The Vampire Prince's Toxic Consort (BL)
Chapter 9 "Do You Think I'm Better Than Them?"

Dorian had left to see the King for an hour. Lucius waited in the study, flipping through the Book of Bloodlines, taking in as much information as possible. After a while, an almost invisible side door crept open.

Lucius was startled but kept quiet. His hand moved to the hilt of a silver knife he started carrying after that night in the rose garden.

A scrawny shadow moved out of the darkness. It was a girl, just turning into an adult, though much smaller for her age. She was so pale, as if she had never seen much sunlight, and her eyes looked too big for her tiny face.

Lucius could tell she was not a vampire by then. There was something skittish and evasive that could only find in human slaves. Besides, her clothes, though clean, were threadbare and tatty, and her long brown hair was too unkempt.

She let out a surprised and scared yelp as she noticed Lucius, but then she paused, “you are a human!”

Lucius answered reservedly, “I suppose.”

She scanned Lucius’s appearance as a realization dawned on her, and she pell-mell dropped to the ground on her knees, “I’m sorry, your holiness! I didn’t know you were here! I heard no sound, and I...I thought everyone had left!”

“It’s alright. Who are you?“Lucius tilted his head and inquired curiously.

“My name is Rose,” The girl answered timidly.

“Are you a...” Lucius hesitated to utter that word. But Rose understood it well, “yes, I am a house slave. My duty is to clean the rooms after all the masters left.”

Lucius stood up and walked toward her. She flinched as he got too close. A self-defense instinct against a potential punishment.

Lucius extended a hand and said softly, “no need to kneel to me.”

She stared at his hand briefly before taking it sheepishly, stealing a few glances at his face.

Lucius chuckled amusingly, “you know who I am?”

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“You mean every one of us here?”

Understanding the meaning behind the words, she quickly nodded.

“I don’t see too many slaves around here, though. Most of them are with some visiting lords.”

Rose explained, “there are about two hundred of us living here. Most of us are not allowed to show our faces in front of lords and ladies. We are...too dirty and lowbred to be seen. We do most of the cleaning and chores when no one is present.”

Two hundred humans were living in the Citadel! How come no one told him anything about it in Anthor?!

“And who is your master?”

“We are the house slaves. Everyone in the Ashdown family is our master. Including you, my lord.” She paused for a second and added, “though we report to maids and guards.”

Lucius’s gaze passed her and lingered at the secret door she came from. He came closer and looked into the darkness. It was a poorly lit tunnel, so narrow that only one slender grown-up could pass through.

“Do you all travel between different rooms in these secret tunnels?”

“Yes. It leads to our pens underground. We are not allowed to walk in the hallways in blatant sight.”

Lucius wasn’t surprised as he had heard rumors about human slaves’ living conditions in Eternia. However, he didn’t anticipate that a complete secret structure would be built for the slaves only.

“So you can go to any room you want?”

“No...there are surveillance cameras everywhere in the tunnel, and they planted tracking chips on us. If we are in the wrong place, this thing will shock us real bad.” She pointed at the red collar on her neck.

Lucius gazed into the tunnel longer, contemplating all the new information he got. But as he turned back to face the girl, a disarming sympathetic expression occupied his countenance.

“I’m sorry for bothering you with so many questions. I’m...very new to this place.”

“Oh, no. It’s not bother. Many of us are overjoyed that your holiness is here! Especially my mom. She really wants to meet you.“She smiled sheepishly, “I was born here, and I’ve never seen any human like you, your holiness....”

Lucius knew well what she meant, but he asked amiably nonetheless, “what am I like?”

“You are...exactly like I imagined.” She stared at her own bare feet, blushing.

Just then, someone’s footsteps were approaching. Rose was startled and hastily retracted into the tunnel. “I’m sorry, your holiness! I can’t be seen!“She exclaimed, panicking.

“It’s ok. Go! We can talk next time.” Lucius cringed at his own overly soft voice. But the girl seemed to buy it as she blushed even deeper.

The secret door was shut just as the study’s door opened. A servant came in and told Lucius that Dorian wouldn’t finish anytime soon and would meet him at dinner.

Lucius decided to go back to their living quarters and beguile the rest of the night there and do some research and read online about the Elders. As he traversed the halls, a group of loud nobles was approaching. The one most noticeable among them was Silvan. He wore a well-fitting riding outfit, an equestrian helmet under his left arm.

The group noticed Lucius instantly, which elicited a dash of anxiety in him.

Silvan bowed slightly in front of him and smiled graciously, “good night! It’s a delight to see you again!”

Lucius didn’t smile back. He replied sarcastically, trying not to show his tenseness, “it is indeed a God’s miracle that I am still alive and breathing.”

Everyone around them went quiet as no one expected the skittish human prey who was too scared to leave the room for half a month to talk back.

Remorse and regret tinged Silvan’s graceful features. He stepped forward and lowered his head, “I’m sorry for what my brother did that night.”

“You are sorry?” Lucius tilted his head inquisitively, “is that all? Did your brother receive any punishment?”

“Dorian had given him a memorable beat up.”

“So have I heard.” Lucius said coldly, “If my information is through, Dorian is also severely berated by the King for harming his precious youngest son.”

Silvan signed, “it’s always hard for a father to see his son get hurt. But both mother and I have made sure Archie learned his lesson.”

“How did you make sure?” Lucius scoffed, “doesn’t Eternia has laws against attempted rape and murder? Does he get a free pass because he is a prince? Or because I am a lowly human even though I am Dorian’s consort? Or is it that Eternia doesn’t have a law for such sort of things?”

The air went still. One of the nobles exclaimed, “surely you are not suggesting sending Prince Archie to jail?!”

“I am not suggesting anything. I’m merely wondering. That’s all.” Knowing that he had struck some nerves, Lucius returned a head bow and left with his guards. He had no illusion that Archie would be seriously punished for what he did. But it would at least stir up some rumors and tensions.

Within two days, the rumor that Crown Prince Consort wanted to press charges against Prince Archie spread to every corner of the Citadel.

“Why did you say that to Silvan!?“Dorian stormed into the room, seething with a cold fume.

Lucius was working on something on his laptop. He looked up from the screen and raised one side of his brows, “what did I say?”

“That Archie is above the law!”

“Isn’t he, though?”

Dorian put a hand on his forehead as if having an enormous headache, “I know he should be punished. And I also promised I will make him pay. But it has to be done in a more...circuitous way.”

“I know that. ”

“Then why did you provoke them?”

Lucius closed the laptop and leaned into the armchair calmly, “why do you worry about provoking them so much? You are the Crown Prince, and they are just princes of a concubine.”

Dorian glowered at him, “You can’t be this naive.”

“It must be hard watching the woman who usurped your mother’s position and pretty much got her killed brandishing her fortune in front of you every day, acting as if she is the queen. They must have tried many ways to get rid of you already, but somehow you thrived and gained enough favor from your father to name you his heir. Is endurance your major strategy?“Lucius said in a matter-of-fact tone but it still angered Dorian more. The light in the room once again dimmed significantly, and it was so cold that the exhaling air turned into mist.

“So you checked my wiki page and decided you’ve known my 105 years of life story?”

Lucius stood up to face him, “I’m not trying to anger you. I’m just saying you will always be their enemy, no matter what you do. No matter how much you lay low and take their shit. and your father will always favor those two sons more than you, no matter how much better you are than any of them.”

“Better? Why do you think I’m better than them?“Dorian approached Lucius formidably. His looming monstrous shadow stretched long behind him.

Lucius tried his best not to flinch, “you are the reason that the war that was destroying my country is stopped. And you have tried your best to protect me even though I am not the one you want.”

“Do you know that saying someone is nice in vampire culture is an insult?” Dorian now stood very close to him, looking down at him and baring his teeth menacingly as he grabbed Lucius’s jaw roughly, “I don’t know what mission you received from your King, but stop playing with things you do not understand. If I find out that you are trying to harm Eternia in any way, I will show you what is true horror, and what Archie did was merely child play compared to it.”

Lucius was seized by fear, petrifying like a stone. All his courage dissipated instantly, and he couldn’t even utter a word as if an invisible hand was strangling him, choking out all the air. For a moment, he thought he saw the shadow behind Dorian become giant black wings, and a demonic redness was burning in the vampire’s irises.

And he could only start to breathe after Dorian let him go. He gasped at the air and fell into the armchair.

“Don’t try to stir any trouble in this court ever again,” Dorian snarled at him before he left.

Lucius reminded on the chair for a long while. The overwhelming rush of fear ebbed when Dorian exited the room, but something else lingered. Something bitter and damp that tasted like sadness.

Many moments of the past month flashed across his mind. The erotic sensation when Dorian’s mouth touched his neck as he bit him. The strength of his arms when he held him. The deep and resonating voice as he recounted the histories of the aristocratic families. The rich, musky smell as he leaned close to point at something in the book.

He almost liked him.

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