“Duchess Bianca Serneff of the Helraig Duchy, I greet Your Excellency, Queen.”
In the temporary meeting room of the Knight Order Randell Branch.
The moment Bianca Serneff stood before me, she gracefully set down the parasol she held in her right hand and adjusted the hem of her dress.
It would be fair to say that facing the Duchess Serneff like this was practically the first time. I only exchanged a fleeting glance with her during the coronation ceremony.
I casually scanned her appearance.
She had a petite stature, shorter than Plona, with purplish drill hair curling on both sides. Her pale skin contrasted with a flowy dress that seemed entirely impractical. She wore snug gloves and a hairband as well.
If I were to sum up my first impression of Bianca Serneff in one word, it would be that she looked like the painted noble lady from a portrait; alternatively, one might say she resembled a finely crafted Western doll.
However, perhaps it was due to the sharpness of her gaze and the confidence radiating from her impeccable demeanor. Despite her small frame, rather than appearing cute, she exuded a type of intimidation that could easily make anyone standing before her feel small.
After finishing her greeting, Bianca Serneff silently gazed up at me. In her slightly displeased eyes, I sensed a challenge, as if she had some grievances against me.
Of course, such a perception was merely a prejudice formed from my observation of her appearance. In reality, her etiquette was flawless; still, I thought that if she truly was angry with me, that anger would be justified.
Her master was not me, but Jeil.
After all, my beloved master had to risk his life to save someone like me.
For that reason, I needed to be even more assertive.
It was absolutely unacceptable to insinuate that his choice might have been wrong in front of his loyal subordinates.
“I heard that Jeil claimed to be alive.”
I skipped all formalities and got straight to the point.
Honestly, while I hoped for Jeil’s survival, I harbored some skepticism about how he could still be alive. But if he really was alive, then every second counted.
Even if he was alive now, there was no guarantee that he would still be so in a minute. Perhaps sensing the urgency behind my words, Bianca Serneff immediately began to explain her arrival here.
“I was ordered to protect the Helraig Duchy.”
To summarize the Duchess Serneff’s story:
Temporarily granted full authority over the Helraig Duchy to oversee a large-scale development project, she was keeping watch in case of unforeseen circumstances when she suddenly received news of the allied kingdom’s unexpected defeat in Randell.
The queen was missing. The Grand Duke of Helraig and the Grand Duke of Sahelrn, along with Duke Bentecher, had failed to return.
In disbelief, she had tried contacting Duke Perbat, who was in Randell, but the answer was the same.
“However, the blood running through me seemed to claim that the Grand Duke is still alive. Therefore, I wanted to confirm the truth directly. I thought that perhaps there was something vital that Duke Perbat, who does not share the Grand Duke’s blood, would not be able to sense, which I might perceive.”
At first, it was merely a vague intuition. No, perhaps it was merely an illusion spawned from her desire for things to be different, Bianca acknowledged willingly.
However, even if initially it was unfounded hope, the closer she got to the Luminous Kingdom, the more she felt a weak yet definite connection.
“It’s a hard sensation to describe, but I’m still feeling it clearly. Beyond there, somewhere in Lusheir, the Grand Duke is alive. Although his presence has significantly weakened, I can tell that there is something like True Blood flowing through my veins over there too.”
As she spoke, Bianca seemed to maintain her calm, but the anxiety and desperation she couldn’t suppress were evident.
She understood very well that without tangible evidence, explaining with just sensory descriptions would be difficult to convince others.
Yet, it was as I thought. If it were before, such an explanation wouldn’t have been convincing enough. However, I too had been saved in exactly the same manner.
“Plona.”
“Yes. It’s almost the same as what I felt.”
As Plona nodded, Bianca’s head turned sharply toward her.
Bianca’s gaze rapidly shifted between Plona and me, and a light of understanding began to dawn.
“If Jeil is alive, what do you think is the reason?”
At my question, the air in the meeting room, which had almost become hopeful for a moment, turned heavy once again.
Right, hoping for Jeil’s survival was not out of the question. However, the fact that Luminous was still intact could be observed simply by looking towards Lusheir.
Combining all the given information, the most ideal scenario would be that Jeil, Martini, and Stella failed to defeat Luminous but had managed to fake their deaths somehow and were now hiding somewhere in Lusheir, waiting for a chance to escape. Yet, honestly, that wasn’t very realistic. There was no way Luminous would let the enemy hide right in its own backyard.
If that were the case, there was only one absolute prerequisite that could explain the possibility of Jeil being alive.
Luminous either chose to let them live for some reason or had some additional plan for them.
“It could be a trap.”
“Or their very bodies might be the goal.”
Ravina added on to Plona’s hypothesis.
Bianca couldn’t hide the displeasure on her face and bit her lip. But at the same time, she couldn’t outright deny that she too thought that possibility was quite reasonable.
“I don’t think the former is very likely.”
After continuing to remain silent, Slein Perbat spoke for the first time.
I immediately asked for the basis of his judgment.
“What do you mean?”
“I haven’t directly met the being, but from what I’ve heard, I don’t think such a powerful entity needs to lay traps now. Even if they laid traps to lure in the allied kingdom’s forces, the gain from that effort would merely be a bother to catch us. And they said it would take time for him to fully regain his strength, right? There wouldn’t be any reason to go through the trouble of setting traps and luring in enemies when he could just wait for the absolute power to come to him.”
…That certainly sounded quite persuasive. From my point of view, having faced Luminous, he was cunning and capable of deceit, but when I thought about it objectively, he was indeed someone who took extreme precautions against his weaknesses.
He had offered up a nation he had spent centuries cultivating just to secure safety during the transfer of his consciousness and vessel.
Would someone who went to such lengths to block even the slightest variables actually bait us out with a trap at a time when he was becoming stronger day by day?
Not many things in this world could be said to be absolute certainties, but the likelihood of that seemed remarkably low.
After all, once he regained his power, it was clear he would easily overpower anyone trying to employ trickery against him, and he understood that recovering strength and adapting to a vessel were his foremost priorities.
“Then, regarding the latter… could you elaborate specifically on what you mean by their very bodies being the objective, Duke Bercheria?”
“You know that the Vampires of the Grand Duchy have never fallen into the hands of the Church, right? The Church are the ones who were even conducting research to extend their lifespans using the Progenitor’s body, and I don’t think Luminous, who personally governed the Church from the Pope’s position, was unaware of this.”
With Ravina looking slightly hesitant towards me, I nodded in agreement.
What she referred to as the “experiment subjects for the Church’s research” were exactly what concerned me. It was a considerate gesture, but I genuinely didn’t mind at all.
“Allowing an experiment that could potentially tarnish the Church’s reputation implies that it was necessary for Luminous, doesn’t it? Considering Luminous is a being that transfers its vessel, perhaps he has been searching for a long-lived vessel that could supplement his weaknesses.”
“But I heard that Luminous is a spirit of light. Is it realistically possible to take the body of a spirit of darkness?”
“That’s merely a possibility left open. Thinking about it, considering he was able to suppress even the Progenitor’s regenerative abilities, it actually isn’t entirely impossible. The Allied Kingdom needs to prepare for the worst-case scenario.”
“Such a…”
Bianca, who had been clinging to Ravina as if she didn’t want to think of such a horrifying possibility, helplessly dropped her parasol-holding hand.
Certainly, it was a future I didn’t want to imagine either. But the most intense emotion I felt right now was not despair.
“Don’t worry. Even if it is possible, it wouldn’t happen overnight. And—”
If the transfer of vessels could be done so easily, Luminous wouldn’t have caused this much commotion.
For this issue, there would likely be a significantly longer delay than imagined. Arguably, it would be quicker for Luminous, who had adapted to Jeref’s body, to annihilate us than for Jeil to become Luminous’s vessel.
Moreover, if Ravina’s speculation turned out to be true—
“Then the probability of Martini and Stella also being alive is infinitely high.”
Support me by donating at least $10, and you'll have the right to request any novel from Novelpia (excluding 19+ content) using a newly developed tool.
