"To what do I owe this surprise visit, uncle?" Theodore's eyes had left the magistrate to look at someone who stepped inside the throne room.
Out of curiosity, the magistrate also turned to see who the king was talking to. He greeted the man with a bow when he saw who it was.
It was the late king's younger brother, Edgar Erasmus.
"Now what's so surprising about an uncle visiting his nephew?" Edgar replied as he walked towards them.
Theodore turned to the magistrate. "You can leave."
"Nothing has changed since I last visited." He commented while staring at one of the family's portraits, where most of the family members were present except for Theodore and his mom.
"I thought you were supposed to be in the East, spending a lone time with your family."
The man turned away from the portrait to look at Theodore, who stared back at him with his gaze not faltering.
"You seem to know a lot."
"That's what you get from looking out for the best interests of everyone." Mischief twirling in his eyes.
"I sent Myles to get some work done on the other side of town, and decided to stop by the castle."
"Giving him works to do is absolutely recommended; who better to take your position as an Earl if not your own son?" Theodore said with a nonchalant tone.
Edgar's lips twisted in distaste, but he didn't comment on Theodore's words.
"Tell Myles to bring me reports on Mistleville." He ordered. "A little additional work should do the trick." Sipping all the blood tea in his glass.
"The massacred town?" Murmured Edgar to himself, before giving the king a questioning look.
"So my dear uncle knows about it too." Theodore answered, as if fascinated by the fact.
"I thought you didn't care about the other towns. Has something suddenly caught your interest?"
"So many things have been catching my interest lately," running his tongue over his fangs. He said, "Why don't you tell me how you heard about it?"
"Must have been from someone in the village," Edgar speculated.
"Mhm, do you perhaps know who it was?" Theodore poked the man for answers that he could tell were false.
"I didn't take notice of the person, as I didn't think it was important."
As the hours passed in Grey-forest castle, in the forest near Mistleville, some men stood having an intense conversation. Their expressions were all frowns and anger.
"We will like to have this discussion with Mr. Erasmus."
"Like I said, my father is not able to come because of a few things holding him back. He would like for me to take his responsibility."
The two men looked at each other before one of them said, "There has been a breach, and we couldn't find it."
"What kind of breach are we talking about here?" Myles questioned the two men, his brow furrowing.
"A girl was able to escape, and we believe she might have what we are looking for." The other man replied.
A servant came to whisper something to his master, and Myles' eyes went to look at the man who had first spoken about the breach.
"What is this that I hear? That the girl is your supposed love interest, Sullivan."
"And what are you trying to imply?" Sullivan asked with narrowed eyes.
"You must have let her—"
"Don't be hilarious. Maybe it was you who caused the breach."
"Enough! Both of you," the other man ordered, as he was older than them. "I suggest we think of a way to find the girl." His eyes moved from Sullivan to Myles to make sure they were now paying attention to him.
"One of my men wounded her with a poisoned knife, but we still couldn't find her." Sullivan informed them.
"It has to be a witch thing. Don't you think, Stuart?" Myles tilted his head toward the older man, who was a vampire like himself.
"Mm." He looked at the distance as if in thought.
They were not aware that the girl they assumed to be a witch was more human.
"I think we should check the nearest town from here." Sullivan suggested, but the two vampires only gave him a look.
"The closest town is Grey-forest. If she had headed that way, she should be someone's meal already." Myles said. Adding, "Unless she's stupid, we can skip the search on Grey-forest." His eyes were now looking at Sullivan to see if he would comment on her stupidity, but the human did not.
"The next closest is from the east side, which leads to Porkshire. We can start from there." Stuart decided. "Sullivan will be in charge, and since he knows her personally, it will be easier to lure her to her doom if she's found."
Everyone agreed with what was said, but if only they knew that their entire plan was a faulty one. That would neither lead them to the girl nor give them a chance to lure her.
Though they were correct in a few points, it only resulted in a setback.
Back in the castle, Theodore walked in the corridor. The servants that saw him were quick to bow their heads and didn't dare raise them till he was out of sight.
He took a turn at one end of the corridor, and not too long after, Ralph came to join him.
"Let us take a stroll." Theodore said to Ralph, who bowed his head before following him.
They stepped out of the castle together to start walking, going to the area where they had found the human.
"Have you found anything on my dear uncle?" Theodore asked Ralph but didn't bother to turn or stop to get his answer.
"Nothing suspicious yet, your highness."
When it came to the crown, there were so many supporters and followers, but amongst them were only a few righteous. And Theodore knew that his uncle wasn't one of the few.
"Keep an eye on him and my dearest cousin, Myles. It seems like he knows something about the massacre in Mistleville."
"Do you think Earl Edgar is involved?"
"Everyone has their own plan and trick to gain power." Theodore's answer had Ralph confused, he didn't know if it was a 'Yes' or a 'No', but he didn't bother to ask for clarification.
They continued their walk in silence until they reached the shelter the humans had taken. Though they did not stop there, Theodore asked,
"How is the new maid doing?" referring to Vanessa.
"I gave her some minor jobs to do since she has not recovered fully."
"Mm. During that night, did you smell anything strange in the girl's blood?" a serious look on his face.
"No, your highness." Ralph said.
Theodore frowned. "Have you heard of a witch or human having a peculiar scent?" Theodore questioned his servant again.
"None that I can remember... humans' and witches' blood has nothing so special to it."
"That is what I thought until now." The frown on his face still there, like a permanent mark.
Theodore felt the air around them get slightly thicker as they continued to walk.
"Stop." Theodore ordered. Ralph, who didn't see it coming, came to an abrupt stop and turned to look at his king with a question.
'The air reeks of blood, the human's blood.' Theodore thought before looking at a distance; his eyes squinted slightly, and he brought his hand up to feel the wind in front of him.
A look of madness sparkled in his eyes, and his lips tugged into a lopsided smile.
"It seems like someone forgot to add some details."