Trials and Revelations

"Do you know what... Phil wants?" Milena asked.

Her husband frowned.

"She doesn't get a say in this, Milena. As considerate as I can be towards my sister-in-law, I am not that kind, and she knows what he did. She already said she'd agree with our decision, too."

"I know, but... they have a daughter as old as our own children. I just think I want the mother of his child to have a say in this, too. She already knows what he did wrong, but she will be the one to bear the worst consequences of it, with time. I... I am not considerate of him, Rayan. I just don't want their daughter to grow up with..."

"Her father as a criminal? That's a bit too late."

"... A family that killed her father,” Milena finished.

Her husband went silent. He probably hadn't thought much about their niece, but that was the truth. Ellias was guilty, but there was more to consider than that. They had already killed the real culprit behind all this, so they had to face the harsher trials from then on. Rayan sighed, brushing his hair back.

"... He's being healed while awaiting his trial," he finally muttered. "Death would be too easy on him. They are waiting for... his body to purge the drugs he was filled with, and see if he survives his wound, which he probably will..."

"Let's wait until then," Milena suggested.

"They won't be satisfied with a light punishment, Milena, we both know that. The truth about King Silvius hasn't been revealed yet, and the nobles who were impacted and lost loved ones will want a real answer, and someone to vent on."

"We should be done with lies and false truths already."

He looked at his wife. Despite how tired and how much of a wreck she was, she was awake enough, and alert. This was a serious discussion the two of them were having, under the cover of night. In this tiny room, they were just a husband and wife and their two children, but once they stepped out there, they would be the Royal Family again. The Crown Prince who had come back, victorious from the War, and the Grand Princess who had reconquered the Royal Castle. The battle had been won on both sides, but there were still some tough decisions to make. After a while, he faintly nodded.

"You're right... You want us to reveal it all?"

"There are more truths that need to be told," she muttered. "Grandpa Raelius... His siblings... So many things we thought to be true turned out to be the lies of one man. … Father had warned me once, that history books were written by those who won and lived to write them. I thought I understood what he meant before, but only now do I truly understand. It isn't... fair. The future generations deserve to know the truth, Rayan. They deserve to know, so no one gets betrayed again, and this cannot happen twice."

"... We got rid of all the Wendigos."

"We got rid of the monsters, but the nightmare will haunt us again. It's the truth. We need to reveal it, not conceal it. So people will know how we avoided the worst."

He smiled, faintly.

"... You're right. I'm sure our scholars will be happy to write books about it all."

Milena faintly smiled, imagining easily that bookworms like Briseis would be thrilled to record all these events for the future generations... She closed her eyes a bit, still feeling tired. She could feel her baby's tiny, quick heartbeat against her own. It soothed her incredibly, and Elizio was now deep asleep. Her purple eyes went to her other baby. Little Maria was frowning and making a face in her sleep, which made her chuckle. Rayan sighed, and stood up to take the baby girl into his arms. Maria barely reacted to her father's touch, but as soon as she was loved in his arms, her grimaces were gone, and the little vampire girl was deep asleep again. He stared at his daughter lovingly, scrutinizing every inch of her small face as if he didn't already know them all by heart.

"... I never thought you'd give me a love letter through a Chess Game," he smiled.

"You took it as a love letter?" She scoffed.

"You have quite the unique style. If it wasn't for the dozens of games we used to play together, I would have barely understood."

"We didn't play that many, we're just skilled. Moreover, it wasn't so complicated."

"What you asked of me was complicated."

Milena went silent. Her throat got a bit tighter, and she looked down at her baby, rather than her husband. She sighed very faintly, remembering the scene painfully.

"... That was the only way," she whispered.

"I could have gotten rid of Ellias," he muttered. "For you, I would have-"

"I know you would have," she cut him off, "but I didn't do it to spare him. I didn't have much room to think, I just knew we had to spare him this time. I didn't care about Ellias, but I refused to let Silvius win."

"If I had beheaded my brother, it would have-"

"Do you really think that was the better option?"

"That would have been better than seeing you jump from that b****y tower," he retorted angrily. "Do you have any idea what I went through, watching you fall like that?"

"Even if you had beheaded your twin, which shouldn't have been your burden, there were still half a dozen other corpses we had to be mindful of, Rayan. Either your brother had to survive this or you had to behead him, but the outcome would have been the same. Phil actually spared us the trouble of choosing."

"You knew she'd shoot him instead of me?" He asked.

"She didn't have a reason to shoot you… To be more precise, she had more reasons to shoot him than you. You've just returned, Rayan, but I saw what Philomenie went through, and I know her. I knew what she was going to do, with a g*n in her hand and that stage before her eyes. That girl is many things, but I never once saw her act like a coward."

He nodded. He had witnessed it himself four nights prior... While he didn't want to pretend he knew much about women, Rayan had to admit his sister-in-law wasn't the one he had once looked down upon.

"So... It was King Silvius," he finally muttered.

"I'm sorry," she said. "There's a lot to catch up on..."

"Well, I'm not going anywhere," he replied, leaning back on the chair he was in, his eyes going down on his little girl. "At least, my dear daughter needs my arms to sleep, so..."

Milena smiled, and softly, they began explaining what the other had missed. First, she told him all about what had happened in the Castle: the nightmare of the Wendigos hidden throughout, how the servants had unexpectedly sided with them, and the final act in the upper floors, all the way until Rayan had arrived. Then, it was his turn. He explained how he and his army had survived the battle from the North Front, the violent confrontation with the Royal Guards, his attempts to take his brother down. Ellias had continuously dodged the fight with him, his men always running to protect him, until Rayan had chased him all the way to the Castle. Once they had reached the lower floors, and caught up with the news from the men Milena had posted there, he and Rachael had agree to split up; since Milena had already cleared most of the Castle, he and a few of his best men were to proceed to the upper floors, while Rachael led the rest of their Army to stabilize the situation outside, including helping the revolt in the streets. The cannonballs fired from the Castle had dealt a great deal of damage, and Alexis' death had brought their side close to defeat, until Lucian had stepped forward to take over, and Rachael brought the reinforcements. Hearing him, Milena realized the Capital had been more badly damaged than she had thought, their people having paid the highest price for this senseless war.

"The nobles came forward as soon as it was over to try and get in our good graces," he scoffed. "Many offered the money they should have taken out much sooner to help..."

"I hope you made them pay the high price."

He grinned.

"Of course I did, my Queen. I plan to empty their pockets, vaults and chests and suck them dry until there's not a drop of gold to take."

Milena smiled, a bit excited to be reunited with her cold-blooded husband again. Surely a few nobles had to be trembling in their expensive outfits just from the Vampire Prince's return. No doubt the Royal Council seats were going to be filled and warmed up again... Those vultures were all going to be more than happy to come out and show their new leader how well they had behaved while he was gone. 

She couldn't help but feel underwhelmed a bit. After everything she had gone through in the past few days, the thought of politics seemed just pathetic and laughable, but it was their reality.

"... Don't worry, I'll take care of it," he suddenly said.

She looked at her husband again, a bit surprised, but Rayan was smiling.

"You know my favorite hobby is to terrorize wealthy and complacent old people. Just let me take over the Kingdom for a little while, I'll make sure everything is tidy and back in order when you get back to work. You only need to rest."

"You're saying that as if you're only meant to take over for a few days, my King," Milena smiled. "You do realize that job is going to take a lot longer than that?"

He nodded.

"I don't care much about the crown, but I do care about you and our children being safe. So, I'll take that damn crown and do some proper cleaning. You know, just implementing a few taxes, clearing the aftermath of the war..."

"... emptying vaults?"

"All my favorite fun stuff," he grinned. "... You know I'm serious, Milena. You earned more than a few weeks off. You will have to stay in this bed for a while… and you won't be able to walk for a while, either; that gives me more than enough time to clear the mess and prepare everything for my Queen to get the return she deserves."

Milena smiled. She didn't really care about her state, nor what she looked like. The red eyes of her husband on her hadn't changed at all, that was really all she needed to know. Rayan smiled and, mindful of the babies, leaned forward to gently kiss her lips. When he sat back, however, there was a little frown on his face.

"... What is it?"

"There's... a little something you ought to know," he admitted.

While she frowned, and before she asked, his hand grabbed something on her pillow. He lifted it up for her eyes to see, and Milena blinked, confused. It was a curl of white hair. Her hair.

"... I have white hair?" She exclaimed, shocked.

"Just a couple of locks," Rayan immediately said. "We suspect it's from the... Wendigo bite you got. The wound did heal strangely..."

"I have white hair," she repeated, gutted. "I can't believe I already have a full lock of it. I wasn't prepared to get even a single hair yet!"

"I'm a bit glad it only seems to be an aesthetic issue so far," her husband chuckled. "And you wear them beautifully, my Queen."

"Oh, stop it, I don't even want to talk about it," she pouted. "Damn Wendigos, giving me b****y white hair of all things..."

"... It might have saved your life, you know."

Milena raised her eyes to witness her brother walking in, a big smile on his face.

"Lucian," she greeted him happily.

"Hi sis. How are you feeling?"

"I've had better days... You?"

"You know me," he shrugged. "A few bruises here and there, but I'll live. Your husband's been bossing me around, it was high time you woke up."

"You look fine to me, he can keep bossing you around."

"Can't you be on my side for once?" He chuckled, taking a seat next to her bed.

They exchanged a smile, happy to be able to bicker again. Lucian's smile faded a little after a few seconds.

"... Are you sure you're alright?" He asked.

Milena nodded slightly. Lucian sighed.

"Good. You had me worried for a good minute... I'm glad you're back. Really."

He put his hand on her arm, although he was very gentle and mindful of her injuries, under the blanket. Milena smiled at him, relieved.

"How is Raphael?" She asked.

"He's fine," Lucian shrugged. "He's a bit disturbed since you're not around, but his memories are getting better and better. I left him with some of the people we had evacuated from the Manor, he's been using them to regain more and more memories. He's also been used to help find a few more spies too, to be honest, so I think he's a bit glad to be useful for something..."

"That's good, then. … Lucian?"

"Hm?"

"I'm going to... need you to take care of the Manor, for a little while. To act as the Head of the House De Crescent."

"... I figured as much," he nodded. "Don't worry, I got it. We already started cleaning up the Manor, to be honest. The servants really wanted to go home, so they got on it before I even said anything. I think everyone already knows best what they have to do, from now on."

"That's what I was telling her," said Rayan, "that she just needs to rest, and we'll take care of it all outside."

"Oh, for sure," nodded Lucian. "There's nothing very urgent out there... It's a bit depressing, to be honest, but we will get over it, eventually. We're trying to help the families as much as we can, count the dead, rebuild houses, all the fun tasks. The nobles who are found to have been crooked will pay for the repairs, and we already got many of the traitors to work as war prisoners."

"You'll hold the trials soon?" Milena asked her husband.

"We plan to," he agreed with a little nod. "We had to arrest some people before the citizens carried out justice themselves... For now, we're more focused on pulling out all the corrupted roots, and once we get them all, we'll punish everyone accordingly."

"You should have seen it, Millie," scoffed Lucian. "As soon as they heard what had happened, all those nobles ran out to denounce their neighbors. We got pages and pages from bastards ready to spill the beans about the next corrupt bastard. It will be almost too easy... once we get through all the damn paperwork."

"We'll get to it," chuckled Rayan. "It's going to be a nice cleaning... We will keep the heaviest decisions for later, when everyone's been caught and we can see just how corrupted each one was and move on."

Milena was aware that he was buying time until Ellias' trial. The demise of the previous King would be no easy task... On his chair, Lucian suddenly seemed a bit uneasy, and cleared his throat.

"Millie... Can I ask you for something?"

She raised an eyebrow, wondering what he was going to bring up this time.

"What?"

"I kind of need your blessing for something."

Milena exchanged a surprised glance with Rayan, looking as clueless as she was. She went back to Lucian, who was visibly a bit nervous.

"Lucian, what is this about?"

"I want to get married," he suddenly said. "Or, at the very least, engaged. I need your blessing... and your help, too."

Milena chuckled.

"Lucian De Crescent, your little sister just woke up from a coma and you're thinking about another lady at this time?"

"Sorry," he grimaced. "I know the moment is kind of off, but... There's this Lady you know, and I kind of promised her that I'd formally propose if we survived this, and we both did, and I think... I think it would bring a bit of joy after all that crap, you know? I want to have something to look forward to, something that's not just going to be sweeping the dust off our wrecked Manor or putting corrupted bastards behind bars. I kind of... want to focus on the next thing that's going to make me happy. I know my dear, dearest little sister is well now, and reunited with her babies and husband. I know Raphael is going to be okay, and Blanche too, and... well, I think me getting engaged would be at least one thing to look forward to in the near future."

Milena exchanged another glance with her husband. Rayan was smiling, this time, and glanced back at her, leaving her to decide. She let out a long sigh.

"You're older than me," she said. "Why do you need my agreement, to begin with?"

"Your benediction," he retorted. "And that's because the lady in question is your Lady-in-waiting, Chartiana. Come on, don't tease me and just say yes already, please."

"You know I love Chartie, but her rank is..."

"I'm the third-born son who's never going to become Duke and never wants to be anyway," Lucian rolls his eyes. "And you and hubby here can probably do something about Chartiana's rank anyway, right?"

Milena chuckled.

"I'm kidding," she said. "Of course you can. But, you have to wait until I'm properly healed, and the time for all the funerals has passed; we need to let people mourn properly first..."

"I'm an idiot, not a savage," Lucian said. "I'll make a quiet proposal first, and then we can have all the... over-the-top stuff that you girls like. I just don't want to make Chartiana wait anymore. She was amazing during that battle."

"I'm sure; she deserves you... I'm happy for you, Lucian."

"And I'm happy for you, Sis. … I'm glad you made it."

"Me too," Milena smiled, glancing back at her husband. "I'm glad we made it..."

On the other side of the bed, her brother suddenly chuckled.

“... You know, with that white hair, you really are starting to look like great-grandmother!”

“Oh my goodness Lucian, don’t you dare. Don’t. You. Dare.”