Chapter 131: Dhampir Knight

A few seconds of stunned silence followed Kleis' words, the tension gradually dropping down. Theora felt Keffen gently put a hand on her shoulder, maybe in silent support, but she couldn't react. She was far too shocked by Kleis' powerful stance in front of her, plus whatever she was showing the two Royal Knights that caused them to go from red to sheet white.

"We- we... We were just doing our job," the one who'd been hell-bent on arresting Theora mumbled.

"You were harassing her for no reason," Kleis hissed. "And believe I will be reporting you both to my superior. I hope you enjoy looking for work."

Just then, the De Boreal knights arrived running, Yerena at the helm.

"What the hell is going on?" she hissed, directing her glare toward the Royal Knights.

Red was the one to explain the situation quickly, and the more he said, the angrier Yerena got, and after one glance at Theora, she turned to the Royal Knights.

"Are you two morons done harassing Academy knights?" she vociferated. "They are on a mission for the new Duke! Do you think you were given the pleasure to harass random people with what happened? Is this how the Royal Knights behave these days? Do you think you know better than everyone else, perhaps? I want the name of your superior right now!"

"W-we apologize," the other Royal Knight said. "We didn't think-"

"I don't give a fuck what you were thinking, and obviously, you didn't!" Yerena barked. "I promise you House De Boreal is going to make sure they open an investigation against you! This is unacceptable behavior!"

"... I think I'm in love," Themid whispered.

Theora heard him, but she didn't care; her gaze was riveted on Kleis. She could tell her roommate could feel her eyes digging holes into the back of her head, but she was avoiding Theora’s gaze, putting whatever item she'd taken out back into her uniform while Yerena was ripping those two knights apart.

"...I’ve had enough of these morons," Yerena finally hissed, turning back to Red. "Sorry about that. You guys should go and get your breakfast, the kitchens are ready for you."

"Thanks for the... rescue," Red said, his ears getting as red as his hair.

"Don't worry about it," Yerena said, with another glare toward the Royal Knights. "I'll make sure it's taken care of. Come on, let's go. They can't harass you on De Boreal territory."

They left the two Royal Knights there, both looking terrified for their careers, but like Yerena, Theora felt very little sympathy for them. Instead, as soon as they were safe behind the gates of the House De Boreal residence, she grabbed Kleis' shoulder.

"A word?" she said.

She saw Themid, Keffen, and Red glance at them, but Red pushed her roommates and the rest of their teammates to keep going, giving Theora and Kleis some privacy. Her roommate ran a hand through her short hair, looking more uncomfortable than Theora had ever seen her.

"...You weren't supposed to know," she finally muttered.

"You're working for the Crown?" Theora scoffed. "To watch me?"

"To protect you," Kleis admitted.

"I don't need a fucking bodyguard, Kleis, I am a knight!"

"A trainee," her friend corrected.

"Even so! ...Wait, aren't you a trainee too? Are you some already knighted spy or something?"

Kleis chuckled and shook her head.

"No, no, of course not. I'm a trainee too, just like you. I didn't fake any of it. But I'm a legacy, Theora. One thing about being a legacy is that we are often guaranteed our future positions, and as such, we can start working for our employers as soon as they need us to. It wasn't meant to trick you, and I am not faking being a trainee or anything, I swear. I was just conveniently in the same year as you, and that prompted the people who employ my family to ask me to watch over you."

"You changed rooms and brigades right after I met the King," Theora realized. "At the start of our semester as Whites."

"I was summoned to the palace right before we got back," Kleis explained. "I don't know the details nor who you actually are, I swear. I was just told by my relatives that you are an A-risk and that I have to keep an eye on you. When I got back, I had a letter for the director, and she switched my room and brigades to help me stay close to you."

"Now that explains a few things," Theora hissed. "You didn't want to switch rooms, did you?"

"That isn't true. I genuinely don't care, Theora. Both Room One and Room Ten are good friends."

"You don't need to pretend, Kleis. I would have been pissed if I had been forced to switch rooms and leave my friends-"

"I wasn't forced!" Kleis exclaimed. "Theora, I chose this! I could have refused the mission without any issue. I'm a trainee, and I'm not coerced to take on any mission. Even if it was a request from the Crown, any knight could refuse a mission, and even if they asked me because most of my relatives work for the Crown, I would have absolutely been allowed to say no, and that would have been the end of it! They probably would have asked another legacy to do it, and they have other legacy trainees who'd be happy to take a secret mission from the Crown. I chose to do it, Theora. First, I was honored to be considered, even if I knew that I was in a lucky position. Second, I do like you and the girls. It wasn't a sacrifice at all. Finally, I want this mission. I've always known I wanted to be a knight and work for the King. If protecting you can serve the Crown, I will absolutely do it. If anything, you're making it easy because you're a good person. Trust me, if you'd been someone like that Aloysia girl, I would have definitely thought twice about it."

That made Theora snicker, and Kleis smiled, looking a bit relieved.

"...I'm really sorry I couldn't tell you; I wasn't supposed to."

"I got it," Theora sighed. "I'm just slightly annoyed you've been spying on me, and I had no idea. There's a lot of things in my life that are escaping my control these days, and it's not a nice feeling."

"If it makes it any easier, you're very hard to keep up with," Kleis grimaced. "I was pissed when you turned out to have picked a completely different mission last time."

"Oh... Now I get why you were annoyed," Theora chuckled. "Sorry. You were sure I'd pick the A-rank one, eh?"

"And I couldn't even change because I had told the others I'd taken it," Kleis sulked. "I went to the director ready to be fired from my first-ever mission, but she told me it was fine. She had it all covered."

"Really?" Theora frowned.

"Yep," Kleis shrugged. "I don't know; someone else might be following you."

Theora frowned and glanced toward the kitchens.

"They might not be someone from our team. It might not even be someone from the Academy," Kleis commented. "Maybe they assigned a concealed bodyguard or a mercenary to watch you while you're in the Capital."

"...A concealed bodyguard?"

"Yeah. They're not official, but they're basically trained from birth to shadow high-ranking nobles for their protection. They're trained not to be seen in the public eye and bodyguard their master at all costs; it's a different set of skills from knights. To be honest, their existence isn't even known to the public. I only know about it because one of my cousins was raised to be one."

"It's absolutely disturbing," Theora commented, glancing around as if she could spot someone around.

Kleis shrugged.

"Alright," Theora sighed. "But don't tell anyone about your mission or who I am."

"I'm not supposed to, and again, I do not know who you are nor why you're an A-risk, Theora. You weren't even supposed to know I'm protecting you."

"Right... By the way, if it was supposed to stay a secret, why did you have to reveal it to those Royal Knights? If push came to shove, I would have just been arrested and released quickly, no? Since I have that royal favor or something."

Kleis grimaced.

"It's not that easy," she said. "The thing is that, if they had taken you away, you might have been in immediate danger. I wouldn't have been allowed to follow you, and anything could have happened. First, you could have been attacked by someone else the minute you were out of my sight. Second, those guys may not have been real Royal Knights, and they could have kidnapped or killed you. Third, they might have been Royal Knights, and you might have made it to prison, but the second you were taken to jail, even temporarily, it would have made it harder to protect you. Many people get killed while in custody because they're fed poison or something."

"You realize how... far-fetched all those scenarios sound, right?"

"Theora, all those scenarios have literally happened before. You're an A-risk, which means the threat is genuine."

"I understand you were told I'm an A-risk, but the risk is still probably very low, you know? Most people don't even-"

"You were poisoned," Kleis suddenly blurted out.

Theora went silent for a second, before slowly blinking.

"...What?"

"Your blood bag that tasted foul?" Kleis said. "It was investigated the second you mentioned it. The blood you'd been given was tampered with. Someone put poison inside."

"But I was fine," Theora scoffed. "Other than nausea because it was gross, I didn't feel that sick."

"That's... because we've been feeding you anti-poison," Kleis sighed. "You're being fed blood as often as the vampires are, even if you don't need it as much, so Doctor Herva could slip you some drugs to make you immune to common poisons. And I've been putting some in your food or drink when possible, too."

Theora was at a loss for words. Both the fact that she had been poisoned and that people had been slipping antidotes into her food and drinks were just mind-blowing to her. She opened her mouth, then closed it, then opened it again.

"That's... That's fucked up, Kleis," was what she came out with.

"I know," her friend muttered, looking sorry. "Obviously, I wasn't supposed to let you know about that, either... Although I do think it would make things a lot easier if you knew and took those drugs willingly. I'm really sorry, Theora."

Theora remained silent for a few seconds, letting the information sink in, trying to decide on the proper reaction to have. It was a lot. She had been heavily blindsided and blissfully ignorant. A part of her was angry about how much had been concealed from her. She felt both powerless and manipulated, both feelings she hated. A rational part of her did know it had all been for her own sake, stemming from other people's desire to protect her, but she still didn't like it at all. She hated being in the dark. There had been far too many secrets in her life already. After taking a long, deep breath, and looking at Kleis' nervous expression, she gave her a tight nod.

"I get it," she ground out.

"You're not mad...?"

"I am," Theora said. "I'm mad. So give me some time to come to terms with the fact that everyone's been secretly trying to feed me random shit for a minute. ...How many times?"

"Well, every time you saw Herva, and-"

"No, not that. The poison. How many times was I poisoned?"

"Oh. The blood's the only one we know of. It was a light poison, thankfully, and you barely drank out of that blood bag, so..."

"Great. Good. Well, I don't want to talk about it any longer. Let's go get breakfast; I'm starving."

They resumed their way toward the kitchen, Kleis following close behind.

"Now that you know that it is my job to watch you... Can you please stop making it hard? I hate having to make excuses to follow you when you sneak out of the dorm to see your boyfriend."

"Nope."

"It was worth a try," Kleis rolled her eyes.

"And please stop spying on my alone time with my boyfriend. It's gross."

"Ew, I'm not watching, Theora. I usually stay near the room so I can head back first."

"Thank god."

"I'd really appreciate it if you stopped, though."

"No can do."

"Damn it."

They joined their teammates in the kitchen, greeting the House De Boreal staff. Much to Theora's relief, no one seemed to question what Kleis had shown the knights for them to let go of Theora; everyone was busy discussing the murder that had happened the previous evening. Either her friends didn't register her having royal immunity in the earlier commotion, they didn't care, or they already knew they shouldn't be asking questions, which was the more likely scenario. As knights, they were literally taught not to ask too many questions and to respect people's privacy. Moreover, Theora was a dhampir, and she couldn't hide being related to a vampire. Since most, if not all, vampires were nobles, her friends probably had their own suspicions but had always respected her silence. That was more than enough for her. She listened to the gossip about the murder, but just like her, everyone had to wait for any official information to come out, as they all had only heard rumors so far.

Theora didn't speak much; she was more shocked about Kleis' news than she had let on. She had always been suspicious about Kleis moving rooms suddenly, but she hadn't realized she could have been the reason. Worse, Theora was stunned that someone had actually tried to kill her, and she had no idea. She was a knight; it was her job to protect others, but she had now realized she might have been a target herself, and it was scary. Something about the fact that she had been slipped poison and survived an assassination attempt without knowing was just terrifying. She felt like a glass bubble around her had been shattered, and she felt utterly vulnerable. Why had someone tried to kill her? How had they gotten poisoned blood to the Military Hall? Why was she targeted? Did someone know about her identity? Theora went through her shift with a painful knot in her stomach the whole time. She felt Kleis' worried stares on her, and as they moved rotations, taking the corridor shift, she finally spoke.

"Theora, are you alright? You're paler than usual and you barely ate at breakfast."

"Well, you never know what could have been in there," Theora said, trying to sound more sarcastic than nervous, and failing miserably.

Kleis sighed.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I know it must be nerve-wracking. At least now you know, and you should be on your guard. This was one attempt, and it failed. I'm sure from now on, you'll be more careful, and the security around your feeds will be, too."

"....But why?" Theora muttered. "Why would someone want me dead?"

Kleis let out a long sigh.

"Don't you think it was weird how those Royal Guards antagonized you? ...I don't believe this is just about you, Theora. The anti-vampire sentiment is growing everywhere. It's getting worse as we approach the Crown Prince's coronation. We still have time before it happens, but with all the talk of his engagement or not, I heard the tensions are getting worse. ...I have a bad feeling. Something's brewing, and it cannot be good."