Back to the Castle

"For Heaven's sake," Milena sighed. "Please stop touching my dress every minute, Yasina, I'm already on edge enough as it is!"

"I just want to make sure... There's another fold here..."

Milena rolled her eyes, and seated opposite to her in the carriage, Chartiana hid a smile behind her gloved hand too. In the end, those were the two Ladies-in-waiting that were coming with her to the celebration; Tiphania wasn't kidding when she had mentioned all of them would discuss this together. In fact, almost all of Milena's ladies-in-waiting would be present, with Briseis, Prudence, and Tiphania to join her there. Yasina had made the trip to the De Crescent Manor in the evening to help out with Milena's dress, while Chartiana had come for an afternoon tea before they left for the celebration. No one in the De Crescent Manor ignored that the young De Pristin heiress was almost engaged to Lucian already, and they treated her like a most respected guest, or a family friend, any time she came over, although the official reason was the Manor's renovations. Milena would have been happy to have her friend Chartiana as her other sister-in-law. The young Vampire Marquess was very gentle, kind-hearted and hard-working. She wasn't too aware of politics, but she loved what she and her family were good at, which was already a virtue in those times. 

Next to Chartiana, Yasina, freshly betrothed too, had recently changed her haircut to be a bit more woman-like, which made Milena slowly realize how they had changed over the years. From young ladies, they had all grown into charming young women ready to be married, betrothed or even have children... Milena smiled, which took her friends by surprise. Yasina jumped back on her seat, letting go of the skirt's end.

"What is it? Did some of my hair come undone?" Asked Yasina, immediately checking in her little mirror.

"No, I was simply remembering old times. I can't believe most of my friends have fiancés now..."

"Speak for yourself!" Scoffed Yasina, blunt as always. "You're the one who went ahead and got married first..."

"I'm a Duchess... It was only expected I would marry early."

"If you say so. Everyone noticed how quickly you and His Highness jumped into marriage, you know! The headlines said it was one of the shortest engagement periods in history!"

Milena chuckled, but she also blushed a little; She hadn't thought much about it back then, but it was true she and Rayan had been in quite a hurry, and not just for political reasons. She didn't regret it, though. Even without the race for the throne implied, she knew Rayan and her would have been together early regardless. She had fallen for the Vampire Prince scaringly quickly once he had resolved to seduce her... 

Milena sighed a bit at the thought of her husband, and glanced outside. They were crossing the Capital, headed towards the Castle with several De Crescent Knights guarding their carriage. Each time going out felt more and more like a risky adventure nowadays. Even now, when it was barely dusk, the streets were almost empty, and the few townsfolk they crossed paths with were sending dubious stares at their car. Behind the curtain, Chartiana was more reserved than usual, fidgeting with her hands on her lap.

"Chartiana, if you make wrinkles on your dress..." Yasina frowned, noticing how she unconsciously kept grabbing her skirt.

"S-sorry, I'll be more careful. I'm just a bit worried... You know, my Father was a bit against me going to the Castle tonight. We heard things are really tense about the vampires, and since more witnesses came forward accusing vampires, it's been really hard to move around."

"It will be alright," sighed Milena.

She glanced outside, seeing the tall figure of her brother on his horse. Raphael was wearing a large cloak with the De Crescent insignia covering most of his body, but she could easily recognize her brother's usual stiff posture. He had insisted on taking his horse instead of riding in the carriage in case something happened. Seeing him like this naturally riding among their Knights, few people would have been able to recognize the second son of the Duke De Crescent. Milena envied him a little for being able to ride his horse, as she missed Black Bella. Her body wasn't going to allow any riding anytime soon though...

"I bet our little Chartie would have felt a whole lot better with a certain young knight by her side," chuckled Yasina, teasing their friend.

"N-no!" Chartiana protested. "I miss him a little bit, but I know his heart is with his duty right now..."

"Not all of his heart, from what I've heard!"

Milena smiled, a bit thankful for Yasina's ability to tease their friend. Chartiana was the one vampire who was almost able to blush as much as a human, her cheeks covered with a dash of pink. She sighed, pushing her hair back.

"I'll happily wait for his return, now that we know it won't be too long! Right, Lady Milena?"

"I'm hoping so," nodded Milena.

They hadn't heard anything since Lucian's brief letter, but Milena felt a bit more torn apart each hour that passed. If Lucian was right and the first Battalions were on their way home already, Alexis and Declan wouldn't be far. Just the time for them to cross the Emerald Forest... If nothing held them back. Sometimes, Milena wished she had Blanche's ability. She would have flown all the way to that forest and seen what was going on there. However, even now she was reluctant to part with her best friend, even more, to send her ahead of danger. Her pregnancy had also made them more inseparable than even, Blanche wouldn't leave her side even for a second. Even now, the large silver-white wolf was taking up all the space next to her, lying down but very much awake, her ears twitching at each sound. Just like the knights, Blanche was on the lookout for threats. She didn't have the insight humans did about what was going on in the Capital, but she had escorted Milena there enough times to know something was unusual. 

Milena glanced outside again, now that they had reached the heart of the Capital. Eugenie had told the truth. Most shops were already closed, and some doors even had new locks or basic barricades. Not only that, but she could feel some stares coming from behind the drawn curtains. Their carriage was eyed and followed for all the time they took to cross the main street, and it was an unprecedented feeling. Milena had never been so nervous simply riding in a carriage to go to the Castle. There was definitely a heavy tension in the air, so heavy it felt like a scary storm was about to begin.

"...Let's hurry," she muttered.

The Knights and the carriage quickly picked up the pace, but they had to slow down again before long. There was a bit of a queue to get into the Castle, which wasn't unusual in those times, but it did feel like it was longer than before. Milena asked her brother about it, and Raphael took his horse next to the window.

"It looks like the Royal Guards are inspecting each carriage," her brother muttered, visibly trying to see ahead. "They are checking the guests' identities."

"This is ridiculous!" Milena protested. "The Castle has always been open to anyone!"

"Not anymore, by the looks of it... They are having everyone come through the main door and their carriages leave. What the hell is that now..."

Milena was really shocked about how things had gotten. Ellias had visibly reinforced the Castle's security drastically, and in her eyes, it was the dumbest thing to do. There had been no attack towards any of the nobles, and instead, only commoners were attacked on the daily. While most vampire nobles were staying at home to try and prevent being caught at the wrong time and place, now the King was acting as if even he was in utmost danger! This was bound to distillate fear towards the people for sure. Not only that, but checking each carriage was sending a message to all the nobles, an obvious lack of trust by derogating to a decades-long tradition. The Royal Family had remained strong thanks to the respect they gathered from all noble houses. However, that respect had to go both ways. Knowing the nobles, this was bound to upset more than one of them, and indeed, a few minutes later, Raphael reported that two carriages had left the queue and gone back in protest. Milena sighed, crossing her arms.

"He's as foolish as ever... I really hope he won't make any mistakes tonight."

"Even if he does, my Lady, no one will hold you accountable for it," said Chartiana. "Most nobles know your position is very different from the King or the Queen's! I'm even sure a lot of them are coming out of respect for you, not for his Majesty!"

"That's true," nodded Yasina. "I've had several customers ask me if you'd be present tonight. A lot of them were reluctant to go, with everything going on, but many nobles felt more at ease knowing you'd be there. I can understand them, to be honest. I have never seen so many noble houses at odds with each other lately. My brother said the last Royal Councils were absolutely unsightly. We will be lucky if there is no dramatic scene tonight!"

Milena scoffed. 

She wouldn't admit it out loud, but she hoped a bit for a dramatic scene. Being back to the Royal Castle after staying away for so long had a bitter taste, and she felt like she was out of practice to handle all that political mess...

Finally, their carriage moved forward and arrived at the gate. As soon as they recognized the insignia and guessed who was inside, though, the Royal Guards made the search as quick and respectful as possible. Judging from how tired they looked, the nobles before them had already given them a hard time. 

Once they were cleared to go, Raphael escorted his sister out of the carriage, and into the hall. Although it wasn't completely dark yet, it was freezing outside, and Milena could understand the nobles upset for waiting, considering most carriages would be cold by the time they got there, even with the thickest blankets inside. Yasina was shivering a bit when they all stepped into the entrance hall, but luckily, her fiancé appeared to run to her and hug her. While they quickly made the polite greetings, Milena quickly left Yasina to her future husband, and moved along with Raphael and Chartiana to go and greet more people still in the entrance hall.

Not much had changed in the Castle while she was gone, which meant Philomenie had done a decent job by herself. The Castle was so large that, even after three centuries of living there, the Royal Family still had to foresee everything to make sure nothing was amiss, especially when receiving a large number of guests. Tonight, nothing was out of place, and Milena even suspected they had hired more servants than before to keep up. She realized how strangely attached she had gotten to this Castle's management while she noted all the flower arrangements that had been chosen, the new carpet, and the polished floors. There wasn't much time to admire, though; because the entrance hall had no chimney, all the guests were trying to get the introductions over with to move to the main Celebration Hall, which was already crowded. This time, the room chosen was on the ground floor, which made Milena frown once again. Better suited for this event would have been one of the ballrooms upstairs, but this one was arranged as if to hold a very large meeting, not a celebration. Not only that, but the estrade for the Royal Family had been installed in clear sight, and the thrones were brand new as well.

"This is the first time I've seen a man trying to compensate for his lack of dominance with velvet furniture," Chuckled Tiphania, who was walking right behind Milena.

While Raphael sniggered, Milena sighed. Their little group was moving around the banquet hall and politely greeting one guest after another, most of them almost running to greet the Grand Princess with large smiles and a lot of kind words to her, so much Raphael or Tiphania had to step in a couple of times to allow Milena to move along.

"He can do all the shopping he wants if that satisfies his dark hole of an ego... Where is Prue?"

"She will be there in a minute, I think I saw her discussing with one of the Royal Butlers a second ago..."

"One of the butlers?" Frowned Milena.

"Oh, there she goes."

Coming from across the room, Prudence quickly walked up to them in a large and puffy blue dress full of sequins, looking a bit out of breath. Her hair was nicely put up, but she was moving so fast her curls were getting a bit undone. As soon as she saw her, Yasina rushed towards their group from another direction, the two of them reaching Milena at the same time.

"Lady De Hyacinth," protested Yasina. "Do you know how long it took to make that masterpiece you're wearing? I promised to give you a more feminine design, so don't you dare sweat in my beautiful piece of work! Not even a drop!"

"S-sorry," muttered Prudence, stepping aside with an apologetic expression. "There was a bit of an emergency, so I just wanted to confirm and let my Lady know as fast as possible."

"What is it, Prue? Everything alright?" Milena asked, a bit worried.

Since Prudence had been working as her intermediary in the Royal Castle all this time, the young Lady was a bit her eyes and ears, but she was also a potential target for whoever wanted to weaken Milena's power. Luckily, Prudence knew how to make herself quiet yet efficient. She had been working hard to cover for Milena all this time, while staying in the shadows and out of reach of her enemies. In fact, she even worked often in the Royal Archives with Briseis, so she'd be alone and not where people might expect the Grand Princess' proxy to be. She took a deep breath, trying to calm down a bit.

"I just heard from the maids upstairs, so I wanted to confirm before coming here. The Queen won't attend."

"What?"

All of them were shocked, but none more so than Milena. She had been anticipating seeing Philomenie again, and she was even more worried to hear her sister-in-law wouldn't make an appearance.

"How come?"

"Well, I just asked the Butler the official reason, and they are going to pretend she didn't feel well. But the maids from the third floor said she had a big argument with the King two hours earlier. The maids didn't know anything else since it was behind closed doors, but apparently, it was so loud several of them overheard it. The Queen's personal assistants even had her all ready for tonight already, but she won't attend. They say she hasn't gone out of her apartments since then."

Milena was disturbed by the news. What had happened that Philomenie and Ellias would fight over so hard? She turned to Raphael and Tiphania, but the two of them shrugged, completely at a loss as well.

"I need to know what happened," Milena muttered. "If anything happened to Philomenie..."

"Don't we know one of the maids that we can ask?" Frowned Tiphania. "One of her ladies-in-waiting?"

"None are on our side, and I don't believe any of Philomenie's ladies-in-waiting would be willing to speak anyway..."

Milena still had bitter memories about Philomenie's friends she'd rather not bring up. Moreover, she knew Philomenie herself had grown more distant with them since her crowning. A lot were only helping her on the surface, happily attending the Queen's public events, but not many had shown up to help her in her daily tasks and duties. If something had happened with Ellias just two hours prior, it was unlikely any of them would know... Suddenly, Milena had an idea.

"The Saint. He'll probably attend tonight, even without Philomenie."

"What if he stays by her side?" Frowned Raphael.

It was another plausible outcome. Milena put her hand in her cloak's pocket and turned around, careful not to be seen by anyone.

"Blanche, find the Saint for me please."

The little silver mouse stuck her tongue out, but jumped down anyway, taking the appearance of a gracious silver-white cat, as she usually did inside the Castle. Milena knew her friend would be careful enough, and she only needed to find the Saint quickly.

"Millie, aren't you going to take off your coat? You should be warm enough by now..." Remarked Raphael with a frown.

Yasina put on a bright smile, and almost jumped behind Milena to grab her cloak and help her reveal her gorgeous, unique attire. Immediately, without any sound or any sort of announcement made, the Grand Princess gathered all sights to her with her unique, daring dress. 

Her dress was unlike anything the Kingdom had seen before. In fact, it was a piece to be remembered in the history of fashion for decades to come. Unlike most dresses made for pregnant women that tried to hide the baby bump with puffy skirts and dozens of layers, Milena's dress was completely showing off her protruding belly. Yet, the Grand Princess was devilishly sexy for a mother-to-be. The dress was made of red velvet fabric, in one, thick layer that embraced each of her curves perfectly. Her cleavage was enhanced by her heart-shaped bodice and the multitude of thin straps covered in small rubies. The dress itself had many small red gems embroidered at the end of it, at the seams, and in round arabesques on the skirt. It was very long on purpose to hide that Milena was wearing flat shoes instead of heels, but her hair had been put up in a half-ponytail that made her seem taller anyway, held by another ruby-serted tiara. The look was complete with a beautiful white fur shawl, adding a bit of innocence to her look. 

In just one instant, Milena had captured many hearts all over again, and put to shame all those who had ridiculed her pregnancy. She was more beautiful than ever, and so visibly pregnant it was an ode to all future mothers.

"Oh, sis..." Chuckled Raphael. "You're never done breaking hearts, are you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about..."

Although she had said that, Milena had a faint smirk on. She only wished her husband had been here to see it as well...

"My Ladies, My Lord, His Majesty Ellias the First will now make his entrance!"