Supreme Hunter of Beautiful Souls

Chapter 590: There is another matter.

The silence that followed Kael’s answer did not truly seem to end. It only changed shape, becoming less an emptiness and more a heavy layer over the table. Elizabeth kept her eyes closed for several seconds, as if she needed to force her own heart to accept a possibility her mind already understood. Liza remained still, but the stiffness in her shoulders revealed that each word had cost more than her posture allowed her to show.

Kael watched the two of them for a moment before turning his gaze back to the folder.

"There is another matter."

Liza opened her eyes.

"What?"

"If Vlad still carries part of this lineage command, keeping him imprisoned solves only the immediate problem." Kael touched the cover of the folder with two fingers. "It does not eliminate the weapon."

Amelia, who still had the documents before her, slowly raised her gaze. Irelia also understood the direction of his reasoning. Sylphie remained still beside Kael, but her green eyes already showed that she had understood before everyone else.

Liza intertwined her fingers over the table.

"The royal command can be isolated."

"Isolated is not destroyed."

"Destroying it is not simple."

"I did not say it was."

Elizabeth opened her eyes and stared at Kael.

"What are you suggesting?"

Kael looked at her.

"That perhaps the problem is not only who stands at the top of the chain."

The room grew even quieter.

Violet, behind Liza, narrowed her eyes minimally. To any ordinary person, that would have meant nothing. To Amelia, it meant the royal commander had just heard something that touched directly on one of the most untouchable foundations of vampiric society.

Liza spoke first.

"Be careful with your next words."

Kael held her gaze without changing.

"I am always careful."

Sylphie slowly turned her face toward him.

Irelia coughed discreetly.

Amelia closed her eyes for an instant.

Kael sighed.

"Sometimes."

Liza did not smile, but something in her eyes indicated that the answer had not gone unnoticed.

Kael continued:

"If there is an invisible chain of hierarchy connecting creator and created, father and child, lineage and origin, then anyone who manages to steal the top of that chain can try to use the entire people as a weapon. Today it was Vlad. Tomorrow it could be Liza. Then Elizabeth. Then some original vampire hidden in a tomb, some ancient artifact, or another organization with better methods."

Elizabeth went rigid.

"You are talking about breaking the lineages."

"I am talking about breaking the part that allows forced command."

Liza looked at him as if Kael had just suggested setting the moon on fire.

"That hierarchy is not only political. It is in the blood."

"Then it needs to be studied through blood."

"It is the foundation of our species."

"Perhaps that is exactly the problem."

The temperature in the room seemed to fall.

One of the guards by the wall moved almost imperceptibly, not enough to threaten, but enough for Violet to turn her face in his direction. The soldier froze in the same instant. No words were needed. The royal commander had reminded everyone that this room was still a meeting room, not a battlefield.

Liza did not look away from Kael.

"Do you understand what you are saying?"

"I do."

"You are suggesting vampires should give up a structure that has existed since the first of us."

"No. I am suggesting you discover whether that structure can continue existing without being a leash."

Elizabeth fell silent.

The word seemed to strike more deeply than the previous accusation.

Leash.

It was exactly what Kael had said before, and no one had denied it. The hierarchy of blood could be tradition, bond, family, order, and inheritance. But it could also be obedience, dominion, and weapon. It depended on who held the top.

Sylphie then spoke, calmly.

"In nature, roots connect trees, fungi, seeds, and entire forests. They carry nourishment, warning, memory, and balance. But a root that only strangles ceases to be a bond and becomes a prison."

Liza turned her eyes to her.

Sylphie held the queen’s gaze.

"Perhaps vampiric lineages do not need to be destroyed. Perhaps they need to be healed."

Amelia tilted her head, thoughtful.

"Healing an ancestral magical structure of blood obedience would be... difficult to explain in political terms."

Irelia added:

"And almost impossible to approve among ancient clans."

Kael looked at them.

"Then we do not start by asking ancient clans for approval."

Liza raised an eyebrow.

"That sounds like the beginning of a civil crisis."

"Not if done the wrong way."

"And do you know how to do it the right way?"

"No."

Kael’s honesty made Elizabeth blink.

He continued, without any embarrassment:

"But I know that pretending the problem does not exist will create another crisis regardless. The Order of the First Blood tried to steal the command of vampires because it knew it could be stolen. That means that, if you do not understand this vulnerability better than your enemies, someone will try again."

Liza remained silent for several seconds.

This time, she did not look offended. She looked like she was thinking.

Amelia opened the folder again and leafed through a few pages.

"There are records here of rituals used to amplify Vlad’s authority. Some involve royal blood, others lineage seals and fragments of ancestral bones. That means the Order did not dominate the chain out of nothing. It found pressure points."

"Points that perhaps already existed," Irelia said.

Elizabeth took a deep breath.

"Or points my father showed them."

No one answered.

Liza closed her eyes for an instant, and when she opened them, her expression was colder.

"Violet."

The commander took a step forward.

"Your Majesty."

"Send an order to the Crimson Vault. I want all records of succession rituals, blood bonds, royal seals, and obedience ceremonies since Alistair’s reign."

Violet did not hesitate.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Elizabeth looked at her mother.

"Those records are forbidden even to members of the royal family without full authorization."

"I know."

"Some clans will consider this a profanation."

Liza stared at her daughter.

"Some clans considered the execution of traitors a profanation. Some considered memorials for dead children a weakness. Some considered treaties with humans a humiliation. I am running out of patience for basing decisions on the pride of corpses who still breathe."

The sentence cut through the room with precision.

Kael observed Liza attentively. For an instant, he understood why she had survived the hell where she had been kept. It was not merely royal beauty or ancient blood. There was in her a cold will, hardened by pain, willing to sacrifice even what she still loved if that kept the kingdom from sinking.

Sylphie noticed his gaze and squeezed his hand under the table.

Kael did not look at her, but murmured low:

"Do not start."

"I did not say anything," Sylphie answered in the same tone.

"You squeezed my hand with jealousy."

"My hand expresses political vigilance."

Irelia lowered her face to hide a smile.

Amelia turned a page of the folder with absolute calm, as if she had heard nothing.

Liza, however, heard. Her eyes passed briefly over Sylphie, then Kael. There was no provocation in her expression, only a discreet understanding of the dynamic around him.

"I see your personal court is... attentive."

Kael released a sigh.

"Unfortunately."

Sylphie smiled.

"Fortunately."

Elizabeth, despite the pain still evident, almost seemed to laugh. The sound did not come, but something in her face relaxed for half a second before disappearing. Perhaps it was good to remember that the world could still be absurd even while collapsing.

Amelia resumed the matter.

"If the records are delivered to the Kingdom of Witches, I recommend they be copied in three versions. One for Liza, one for Eleonor, and a third sealed by both kingdoms. That prevents future accusations of alteration."

Liza nodded.

"I agree."

Irelia added:

"And if there is research into the hunger, it cannot begin directly with created blood. First we need to understand what vampiric blood seeks. Memory? Mana? Vitality? Bond? Perhaps the solution is not a perfect imitation."

Sylphie looked at her.

"Perhaps it is a bridge."

Kael turned his face.

"A bridge?"

Sylphie nodded.

"If blood carries life, memory, and mana, perhaps it is not necessary to copy human or vampiric blood. Perhaps it is possible to create a substance living enough to answer the instinct, but without carrying dominion, slavery, or a bond to a real person."

Liza went still.

Elizabeth looked at Sylphie with surprise.

Amelia slowly returned her attention to her.

Kael studied Sylphie’s face for a few seconds.

"You are thinking of sap."

Sylphie shrugged.

"Not exactly sap. But something close. A living natural base, enriched with mana, neutral memory, and vitality. Something that feeds the ancestral part without requiring a victim."

The entire room seemed to hold its breath.

Liza leaned slightly forward.

"Is that possible?"

Sylphie remained silent for a moment.

"I do not know. Yggdrasil would know better."

Kael closed his eyes.

"Of course she would."

Irelia murmured:

"She is going to hate being involved in this."

"She already hates me a little," Kael said.

Sylphie smiled.

"She does not hate you."

"She drank because of me."

"That is different."

Amelia commented, without raising her eyes:

"I am not sure that makes it better."

Elizabeth looked between them, clearly not understanding the full extent of that story. Liza also seemed curious, but had the good sense not to ask why the World Tree had drunk because of Kael Scarlet. Some information was perhaps too dangerous for a first diplomatic meeting.

Kael faced Liza again.

"I can take this possibility to Eleonor. And Sylphie can take it to Yggdrasil."

Sylphie immediately turned to him.

"I can?"

"You can."

"You are voluntarily asking for her help?"

"I am trying to be mature."

"That is new."

"Do not abuse it."

Liza observed the two of them for a few seconds before speaking.

"If Yggdrasil becomes involved, even indirectly, the ancient clans will have no way to treat the proposal as mere witch manipulation."

Amelia nodded.

"But it may also frighten them. Vampires deal poorly with primordial forces they do not control."

Kael let out a short laugh.

"Everyone deals poorly with primordial forces they do not control."

Sylphie looked at him.

"You invaded one."

"I said everyone. I included myself."

Irelia smiled faintly.

"At least he knows."

The tension finally diminished a little. It did not disappear, because there were too many documents, too many dead, and too many truths on the table. But the conversation had found a path. A narrow path, dangerous and surrounded by blades, but still a path.

Violet returned a few minutes later, accompanied by two servants carrying black boxes sealed with silver chains. Each of them had red runes pulsing slowly, as if something inside them breathed. The servants placed them on a side table and retreated.

Violet bowed.

"The records from the Crimson Vault will be brought in stages. These are the first volumes authorized by the royal key."

Liza nodded.

"Thank you."

Elizabeth kept looking at the boxes.

"Mother."

Liza turned to her.

"You do not need to stay."

The princess took a deep breath.

For an instant, she seemed tempted to accept. There was too much pain in that room. Every document could contain one more piece of the father she would lose forever. Every seal could confirm that the story she wanted to remember was less true than she needed it to be.

Then Elizabeth sat straighter.

"I need to."

Liza observed her in silence.

Elizabeth held her mother’s gaze.

"If I keep protecting a memory that perhaps never existed the way I wanted, I will become useful to those who lied to me. I do not want that."

Liza’s expression softened just enough to reveal pride.

"Then stay."

Kael observed Elizabeth for a few seconds and nodded discreetly, without saying anything. It was not comfort. It was recognition. Sometimes, remaining before the truth required more courage than wielding a sword.

Amelia pulled the first box closer.

"May I?"

Liza raised her hand. A drop of blood appeared on the tip of her finger and fell onto the main seal. The chains came loose with a low snap. The air inside the room became heavier immediately, loaded with ancient mana, dried blood, and oaths buried for centuries.

Sylphie shivered.

Kael noticed.

"What is it?"

"These boxes have memory."

Liza looked at her.

"Ancient vampiric records do not hold only words."

The lid opened slowly.

Inside, there were dark parchments, small vials of crystallized blood, lineage medallions, and thin plates engraved with names in an ancient language. Amelia carefully took the first parchment, unrolled it, and began to read.

Her expression changed before she even finished the first column.

"Kael."

He looked at her.

Amelia placed the parchment on the table and turned it so he could see.

"There is a name repeated here."

Kael leaned in.

Liza did too.

Elizabeth held her breath.

In the lower corner of the record, among names of ancient counselors, ritual witnesses, and blood oaths, there was a discreet signature, almost erased by time. It was not Vlad. It was not Liza. It was not any vampiric clan Amelia had mentioned before.

Kael narrowed his eyes.

"This is not vampiric."

Sylphie looked at the symbol.

"It is not witchcraft either."

Irelia grew serious.

"Then what is it?"

Kael passed his fingers near the name without touching it.

The mana there was strange. Too ancient to be a simple forgery. Cold, but not dead. It seemed to have been written by someone who knew blood, but did not belong to it. By someone who had observed vampires from the outside for a very long time.

Liza stared at the signature.

For the first time since the beginning of the meeting, her voice lost part of its certainty.

"This seal appeared in the Order’s laboratories."

Elizabeth widened her eyes.

"Then they were already here before Vlad."

Kael slowly raised his gaze.

"Not only before Vlad."

He looked at the opened boxes, at the ancient records, at the vials of crystallized blood, and at the queen who had just realized that her kingdom’s wound was far older than she imagined.

"They have been here since the foundation of part of the royal lineage."

Silence fell again.

This time, it was not grief.

It was fear.

And, on the table, the ancient parchment seemed to wait patiently to prove that the Kingdom of Vampires had never been as free as it believed.