To His Hell and Back-Chapter 173: Princess’s Quirk-I

With all her might Arabella had rejected the offer given by Princess Isabelle to no avail as eventually she had found herself being pressured into following the Princess to the guest’s quarter where the princess now house herself in. The room she has stayed on was beautiful. Maybe the word beautiful was an understatement with how sparkly the room was with crystal ornaments hung on the ceiling that glimmered like stars as the sunlight warmly hit the crystals from the window.

"Welcome, Bella," Isabelle said happily as she turned to look at the servant who seemed to be furrowing his eyebrows in worry.

Arabella saw this and had also noticed that this man with the long hair tied to his left shoulder seemed to be the closest servant to Princess Isabelle. His name is Ernath, a butler in his late twenties who is also a pureblood vampire. But the butler wasn’t happy when Isabelle had asked her to come to her room for lunch. Instead he had shown his discomfort and even said it aloud to the Princess to which Isabelle denied with a frown.

Having no other way of stopping the Princess, Ernath now stared at Arabella as if she was a sore thumb and she could feel his gaze burning holes to her back as she slowly walked to sit in the chair that Isabelle had offered her, the one near the window.

"I... think this is too much," expressed Arabella which Isabelle answered with an eager shake of her head.

"Please, this is far from too much. I know how it’s not normal in Versailles but for many other kingdom humans and vampires have a rather strong bond. We are all creatures trying to survive in this world, no one is lesser as no one is above," explained the princess which made her green eyes light up.

"I saw a princess who was close with humans," she said, "Is that normal in your kingdom, Your Highness?"

"I suppose it is? We have also legalized marriage between vampires and humans long ago but Versailles is quite different, marriages between humans and vampires are often looked down, targeted by both the humans and vampires as a taboo," Princess Isabelle then turned to Ernath and smiled, "You can leave."

"Princess-"

"I won’t say it the second time," a cold tone interrupted Ernath’s words which came from the princess. It was a stark contrast to her earlier warmer voice which she had used to talk to her.

Though hesitant eventually the butler left, his gaze lingering on Arabella as he left as if he was warning her.

"Where were we again?" Isabelle asked her.

She turned back at her and smiled, "Human marriage with vampires."

"Right," Isabelle continued, "I heard when the current king marry queen Morgana there was also an uproar since she was a human. Fortunately she agreed to be turned to a vampire so they could commence the wedding."

Arabella looked at the princess with a hum, "The Queen turned herself into a vampire due to the law?"

"Yes, even though the king could have changed the law, he said he needed to preserve the ancient rule and its heritage," Isabelle said with a hint of iciness that Arabella failed to pick up. Arabella knew that Queen Morgana turned herself to a vampire but she had always thought because Queen Morgana dislike her human side. But it seems to be deeper than that as the Queen knew that she couldn’t raise her rank if she remains a human, eventually abandoning humanity for what’s better for her.

Princess Isabelle who had been watching her expression softened her lips, "Never mind that. Eat, Bella. You must have been hungry from the shock."

Arabella looked at the lavished food in front of her which was made only for the princess. For her to have this honor was rather impressive and she would have hesitated if not for how warm Isabelle had been towards her, readily welcoming her to eat and even offering more.

Arabella ate a little more than enough so she wouldn’t upset the princess for refusing the food but also enough not to be greedy for opportunity. Then when she stopped, she spoke to the princess, "Thank you again for saving me."

A light chuckle passed from the princess’s lips, "You have such pretty voice, Bella. So cute."

"Ah?" Arabella turned shy, not knowing what to answer. But Isabelle does sound sincere and it’s been a long time since someone had complimented her, "Your voice is far beautiful than mine, your highness."

"Oh hardly, you must be very humble to think that way," Isabelle shrugged as she leaned forward on the round table, having not eaten anything but watch Arabella who had been eating. At first Arabella felt awkward from the piercing gaze but gradually grew used to it.

Feeling awkward, Arabella couldn’t stand the silence any longer. The princess had been staring her and though the stare was more of fondness than the usual malice she would feel from other vampires, being stared at for so long eventually made her nerves stiff and she began to wreck her mind for a way to ease the mood.

She then thought of starting a trivia question, asking the kind princess who seems so willing to answer her questions, "How could a human become a vampire?"

"You’re interested?" Isabelle’s eyes widened slightly. "But you’re more adorable as a human."

Human, adorable?

She shook her head, "I’m just curious; I did see some vampires who was turned from humans but they weren’t a lot."

"It’s because the process could be deadly with around a quarter chance of death," Isabelle explained to her, leaning back to the chair as she smiled. "There are a few things needed for the ritual to become a vampire to take place. First, a pureblood whose blood is purer and had never been contaminated. There are a few but not all of them are really good at controlling the ritual. Then the pureblood would have to drink the human’s blood whilst transferring venom from their fangs to here," she tapped her neck, "Once the human awoken, they would need to drink the pureblood’s blood and if they weren’t able to do so in a count of a week, they will turn deranged. Some humans react badly with the venom and died. Some humans instead got their entire blood dried from their body by the vampire. There are ways that the ritual would instead be damaged so it’s not always been a chosen method."

"That ritual sounds deadly. But there are still people who would do it," muttered Arabella with an amazed hum. Seems like Queen Morgana had gambled with her life and won, perhaps that was why she felt even greedier after escaping death.

"True but rather than deadly vampire used to see this as romantic. You see, in the past this ritual of turning human into vampires were done so a vampire human lover could live longer and die with them," Isabelle tapped the table with her finger, her nails only a thin thread away from touching Arabella’s little pinky. "It was known as a sacred ceremony."

Arabella, unaware of this had all her attention focused on what Isabelle had said, daring to ask even more, "To wage death for love- that sounds like a fairytale."

"Why?" The princess chuckled. "Because it sounds too romantic?"

She shook her head, "I think it’s lovely. But these days you can’t find someone who would truly love you enough to gamble their own life for you."

"Right," Isabelle smiled as their eyes met, her crimson gaze stirred as she nodded, "Have you ever felt that you could die for someone else? Someone who you truly love? Someone who you would... sacrifice your future just for their sake?" ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom

Arabella blinked and when those question registered in her head, a man’s face faintly appeared inside her mind, one that was so familiar.... Cassius.