Chapter 5 Vampire Blood

"See?" My mother cocked an eyebrow in the direction of my father, whose bodily parts seemed to be frozen while his eyes were still staring at the prime messenger. "I told you to prioritize this matter first," she said with a shrug of her shoulders.

He adjusted his posture by pulling his shoulders back and elongating his spine while simultaneously massaging the side of his forehead. He spoke to us without looking at us directly and stated, "I didn't anticipate this issue would become worse day by day." During the course of our leisurely meal, my sister and I kept stealing glances at one another. While the rest of our ears pretended to not hear anything, there was no doubt that a portion of them were, in fact, listening to what was going on.

"Have any members of our security forces or employees taken action in response to this?" My father wondered while using a clean towel to wipe away the remnants of food that had accumulated around the rims of his lips.

The chief messenger responded to our question with a deep sigh, which drew our attention to the manner in which he was behaving. "Despite the fact that they are making every effort to solve this problem, which includes conducting interviews with those families who are left and tracking the last locations at which those ladies were seen, it is still difficult for them to track the traces of the likely suspect." After a brief bout of coughing, he went on to say, "And it just appeared to be quite difficult to track down the mastermind."

My mother leaned forward and placed her utensils on top of her plate. She was then glancing back and forth from her husband and into the prime messenger.

"Can you perhaps clarify what you meant by that last statement?"

"Some of the workers had reported to us that they had noticed traces of blood from some random portions of the road, as well as occasionally on a restricted end of a corridor or the distinctive spot where it cannot be seen by anyone instantly and with low security..."

I cleared my throat and made an attempt to interject in order to demonstrate to my father that as the oldest kid in the family, I am still interested in matters pertaining to our country. "If they state that they have found traces of blood, does it suggest that the victim's blood was the source of the blood?" I asked about this while I hacked away at the steak with a fork and a skinny knife.

I was aware of my parents looking at me with what seemed to be startled expressions on their faces from the side of my peripheral vision, but I immediately glanced down as if I had never seen them behaving in such a manner before. I believe that they were astonished to see me. Oh, come on, let's not make this situation much more uncomfortable in my end!

On the other hand, the butler responded to my question rather than the main messenger, who was supposed to do it. "That is something about which we are unsure."

Ah... I don't know exactly how to respond when it comes to this.

My father asked them to leave us for a moment first as we are going to continue eating our breakfast before focusing our attention on that matter as a respect to the blessing in the form of a food that is in front of us. Before leaving, the butler and the chief messenger offered a half-bow to the king, and then they went to wait in the meeting area instead. They were escorted not only by themselves, but also by the castle guards.

My father immediately instructed us to clear our plates as soon as they left so that we could go back to our work as soon as possible.

Our ears were bombarded by the sound of the spoon and fork clinging loudly on the glasses of our plate. It felt as though we were being forced into a situation where we needed to vanish from this area as quickly as possible just because the servants around us were staring at us patiently while waiting for us to finish, and the fact that they were doing so gave the impression that they were applying pressure to us to eat quick.

I maintained a consistent pace of chewing as I watched them, all the while seeing that my sister was staring at me with pursed lips and shrugging her shoulders in a mild manner.

Out of the four of us gathered here, it was my father who, as was to be anticipated, completed his meal first. He rose up and adjusted the way he was dressed. The second one was our mother, and she assisted in tying her husband's tie properly.

When my father arrived at the end of the doorway with my mother following behind and the servants bowing half-way as they passed, he abruptly halted in his tracks and pointed a finger at me. "Nikolay, after you have finished your meal, I would need you to follow me to the meeting area. I need your assistance in resolving this matter with the missing ladies. Do you understand?" I clenched my teeth together and forced myself to nod in quiet.

"No problem."

"Good, I will be waiting for you there."

After that, everyone else exited the room except for my little sister. She proceeded with the rest of her breakfast and drank the juice as if she had nothing significant to do on this particular day. She gazed at our parents as they left the dining room, and when she could no longer see them, she shrugged her shoulders while returning her attention to me.

"Wow, it appears like my brother right now will slowly begin being serious about his responsibility as the future king, don't you think?" My sister's voice was light and playful as she posed the question while her eyes widened with excitement.

To convey my displeasure with her, I drank some of the juice while turning my head away from her.

After that, my sister kicked my leg from the bottom, which caused me to come dangerously close to drowning myself from drinking. A few of the juice droplets landed on my clothing, so I hastily set the glass down on the table and grabbed the table napkin that one of the maids had brought over to me as she was carrying it. The droplets had already stained my clothing a little bit. I used it to wipe the excess liquid stained on myself before I threw it to my sister's face.

"Hey! You have no right to smear such filth on my flawless complexion!" She chastised me while wrinkling her brows at me in annoyance. Before I continued eating, I just laughed at him for a while and then returned to my meal.

I retorted, "Now explain to me first why you kicked my trousers and create an imprint of your sandals on it." She grunted as she rolled her eyes and let out a sound through her teeth.

As she bellowed, she tilted her head to the left and then to the right. "Bruh, that doesn't matter! Just need to do your own best, and I promise to be the proudest little sister in the world!" Then, as if she were a cheerleader encouraging her team, she lifted both of her arms into the air in a high position. I quickly placed my index finger in front of my lips and asked her to lower her voice and stop making childish gestures because it was embarrassing for the servants to hear her acting like a child, but my sister just continued smiling and even clapped her hands in a decent way.

When I glanced into our servants' faces, I noticed that they were holding back laughing as they peered at the ground. It was clear that their lips had a little upward curvature to it.

I rubbed my palms together and shook my head in disgust. "How could you possibly be my sister?" I expressed my displeasure in a remorseful manner, but I did it in a hushed tone. "You need to start acting like an adult woman since you will be the queen soon in the other places here in Valentin," I reminded her, just as she had reminded me to take part in the decision-making process of the kingdom because of my status as the future king.

Xenaia rolled her eyes and waved her hands in front of me while making a dismissive gesture. "As if I were to have any interest in ascending to the throne," she laughed. "Just having the title of princess is sufficient for me. Besides, you're undoubtedly going to marry soon. I mean, you need to marry soon, and the lady in your heart will be the queen of Valentin," and then she gave me a taunting smile at the end of her statement.

I sat back in the chair and rested my back on the backrest while tucking my hands into the pockets of my slacks. Then out of the blue, I remembered the face of that woman in the countryside again. I gasped and shook at the idea of having to picturize her appearance at the back of my head. I voiced my opinion, "I don't believe that will happen," as I raised my attention up towards the high ceiling of this space, which had a massive chandelier hanging at the very top. "I don't even know what my specific preferences are for the lady I should be marrying."

My sister was chewing her meal as she was listening to me, and she went on nodding as if she did comprehend what I was saying and was determined enough to offer me the same dull love advice once again.

After some time had passed, I found myself standing close to the throne that belonged to my father, while the butler and the premier messenger were seated in front of him. Despite the fact that we are now living in a more contemporary period, the use of gold and red in these pieces of furniture created the strong impression of transporting us to a more ancient past. The imposing window, which changes its hue in response to the light coming in from the surrounding environment, has begun to illuminate the interior naturally, obviating the need to switch on any further artificial lighting.

"Are there any possible culprits that come to mind?" My father asked them. They had scanned a few documents while seated around the round table that was knee height in the center.

When the prime messenger discovered a paper, he raised his head, and I thought that the paper included the report that was relevant to my father's query, "The people of the town had a sneaking suspicion that the issue was being caused by vampires since they discovered strange traces of blood that vanished immediately after being exposed to the sun's rays."

Given that vampires have always been our most persistent foes over the years, it's not completely out of the question to assume that they are responsible for this issue.

My father made a gesture from his hand with the intention of handing him the report, and without any hesitation, he received it. He would nod his head sometimes while he read the report in an interval. Immediately after that, my mother arrived from the other side of the entrance followed by another official whose identity remained a mystery to me. They obliged with my father's request to take a seat, and there were now six dignitaries present in this area including me.

The new person who had arrived took a seat and extended their politeness to my father as he stood up. On the right side of his chest, he wore an insignia that resembled an oceanic crest. "I bid you a good morning, your highness. The Ministry of Aquatic Treasures is under my leadership as the chairman. I am Phritz Godman." He began by introducing himself.

My father finished reading the one page report first before nodding at him and giving him a signal to take a seat. When my mother gave him a signal through her eyes, he began speaking and said, "Faith Leager is gone for a week, and it has impacted the operation of our ministry."

"Who is that?"

"She is the department's top marine scientist and oceanographer, and she also serves as the department director."