Your Blood is Mine

What is the Prince of Ilvedia doing here?

Why did he pretend to be a carriage driver?

Maelle already knows the answer to these questions. He looked at his companion's face full of shock. Xendros seems like he can't believe what his own eyes is showing him. It was a little hilarious but also cumbersome for someone like him.

The priest of Crescentia have no psychic powers of any kind.

He cannot foretell the future. He cannot do things associated with sorcerers. He cannot read minds, nor can he control them. He is completely like a normal person, and average both in his capabilities and natural assets. Well, maybe a little above average when it comes to his appearance and facial features.

What is indeed special with him is his instict. The voice in his head that forewarns him of things. His intuition, that tiny little insect sitting at the bottom of his gut. When that insect, that little horned bettle senses something, it pinches Maelle's stomach muscles, bringing him an alerting discomfort. It was this discomfort that have served as his judgment and protection to all these years.

He even asked the Crimson Wolf about this little bug. The Crimson Wolf responded and did not respond to him: "It is my gift to you. Use it well, feed the bug with more and more experiences until it becomes big enough, and the discomfort in your gut grows stronger even for the slightest of danger."

And that is exactly what Maelle did. Feeding the horned beetle.

Which coincidentally is the Crescentian idiom for 'being paranoid'.

But Maelle knows that this is not paranoia when his little beetle keeps on taking large bites on his insides whenever he is near the presence of this Ilvedia Prince. And yet....

"What brings you to join us in our travels, Your Highness?" His smile towards the prince is genuine.

He harbors great distrust, from his natural borne instinct, from the beetle gifted to him by the Crimson Wolf. And yet, he could not stop the bubbling liquid rising in his lungs, this excitement brought upon, like thousands of moths and butterflies fighting to move their way out his mouth.

The beetle kept fighting them off, eating the nearest moth and pinching off the fings of these annoying little flying things. But because it's wings could not carry its fattened body too far, it failed to get rid of all of them. It could not even get rid of one-tenth of them. And so, it focused on alarming the host, alarming Maelle again and again to not let himself be swayed by these fluttering nuisances.

He can see in Faestien's eyes how delighted he was to be smiled at, those blue eyes that are like blue flames. Blue flames, from what he learned by interacting with some while heating some runes in order to purify them, are much hotter than red, orange, and yellow flames. They do not reach high, and may appear unseemly and docile, just like those eyes. Just like that person who have them.

"Your Highness....." Xendros' mouth was still agape, and he closed it. He bowed according to Ilvedian etiquette. It was also part of the etiquette to introduce yourself first as a peasant before a noble, and so he dropped to one knee upon going out the carriage.

"I am Xendros of Santimieda, a priest that will serve as an emissary to the Kingdom of Crescentia. We had been acquainted before, if it was still in your memory. But if you do not recall, we have met when I officiated the funeral of one Xenophon Elderflower the Third---"

"I remember you, dear Xendros." The prince chuckled, placing his hands on his broad shoulders. "Don't be so formal with me, at the moment, you are not talking with a prince. I am a mere carriage driver named Faestien. Is that clear?"

Xendros eyes widened. He is being touched by a noble, despite them being well-known for despising 'ugly' people in Ilvedian standards. He is at a loss of words. "But Your Highness..."

Faestien lifted his head up with a delicate finger and grinned at him. The kind of secretive and a little malicious grin of a cat enjoying the torment it gives to a rat it caught. "Do not look down when talking to me ever again. Look into my eyes."

Xendros blinked, and followed these orders. "A-Alright."

The prince with blue flames for eyes was delighted to have such an easy prey. He decided to not play too much with the poor thing, for if he had too much fun, he might not be able to control himself and break him. And that would be no fun, right?

When eating your favorite sweets, you must relish it bit by bit or you might have cavities or get tired of too much sweetness. The same can be said with lovers, based from the books he have read.

He must now move on to the next and have small taste. He turned to Maelle, who just watched the two expressionlessly.

This Crescentian..... He really has a good 'corpse' face.

There is a game that is not originally from Ilvedia, possibly from something like Zhauli. It was called 'Corpse Play'. You can have as many players, and there should be one corpse inspector. The corpse inspector will look away or cover his eyes for 20 seconds. Until then, the players should prepare to be as still as a corpse. Once the corpse inspector turns around, the first one to get caught for any movement will be eliminated and called a 'vampire'.

That's why it is also called the "Vampire Game".

Maelle, with his pale white skin and gaunt figure, looks a lot like a vampire now that Faestien thought about it. Those monsters that people would warn about at night. Those scary undead that are like lizards and have no hair.....

He suddenly feels stupid. Why would he compare him to such monsters?

But..... The way he just stares blankly like that.... like someone who is dead and not at the same time.... It is very vampiric. Yet why does he feel more attracted to that more? That blankness, harsh and cold, and unfeeling..... Very much the opposite of someone loving....

It is believed that in the "Corpse Play" or "Vampire Game", the corpse inspector is always the loser in the end. Why?

Because all the corpses are actually vampires.

And even when there is one 'real' corpse left....

It's just a vampire who is the best at pretending to be a dead corpse. That is why at the end of the game, the person who wins the game will get to ask the corpse inspector to do anything they please. The corpse inspector would hug the 'real' corpse by the end of each game.

People thought it was to be a good sport about the winning, but it's not. This game has a story after all.

The corpse inspector embraces the 'real' corpse because he was bitten by that vampire.

And thus, becoming his slave.

Vampires who take slaves.... When Faestien read this, he was baffled yet genuinely intrigued. Vampires have no wits with them, they are just like wild animals. They don't have a soul or consciousness anymore. So how can one have a slave?

A special kind of vampire. A Vampire Lord, that's what Faestien decided to call it.

And so.... Doesn't this mean that from the very start, the corpse inspector's fate is to be the Vampire Lord's slave?

What a dark game it was. Faestien wondered if it wasn't a game from the start. It is entitled 'Corpse Play' after all. What if it was a play.......

About the fate of a man who had always wanted to be the special vampire's slave, and got what he wanted?

Now, he too wants to be a corpse inspector all of a sudden. Observing and observing this still corpse for when he will bare his fangs.....

"How about you, stranger from Crescentia? Will you not introduce yourself?" He asked, beaming brighter than the hot sunny day.

They are at the gates of Crescentia now. The smell of the lavender fields nearby wafted through the air, giving it a sort of mellow undertone despite the vibrance of the city concealed by those walls made of rocks piled together piece by piece. The rocks are crimson red, and nobody really knows if they were painted....

Or it was from the blood of the enemies and traitor that was once stuck on spikes on those walls.

Faestien, ever the romantic and sensationalist, was inclined to believe the latter. He had overheard the two priest's entire conversation. The symbolism of blood intrigued him....

Doe Maelle thirst for blood as well?

If he did, he feels like he will fall deeper into this twisted admiration and curiosity caused by the 'Corpse Play' analogy he established in his mind.

"I have already introduced myself to your family, Your Highness. I know you know who I am." He said indifferently, and turned to Xendros. He helped him up, and handed him his luggage. "Come, Brother."

How very hateful he was to him.

Faestien took it as an invitation to desire him more.