Taming My Vampire Servant

"These are…!" Prince Jirou took a closer look at the marks on Ivory's neck. "These are hickeys!"

Principal Arthurdane and Lucius looked at each other in surprise, then approached her to see if it was true, and they had confirmed it.

"No, these are… scars from when I was in a battle-"

"Don't fool me! These are obviously hickeys! Are these caused by your lover?"

"No, Your Highness, I don't have a lover-"

"If you don't have a lover, how the hell did you have those? Do you think I'm a fool?!" his voice turned louder. "You dare lie to the Crown Prince of the kingdom where you live in?! Should I bring you with me to the castle and lock you up in prison until you tell the truth?!" 

Lucius suddenly stepped between them, "Your Highness! These are scars from when she and I sparred! The fireball that I made scattered into small pieces towards her, that's why she had those burn marks!"

Ivory briefly met Lucius' eyes. While he smiled at her, she couldn't help but have tears in her eyes. If Lucius wasn't there with her, she didn't know how to make the prince believe her lie.

Crown Prince Jirou narrowed his eyes on Lucius. He was observing him if he had any hint of hesitation, but seeing him look straight into his eyes, he deduced gave up.

"Then… I shall send an effective ointment for you to use. You wouldn't refuse my kind offer, right?"

"I am grateful for your kindness!" Ivory bowed her head.

Principal Arthurdane sighed in relief, and the prince noticed this.

Prince Jirou faced him, "You, as the principal, should check all your students' well-being. Make sure to restock all the medicines in your clinic."

"A-apologies, I will make sure that we have every medicine on stock, Your Highness!"

"And you, Sir Lucius Goldwine. How can you let a beautiful lady like her get all those burn scars!"

Lucius apologized as well. 

Ivory was told to stand up, and she said, "Please blame me, I was not careful enough to avoid the... flames."

Prince Jirou smirked, "You should have more experience in field work, then," he faced the principal. "I've decided, I will take Miss Sprucemint with me next month."

"But sir, she didn't do well in her examination. It will be unfair to the other students who did their best," the principal pleaded.

Lucius added, "Your Highness, Sir Arthurdane is right. Besides, she might only hold your group back if she isn't familiar with the magic theories-"

"Why do you insist for her not to come with me?" the prince raised his brow, suspicious of the two. "Now, I feel like she didn't answer the question properly… on purpose."

The office suddenly became quiet. Everyone was thinking of what to say next.

But then, it was the prince who broke the silence. He grabbed Ivory's hand, and gazed amorously into her eyes. "You are forgiven, but…" he kissed the back of her hand, then continued, "I have decided. I want you to go with me next month on my three-week travel. Not as a student of Qawiun Academy, but as my guest."

"Your Highness… I don't get it."

"I don't care if you aren't well-versed in magic theories, or if you aren't a good fighter. I won't require you to guard the group. Just accompany me. That's all."

Afterwards, Crown Prince Jirou took the remaining scrolls with him, his black dragon Beast Servant flew back to his shoulder, and he bid goodbye to them. He told them before leaving that he would be reading the answers in the castle and send a messenger soon to announce those who were selected.

As soon as the prince left, the principal announced that all classes would be dismissed for the day, even though it was only early in the afternoon. He then called for an emergency meeting with Ivory, Lucius, Sigmund, and Lycus to his office, and just like what he did before, he placed a magic barrier around the room so that nobody would hear them.

"It's my fault. The plan backfired," said Lycus, who gave an apologetic look. "The best move was not giving the wrong answer. The best solution was not to submit any answer."

"Don't blame yourself. I am also at fault. I should have checked Miss Sprucemint's answer first before I gave all of them to the prince," said Principal Arthurdane.

Sigmund said in an angry tone, "I wish I went there when she met that punk. How dare he let you kneel that long. I don't care if he's next in line to the throne, I'll kick his ass!"

"Uhm! This is my fault… It's because I…" Ivory clenched her fists and got teary-eyed. "I am incompetent as a Master, and-"

"No, I don't think that's it, Ivory," Lucius interrupted when he saw her disappointed expression. "Crown Prince Jirou was just smitten by your beauty."

Lycus told her, "Yes, Lady Ivory, it's not that you're incompetent. It's just that… the prince's weakness is beautiful women."

Then the principal asked, "But those marks on your neck, Miss Sprucemint... Did you really get that from Sir Lucius' attack?"

"Uhm…" she took a quick glance at Sigmund, and caught him looking at her. She turned beet red, then avoided his eyes.

"It's true. Those are burn marks," Lucius quickly responded when he saw the two of them stealing glances at each other. He went in front of Ivory and fixed her scarf. He whispered to her. "You owe me," he smiled, and then stood beside Sigmund.

The Vampire Servant uttered, "Why did you…"

"I don't want to see my closest friend cry in despair and loneliness if she lost you," Lucius explained to him discreetly. The two of them started conversing on their own as Ivory, Lycus, and Principal Arthurdane talked about the crown prince.

"I do not want to part from her, so I chose not to pursue these feelings for her." Sigmund crossed his arms and stared at his Master amorously. "So I will not confess, but I do not know how to avoid being possessive over her. I get crazy especially when men flock to her."

He raised his brow, "A Servant like you shouldn't have any human desires, and I know you know that. What is going on?"

"I want to know as well,"  the Vampire Servant shrugged. "Everything's a mess, and I do not know what to investigate first."

"I will help you. I'll go to Omegalion's public library and ask for old reference scrolls."

Lycus had explained to all of them that he was a fugitive, and that Ivory's family members were all hiding from the castlemen. He insisted that they need to do something to prevent her from being close to any one of the Dragonicus royal family. Especially King Yama, who knew a lot about Ivory's family and relatives.

"The truth is, it was King Yama who ordered all of Lady Ivory's family to be captured. There are several of us inside the prison, and those who escaped and were not caught, like Priestess Althaia, hid in the Sanctuary of Goddess Destinia."

"So the priestess is my relative… Maybe that's why she kept on saying that I am one of them," Ivory uttered.  "But what happened, why are we being targeted?"

"It has something to do with the massacre of the Royal Family twenty years ago."

Sigmund's eyebrow twitched upon hearing this. He silently listened closely.

"The truth is, King Yama committed treason. He's no hero," he explained, and the others were too shocked with this revelation to say anything. "And your father, Lady Ivory, was the one who protected the late king Ulysses Silverblade until his death."

"So this means… we were serving the wrong King all along?" the principal voiced out.

Lycus nodded. "And we plan on returning the throne to the rightful owner… Someone with the blood of the Silverblade clan."

Principal Arthurdane responded, "But nobody from their clan survived the massacre… So who are you referring to?"

"The youngest son of the late king… He's alive, but he's hiding himself from everyone. Finding him is what our other relatives are doing right now."

Hearing that the child he tutored before was still alive, Sigmund felt relieved. But, he also knew that he might resent him if he still did not know the truth about the death of his family.

Meanwhile, before the prince departed the Land of Olivea, he called a border guard to speak with him for a short while.

"I have a secret task for you," Prince Jirou took a bag of silver coins and gave them to the man. "I want to know more about a woman named Ivory Sprucemint."

The guard happily received the bag of coins, then he said, "I'm at your service, Your Highness. What particular information about her would you like to know?"

"Everything, starting from her family, her hobbies, her favorites, and also her Servant. And I especially want you to look into her relationship with General Goldwine's son… starting from when they first met."

"I shall look into it, sir," and then, the guard left.

The carriage started moving once again. As Prince Jirou gazed outside the window, he kept on thinking about who the hell made those marks on the woman whom he just had an interest with. 

Burn marks from a fireball's scattered flames? Judging by the direction of the projectile which was most probably linear, how the hell did these leave a mark under her chin?

And why did Lucius Goldwine cover up a lie for her? Was he her secret lover, or were they hiding anything else?

He knew that Ivory's marks weren't burn scars, but kiss marks. And he would not stop until he knew who did it to her. He furrowed his eyebrows and thought that whoever did it, he'd make sure to make that person be killed, so he could have her all for himself.