"...You can't," Ellias gasped, shaking his head. "Milena, do you even realize what those people are capable of doing!"

"You think I don't know?" Shouted Milena. "How could I possibly not know what they can do? They burned my house and killed my great-grandmother! They just burned my friends' house and their bodies with it! They shot me and tried to kill my children! They made my brother like this, they pushed Valentin and hundreds of other vampire heirs to their deaths! They are murdering more of our troops as we speak!"

She suddenly walked up to him, a purple fire burning in her eyes.

"You knew," she hissed. "You've known for so long, Ellias, that those people were behind the Wendigos. You were with Rayan and I when we began to unfold all this, and you know how horrible those creatures were. And yet, as soon as you got involved with them, you suddenly betrayed everything you believed in to cower behind those greedy bastards!"

"You don't know what happened!" He shouted. "I was at my wits' end! Everyone was cornering me, I was losing everyone to Rayan! He left me no choice, I... I had little allies and they were the only ones who believed in me! I had no idea they were creating Wendigos like this and using them for their plots, I-"

"They killed your own mother!"

He suddenly froze, staring at her as if the truth had only just hit him. Milena though, wasn't done with him, as she kept moving forward, her index pointed at him with fury.

"For God's sake, Ellias! They killed your own mother and you still let them be, all this time!"

"....No. That isn't what happened. ...Rayan killed Mother. You were there."

"Stop telling yourself the tales you only want to hear! Even you are not that foolish, Ellias, you know exactly what happened! What your brother killed was nothing but the monster the Church created. Your mother was betrayed and condemned by those people!"

"The Oracle was the one who poisoned my mother!"

"Who do you think f****d her to! Lyriana was involved up to her neck with the Church, and the second they got fed up with the Boreal, they got rid of her! They didn't give two shits about murdering our Queen, your own mother, and you still found ways to ally yourself with them! Despite everything!"

"I had no choice! Mother wanted me to become King, I did everything as she taught me!"

"...That's enough, Ellias. I'm tired of your excuses, always. You were never able to own up to your mistakes, and you never will. You leave others to clean up the b****y mess and you still find ways to point your finger at them... That's enough. I've had enough of you. Leave my residence immediately. Leave the De Crescent Domain and don't you dare come back here. ...The next time you show up on our turf, I'll consider it trespassing."

"...Milena, you can't be serious?"

"Oh, I'm very serious, and even way past that."

Ellias remained silent for a few seconds, staring at her as if waiting for her to change her mind. Milena remained still, though, without a hint of doubt in her eyes. He sighed, and stepped back.

"...Then you leave me no choice."

He turned around, his cape flying behind him, and left without a word. Milena stood there, arms crossed, watching him leave with a sullen expression. He had come with only two guards, which was showing how desperate he was... But she was done being lenient with him, and being lenient with her enemies at all. They had taken far too many lives already. Milena had nothing against bloodshed when necessary, but she also knew the best revenges were taken cold and slow. Moreover, they had to corner those people against a wall, if they wanted to truly figure out the real culprits. She already had names. Those who had attended that fateful Royal Council. The Head Priest himself.

Milena sighed, waiting a long while in the Entrance Hall. She was lost in her thoughts, until Digory approached, offering her the cup of warm blood she had asked Olivia for.

"...Thank you Digory."

"My pleasure, My Lady. It is unfortunate your night started like this."

"I expected him to come, but... I can't help but think this was only a pathetic attempt to stop me."

"It did sound to me like he was threatening my Lady even more. I guess my Lady's plan is working."

"I hope so too..."

Milena put the cup to her lips, thinking some more. If things went according to her plan,? there would be a few fights anyway. Their enemies had never been ones to play upfront, so they would try once again to get rid of the nuisance by underhanded means. She had already warned her allies to stay safe, and was ready for a fight any time herself. In fact, she almost hoped the cumulation of all this would come soon. She felt like the tension was only building up, and the explosion would be proportionally dramatic.

Her cup finally empty, she left it on the silver tray Digory had been holding all this time for her.

"...Shall I ask Father to give you a raise?" She chuckled.

"I'm afraid my salary going any higher will be considered quite indecent for a man of my status, my Lady," he replied with a wry smile. "But I appreciate the thought."

Milena smiled, and turned around, feeling a bit better. To her surprise, Blanche wasn't the only one in the stairs. Staring down at her from the highest step was her Father himself. Her smile dropped, from the anger on his face. Judging by his expression, he had probably heard most of that argument with the King... Milena sighed, running her fingers through her hair. She had thought he was still in bed... She had hoped he wouldn't be aware of this.

"You shouldn't have provoked him like that," he said.

Milena began climbing up the stairs to him anyway.

"I didn't provoke him, Father, I only said some old truths he couldn't bear to hear..."

"You just painted a target on your back."

"When wasn't there one? It's alright. I'll-"

"Milena, it's not alright."

She stopped, finally facing him. Her father was angry, but she could tell his anger was mostly fueled by worry. He sighed. He had visibly just gotten out of bed and came here straight away... Did the servants notify him of the King's visit? Or did he see the carriage from his bedroom, too?

"I support you for becoming the head of the Vampire Faction, but you have to realize, the Duke De Nova is..."

"Just using me. I know, Father. As soon as something happens to me, the Vampires will jump on the occasion to start the war. But what else was I supposed to do? I can't keep pushing back a ticking bomb and leaving more and more ground for our enemies to win. This is a race against time. The more I can keep them from attacking the vampires, the more bloodshed we can avoid until Rayan comes back. He's the one with the troops. All I have here is a mob of angry vampires, scared citizens and the Church that's just trying to crush them all. What else can I do? I need to keep all this world in a half-decent balance until..."

Milena stopped talking. In balance, she had said.

She bit her lip, a bit annoyed, like every time a word of that fatal, cursed prophecy came out. Every time she tried to forget it, it was as if it was just waiting for the right occasion to come around... It not only reminded her of the prophecy hovering over her head, but about the Oracle's death. There was one less White One, but her presence was still heavily felt around.

"...Anyway," she sighed. "I'm just trying to keep all the dangers at bay. I know you want to keep me safe, but... This won't go on forever without a fight, Father. The Church will not lie in wait until Rayan comes back. We've already shown we're ready to fight back, so they will bite back before we get to those who do not want to get caught."

"So you're just waiting for them to murder you, as an excuse to start the war?" Anton angrily groaned.

"I'm not crazy about the idea," grimaced his daughter. "But I am finally starting to understand what a real leader is all about. I do not need to tell the vampires what to do; I can predict it. If something happens to me, sure, they will riot, and start a fight against the obvious enemy. Ellias, the Royal Guards, and his allies, including the Church. This is the kind of fight that our real enemy probably doesn't fear much. After all, they have been pulling the strings from the shadows since the beginning, and they won't be involved directly in the fight. Sure, they will try and support Ellias, but they don't care for the casualties. No, the real fight lies elsewhere."

"...With the remedy."

Milena nodded, and slowly walked up to the large window that dominated the entrance hall of their house. The landscape was nothing but trees, for miles and miles to no end. The snow gently falling against the night sky was offering a beautiful, living piece of art. She could have watched that kind of scene forever, to dive into that peaceful silence and forget about all her troubles from the rest of the world.

"...I'm hoping Euphoria is already trying to keep herself safe, and finalize that remedy. The sisters were so close. If we finalize this, and bring it to Rayan, we will have almost won. My husband will finally come back, with the army, and we will get rid of the traitors for good."

"Will you be ready to kill the King?"

His question shocked Milena more than she would have thought. Would she really be able to kill Ellias? The answer came to her, surprisingly clear. No, she didn't want to. It was a strange feeling. He had done so many hateful things, wronged so many people for his own sake, yet there was a part of her that still felt... pity for him. Milena was almost mad at herself for that strange sentimentalism. Her heart wasn't listening to her rational mind, and there was this conflict inside. Perhaps Ellias could be saved, somehow. He was unable to take his responsibilities before, but from there on, what if he finally faced them, and redeemed himself? What if he was given the choice? Would he keep going down the wrong path, or finally make the right one, even if it was the hardest.

She sighed, and shook her head, annoyed. There was no way to know, and no time to lose on endless questions. That wasn't her problem. After all, perhaps Rayan himself would deal with his twin when he came back...

"...Shouldn't you have dinner, Father?" Milena finally muttered, indicating she was done with that conversation.

Her Father hesitated. He obviously wasn't happy with her avoiding the question, but he didn't want to push his daughter either. He eventually sighed and turned around, leaving the corridor with an angry step. Milena watched him go, her arms crossed and her eyes following her Father's tall figure until he disappeared.

"...Please don't blame the Master, my Lady," said Digory, coming up next to her. "After what happened to the young masters, he's most worried about you. If anything happens to you, my Lady, I fear for the De Crescent Household..."

"I know," sighed Milena. "Don't worry. I'm willing to take risks, but I am not foolish."

She finally uncrossed her arms, sighing and walked in the opposite direction her father had taken, to her office. She had confined herself into the Manor for the past few days, and even for her, that place was starting to be dull and boring. Digory followed her into the office, which the maids already had prepared for another long night of work. Milena might have been sulking to the outside world, she still had to keep her business going. The fiasco of her Banquet hadn't weakened her upcoming blood bar business as much as she had thought, luckily. The sales were already high enough, and the list of humans requesting to donate their blood was also getting longer every day, which was a relief. Milena had feared the biggest supply would come from the humans refusing to donate their blood but, as expected, the money reward was more than appealing in those difficult times. It was a big relief indeed. She had invested a lot of her personal fortune for this project, and now, the vampires were starting to buy those blood bars, promising a bright future for her business. Once again, the current situation was so that vampires were now hoping to show their good will towards humans by buying blood bars instead of sucking directly from their neck, a practice that was still scaring some, after the whole Wendigo ordeal. Milena could endure the paperwork, as long as she knew everything was going well. At this rate, she would start to reap the benefits in just a matter of weeks.

Like usual lately, she lived during the night, to fit her father's schedule. Due to the tense situation with the Church, Eugenie was also doing her best to help save the smaller, innocent churches taken in-between the two powers. Milena suspected her sister-in-law was also volunteering a lot to keep herself busy and not think too much about the children. The House De Crescent was indeed more silent than ever, without any of the children around.

Whenever she stopped writing, Milena could feel the absence of her own children. Every single day, she spent up to an hour completely still, absorbed in her thoughts about her twins. She was torn between believing her brother had put them to safety, and not having any news. The Oracle's words hadn't been enough to reassure her. Were they really with their dad? She sure hoped so. Even in the middle of an army, she thought they perhaps would be safer than here, in the Kingdom where half of the nobles wanted the pair dead. She could only hope Lucian had made the trip safely, if it was true. Her brother had an impressive history of alluding the toughest situations since he was young, and sure, a rider alone could probably take the long way around the Emerald Forest, stopping by the most secluded villages until the place where the forest and the mountains met, and then go back down, heading south-west to rally the army... She shuddered each time she imagined it. Even for someone who knew the maps of Solaris by heart, it was a perilous journey. There was no actual road between the edge of the forest, nothing but the rocky beginning of the mountains. It was impossible for any convoy to get through, only a good rider alone could make the trip, and finish by climbing up and down the hills. Milena closed her fists, worried. No, according to the Oracle, Lucian and her babies had made it to Rayan. It was a dangerous journey, especially for a man carrying two babies, but Lucian had made it. If they were in the Camp, they ought to be safe. Rayan would never let anything happen to their babies. Plus, thanks to the policies that had been recently re-evaluated for the sake of the female soldiers, there were even supplies for newborns, at least enough to last for a few weeks... She had never thought her own children would be the one to benefit from it, though.

"My Lady?"

She lifted her head from her desk, recognizing Olivia's voice. Her maid was bringing in more tea, followed by Digory, who bowed politely.

"I'm sorry to disturb you while you work, my Lady, but you have a visitor."

Milena frowned, her fingers clenching around her quill. Another visitor tonight? Again?

"Be assured, my Lady," smiled Digory,? guessing her thoughts. "This is a friendly visit, this time. Your friend Lady De Camellia is here. She said she came on a non-urgent business, but she insists on speaking with you alone. We have already installed her into the guest tea room, of course."

"Bella?" Muttered Milena.

Her friend was the only one to visit her these days. Since the current ruckus Milena was responsible for, most of her Ladies-in-waiting were extremely busy enforcing it in their own businesses or the ones they were responsible for. She received daily reports from all of them, but they knew they shouldn't visit the Manor without a very good reason. That included Bella too, of course.

She frowned, and let Olivia help her prepare quickly. Milena had taken a habit of starting to work in her bathrobe until her hair was completely naturally dry and she could change into a proper outfit, these days. She was enjoying the stay-at-home life with small pleasures. Once finally ready, she followed Digory downstairs, intrigued.

Bella was there indeed, and from her expression, bearing good news too. The two women quickly hugged each other, before sitting down, while all the servants cleared the room, leaving them alone except for Blanche.

"Is everything alright?" Milena asked, frowning.

"Yes," nodded Bella with a bright smile. "I came as soon as I could to give you the news, but I had to be careful not to raise suspicions..."

"Bella, what is it?"

"It's Euphoria," smiled her friend. "We finally found her!"