About ten kilometers away from Amber, Regis stood on the balcony looking toward the huge forest. It has been thirteen years since he saw that dead child and instead of burying it, he focused on escaping from his pursuers. By the time the guards went to look for the body it was no longer there.
They all believed that the child was ravaged by the wild beasts in the forest.
Regis felt so guilty about what happened that he started thinking the child might be alive.
There were times when he was standing on the tallest tower of his palace and he saw a faint light in the forest. Sometimes, he would even see smoke and smell this faint aroma of cookies and other freshly baked goods or that bitter scent of coffee.
But he knew nothing was there. He checked it a thousand times already and found the same desolate forest.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
"Come in," he said without taking away his crimson eyes from the forest.
Timothy came inside with a tray, but instead of food, a letter and a knife were placed on the golden tray. "It's from your cousin. My Lord."
"I'll open it later," Regis responded without even looking at the person standing behind him. "Tim, can you delay my lunch for a little bit? I'll just check something."
"Yes, my Lord. Just give me the order once you arrive," said the butler with a 90-degree bow. When he stood up straight again, Regis was no longer there. Timothy didn't need to ask where his master was going because, in the past thirteen years, he already made it a habit to visit that dangerous wide forest.
*
System: "Hide Amber! Quickly go and hide! Mask your presence! That nuclear-like dangerous person is coming to the forest again."
Amber did what was asked of her and in the blink of an eye, she was already inside her house which was also inside her space storage.
Her system could not see anything about this person even though she was leveling up. Everything about this entity was blank, so whenever her system detected this person's presence, she would just hide inside her space storage. She could not see anything outside when she got inside her space storage and that was the reason why she bought a clock. She would wait for three hours to pass before coming out of her space.
And she was always lucky because whenever she came out, that presence would be gone.
In the middle of the forest, Regis squatted down to check the blood on the ground. He smelled it and identified the beast just using the scent of its blood, but when he looked around and used his heightened senses to find where the fox went, he couldn't detect it at all.
"How could it vanish without a trace?" Regis murmured and checked the tracks on the ground. He frowned and looked at the footprints in disbelief. "A woman? In this forest? That is just impossible."
He would understand if the tracks were found in the outskirts of the forest but in the middle of it. He just couldn't believe it. [I'm just being delusional.] he told himself before vanishing in the blink of an eye.
He wanted to deceive himself that the child was alive since not a body was found, but he was always reminded of her mutilated body which was impossible for humans to cheat death.
[It's time to stop.] Regis told himself and returned to his palace. He still had work to do and his subjects depended on him,
"My Lord," Tim greeted when Regis appeared in front of him. "I wanted to wait until you have eaten your lunch, but that would be a failure as your servant. My Lord, a man was caught stealing your oranges directly from the orchard. He is currently placed in the dungeon."
"I'll deal with it when I have time. Prepare the carriage and let's set off to town."
"What about your lunch, my Lord?"
"Human food is just a show. I'll drink someone's blood before leaving."
"Understood, my Lord," Tim said and left to prepare the carriage.
In moments like this, Regis would drink blood directly from the wrist of one of his maiden servants. He was in a hurry, so he grabbed the first woman that he saw in the hallway. He took his time drinking blood, but he didn't drain her. He licked his fangs after drinking and vanished without a trace.
The woman leaned on the wall and breathed a deep sigh of relief. She has been a servant for so many years after her parents sold her at the age of thirteen. On the first night that she arrived, she stumbled upon the King's pleasure room and saw how he drained the woman's blood during their lustful intercourse.
She was scared silly by what she saw and she wasn't able to utter a single word at all. The next day, everyone pretended as if nothing happened while the guards buried the corpse of the woman last night and the King continued with his daily routine.
It was then that she realized it was just a normal occurrence. She was sure that a lot of women died in the hands of their ruler but she could not comprehend why many maiden servants still wanted to serve him inside his pleasure room.
Among all these women, she was the only virgin left. Whenever it was her turn to serve the King, she would always give her spot to someone else, and they all loved her for it.
Today was the first time he ever drank her blood. She was shivering in fear. It was rumored that the King loved the blood of a virgin woman, but she didn't want that love at all. If possible, she wanted the King to stay as far as he could from her. Of course, it was an impossible wish.
"Tanya, are you alright?" asked another servant who passed by her on the way to the kitchen.
Tanya nodded her head and hid away the canine marks on her wrist. "I was just a little tired. I'm fine."
"O-okay. If you are feeling unwell, you should inform the butler soon."
"Hn. I will," Tanya said, but she had something else planned in her mind.