It was finally the day that Moriarty and his group were going to kidnap the Queen.

At the same time, it just so happened to be the kind of day where the castle was empty. There were no guards patrolling the halls and no servants moving about. There was literally none of the usual background noise that made the place feel alive. Everyone had already relocated to the academy, including us, which made things a lot more convenient than it probably should have been for Moriarty.

Sara had already told me ahead of time that they were on the move and were about to carry out the kidnapping. Her timing was precise, and everything lined up exactly the way we planned it.

So when we returned to the castle, there was no surprise waiting for me. The Queen was already gone.

And in her place stood someone else.

Sara.

She had already taken over perfectly the appearance of the Queen. Since the Queen’s blood had been prepared beforehand on the automaton, Sara used it without hesitation and transformed as the Queen. Her transformation was clean, accurate, and honestly unsettling if you looked too closely. Every detail was there, down to the smallest nuance. If someone didn’t already know, they wouldn’t even question it.

We exchanged blows for a brief moment, just enough to sell the situation.

I made sure my actions carried weight as well, as I grabbed her and slammed her head into the floor, hard enough to make it look convincing, and did it multiple times. Anyone watching would think I was seriously trying to kill her. Still, there was no real malice behind it. Everything was controlled, calculated, and intentional.

Right then, appearances mattered more than anything.

Claire was watching, after all.

She was observing everything carefully, paying attention to how Sara reacted and how I handled the situation. That kind of scrutiny meant I couldn’t afford even the smallest mistake.

Being aware of her presence made things easier since I had memorized her presence already. Even from a distance, I could pick her out without much effort. Her position, her focus... all of it stood out once I knew where to look.

Once I confirmed that she had already left, I moved without wasting time.

I took Sara down to the dungeon and immediately had her drink my blood.

The effect was instant on her, which was surprising.

Her injuries disappeared in a way that almost didn’t feel natural. It was like something inside her body recognized the damage and corrected it immediately. The speed of it was ridiculous. If someone blinked at the wrong moment, they would completely miss the transition. One second she was injured, the next she looked perfectly fine, like nothing had ever happened.

"Are you alright?" I asked.

"Never been better! It tastes really good! But... I want the other one," she said, her eyes drifting down toward my cock without hesitation.

Her interest was obvious. And I mean, way too obvious.

She seemed more excited about drinking my cum than my blood, which, honestly, felt a little ridiculous considering she was supposed to be a vampire. Priorities, I guess.

Still, it made me pause and think for a second. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

There was something about it that stood out.

Something about my cum. Or more specifically, about the fluids in my body. Sweat didn’t count, obviously, but most of the rest did. My sperm and my blood especially.

When Sara drank my semen before, she healed at the exact same rate as when she drank my blood. The effect wasn’t weaker or slower. It was the same.

That confirmed what I had been thinking.

It wasn’t just my semen that carried a strong life force. It was most of my bodily fluids in general. Blood, sperm, anything along those lines seemed to have the same effect, more or less.

"Well, let’s not focus on that right now. I can give you my cum later. For now, everything seems to be going according to plan," I said.

"That’s because you’re the best!" she replied without missing a beat.

Her tone was bright, almost too cheerful considering everything that had just happened.

"You did well earlier. You played your part perfectly. You even managed to take down the automaton knights I placed beside the Queen," I continued.

Those knights that she killed weren’t real humans.

They were automatons too. I had placed them there intentionally, partly as an extra layer of security, and partly to make the whole setup feel more believable. The design wasn’t rushed either. I made sure they looked as their human counterpart as possible, which by the way have been drugged and was taken into somewhere hidden, down to the smallest detail.

Even Myrcella didn’t notice anything off about them and her mother. Their structure, their movements, even the blood they carried all felt real.

At this point, the level of realism had reached a point where even careful observation wouldn’t easily reveal the truth. Anyone looking at them would just assume they were normal people.

"Now then... I guess the plan is already in motion," I said with a faint smile forming on my face.

***

After that, I went to Myrcella and explained the next step.

I told her that we should ambush them at the location where they were planning to kill the Queen. Setting up a trap there would give us the best chance to stop the execution before it even happened.

It sounded simple enough.

Still, something felt off.

Myrcella’s expression didn’t change much, but there was a certain look in her eyes that made it clear she had already figured something out. Her expression, which was very worried and anxious, started to turn into something much more into an understanding, as if something was starting to dawn on her.

Until it all clicked right there inside her head.

"Leon..." she said quietly. "Tell me, the person who has been with us this whole time... that isn’t my mother, is it?"

There was no hesitation in her voice.

She sounded sure.

That alone caught me off guard. My reaction was small, but noticeable. My eyes widened just slightly.

Lilia and Veronica clearly hadn’t expected that.

"Wait, what?" Lilia said, her confusion obvious. "What do you mean, Princess?"

"Fufufufu... looks like we’ve been played completely by Leon," Myrcella said with a soft laugh. "Just how far ahead were you thinking? You even managed to tame that woman, Leon?"

She even brought up Sara.

That part surprised me more than anything else.

Sara wasn’t exactly easy to deal with. Calling her tame felt like an overstatement, but Myrcella seemed convinced.

"Leon? Is that true?" Lilia asked again, still trying to process everything.

Her expression made it clear she didn’t understand what was going on at all.

Right now, she looked completely lost.

"Well, I guess you figured it out. I’m honestly impressed you managed to piece that together, Myrcella," I admitted.

"Of course. I’ve been watching you this entire time," she said. "It wasn’t easy to figure out. There were moments where something felt off and times where I felt like I wasn’t really with you, even though you were standing right next to me. But in reality, during those moments, I was with Sara instead, wasn’t I?"

She paused briefly, letting that sink in.

"And what really confirmed it for me was knowing that Sara has the ability to change her appearance."

Her reasoning was sharp.

Every detail she pointed out lined up perfectly with the truth.

There were no gaps in her logic.

It was honestly impressive.

I had expected her to figure it out eventually, but this fast was something else entirely.