The wedding preparation

The next morning, Dahlia banged at Raziel's room door a few times before the prince opened it for her.

"I thought as future Duchess, you'd be taught some manners." Raziel said, frowning at her.

"I heard from one of your servants that we will be getting married in three days. In fact your king was the one who asked her to tell me that." Dahlia said, fuming. But the annoying prince was still very calm.

"Then you should be confronting him not me." Raziel told her.

Dahlia narrowed her gaze at him suspiciously. "Be honest with me prince Raziel. Are you in love with me?"

"What?!"

"Because that is the only logical explanation as to why you are not freaking out right now. I don't want to be tied to you in marriage for my parent's selfish reason."

"You have repeated that over and over again. I said I am not getting married to you."

"What are you going to do that day? Standing me up in front of everyone like you did your new queen?" She couldn't help but chuckle a little as she thought of that. "I am not ready for that kind of embarrassment."

"Then don't attend."

"I should not attend my wedding?"

"That's your decision to make."

Dahlia then became serious. "I am sure you know the consequence of disobeying the blood oath. You might die."

"Why are you so bothered about me dying?"

Dahlia rolled her eyes. "Because I am not heartless."

"You may leave now. I have somewhere to be."

"You mean you are going to see Red?" Dahlia teased. "You like her, don't you?"

"You can move out of my room now young lady."

"I am not even in." Dahlia said with a roll of her eyes before leaving.

******

Elric was taken aback when someone showed him the photograph of a girl they claimed was missing, and it happened to be Freya. Who would be searching for her? He suspected that it would be Lord Kruger. The bastard was not satisfied after what he did to the family. Elric wished he could see him, and squeeze the life out of him.

When he got to his mansion, he asked for Freya, but Alice said she was in her room, and had not stepped out all day.

"Is she okay?"

"Apart from the fact that she doesn't talk much and is easily startled, yes she's okay." Alice answered.

"Call her, and send her to the living room."

"Yes your grace."

Soon Alice came back, with Freya behind her. She bowed in greeting when she saw the Duke.

"Your grace."

Elric smiled a little. "There is no need for the formalities. Sit."

Freya sat down, a little far from where he sat.

"Are you alright?"

She nodded.

"Did you have anything to eat?"

"Alice would not let me be if I didn't eat." She reported.

"That's good then." He then became serious. "Some People are searching for you."

Freya eyes widened, and her body became tensed. She was visibly afraid.

"You have nothing to worry about. As long as you don't leave the mansion. And if you must leave, you mustn't go alone. Tell Alice, she will know what to do." Elric said to her.

"Thank you Duke Elric." She was still scared, but she felt better knowing she was protected. She could not imagine them finding her, and taking her back to Lord Kruger's mansion. She could not endure more torture.

"Duke Elric, is there any news on my sister?"

"Not yet Freya. But we are doing all that we can to find her."

Freya nodded. "Duke Elric, do you still love my sister?"

"Huh? Love? Did I ever say that?"

"No you didn't. But even a blind person could see that you were heads over heels in love with Lucy." Freya said.

"Freya..."

"You cannot deny it your grace."

"I wasn't going to." Elric said. "I kind of knew that I was terrible at hiding it. And yes, I am still very much in love with Luciana, and I miss her everyday."

Freya smiled a little at what he said.

"Did she ever love me?" Elric then asked her. He suddenly regretted it, because he was quite certain he would get a disappointing answer.

"Duke Elric, I can't say for sure that Lucy loved you." Freya began, but Elric showed no reaction. "But I was certain that she liked you. If she wasn't so focused on studying and making money to assist the family, she would have considered you. My sister had dreams, and she believed that marriage would limit her."

Elric chuckled. That he already knew. He couldn't count how many times he told her that he would never limit her, he would let her be who she was, and do what she liked. But Luciana was Luciana.

Elric then frowned when he remembered something.

"Freya why did no one ever mention your father's debts to me?"

"It was because of Lucy. She thought you had done enough for her, and she didn't want to come running to you any time we had a problem. And she believed she'd be able to save enough to pay off the debts. Honestly she tried. The money was almost complete. It was remaining just a few gold coins."

Elric ran his hands through his hair, a little frustrated. If Luciana had just told him, this wouldn't have happened to them.

"I didn't do much for her. I wonder why she always believed that."

"My sister believed in fending for herself. She didn't want to depend on or burden anyone." Freya said.

"Your sister was many things, but being a burden is not one of it."

"I hope you end up getting what you want Duke Elric."

"Thank you Freya."

*******

Days went by fast, and soon it was a day to Dahlia and Raziel's wedding. Even though Raziel had repeatedly reassured Dahlia that he was not going to marry her, she still couldn't help but be worried, especially because of the blood ritual.

She decided to step outside for a bit. Then she came in contact with the red haired human, standing in front of the castle. She walked up to her.

"Red."

Luciana turned to see the 'prince's fiancee' as everyone believed, coming to her.

"Good morning Lady Dahlia."

"What are you doing standing here all by yourself?" Dahlia asked.

"I thought to leave the castle for a while. I have been couped up in there." Luciana answered. "How is your wedding preparation going?"

"You are aware that I don't plan on getting married to him." Dahlia stated.

"Yes. Are you worried that he will not keep to his words, and you will end up being forced to marry him?"

Dahlia nodded nervously. "My parents are coming today."

"Are you thinking of running away?" Luciana asked.

Dahlia gave her a side glance, wondering how she knew. "Yes."

"Sometimes I wish to run away from my problems too." Luciana said. But the only way to run away from her problem was to end her life. If only she could be selfish enough to just do it.

"But trust the prince. He has something up his sleeves."

"Why do you trust him?" Dahlia asked.

"I can't say I trust him fully, but he has not given me a reason not to." Luciana said. "The prince could be stubborn at times, but I believe he is a person that keeps to his words."

Dahlia gave the human a long look before nodding. Somehow she felt reassured. What she had to bother about now was how to deal with her parents when they find out. She had her wealth back, so if anything goes wrong, she was ready to flee. She had Raziel keep them for her.

The night came quickly, and Dahlia went to meet her parents to confess to them that she wasn't getting married to the prince. What was the worse that could happen?

"What do you mean Dahlia? Today is your wedding day, and you can't back out now. We invited a lot of guests already. This will bring disgrace to our family." Her mother scolded.

"I begged you people to let me pick my own husband. I am a vampire, I don't age. I don't know what the rush is about." She complained.

"We want you to marry someone very influential, who can handle running our Dukedom, and prince Raziel is the person for that. But now you want to ruin everything." Her father yelled at her.

"Why can't I be the one to run it? Why must it be one man that comes from somewhere else, and might not even care about the interest of our people? I have trained for this. I know the in and out of our politics like I know the back of my hands. I care for my people, I have learnt how to fight. Why am I still not qualified?" She yelled angrily.

Her father stared at her for a moment, before he landed a slap on her face.

"You are my daughter, and you will listen to me. Your husband will run our Dukedom."

Dahlia stared at him in anger for a while, before she decided to walk out, ignoring their calls.

Meanwhile Raziel went to meet his father who happened to be with his wife in their chamber.

"I came to speak to you about my wedding father." He said to the king, ignoring the other thing beside him.

"What is it about?"

"I know you have a lot of guests, but I would like the wedding to be private."

"Why?" His father asked.

"Personal reasons father."

The king nodded. He didn't even invite as much guests as he was supposed to, because of what happened when he was supposed to marry Evelyn.

"Okay." The king said.

"The wedding will be taking place first thing in the morning." Evelyn chimed in.

"I will see myself out father." He said, pretending Evelyn did not just say anything. He then went out.

"Don't you think he's acting suspicious?"

"I know." Mikael said. "But don't worry, I know what to do to make him surrender." The king said, and Evelyn smiled.

Meanwhile, Raziel snuck into Luciana's room from the window. She was sleeping already. He carefully searched everywhere, looking for something. But it was not until he checked under her bed that he found it.

Her vampire killing arrows. He took one of them, and left the room.