … things may change.” Truth to be told, I slightly favoured Mary at this point, even though she was in a weaker position mostly because she wasn’t … because she wasn’t Arthur.

Mary would be targeted. She openly stood against Arthur during this conversation and had no value for him. I already wondered why she was still alive, considering that the lord already consolidated every power in himself and realistically only needed Mary for one thing. And yet, he didn’t seem too enthusiastic about creating a successor which led me to believe that this wasn’t really an issue. As such, her life was in real danger now while I still had the security of being useful. I already showed everyone that I could fight Markus on even grounds. Additionally, I was useful during the night which made me an asset in a war that wasn’t to be underestimated.

Mary smiled bitterly at my open challenge. Surviving for a timeframe that I set was enough for me to see her as capable, but still wouldn’t mean that I would support her in the end. She could either choose to die peacefully by poison now or suffer through the hell Arthur would put her in. With no real benefit of enduring it or a finish line in sight, it was a difficult decision for her, I knew that much. And yet, I strangely hoped that she would survive and struggle. I mean, it would be quite interesting to see her progress.

“Is there anything I can do to improve my chances?” This time, she whispered into my ear, knowing full well that these words should stay inside this room. I was quite surprised by how fast she evaluated her options and chose.

“I wonder … “ I looked into her eyes from a close distance and reached over to my side behind a pillow. After fishing out a piece of paper I already prepared, I looked at its content one last time and showed it to her. “Failure is not an option.”

She raised an eyebrow as she saw the single line that was written on it but didn’t reply right away. She couldn’t understand what I was planning, that was for sure, but she didn’t have to. She just had to show that she was capable and useful.

“You foolishly rejected my proposal. I could have given you gold, power or whatever else you wished for … I am utterly disappointed.” I smiled at her little show for the possible spies and was rather shocked as she stormed towards the door, nearly opening it before I could react.

“Wait!” I listened closely to any sound in the hallway. Either the spy was good, or there wasn’t anyone at all, because I didn’t hear anything. “Make sure to play your role perfectly, will you?”

She ran out of the room, looking rather furious, but I also noticed the underlying excitement. Her eyes were burning with a desire for freedom that I knew too well. There was just the question if she would accept the freedom I was willing to give her. Everything had a price and what she had to pay wasn´t exactly a small amount.

Satisfied, I opened up the book I was still holding and began to read a rather fascinating story about a prince who was blinded by greed and murdered his parents to take the throne just a bit faster. He married a princess from another country, aiming to take control of even more land. He died in his bed, a dagger in his heart, swung into his corpse over and over again by his wife who only wished for the best of her citizens. The book began as a tragedy, but the third chapter already introduced the male lead who apparently was there to rescue the princess and rebuild her reputation. It was beginning to develop in a weird romantic direction and as such, I threw the book to the other fictions. I already read everything I needed to, there was no need to torture myself.