Chapter 415 - 411: Fired?
As soon as Ryder opened the room of Miyali, he was appalled. He saw five bodies lying inside the room. All five bodies were of maids that worked in the palace.
Their bodies also seemed pale and dry as all their blood had dried up.
"It is that girl. Just what the heck happened. I heard that she wouldn't turn if she got to drink real blood once every few weeks. How come she turned? Could it be that she didn't get to drink? Or she refused to drink beast blood," Ryder muttered in confusion as he stepped inside the room.
Rale was near him. He also looked stunned, but he didn't say anything about it. He knew this place belonged to Miyali, who was with Ryder. He had also expected that Miyali wasn't a pure demon.
He had guessed something when last time he talked to Ryder about half-vampires and how they turned bloodthirsty if they didn't eat for some time. They were outside at that time. After hearing that information, Ryder had hurried back to here.
That was a moment when Rale got suspicious. After that, he heard that Ryder had told the maids to bring wild uncooked beasts to Miyali's room, which confirmed his suspicions. He had realized that Miyali was a half-vampire who needed to drink blood at some time.
He still didn't tell him that he knew. He let a half Vampire stay here since he trusted Ryder and his decisions.
He hadn't expected something like this to happen, though. This was a massacre.
He waited for Ryder to tell him himself.
Ryder looked all around the room but didn't find Miyali.
He turned back and looked at Rale, who was following behind silently.
"You aren't asking anything?" He asked. "Do you already know?"
"Know what?" Rale asked ignorantly.
"Fine. I will tell you. Miyali is a half Vampire. I think she lost control of herself. I don't know how it happened or the reasons behind it. She is the type of person that hates violence. She lived on things that we eat. But as you said, half Vampires need blood once in a while, too, no matter how nice they are. She was handling that with beast blood."
"I had arranged for beasts to be delivered to her regularly, so she doesn't have to suffer. I don't know what happened or why it happened, but something terribly went wrong," he muttered.
"Yeah. It doesn't seem like her normal self. She lost control," Rale answered.
Ryder walked towards the door and stepped outside. "Since the guards outside don't know, that means she hasn't left the palace yet. We need to find her."
"Do you have a way to find her fast?" he asked Rale, wondering if he had a way to find her.
"I can't. I wish I did," Rale answered, sighing.
The two of them ran till the end of the corridor, which further split into two.
"Let's separate. We can cover more grounds," Ryder told Rale before he ran towards the left side.
Rale, however, didn't go to the right side and followed Ryder instead.
"What are you doing?" Ryder asked, sternly.
"I can't leave you alone at times like this. Your life can be in danger," Rale answered softly.
"Rale, I'm telling you. I can protect myself. Didn't you say yourself that I'm as strong as the High Dukes, according to your estimates? We can separate for a few minutes, and then we can search. That doesn't mean something will happen to me," Ryder responded, looking upset.
"Your Highness, I know you can possibly keep yourself safe, but I can't ignore the risk. I am to be your sword and shield. I can't be left behind. I apologize," Rale answered without backing off.
"Sigh, so you're really ignoring my commands? You know how grave of a crime that is?" Ryder asked, sighing.
"I will accept any punishment after we are done with the problem at hand. I wouldn't resist even if I get the death penalty. As long as I can keep you safe until my last breath, that's enough," Rale answered, not backing off.
"Sigh, what am I going to do with you? You always get this serious. Rale, honestly. Miyali won't be able to hurt me. I am strong," Ryder insisted again. "You go search the other way."
"I can't leave you alone," Rale denied the request again.
"Sigh, fine. I hope we are searching the right way. If she is in the right, it would be a lost opportunity," Ryder muttered, sighing.
Rale was also concerned about that, but he didn't leave Ryder's side. He could let more people die, but he couldn't see Ryder get injured because he wasn't there to protect him.
"I thought Miyali was strong. She was taking care of this place. How come she didn't stop it? Could it be that she is also...?" Ryder muttered, but he didn't finish his thought.
"Miyali isn't as strong as the Dukes, but she should be strong enough to handle an inexperienced half Vampire like Miss Miyali," Rale answered. "If she was here, she should have been able to handle Miss Miyali."
"Are you saying that he left the Palace unsupervised?" Ryder asked.
"It is either that or she... She was attacked from behind when she was unaware," he continued.
" Sigh, so she's either out or dead?" Ryder asked, sighing. "I hope it's not the latter."
"Me too," Rale nodded.
The two of them kept flying through the corridor. Ryder was also using his ability to the fullest since he didn't have time to spare.
"Sigh, the High Dukes are going to climb over my head after they find out what happened. It's going to be a mess dealing with them," Ryder muttered, sighing.
"Yeah. He wouldn't be happy to know that you were keeping a Vampire in your palace without them knowing. And they would be especially upset since the Vampire killed so many people," Rale muttered.
"They can't fire me, right?" Ryder asked, confused.
"Fire?" Rale asked, not understanding the meaning.
"Oh, I mean, can they remove me from the position of the Prince?" He asked.
Ryder was wondering if four high Dukes had the authority to remove him from the position of the Prince? If that happened, it was going to be a big problem.
"Remove you from the position? It's impossible to do that unless you betray the Kingdom by joining the enemy and attacking our own. They can't do it for something like this. They can claim that you were working with Vampires, but they can't prove that you had a hand in the death of anyone. I will be a witness as well," Rale answered.
"At worst, we can just tell the truth that we weren't even here at the time of this assault. It would be exposed that we were going out secretly, but you would be safe from blame," he continued.
Rale still didn't tell Ryder the whole truth. If Rale did tell the truth about them leaving, Rale would be the one leaving his position and possibly have execution, but he didn't tell Ryder that. Ryder's well being was most important to him.
Ryder didn't realize the depths that were involved. He was just relieved to know that he wasn't going to be fired. He was still going to try to keep everything under wraps, though. He still didn't wish to have things come out in the open. He was still going to try and cover-up.
At worst, he was going to tell the Second High Duke the truth since they were close to each other. He could take his help.
With the help of one High Duke, it was going to be safe.
Ryder kept flying through the corridor.
"There's more blood in this room," Rale suddenly exclaimed as he looked to the side.
Ryder stopped and turned back. He walked towards the room that Rale was looking at.
He kicked the door open and stepped inside.
"Sigh... More," Ryder muttered as he saw more dead bodies in the same condition
"Rale, the half Vampires go in thirst mode when they don't get blood for a long time. Shouldn't she be back to normal after she had blood? Why did she continue killing?" Ryder asked Rale.
"It's much easier to control the Vampire self from going crazy by giving your body blood once in a while, but it's different when they go crazy. Especially if it's their first time going through that."
"If it's their first time, they will go crazy, drink blood and return to normal. They think that they are fine, but it doesn't last even two hours. If they don't drink blood in the next two hours, they lose complete control over themselves and become bloodthirsty," Rale answered.
"So she can't return now?" Ryder asked.
"She can, but it's uncertain how long her bloodthirst will last. It might be over in a day, or it can last for weeks. It's different for everyone," Rale muttered as he sighed.