The Edevane mansion, once a lively residence, now exuded an air of gloom. Three days had passed since their mistress had departed with a company of soldiers to search for her young master, yet no news had been received aside from the customary orders from Lilia. Some of the knights had already resigned themselves to the belief that their young master was deceased, as if the abductors had sought a ransom, they would have made their demands known.

No one dared to utter a word, as they were all fearful of meeting their demise. The shadow servants, who were mortified by their mistake and resolved to prevent a recurrence, kept a vigilant watch. They even cut their daily sleep to less than an hour in order to have as many guards as possible guarding Lady Charlotte, who was presently on trial.

Another source of anxiety was the young lady. Only a handful of maids were granted permission to tend to her needs, a clear indication that the Edevane family did not wish for news of the potential demise of their lineage to spread. Nevertheless, this did not stop the concerned maids from confiding in their peers.

"Well?" a plump woman asked, folding her arms and leaning a broomstick against her side. She frowned at the younger maid's worried expression. "Well?" she persisted.

"N-Nothing good." The girl stammered, her brown eyes slightly teary. It was quite impressive because only a few years ago, everyone would have been fine with the disappearance of their masters, but now. "The young Lady, her looks very pale and-and weak..."

Softening her expression a bit, the eldest of them sighed. "That bad huh..."

Upon hearing her words, the other maids in the room became attentive and ceased their pretended labor, approaching the most seasoned among them with the intention of gaining more knowledge. “Do you have any idea what her condition means?”

The woman in question scratched her dry, unkempt hair roughly with her hand. "I'm not sure, but I've heard that the awakening of the bloodline is extremely dangerous." She cut her words abruptly and motioned for the other maids to approach. "Young lady, she may d-" The entire room became icy as she didn't finish her whisper.

"Alea, don't do it." They all recognized the voice. Their heads turned in unison towards the open door, where a small blonde haired girl kept a steady gaze on them all, no, on someone behind them. "Alea...Young Lady Charlotte would not be pleased." She said it a little more forcefully this time.

"I think it would be the opposite, Aria." A cold voice sounded.

The maids quickly assumed positions of attentiveness and turned their backs. An imposing figure of a woman in a black suit greeted them, brandishing a pair of daggers and exuding an almost suffocating pressure. Her eyes were abyssal, and she was fixedly gazing at the maid who had made the previous comment, her intentions obvious to all.

"Forget it, we have to get back to the young lady." Aria insisted.

“Fine.”

As she passed through the trembling maids, Alea lowered her daggers and her gaze returned to normal, even a small smile tugging at her lips. She cast a glance over her shoulder before approaching Aria's side. "If I ever hear you talking shit about the young lady again, I'll slit your throat, understand?"

The maids all nodded fervently in response to her warning, and Alea nodded in turn before walking alongside Charlotte, exiting the room.

"Aria has changed a lot." One of them dared to break the silence with a statement.

"It's only been three days, but she's unrecognizable."

"What did Lady Lilia tell her?"

They all stared at the door, wondering what was going through young Aria's mind.

(***)

Aria and Alea walked together to Charlotte's chambers, their steps softly echoing on the floor. The two girls moved through the corridor with grace and elegance, their movements fluid and elegant. The light streamed in through the windows, casting dappled shadows on the floor and walls, heightening the sense of mystery and intrigue.

Alea cast a skeptical glance at Aria as they walked. "Are you feeling well?"

Aria looked her in the eyes, her brow furrowed in determination. "I'm fine," she stated firmly, her voice firm. "All I need to do is get into Charlotte's room as soon as possible."

Alea shook her head slightly amused. "You don't have to force yourself to act serious, Master Lilia just told you to keep an eye on Charlotte."

"That is precisely why I must be serious. I can't protect her if I'm still weak; I've already let them down, and I can't do it again." She stated emphatically. Aria closed her hands and felt the agony of her long days of training; perhaps if she had trained six hours a day like this before, this scenario wouldn't have happened.

Aria's green eyes seemed to glow with an otherworldly force, burning with a fierce determination. A golden aura seemed to surround her, as if she were about to burst forth and obliterate everything with her sacred light. Even Alea, who was looking straight ahead, couldn't help but shudder slightly in surprise at the small maid's sudden display of power.

"Aria..." Alea watched her with interest, but as soon as the alleged vision appeared, it vanished.

They arrived at their destination before Alea could ask to Aria if she had noticed any changes in her body recently. Alea sensed the presence of many of her companions guarding the room as the guards nodded in acknowledgement.

Alea nodded, pleased with her young lady's level of security.

Upon their arrival, the guards swiftly undid the bolts on the grand doors, their movements precise and practiced as they swung them open with a flourish. Aria stepped through the threshold, her shoulders squared, and her head held high, while Alea followed closely behind, her senses attuned to any potential danger.

Aria walked into the room; her senses assaulted by the frantic activity within. Robed figures scurried around, their noses buried in ancient tomes, desperately looking for a solution. Nurses with worried expressions cast spell after spell on Charlotte's supine form, closely monitoring her vital signs.

Aria approached Charlotte and noticed that her condition had worsened.

Charlotte's eyes were closed, and beads of sweat ran down her brow, causing her jet-black hair to stick to her face. She would contort her face into a grimace from time to time, sometimes terrified, sometimes repulsed.

Aria couldn't take her gaze away from her, and couldn't help but wonder what she was seeing to cause her to make those expressions, but instead of looking at her from afar and thinking this could all have been avoided, she walked briskly towards Charlotte and coolly pushed the nurses out of her way so she could stand by the girl's bedside, protecting her and keeping an eye on the maids and everyone in the room.

Although she was confident that the manor servants would never betray the house. However, it did not hurt to be cautious, with her master missing and Charlotte in this state of weakness, she knew the house Edevane was in danger.

With that in mind, Aria kept a hawk's eye on everything, not letting anything slip by.

Meanwhile, Alea looked around the room, and when she was satisfied, she sank into the shadows, joining her companions and adding to the room's security.

Thus, after about two hours of watching as a nurse injected a specialized medical used to keep Charlotte's body healthy since she was unable to eat or hydrate, Aria considered returning to training, leaving the watch to Alea and keeping watch over Charlotte's room from the courtyard window as she went about her sword routine, but that thought was interrupted before it could fully form.

A nurse with average looks and round glasses was checking on Charlotte's condition when she abruptly jumped up from her seat. "What?" she asked, slightly startled, reaching out her pale hands and lightly touching Charlotte's arm. "Cold." Her voice was trembling.

Aria took a step forward. "What's wrong?" she asked, frowning with concern.

The nurse trembled as she extended a hand to Charlotte and cast a probing spell. "I-I don't know, she was fine a second ago and now..." She swallowed loudly, and the others in the room became aware of the commotion. "Her vital signs are deteriorating."

"What!" Aria yelled as she dashed over to Charlotte, who was pale and cold to the touch. Her pupils constricted as she looked at the nurse. "Heal her! What are you waiting for!" Aria clenched her fists angrily.

"Y-Yes." The nurse said this casting so many healing spells in a row that her skin turned as pale as a leaf.

Aria, on the other hand, would be dissatisfied with such scant healing. "Stop what you're doing and figure out what's wrong." She insisted to all room, sounding more concerned with each word.

As the doctors rushed towards Charlotte, they frantically cast spells and talked to one another. The moments ticked by, the physicians grew more and more agitated, their nerves visibly frayed. Aria, meanwhile, remained motionless, rooted to the spot in shock. It wasn't until a doctor forcibly shoved her aside that she was finally able to stir, her composure beginning to crumble at the sight before her.

Aria retreated a few steps away from the gurney, her sight of her young Lady, pallid and debilitated, evoking memories of her own mother, who lay on a similar bed, on the verge of death. Her hands began to tremble, her stoic exterior cracking as she became overcome with emotion, not wanting to lose everything again.

Aria crawled backwards, trying to avoid the bizarrely familiar sight in front of her. Her back slammed against the door, and she froze, staring at the scene in front of her.

Alea had even come out to assess the situation, scanning everything and everyone in the room for any attempt at deception.

Aria clenched her fists and took a deep, steadying breath, determined to do her duty to Lady Lilia by caring for Charlotte. Despite her fear, she refused to give in to it. Charlotte's body was wracked by violent convulsions just as Aria's slightly trembling body began to calm.

The healers were baffled, as their spells seemed to have no effect on her condition. Even the most experienced healer, a purity level 5, was taken aback because he had never seen a bloodline awakening patient whose body underwent such rapid transformation.

Aria cringed as Charlotte's body contorted and twisted, her movements uncontrollable and wild.

And after a while, Charlotte stopped moving.

Aria sat on the floor, looking at the deathly pale Charlotte and the terrified doctors, as the room fell silent. She expected the worst; she had lost everything and was once again alone.

Aria was about to sob when she was interrupted by the voice of one of the medics. "She's still alive." Aria perked up as he spoke. "It looks li-" the shoulder smiled contentedly. When a blur pounced on him, he couldn't finish his sentence.

Aria jumped up, lifted her skirt slightly, and pulled out the daggers she had hidden in her garters, expecting an attack.

Aria, although nervous, was about to jump into action, but Alea's voice stopped her in her tracks.

"Young lady?" she exclaimed in disbelief at the figure biting at the doctor's neck, who was attempting to free himself with all his strength.

The individual in question remained silent, gripping the unfortunate victim's head with one hand and sinking their teeth into the victim's neck, all while the other people present looked on in fear and horror.

Unfazed, the assailant continued their gruesome feast with calculated savagery.

The stunned silence was broken when the figure of what was presumably Charlotte rose up with her back to the crowd, leaving an empty shell of a man with a perpetual panic expression on the ground.

Charlotte's black dress was stained with her victim's blood, and her black hair flowed straight and unknotted down her back, but Aria wasn't afraid; when she finally recognized the figure as her lady Charlotte, she let out a sigh of relief, relieved that she was okay, not caring about the man Charlotte had just murdered.

'They explained something like this in the records.' Aria remembered reading that when an Edevane's bloodline was awakened, they always had a thirst that only blood could quench, ‘so it was fortunate that Charlotte had passed the trial unscathed’.

Aria's lips were twitching with a smile. "Young lady." She said joyfully.

Charlotte began to walk quickly towards her, as if she had found her prey, pushing most of the people in the room back. Charlotte wiggled her fingers as if she was getting used to the feel of the black claws protruding from her fingers.

Aria tensed in her seat, expecting Charlotte to attack her, but she didn't move. So be it if her death made Charlotte feel better.

"Young lady..." Alea tried to intervene, but a simple glance from Charlotte was enough to make her look away from what was about to happen.

Charlotte approached Aria, who stiffened but didn't close her eyes, instead staring into her red eyes as if she wanted to apologize for everything.

Instead of killing her and leaving her bloodless, as Aria expected, Charlotte simply asked a question. "Where is he?" her voice was calm, but contained a cold anger.

Aria grimaced, knowing who she meant, the worst question Charlotte could ask had been said. "S-sorry, young lady, I real-"

"I didn't ask you that." Charlotte said. "Where is he?"

" Master Lilia is looking for the master."

Charlotte looked at her and simply walked past her, leaving the frozen room behind in a state of confusion and terror.

Charlotte walked down the mansion's hallway, her emotions in turmoil. She clenched her fists, recalling everything she saw, and didn't even notice the blood on the carpet as a result of her thoughts. 'Why didn't you tell me?' she whined.

When she felt the sting of her nails digging into her skin, she retracted them, and her skin was as good as new in seconds, with no indication of ever having been injured. She stood there in silent awe, but quickly put it aside, thinking about her next move.

'System. Tell me my brother's whereabouts and how to get there.' She spoke

[Would you like to purchase this information for 20,000 fate points?]

‘Yes’

Charlotte was immediately bombarded with information.

'I'll hit him when I see him.' She promised herself, thinking about everything she saw, she couldn't help but think again. 'You'll tell me everything and why and you won't do it again.' She vowed, heading for her destination, the communications room.

After all, unlike her brother, she had no control complex and would use every available resource she had to find him.