“They held their tongues for they were not daring enough to speak openly. It was an unnecessary gesture. Their eyes spoke volumes, so full of scorn and blame. Where poisonous tongues could have inflicted immediate harm, their hidden intentions left my imagination spiraling deeper into despair.”

-Page x from ‘The Abandoned Half-Blood Prince.

Aelius waited. Any moment now, like clockwork their routine was engraved into their being. The servant had just finished dusting a painting that was already spotless. Next, she will—

The maid turned slowly, deliberately moving like a predator towards her prey. Without saying a word, her body gave off an ominous aura of a cat ready to pounce. She approached the crib with the sleeping half-blood.

The weak mongrel dares to sleep peacefully while she works. No. That would give the wrong message. This creature needed to be taught while he was young. To always be afraid. By the gods, she loved seeing those amber eyes tremble. So, like the patriarch and yet different. This was a small measure of power she could have. Make the brat tremble in terror.

The servant smiled in anticipation, her claws elongated slightly, all she had to do was approach his neck and—

Aelius flipped over and used the momentum to fling the generously filled diaper into the maid’s smiling face. The open-mouthed smile.

Splash!

There was a pause. A moment in time where silence reigned supreme.

Aelius saw the now open diaper slowly slide down, like a wet rag cleaning a filthy window. Except, everything was in reverse. The clean rag was a dirty diaper, and the filthy window was the immaculately dressed maid.

‘Serves her right. She’s been shallowly scratching my neck to startle me awake. The wounds healed quickly and honestly, she was just a nuisance. I’m used to phone alarms from my previous life, but babies need their sleep and her malicious actions probably scarred poor Aelius in the novel.’

There’s an interesting phenomenon that happens when someone is overwhelmed by emotions. Surprise, shock, realization then pure red rage. Aelius saw this phenomenon occur for the first time. The maid was shaking with rage. There was even a vein that throbbed on her forehead that dislodged some poop.

Aelius giggled in glee

“Nyah!”

Roughly translated to, ‘I dub thee, poo-head.’

“Y-You! YOU DARE!?”

The maid’s half-inch claws elongated into sharpened knives.

‘Uh oh.’

Aelius saw a flash then the claws stopped centimeters from his eye. He gulped.

“Now, now Emily. You should be trimming those nasty things~”

The soothing voice had an underlying tone of murder. Aelius knew this voice. Elizabeth had arrived.

“Oh my~ You should leave cleaning the young prince to me. It seems you’ve made a mess.”

The clear dismissal made the pale maid turn a deep crimson in embarrassment and anger. Elizabeth turned to him raising an eyebrow.

“Neh!”

‘She tried to scratch me! I was just defending myself.’

Elizabeth tilted her head.

“Really? What a meanie.”

Whether she understood or not, Aelius decided it was best not to look too deeply into it. either way, he was sure of one thing; this person was an ally.

Elizabeth Alvira

In the novel, due to the constant torment from the other servants Aelius feared everyone, which included Elizabeth. She was nearby whenever Aelius was in trouble but remained at arm’s length to avoid straining Aelius’ mental state.

Her death came at the hand of Sebastian’s mother. After revealing the evidence of Aelius’ wrongful imprisonment, she confronted the demoness and died helping Sebastian deal the final blow.

The night of the massacre didn’t deter her. While everyone shook in fear, she received Aelius calmly and took responsibility for his care.

The reason was… Interesting. She was infatuated with the patriarch. Infatuated is probably too mild. She was a full-on psycho about the patriarch. The low moans she let out at the mention of his name even made Aelius blush.

Like any crazy stalker, she read too much into any action the patriarch did. When he handed a baby to her, still spotless from all the killing…? Well, she read that as a sign that he cared deeply for Aelius.

‘Insane.’

Nevertheless, the current Aelius understood that there was nothing to fear from Elizabeth. On second thought, maybe not nothing, she was still crazy with more than a few loose screws. Still, he wouldn’t shun or be afraid of her like novel-Aelius. Whether it began from her love for the patriarch, by the end of the novel Elizabeth showed that she would die for him.

Something that he will never let happen. If he left this place, he’ll leave with Elizabeth!

“Ready for your food?”

Elizabeth held a blindfold and a small mask to cover the nose and mouth.

‘Maybe I’ll just send her postcards after I leave this place.’

In a world of magic and supernatural creatures, it would be silly for vampires to still have a weakness to sunlight.

As an immortal apex species in this world, they had the time and connections to overcome such a glaring weakness.

Daylight rings.

Rings that contained a fragment of celestial rocks— meteorites—enchanted by witches and bound by bloodline magic.

All that to say, vampires had a magic ring that allows them to walk outside and enjoy the light without bursting into flames and turning into ash. A little overpowered? Maybe. But honestly, having the sun as an enemy is too much.

Aelius wasn’t complaining. The sun was brilliant today and feeling a little weakened while standing outside was a small price to pay.

‘Here she comes.’

His claws dug deep into the pillars of the palace gates. A patient hunter awaiting his prey.

The shadow crossed the boundary of the palace and a figure stepped outside.

Before realizing the perilous situation, Aelius threw a blanket over the person’s head and flipped around the pillar.

“What—”

The startled voice dropped the basket of laundry in an attempt to remove the blanket, but Aelius was faster. He reached for the rope at his side and blurred circles around the trapped figure.

With a thwap, the maid fell over. And Aelius succeeded in his hunt.

“Release me at once!”

“Miss Poo-head, I believe you are in no position to negotiate here.”

The maid tightly wrapped in the blanket glared at Aelius.

“My name is Emily, you deviant!”

“D-deviant?!”

Aelius began to stutter, where did that come from? He expertly captured her with—

“Who binds someone with ropes in such a twisted manner other than deviants!”

Emily tried to be intimidating but failed miserably as her face flushed a deeper red. Only after looking at her fully did Aelius understand what she meant.

The rope bound the maid so that she couldn’t move. This technique was taught to him by Elizabeth. The same Elizabeth that took pleasure in Aelius’ suffering during training. The way Emily was bound… well, all that was missing in this scenario was for Aelius to wear tight black leathers and wield a whip in hand.

‘Gods dammit Elizabeth.’

Aelius covered his face and tried to regain composure.

“Give me the goods and I’ll release you.”

Aelius didn’t think it was possible, but Emily turned from a tomato red to a deeper shade of crimson. Why was she acting like this? Then he went over what he said.

Just as he was about to correct himself, another maid walked out of the palace having heard the exchange.

She looked from Emily and her state of distress then back to Aelius. Without taking another step out the door, she changed direction and walked back in. She maintained eye contact with Aelius and while the door slowly shut, she left with one parting word.

“Pervert.”

“Oh, for the love of… I’m talking about the blood vial. The BLOOD VIAL!”

Emily looked somewhat relieved, but still gave Aelius a look of suspicion. A voice came from inside, clearly from the same maid that just walked back in.

“Don’t give it to him, Elizabeth is in charge of the blood vials.”

“Oi! Don’t make me go in there!”

“Eek!”

Hurried footsteps left Aelius and Emily alone.

Time passed quickly. Aelius was now 5 years old.

As a baby, Aelius made sure that the maids understood that he wouldn’t be taking crap from them. Every glare meant spilled food on the carpets; blood was hard to clean. Every physical retaliation like pinching or flicking was met with vicious baby scratches. If they took it further? Aelius simply cried and pointed when Elizabeth was in the room.

As he grew under Elizabeth’s training, the servants began to fear him. The wrong kind of fear at times, such as the incident with the rope, but that fear turned to grudging respect.

Not all the servants capitulated. As a baby, he noticed various books and trophies missing. It wasn’t obvious at first. He had Elizabeth read for him and didn’t leave his room. Until one day the giant skull of some weird monster disappeared.

It made sense. You’re a hostage in a palace belonging to an ancient Vampire. You hate your job and fear death might come any day. What else could you do but prepare for the uncertain future? Honestly, Aelius didn’t blame them. Heck, he was planning on doing the same thing once he was older.

What was there to fear? The patriarch didn’t visit this palace. His child was abandoned here. The death of the baby might trigger the patriarch’s wrath, but the theft was still on the table. Who’s going to stop them? The baby? He’ll throw a tantrum and make a mess.

So what? What’s a little mess compared to knowledge and wealth? Cleaning spilled blood versus a book about ‘The Enhancement of Mundane Bloodlines.’

The answer was obvious.

Or so they thought.

One bold male servant swept a book that Elizabeth was reading to Aelius.

Big mistake.

The thefts concluded when Elizabeth gathered all the servants. She made the thief return the book and then proceeded to break all his limbs. She dragged him and everyone outside in the middle of the day.

Then she removed his Daylight ring.

Aelius got a first-person view of what happens when a vampire meets the sun. There were no sparkles. One moment they stood there perfectly normal, then they burst into blue flames. Five seconds later their bodies turned to ash.

‘That’s how I got my ring.’

Older vampires can last longer in the sun, but none of the servants were willing to find out.

The next day, nearly all the stolen items magically reappeared. Some were used or sold, and those servants continued to work with their heads low for years.

No one realized that Elizabeth didn’t care about the items they stole before. She was just pissed that they that took a book she was currently using.

Eventually, some of the servants bribed Aelius with different blood vials to get on his good side or put in a good word with Elizabeth.

Aelius humbly accepted.

“Prince, where are you off to?”

A friendly servant waved at him.

“I’m going out for a walk!”

The servant paled. Many walks resulted in disasters.

“H-have fun!”

“Will do! Don’t tell Elizabeth!”

“Tell Elizabeth what?”

The servant feigned ignorance as brilliantly as a born actor.

“Good man!”

Aelius hurried off with the vial still in his pocket. He smelled something in the air, something delicious. Following his instincts, he run.

Small animals took one look at him and fled. His amber eyes were not the yellow of his father, nor did have the reptilian slits of a predator. The amber eyes were close enough to his father that his identity could never be mistaken. Still, there was a hint of danger there. A danger that smaller prey recognized.

Aelius didn’t care. He ran in an unfamiliar direction. Legs pumping and nose honed in.

Then the smell disappeared.

Aelius stopped at a loss. Where had it gone? He looked left and right trying to pick up the trail again.

Gone.

The smell was gone and…Where the hell was he?