Isabella smiled as she looked at both of her personal guards. "Indeed, that child has something special about her body."
After saying that, she didn't elaborate.
"But tell one of the maids to keep an eye on her for a few days. Sigh, I'm getting old from dealing with my daughter's shenanigans." She said as she turned around and looked at the Duke, who was still kneeling.
'My queen, you're getting old? Wasn't it us who should be saying that? That little devil looked cute and all, but she's smart enough to escape without alerting us, and you won't even punish her for that. It's always us getting punished,' Mira thought in her head, but she would never say this out loud, as she knew what awaited her if she did.
Isabella looked at the Duke and opened her mouth. "Duke Harmon, you can stand up now." Saying that, Isabella walked towards the throne and sat on it.
"Your Highness, I am extremely happy that the princess was found," He said with a fowning smile. It was plain to see he was relieved to be out of trouble.
Isabella's smile faded as her expression turned lazy. She put her head on her hand and leaned back. "You seem relieved? But the business I came here for has not been completed yet. Tell me, Duke Harmon, what do you think is the reason for my visit?" She spoke with an emotionless face as she looked down at the Duke.
Duke Harmon noticed a sweat drop ran down from his head to his cheek. "Your Highness, isn't it because there was an illegal slave trading event happening in the underground market of the Silverwood Duchy?" The Duke chose his words carefully as he answered while still putting a question in the conversation.
"Hmm, you think I took action personally to take care of some illegal slave trading? One of my guards is enough to do those things. Seems like you're becoming senile, Duke Harmon. Forget it. You're dismissed," Isabella said with a sigh.
Duke Harmon bowed a little and walked into the other part of the mansion.
'My father was indeed right, it was hell to deal with this woman. This is my mansion and that is my throne, but still I have to live in the corner of this mansion until the queen returns to the capital. It's just been fifty years since she took over the throne after the old king's mysterious death. It was also the time I became Duke after my father retired.
I still remember, most of the nobles thought it was the right time to swallow as much wealth as possible since the new queen was still inexperienced, but what happened next is simply unimaginable. The majority of the nobles in the capital and three out of the four dukes of the kingdom were assassinated.
The people thought enemy forces had infiltrated the kingdom and it was going to fall, yet just in a few days, new nobles and dukes were appointed and the kingdom returned to how it was supposed to be, and the foolish people praised the queen for her wits and her quick work.
Yet, not many people are alive who know the truth. It's the new queen who was the mastermind behind all the assassinations. She not only plucked out all the weeds that might turn against her in her early days as a queen, she also won the people's hearts. The fourth Duke who survived was me. If my old man didn't warn me about not being stupid when the old king died, I would've died as well.'
From that day, the Silverwood Duchy has been loyal to the throne, as Duke Harmon was not willing to take the risk to grow ambitious and die.
As the Duke went back to his quarters, Isabella looked at Mira and Gerald as she opened her mouth. "Did you two finish the work?"
Hearing this, both of them looked down.
"Your Highness, we searched the entire duchy while you were away, but it seems the person we're searching for has escaped. However, we found out a few details about the person - he was male and had red hair with black eyes. We investigated a little and found out where he stayed the last few days. We searched the place and found this." Gerald finished speaking as he took out something from his space ring and presented it to Isabella.
It was a black colored gemstone with a dragon figure carved on it.
Isabella extended her hand as the stone suddenly floated into the air and traveled into her hand. She observed the stone for a while.
'Hmm, too many interesting things have been happening lately, and that rat has escaped again.'
There were many reasons she made a trip to this duchy, and most of them had been finished, other then one.
Meanwhile, Nyx was walking in the corridor with Evelyn and the queen's personal maid, Rosy.
As they walked, Rosy looked at Nyx and asked, "Do you know what magic is and how it works?" The maid, unlike the queen, always had that emotionless face and voice.
Understanding that the question was for her, Nyx looked up and responded, "I don't know anything about magic."
Rosy nodded. "When we get back to the capital, I will be your mentor. You can call me teacher. You will learn everything from the basics, including magic and maid duties, so you should be prepared."
After a while, they reached in front of a room with white doors.
Rosy opened the door. "This is your room for today. Be ready by midnight as we are going to set off to the capital this night," She said while holding the door open for Nyx.
'Night time journey? The queen's appearance in the duchy doesn't seem to be officially announced,' Nyx thought as she entered the room.
"Rosy! I will also stay with big sister!" Evelyn jumped enthusiastically as she jumped up and down.
Just as she walked towards the room, she was lifted into the air as Rosy put her on her shoulder.
"I'm sorry, princess. You're not allowed to do that. I think the queen would like to talk to you more, so you should wait in Her Highness's room." Saying that, Rosy turned around and walked away, leaving Nyx in her room.
Nyx quickly slammed the door shut and looked around the luxurious room.
'Humans do build beautiful houses to live in, huh,' she thought in her mind as she walked towards the huge bed in the middle.
'Haa, my current situation isn't that bad, but I'm really itching to understand what that queen found out about me? And why didn't I sense any danger from the queen? I mean, that's how I sensed the guards, however, I couldn't feel any power from the queen at all. There are two possibilities - either she's so strong that I can't even fathom her strength, or she's really just a good human who didn't have any malicious intentions towards me.'
'First of all, I need to know a little bit more about this girl. Only then can I find out more about this world, as the memories I have are very limited.'
'I think I know how I can see those memories.'
She thought in her mind as she climbed onto the bed, laying down she closed her eyes as she drifting into sleep.
Nyx opened her eyes and saw a big starry sky in front of her.
"I did it!" Nyx exclaimed out loud with a smile.
She was standing in a dark space with many glowing lights around her.
When she first collapsed in front of the wolf with a headache, she got the memories about the vampires. At that time, she briefly saw a starry sky, and when she fell asleep in the cave, she saw stars before falling asleep, but it didn't last long that time.
Now she tried it again, and it seems she had succeeded. Her guess was that this place was somehow connected to her memories.
Dub dub dub dub
Nyx suddenly heard the sound of a heartbeat coming from behind her. Sensing that it came from her back, she slowly turned around, only to see a huge glowing smoke emitting light.
It was surrounded by different colors of light - black, white, and green - but the majority was pitch black, and the sound was coming from that smoke.
For some reason, Nyx suddenly went into a trance as she saw the smoke. Her body moved on its own and walked into the mysterious smoke.