Chapter 122 - Dhampir Knight

The next morning, their alarm clock rang at exactly half past two in the morning, and after a few seconds, a collective groan emerged from different parts of the room. Even for such an early bird as Theora, this was a bit rough. It was probably worse for those who had drunk a fair share with the De Boreal knights at dinner the previous night, making Theora glad she had decided not to give in on the first day. She had never been good at holding her alcohol, and she didn't want to make a fool of herself on the first evening. Seeing how Keffen kept groaning as they got up, she proverbially patted herself on the back for making the right call. Quietly, to not wake up their neighbors next door, they all quickly got dressed, with many stretches and yawns.

"What about breakfast?" Theora yawned. "The Military Hall's kitchen opens much later, no?"

"We can eat at House De Boreal," Keffen said. "I asked yesterday; they said the kitchens keep food available at all times for knights and the staff."

"Thank god," Themid sighed.

They left their bedroom and met downstairs with the rest of the morning shift takers, Red and a Fog-rank named Ricki. Theora somewhat guessed that Ricki, who was a Cloud and therefore should have had the first pick for the shifts, had been tasked with supervising them while Darim would oversee one of the other shifts and leave the last one to another Fog-rank trainee.

Their trip to the De Boreal residence was relatively quiet, except for a few yawns. Theora was glad they hadn't gotten back to the Military Hall late and all went straight to bed, because this was going to be a long day. They stuck to well-lit main streets to get there, and Theora, who had seen many of these streets at dawn, found them quite different with the dark but starry night sky above and no early risers. Instead, they crossed paths with a few drunk or passed-out lads outside of taverns and a pair of Lunaris Knights who gave them a nod before continuing what had to be some night watch. When they finally reached the residence, however, the lamps were lit up at the main entrance, which was guarded by a pair of knights who greeted them quietly, and another pair welcomed them at the knight's quarters.

"Morning," a female knight with gorgeous auburn curls in a high ponytail greeted them with a grin. "I'm Yerena, I'm the Knight Captain on duty for the night. You guys are on time, even a tad early! Ready for the first day?"

They replied with half-enthusiastic responses. Red noted their names and arrival time on some paperwork, and they were led to grab some green jackets as promised, pick a sword after weighing it, sign paperwork about the rental, and had been told twice to return them before they left their shift. Finally, they were let into the kitchens, where, much to everyone's relief, large baskets of freshly baked pastries were waiting for them, along with some toast and jams, butter, ham, and boiled eggs.

"There's only a few of us during the night," a cook with an impressive mustache told them. "But never hesitate to come down if you're hungry!"

"How come the kitchens are open even during the night?" Keffen asked with his mouth half-full.

"There are always mouths to feed!" The cook laughed. "Sometimes the young Duke comes back late into the night with a guest and will want a meal, or some of the day staff will come extra early to have breakfast before a long shift! You never know who's going to pop by with an empty stomach! We do not complain, though; the salary is good, we get to work in an amazing kitchen, and the budget for groceries is a cook's dream!"

Theora smiled; she had to admit that those pastries were warm, freshly baked, and damn good. The berry compote was warm, sweet and a bit tangy, and it melted in her mouth between the layers of puff pastry, and it was heaven on her tongue. It reminded her of all the amazing smells from the bakeries that usually taunted her nose whenever she ran at dawn, but it had nothing to envy to the ones her cousins had taken her to. She wished Mymesia could have tasted this. For a few minutes, their group felt welcomed by the kitchen staff and the four De Boreal knights who were escorting them and letting them take the time to have a proper breakfast, making Theora glad they'd been early. If they got to eat like this every day of their mission, no one would complain about getting up so early again. The pastries and seconds eaten, one of the knights led them into the residence, which was all in the dark for the night. Theora noticed far fewer staff around, carrying a candlestick holder ahead of them, and they had changed from shiny leather shoes to quiet black slippers. It looked like, albeit more discreetly than the kitchens, the residence never really slept, with some staff ready at all times for the De Boreal family members who might need them. It gave a bit of an eerie atmosphere, with the general darkness, the wandering candles glow, the hushed steps, and faint whispers.

"Try to be as quiet as possible," one of the knights warned them. "Two of you should patrol the corridor, two should guard the lady's bedroom door, and two should guard the entrance to her aisle. We will do the same as you, and we swap every half hour to check-in. Don't worry, we will tell you when."

Just like that, twelve knights and trainees took their spots to guard a nine-year-old girl. Theora volunteered to guard the bedroom door while the others followed the knights elsewhere. With Kleis on the other side, they took their positions, putting their hands behind their back. While no one expected anything to happen, they had gone through training to run the basics without being bored, like changing the direction they looked in every fifteen to thirty seconds, making sure they had looked in all areas of the room, including above their heads, and being able to remember the color and position of every piece of furniture within sight. Theora was facing the window so she could also enjoy the sight outside, which looked out onto the top of trees and buildings, and the sky, still pretty dark but showing a nice ceiling of shiny stars. When the half-hour arrived, however, she was a bit happy to get to move. She swapped positions with Themid and followed the two other knights, who showed her an initial path along the corridor but gave her permission to go into different corridors so long as she remained on the aisle and floor. Theora and Kleis stuck to the same path for two loops before they ventured into different areas of the aisle; they weren't allowed to walk into rooms unless the door was open, and none were, but they did cross paths with a couple of maids who, each time, greeted them with a polite bow and smile, not looking tired in the slightest. Theora had expected their expressions to slip a little without the masters and superiors around, but all the maids remained impressively professional. Either they really loved their job, or they were told to act like they did at all times.

"Damn, this house is big," Theora whispered as they finished their fourth loop.

"Most noble residences are," Kleis scoffed.

"Have you seen a lot?"

"No, but I have heard from my siblings. You know House De Boreal is filthy rich, enough to be able to afford a place this big in the Capital for only five people... House De Winter has at least three times as many people living in the Capital, and their residence is only twice the size of this and far more in the outskirts. But I think they do have more houses in the Kingdom."

"And the other two duchies?" Theora asked, trying not to sound too curious about one more than the other.

"They have vampire-dominant families, so they don't care too much about being here," Kleis shrugged. "They both do have residences in the Capital, but they seldom use them. It's known that Duchess De Nova lives in the northeast, and the Duke De Crescent is all the way up in the outskirts of Solaris."

Theora wondered if either her father or her half-brother was in town. Could they happen to be here rather than in the north? She had heard her father, the Duke, seldom left his mansion in the north, but maybe her older half-brother came to the Capital more often. He was recently engaged, too, so he was probably attending more social events than their father had to... She was about to ask more when two young maids emerged out of the corridor on their left, visibly hurrying from the young Duchess' bedroom. Theora frowned, as it was still fairly early.

"What happened?" Kleis asked, Theora and her rushing to catch up.

"Oh, don't worry!" one of the young maids raised a hand. "It's just the young lady having a nightmare; it happens now and then. We're just going to fetch her some warm milk from the kitchens. Her nanny and the head maid are already there."

"What about the Duchess?" Theora asked.

"Does the Duchess need something?" the maid blinked, visibly confused. "She called?"

"N-no, but her daughter might need to see her...?"

A couple of awkward seconds passed during which Theora clearly sensed she'd said something wrong, as Kleis was staring while the maids gave her a sorry expression. They didn't seem mocking, though, giving her a kind smile in response.

"The Duchess won't get up for this," one of them said. "And she hates being woken up in the middle of the night..."

The two maids exchanged a look that said a lot about the Duchess before they left, leaving Theora and Kleis where they were.

"Her daughter's crying, and she won't come?" Theora frowned.

"It's the way it is amongst nobles," Kleis said. "They have nannies for this."

That was one thing that made Theora glad she hadn't been born into this life. Lady Venilla might have the cutest and biggest room, but she couldn't see her mother when she was crying due to a nightmare. Theora's mom might have been strict with her education, but she had always shown up whenever she needed comfort. To think the young lady was only surrounded by strangers and had no familial warmth in that big room of hers was a bit sad.

"It should be about time we switch with the aisle entrance team," Kleis whispered. "Let's go."

Theora nodded and followed, still feeling sorry for the young lady. She wished they would have walked by the bedroom before their next shift to know if she had gotten back to sleep, but the knights they replaced at the top of the stairs had no way of knowing anything. Instead, a few minutes after they were posted, she heard doors from downstairs, hushed voices, hurried steps, and what sounded like dogs' paws on the floor.

"That's the Duke," one of the De Boreal knights whispered. "He often comes back in the early morning hours."

Theora waited, a bit excited to see another family member, but the voices carried away to another aisle of the residence until they were completely gone. She let out a slight pout, disappointed. Where could he be coming from this late?

"You think we will see him eventually?" she asked.

"Maybe," one of the knights shrugged. "To be honest, the family members hardly interact with each other at all."

"Not even to see his daughter?"

The knight blinked, visibly confused for a second, before something seemed to hit.

"Oh," he said. "Sorry. That was the older young Duke, the heir. Well, he's going to be the actual Duke any day now, so we've been calling him the Duke... He always comes back fairly late; he's busy. We call the younger young Duke the 'young Master' around here. Young Master Dievrin goes to bed much earlier than this; he's still quite young. ...It gets confusing, I know."

"So the young Duke doesn't interact with his half-siblings?"

"Scarcely. It doesn't seem like they have a bad relationship, even with his step-mother... They tolerate each other, I think. Well, certainly not as bad as those scandal sheets are trying to make people believe. The Duchess runs the house, after all, and the young Duke runs the business side of the family. They attend different social events, but hardly ever the same ones. Still, he trusts her enough to oversee the staff and everything whenever he's gone. They wouldn't be able to function otherwise. ...Not that we have a lot of insight. Things might change if he gets married, though."

Theora nodded, grateful to have gotten some extra insight; she knew that even knights who had pledged allegiance to a family weren't supposed to share too much information with outsiders. Since the young Duke seemed about to take over officially, she wondered how his father was. How come no one here ever seemed to mention him? She tried to remember, but she didn't think she'd heard anything about him being ill, hurt, or old in a way that could have explained his stepping down. They resumed their positions, and everything went quiet for the remaining half-hour until they were given a little nod and moved back to their positions in front of the room. A maid came out a few minutes after Theora and Kleis had taken their positions, smiled at them, and left quietly. Theora wondered if they had stayed until they were sure the young lady had fallen asleep or if there was still another maid in the bedroom watching her. Their rotations went on, with nothing unusual happening, the knights letting out a yawn now and then. As dawn came, more and more maids appeared in the corridors, still as quiet as they were efficient. Theora was impressed to see them whip out brooms and dusters as soon as the clocks rang six o'clock, and by seven, all the surfaces were shiny, windows opened to let in fresh air, and the slippers all replaced by the indoor shoes.

At seven exactly, Theora was back for her shift at the bedroom door, but the head maid and two young maids appeared and knocked the second after she was back in her position.

"Good morning, my lady. It's time to wake up!"

Theora barely hid a grimace. A nine-year-old had to wake up at seven in the morning? She was a rich young lady; couldn't they let her sleep in after she'd had a nightmare earlier? She kept her eyes on the windows but listened as the maids opened the door and waltzed in. She heard the curtains being drawn, bedsheets being ruffled, wardrobe doors opening, and water splashing. About fifteen minutes later, another maid arrived, pushing a little trolley with the lady's breakfast. Theora glanced; the plate was covered, but she spotted fresh fruit juice, a jug of milk, two warm pastries, and a set of napkins and cutlery. Did she eat breakfast in her bedroom? Not with her family? Theora was getting more and more confused about the world of nobles.