Selena looked at the woman with confusion. It was not her face.
"Is this one of your tricks? Making something in the mirror."
The maids suddenly stopped. They didn't understand what she was saying.
"Who is she?" Selena asked, pointing to the reflection in the mirror.
One maid frowned while another shrugged.
"It's you," they replied, almost simultaneously.
Selena's hands trembled holding her face. Every inch of her face looked different. The woman in front of her had straight black hair with ocean blue eyes.
Even though she rarely looked in the mirror, Selena still remembered her face. Her hair was red like her mother and her eyes were black like her father's. The woman in the mirror was nothing like her.
Selena then looked at her hand. Those hands were very thin and pale, different from her skin which used to be tan. That was not her body!
"What happened." Selena backed away in fright. All of this felt very real, but was it possible?
The maids who were brushing her hair were also confused. Selena didn't flinch when she met the Young Master but she was terrified to see her reflection.
"Don't humans ever look in the mirror?" They started whispering to each other.
Selena suddenly turned her head and they gasped in surprise. "Tell me, where is this?"
They looked at each other, doubt clearly visible in their eyes. "In Yong Master Ash's penthouse," one of them replied.
"No. I mean this city. Is this the vampire kingdom?" Selena urged a little until they looked scared.
To be honest, Selena was also surprised to see their frightened reaction. During her fights with the vampires, they always act like the most powerful creature in the world. But this reaction was almost similar to an ordinary human.
"T-this is Irven. Kingdom of the moon, Irven." They answered while trembling in fear.
Selena's heart seemed to be forced to stop beating. Irven, her beloved kingdom that she protected with her life. Why could there be a strange tower and a bunch of vampires in Irven without her knowing? All of this felt very odd.
[How long have I been gone until this kingdom is ruled by vampires?] Fear stroke Selena. This was not fear because she was among vampires, but she was afraid to imagine the fate of her people.
"Where are the other humans?" Selena asked in a very trembling voice.
They shrugged. "We don't know."
"What do mean you don't know?" Selena raised her voice.
They flinched seeing her angry. Just then, the bedroom door suddenly opened. The butler who first met Selena walked in.
"Young Master should return immediately now. Do it quickly." He then closed the door again without glancing at Selena, as if she wasn't there.
They took Selena to a room. There was a fairly long sofa and a table. The walls were decorated with paintings and that was all. The room was so empty and gloomy.
The windows were left wide open with a small balcony outside. Selena's attention was drawn to it. There was no one in the room. The maids immediately left after ushering her into the room.
This was the perfect time to run away. Selena immediately went to the balcony. She gasped again for the umpteenth time that night.
When her feet stepped on the balcony floor, the warm air touched her skin. The air outside was indeed warmer than inside. But that was not what surprised Selena.
She looked outside the room. Many square towers in front of her. Some were close, and some were far away.
"This isn't Irven," she mumbled in awe.
That many towers couldn't possibly be kept a secret from the Queen. She had never seen anything like this in her kingdom.
Selena looked down and she immediately stepped back. The balcony was very high off the ground. So high that the people below looked like ants.
"How can they build a tower this high." Selena still couldn't understand it.
There was no other way to go. Maybe she could crawl onto the next balcony and find a way out.
Selena put a foot up against the balcony railing. She was pretty good at doing crazy things like this, Selena thought she would be fine. The other leg went up to the railing. She stretched out her arms to maintain balance. Then all she had to do was propagate to the edge through this tower wall.
"You're crazy!"
Selena's body swayed. She lost her balance and fell.
Selena closed her eyes reflexively, preparing herself to die for the second time.
"Do you want to die?"
Selena opened her eyes after hearing that voice. She was wide-eyed. Ash's face was right in front of her, so close that his breath touched her face.
Selena's eyes wildly stared out the balcony then looked at Ash again. Oh, she was lucky —or not that lucky— because she fell backwards into Ash's arms.
"Let me go!" Selena rebelled frantically while beating Ash in the chest.
After taking a deep breath, Ash raised his hand and let Selena fall hard on the floor.
Selena looked at him in annoyance. It hurts so much to fall from his arms, she couldn't imagine how it felt to fall from that tower.
"What? You asked for it."
Selena brushed the dust off her clothes. She squinted, stared at him from top to bottom. That arrogant face with grey hair was one hundred percent like Alchary. Then why did he help her? Did he not want her to die because he wanted to kill her with his own hands?
Selena backed away until she went back into the room. She felt trapped. It seemed like she couldn't escape through the window. But she also didn't know how to get to the bottom of the magical box room earlier.
Serena sighed. She really hated feeling helpless like this. Suddenly she was jealous of the vampires who could fly.
"The last human I kept was not as stupid as you. Where did they take you that you can be this stupid?"
"Have you ever raised a human?"
Selena was wide-eyed. It turned out that something like this had happened before. She felt guilty as a queen who failed to protect her people.
Ash didn't answer. He closed the balcony door. "Don't act stupid while you're in the castle. Or you'll lose your head before I taste your blood."
Selina frowned. He always gave her warnings as if there was something more dangerous than him. But what was more dangerous than an immortal vampire who has killed thousands of lives?
"Where are my people? Where did you hide the humans and what did you do to my kingdom?" Selena accused him directly.
"Your Kingdom?"
Selena pointed at the window, at the giant towers outside that no longer looked like her kingdom. "What did you do to Irven? Where are my people?"
Selena deliberately raised her voice. Anger was overflowing and she couldn't take it anymore.
"Ah, you mean human?" Ash smirked and Selena hated it so much. "They are extinct."