Chapter 153: Munin

The student didn't move.

Suddenly, staying in the classroom no longer seemed like such a bad idea. His instincts told him he definitely didn't want to miss whatever was about to happen. So he quietly slipped into a corner, ready to enjoy the show.

A few students, pressed for time, left with obvious reluctance; a luxurious car was already waiting for them outside the Academy. The rest shared their classmate's opinion—he was only missing a bucket of popcorn.

"My uncle!" Argy exclaimed with a mischievous grin, clapping the professor on the shoulder beneath the class's astonished stares. "I'm borrowing my Blanche for the night!"

"What?! Since when?! And what do you mean, 'your' Blanche?!" Eva protested, while her father stood strangely speechless, his lips slightly parted.

Blanche planted a kiss on her best friend's cheek. Eva appreciated it for exactly one second before watching, utterly dumbfounded, as Blanche grabbed her bag... and the arm of the most platinum-haired man she had ever seen.

"Dad!" she cried, unable to believe her eyes.

The man narrowed his eyes before saying flatly,

"I'll call you later. You'd better answer."

She nodded, waved goodbye to her friends, and departed in distinguished company. Just before stepping through the doorway, she caught the remark that made her laugh again.

A bitter laugh, this time.

"She's so lucky—her boyfriend is gorgeous!" Olivia blurted. "You never stood a chance, man!"

"She would've told me if she was dating Eva's cousin!" Arthur protested. "She would've told us... right?" he added, turning to Roberto.

Roberto wisely chose to remain silent.

Meanwhile, someone else muttered under her breath,

"He's not my cousin... I don't have any cousins, and I don't want any."

The comment earned her a thoroughly bewildered look from her father.

When she eventually learned the truth...

He really wouldn't want to be in his own shoes.

How exactly was he supposed to tell his adoptive daughter that she also had an adoptive older brother?

Through the slightly tinted window, the winter landscape drifted by with an almost dreamlike gentleness. A fresh blanket of snow covered the lawns, stone walls, and bare branches, muting every color beneath a luminous white.

The sky, a seamless pearl gray, cast a pale light that made the frost clinging to hedges and rooftops sparkle. Every so often, a few lazy snowflakes splashed against the glass before the car's motion swept them away, while faint ribbons of condensation curled along the edges of the windows, deepening the feeling of warmth and quiet inside the cabin.

Inside the car, it was Munin, perched on Argy's shoulder, who ensured there was no shortage of conversation.

Why was he here?

Her son simply claimed he had been bored. Judging by the imposing raven—his plumage a magnificent, glossy black—sleeping with his head tucked beneath one wing, that seemed difficult to believe.

A god asleep...

Yet still listening.

Blanche didn't know this god particularly well, but since he served Odin and seemed rather fond of his Player, she decided she had nothing to fear.

She was right.

Mother and son, seated together in the back, chatted about the Otherworld while Kysten drove.

It was his everyday job, as Prince Benjamin's personal bodyguard: driving the young prince to university, taking him shopping, accompanying him to visit friends, or simply bringing him home.

After comparing notes about their respective missions—or rather, Argy's, since Blanche had revealed nothing about her own—she turned her curiosity toward the elf vampire, who seemed distinctly unwilling to discuss the Viking village.

"So," she asked, "what do you do besides babysitting Argy?"

Kysten burst out laughing, while his prince let out a thoroughly scandalized,

"Mooom!"

The title clearly did not appeal to him.

"I'm a lieutenant," Kysten explained. "I oversee certain operations and handle security for the royal compound. Among other things."

"Operations?"

"Inter-portal expeditions," Argy clarified.

"What?!"

She knew Epsilon possessed four portals, each leading to another world, but she had never realized King Sebastian actually authorized travel through them.

Kysten sighed and glanced at Argy, who merely shrugged.

"She's my mom. And you know she'll keep the secret."

After studying Blanche for a moment, Kysten finally decided to share one of the magical world's greatest secrets.

"Our people regularly travel to the other worlds. To avoid depleting our own food reserves—or attracting unwanted attention—we obtain supplies there instead."

"Where blood-drinkers are already known," Argy added bitterly.

Blanche frowned.

Then a far more pressing thought struck her.

"But... you never travel north, do you?"

The elf grimaced.

"Players can never pass through a portal leading to the Otherworld. They would exist twice on the same plane. That's forbidden."

Munin's shrill voice suddenly echoed painfully inside her mind.

"Fortunately," Kysten continued, "I have an excellent excuse for refusing those assignments. And no—the journey north is far too long, and food is scarce there anyway. Sebastian limits our operations to the Eastern Continent and the Isle of the Dark Elves."

"What excuse?"

"He still has family among the Wood Elves," Argy explained. "They don't exactly approve of his new... condition. It's hell."

A sensitive subject.

Kysten's jaw tightened.

"Elves are immortal. My family will always be there... as long as they survive. I definitely got the short end of the deal. The only advantage to becoming a vampire was one I already had."

Blanche laid a sympathetic hand over his arm.

"At least you've gained a new family."

He covered her hand with his own and smiled at her through the rearview mirror.

"Yes."

"A much better one."

A sudden urge to help him welled up inside her. Biting back the words that would have betrayed Ash's secret, she silently promised herself she would find a way to reunite them.

No matter what it took.

They arrived at the North Tower.

Kysten registered his access to the underground parking garage, and Blanche thanked him with a kiss on the cheek.

He escorted mother and son all the way to the top floor before taking his leave. The royal penthouse required no protection—the entire floor was effectively a bunker.

Finally alone, Blanche found herself itching to interrogate her son.

What exactly did he have against vampires?

Had she really done the right thing by leaving him with Sebastian?

And why had she done that... instead of entrusting him to Kiyan?