Chapter 126 - Dhampir Knight

While Aloysia De Banksea had been awful to the staff, it seemed that she much preferred to ignore her young cousin. When Venilla was ready to go out, the two cousins met and had a cold, quick greeting before they left. Theora was almost shocked at how little the teenager paid attention to the cousin she had come to get. She had even gone first into the De Boreal carriage that was waiting for them, and Theora had done her very best not to glare while she helped Venilla up after her. They had left with Themid, Keffen, and two De Boreal knights escorting the carriage by horse, Theora seated next to the carriage driver, and Kleis at the back. Aloysia had brought two maids, one at the back with Kleis and the other inside the carriage with her, while Venilla only had the young maid Cindie with her. The trip was quiet but short, and just a few minutes later, the carriage stopped in a street with a row of high-end boutiques.

Aloysia waltzed into the first one with her cousin following quietly. While the rest of the knights were stationed between the boutique's entrance and the carriage, Kleis and Theora followed the ladies inside. The next hour was almost painful to watch for Theora. If she had thought being subjected to an hour of shopping with her cousins was excruciating, this was way worse. While Venilla patiently sat on a sofa, drinking cup after cup of milk, her cousin was an absolute nightmare to the boutique's staff.

"Did you seriously think I would ever wear this color? And you claim to be some high-end boutique! You can't even keep up with the season's trends now? The color of this season is purplish blue! Does this look like purplish blue to you? It's lavender! Lavender was a trend six seasons ago! Are you trying to dress your customers with outdated dresses? Or is it just me? Is the House De Boreal not a valuable enough customer, perhaps?"

"...Theora, Fix. Your. Face," Kleis hissed.

"Hypothetically, if we're under attack and we throw her in harm's way to save the lady, we wouldn't be in the wrong, right?"

"Theora."

"Just saying. If one of the seamstresses accidentally decides to strangle her with a lavender shawl, I'm not supposed to intervene, am I?"

Kleis glared at her, but between them, in the middle of the sofa, Venilla let out a little giggle. Theora smiled. The young girl had looked positively bored all along, and while she should have been a bit worried their 'target' had heard her, she didn't care. Venilla seemed to be as subjected to this as they were.

"Do you have something to say, Venilla?" Aloysia suddenly barked their way, having visibly heard her.

The young girl cleared her throat with a blush.

"Just... I-I like the dress. It looks good on you, cousin."

It looked like the boutique's staff could have cried tears of gratitude. Aloysia, on the other hand, scoffed.

"You haven't made your debut into society yet; what could you possibly know about trends? This dress is awful. Hideous. Obviously, they do not value our rank here. Let's go. I want to try and see if the next shop actually has taste."

Theora couldn't help but stare at the mountain of dresses that had been taken out. She had tried on eight dresses, made them take out half as many more, and closed the boutique to other customers for this, and she wasn't going to buy a single one? Moreover, Venilla hadn't tried on a single dress nor even been offered to, despite being visibly very interested in every dress her cousin had tried on. They had heard her discuss each dress's shape, color, and details with her maid, and each time, her voice definitely sounded a bit envious. Theora would have gone ballistic if it had been Mymesia, for example, forced to watch while someone else tried every dress on that she would have loved to try on without being offered the same opportunity, too. Just because she wasn't into fashion herself didn't mean she couldn't understand that it simply made one happy. And that dress certainly looked purplish-blue enough!

Still, she bit her tongue and followed after Venilla and her cousin. Much to her annoyance, they made a show of climbing into the carriage to get to the boutique that was literally two buildings over. It would have been shorter to walk there, but Aloysia made a whole spectacle of getting out of the carriage right in front of the boutique again. Theora decided to spend the rest of the morning mentally sketching a torture device that would perfectly fit a fifteen-year-old brat. At the very least, Venilla was with her maid, and Cindie was good at entertaining the young lady while they discussed the dresses her cousin was trying on, the taste of the drinks they were served, and how pretty the shop was. When one of the shop's sales assistants wasn't busy catering to another of Aloysia's whims, she approached Venilla.

"We have brand new dresses for the season that should be my lady's size. Would you like to try them on, my lady?"

Even if she was standing behind the couch the young lady sat on, Theora immediately noticed how her shoulders perked up and she straightened her spine excitedly.

"Oh, I would-"

"What do you think you're doing?" Aloysia suddenly barked, making them all jump.

"I-I was merely offering the lady if she wanted to see our dresses in her-"

The slap made everyone gasp. Theora's eyes opened wide, and if it wasn't for her feeling Kleis' intense stare on her, she might have jumped into action. But she remembered her training, bit her tongue, and watched the poor sales assistant hold her cheek with a shocked expression, Aloysia glaring at her.

"Who do you think you are? This is the young Duchess De Boreal! Do you believe some undisciplined commoner like you can simply address my cousin without my permission? She is under my watch! How dare you ignore me to address her directly!"

"I-I'm sorry, Lady De Banksea," the young woman cried. "I-I didn't think-"

"Clearly not! Is this how this boutique teaches their staff?" she scoffed, turning to the shop manager. "That they can speak to high-ranked customers like they're acquaintances?"

"Our apologies, my lady," the boutique owner spluttered. "I-I will make sure to train and sanction this employee personally-"

"You should have done that before," Aloysia scoffed. "Obviously, if your shop doesn't know how to separate the good employees from the bad ones, I don't think you have much future catering to high-end customers."

"My lady, I understand you're upset, but this is a good employee who made a-"

"Are you still arguing with me?" Aloysia glared at the manager. "Fine, then. If you don't feel it's appropriate for you to fire her, I guess House De Boreal will never buy another dress from this shop. Naturally, it cannot be helped if the rumors spread about how poorly you treat your best and highest-ranked customers. I guess you prefer to keep bad employees rather than your shop's reputation. That's too bad."

"You're... You're such a horrible person!" the employee suddenly shouted through her tears.

"...Excuse me?" Aloysia turned wide eyes to her.

"You're an arrogant brat!" the employee spat. "I have been a good employee of this shop for six years! The manager has been entertaining you for an hour, knowing you will make a show of not buying a single dress you've tried on! I was merely offering the young lady to try on a dress! You're just an arrogant, conceited, vain girl!"

There was a shocked silence in the boutique. Everyone, staff included, looked adequately stunned. Everyone could tell this had gone too far, and something was going to break. Aloysia, most of all, looked like she wanted to rip that girl's head off. Instead, she took a deep breath, a vicious smile appearing on her lips.

"You think you can disrespect a noble just like that?" she said. "You think a pathetic little nobody like you is allowed to insult me, a lady of House De Banksea? A relative of House De Boreal, one of the four duchies? Do you think you can get away with that...?"

The young woman paled, making Aloysia smile. Then, very calmly, she turned to Theora.

"You," she said. "The Dhampir Knight. Hit that girl. With your sword."

The young employee immediately let out a shocked, terrified cry, her eyes going to Theora. Theora should have been shocked, but the only way her body reacted was to let out a laugh. It was a small laugh, a knee-jerk reaction, one that certainly came from disbelief and not amusement, but it clearly irked Lady Aloysia.

"Are you mocking me?" she hissed.

"I'm mocking your order," Theora retorted, all protocol be damned. "I will not do that, my lady."

"It's an order! Are those swords just for show?!"

"I understood that, but I am not going to obey it, Lady De Banksea," Theora hissed. "I have no obligation to, as I do not take orders from you, Lady De Banksea; I take orders from House De Boreal and my mission Captain. You are neither."

Theora had used the girl's name twice on purpose, hoping the only loophole in Aloysia's 'order' would be convincing enough. Being suddenly reminded out loud that she was not, in fact, from House De Boreal in front of a bunch of strangers made Aloysia turn red with anger. She then turned to Kleis, but Theora's teammate was already returning a cold, aloof glare that clearly meant she held the same opinion as Theora. Then, Aloysia turned to her younger cousin.

"Venilla, give the order!"

Theora couldn't believe what came out of that woman's mouth; to ask a nine-year-old to order such a thing was just despicable.

"...I don't want to," Venilla muttered, holding her maid's hand for support. "That's... That sounds mean."

Theora could have never felt prouder of the little nine-year-old. Even if her refusal came more from a place of fear of the violent act than from wanting to stand up to her cousin, there was a lot of bravery in saying no to Aloysia.

"She disrespected me in public!" her cousin barked. "Me! A noble! And I am your cousin! Give those dumb knights the order to obey me and whack that swine's back!"

"I don't want to," Venilla cried. "I hate violence..."

Now, the young girl looked positively scared and on the verge of tears, and with Cindie gently putting a protective arm around her shoulders, it became clear Aloysia wasn't going to get her wish. She turned another frustrated glare toward Theora, but far from caring about her feelings, Theora gave Aloysia the most hypocritical smile she could conjure up before she leaned forward.

"My lady, you seem upset. Would you like to get some fresh air?" she suggested.

She could absolutely feel Kleis drilling holes into her with her eyes, but Theora had decided she was beyond saving now. When Venilla gave her a strong nod, she smiled. Cindie, too, visibly had enough and jumped to her feet to help the young lady leave the boutique. Theora and Kleis were right on her heels, completely ignoring Aloysia. That didn't save them from hearing her next fit, however.

"See what you've done!" Aloysia barked at the manager. "You've upset my cousin! Those useless knights might not want to punish your pathetic employee, but believe me, she will pay for this. I'm going to put down a formal complaint against your shop to the Crown. Your disobedience to get rid of a single employee is going to cost you this entire shop, you'll see!"

Theora followed Venilla as she stood off the couch to leave, wondering if it might be worth asking her 'uncle Lucius' a little favor so this shop wouldn't go under. At least the employee would probably retain her job in the meantime. And they would be spared from that banshee's visits for a while, which was probably a huge win. They promptly escorted Venilla out of the shop, and outside, Cindie made sure to wipe the lady's tears with a handkerchief.

"It's alright, my lady," she cooed. "Shall we go and get some of the hot chocolate that you love?"

"She's not getting any hot chocolate!" Aloysia barked. "You know it's fattening! Well, now our mood is ruined, so we might as well go home! I hope you know I'm very upset with you, Venilla. I made time in my busy schedule this morning especially to take you shopping, and your knights ruined it!"

If Venilla was sorry about 'her knights,' she didn't show it, only getting into the carriage quietly with a slight pout. Theora couldn't help but silently admire the young girl again; she certainly didn't have that amount of patience and self-control at her age. Once the doors were closed behind them, Kleis leaned toward Theora.

"I hope you know Darim is absolutely going to slaughter you for that one."

"I was not whacking any innocent people today, Kleis. He'll understand."

Theora had shown a bit of attitude, but she was fairly certain no one from the De Boreal knights nor the Academy actually expected her to whack anyone today. She was a bit worried that Aloysia felt it was alright and plausible for her to go around giving such orders, but that was a problem for another day and another knight.

"Sure. I bet she's going to put in a formal complaint against the Academy, too. The director is going to be thrilled."

Theora grimaced. She doubted the director would expel her over this, but she definitely was going to be scolded again for putting herself on another noble's radar or something... Thankfully, this whole ordeal had apparently put Lady Aloysia in a sour enough mood that she stormed out of the De Boreal residence as soon as they had gone back and hurried off in her carriage. Her departure caused a visible shift in the staff's attitude, with everyone letting out sighs of relief. Regardless of the downpour outside, it was like a big dark cloud had left the residence, keeping everyone in high spirits. The young lady also seemed happy that her shopping spree ended early, leaving her with a free schedule for her matinee. She decided to see the kittens with Theora and Keffen, as Kleis had stepped back inside to take a break and report on the situation that had unfolded inside the shop with the De Boreal knights. It seemed like the staff worked together to take care of the kittens for the lady's sake, because the three of them were bundled in a little box, safe from the rain, and cozied with a little blanket. Venilla didn't have any fish to give them that day, which she apologized for. Still, Theora guessed that either the mom was shy but nearby, or the House De Boreal staff was feeding them either way, for those three looked relatively healthy for kittens who only got one meal a day.

"You really can’t bring them inside, my lady?" she asked.

"I can't," Venilla pouted. "But it's alright. They'll probably be happier outside."

Theora wondered if it was because of all the dogs, but from what she'd seen, the dogs kept to the ground floors and knew they weren't allowed up the stairs. Maybe it was her family that had something against her adopting the kittens, then. Theora remained silent, and simply waited until Cindie suggested they go back inside, worried the young lady would get a cold. When they got back, the De Boreal knights patted Theora on the shoulder, but as her shift ended, she had to mentally gear herself up for what was going to be a very long report to write to an unhappy Darim...