With a soft groan, she opened her red eyes. The first thing she felt was the warmth of the sheets covering her. She was no longer beneath the snow, as she remembered being before passing out.
The fire from a fireplace caught her attention to the right. She was lying on a small, very soft mattress placed on the floor, wrapped in red sheets.
'Didn't I die…?' she wondered. She shifted her gaze toward the voices echoing through the room several meters away.
Near the entrance, Irene kept her head lowered as she listened to her father.
"Just be careful. I don't want anything to happen to you, Irene."
"Yes."
"What's wrong? Did you get sick?" he asked as he placed one hand on Irene's shoulder.
She flinched backward, causing Ronel to pull his hand away.
"N-no, I'm fine. Just… thinking. Thank you, Father. I'd like to go rest now, if I may."
She turned around and left the room. Ronel didn't quite understand, but he decided to let her go.
"Rynelle, do you know if something happened to her?"
"No, Your Majesty. She's just tired."
"I see… Well, I've already left my maids in charge of our guest. There are also guards patrolling the corridors; let's hope she wakes up tomorrow."
Rynelle glanced sideways at the woman's body.
"You may take the night shift. I have some important matters to attend to; I'll be in my office."
"Yes. Have a good night, Your Majesty," Rynelle said, placing a hand over her chest and giving a slight bow.
When both of them left the room, the woman waited about three minutes before hurriedly getting up. She left the mattress behind and rushed toward the door Irene had exited through.
She peeked out cautiously to make sure no one was in the corridors, then ran at high speed. Her footsteps made no sound, and she moved through the halls with remarkable agility.
She followed Irene's scent. When she reached the third floor, where Irene's room was located, she hurried toward the door—but before she could reach it, Rynelle slammed into her with a front kick, pinning her against the wall.
The woman groaned, gripping Rynelle's ankle as it pressed into her abdomen. She had entered through one of the windows.
"What a curious guest. Did you get lost on your way to the bathroom, sweetheart?" she asked in a sarcastic tone, without losing her calm, cold expression.
The red-eyed woman smiled despite the pain. Rynelle raised an eyebrow when she noticed her fangs.
"A vampire. I was wondering why your footsteps were so quiet."
"Were you following me?"
She groaned as she felt Rynelle's foot press down harder against her stomach.
"Not really. I just heard someone moving through the halls."
"I-I don't want to cause trouble. I just wanted to thank the girl who helped me."
"Wow, how considerate. I'm deeply moved."
"Rynelle?"
"Huh? Princess? It's dangerous for you to be here right now. Why are you outside your room?"
Rynelle stopped pressing down on the vampire's stomach, and she fell to her knees, coughing. Irene stepped behind her friend and replied:
"I actually wanted to talk to her. I didn't think she'd already woken up."
The woman lifted her head and said:
"So you're the princess…," Irene looked at her as Rynelle frowned. "You're still so young. Now I understand the innocence behind your kindness."
"What do you mean?" Irene asked.
"Helping a slave. Or perhaps I'm so used to punishment that I mistake your kindness for innocence."
She stood up, leaning against the wall, and continued:
"Either way, I wanted to thank you, Princess. My name is Hanami. I think it's only fair to at least give you that."
Rynelle confronted her with a question:
"Why weren't you with your owner? Running away from the one who bought you is a very serious crime."
"My owners… died. They were attacked by their own enemies. They intended to take us as well, but I ran away. I no longer had a chain keeping me from running."
"Judging by the wounds you arrived with, it doesn't seem like escaping was easy," Irene commented.
"…No."
Silence filled the air.
Irene decided to break the uncomfortable tension.
"What should we do, Rynelle?"
"You will return to your room. I'll take care of her. Once I'm sure she's not a spy, I'll come see you. I recommend you go to sleep now."
Before she was taken away, Hanami smiled, accepting the decision, and spoke to Irene in a gentle tone:
"Thank you for saving my life. I'll go with her—but don't worry, I won't take advantage of your girlfriend," she said with a wink.
"Move," Rynelle said, pushing her from behind.
Irene remained there, watching as both of them disappeared down the corridor. Hanami intrigued her, but she knew she couldn't go where danger awaited. So she obeyed Rynelle and returned to her room.
◇◆◇
In the days that followed, she heard nothing about that vampire—as if she had left no trace behind. Whenever she asked Rynelle, she was told that Hanami had simply left the castle of her own accord. In time, they both returned to their daily routine.
Irene was in her etiquette classes, thinking about what had happened days earlier. She had completely pushed it out of her mind, but on that particular day, her name resurfaced.
'Hanami,' she thought as she gazed out the window. 'She was a slave. Could it be…?'
Her eyelids relaxed as her heart stirred with worry. She didn't want to finish the thought, but she knew exactly what it implied. Had her father imprisoned her beneath the castle?
Images of that moment flooded her mind—Rynelle even lying to her so she wouldn't worry, knowing about her inner conflict over slavery beneath the castle.
'She would never lie to me… It's our promise as friends. Trust blindly in me, and I'll trust blindly in you. She wouldn't break that promise… right?'
Her name had been called for quite some time, but when she didn't respond, her teacher Helga walked over and struck her firmly on the head with a rolled-up sheet of paper.
Irene yelped, clutching her head and crouching down. Her pink ears folded downward as she lifted her teary gaze toward her teacher.
"That hurt…" she said in a tender, whimpering voice.
"A lady of royalty must learn proper behavior, and wearing a gloomy expression while ignoring others will only bring you trouble. Focus on class, or you'll never get married."
'Rotten old hag,' Irene thought as Helga turned her back.
◇◆◇
When night fell and all her classes were over, she returned to her room yawning. Tears streamed down the sides of her eyes.
"I'm so sleepy… At least I can eat like a real queen and not just order food on my phone or buy instant noodles. I'm surprised I didn't gain weight back when I was Iris."
"What are you muttering about?"
Irene screamed in surprise, slamming her back against the wall. Rynelle was sitting on the window frame, legs together, a posture that accentuated her feminine poise.
"D-don't just appear out of nowhere all the time! Stupid Rynelle! Stupid elf!"
Rynelle chuckled softly, full of charm.
"You're so jumpy. I like seeing you scream," she replied, looking at her with that intense yet flirtatious expression.
Irene adjusted her clothes and straightened her posture as Rynelle stepped down from the window frame and walked toward her.
"So? Who were you talking to?"
"No one important. I was just thinking up dialogue for my novel."
"That protagonist named Iris?"
"Yes. I'm still working on the draft."
"Hmmm," Rynelle murmured with curiosity.
"W-what?" Irene asked, hugging her arms to her chest and shrinking back nervously.
"Nothing."
"In any case," she shifted to a calmer tone, "I want to ask you something."
Rynelle clasped her hands behind her waist, fingers interlaced.
"I'm listening."
"Have you lied to me about anything these past few days?"
Rynelle stared straight into her eyes; then she smiled and said:
"Always so direct—I like that. And the answer is no. I'd rather see you angry at me than have to lie to you. What made you doubt me? It was about Hanami, wasn't it?"
"Yes. I thought maybe you wanted to hide the truth so I wouldn't keep thinking about leaving the castle."
"I understand. Thank you for telling me, Irene, but my answer is still the same: I didn't lie to you about that. And if you ever left the castle, I already told you—my loyalty would go with you. Even beyond these walls, I'd follow you. So stop being a silly little fox and trust me."
Rynelle accompanied those words with a gentle pat on Irene's head. She lowered her gaze as her little ears folded down and her tail swayed.
'I'm supposed to be the older one—the one who should protect her,' Irene thought, smiling with pleasure as her cheeks flushed.
Before she realized it, Irene had adopted a very submissive posture under the caresses. Her arms were bent, her fingers—now clenched into fists—held near her neck.
After parting ways with Rynelle, Irene took a long bath in her room. She used her bubble bath to relax and wash all her worries away.
When she stepped out of the bath, smelling of cleanliness and a conditioner with sweet, feminine scents, she wore her pajamas, ready for bed. Unaware that her bedroom window was open, she walked while drying her pink hair, passing by a woman seated on the window, partially concealed by crimson curtains.
As she lifted one knee onto the bed, the woman spoke:
"What a delicious scent."
"Kya!"
"Something from the finest nobility. It would be so… delightful to smell like this every day," she said with a coquettish smile, her reddish eyes glowing beneath the full moon's light.
"H-Hanami!"