The Blood Countess
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Shalltear Bloodfallen POV (1)
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A luxurious, dark carriage glided down the paved roads of Velena at a steady pace, its rimmed wheels creating just the right amount of noise. Two magnificent horses, adorned with high-end magical artefacts, propelled the carriage forward under the guidance of a skilled coachman who handled the reins with greater finesse.
On the carriage's sides were four knights—mounted on horseback— acting as guards for the occupants within. They were powerful, anyone could assess that much, with perfectly crafted armour and weapons that spoke of legacy grade and higher.
Affiliated knights as opposed to the drunken riffraffs who liked to regale younglings with epics beyond their capabilities.
All in all, such a sight wasn't that rare in this city. Anyone with enough coin could commission a luxury carriage and a couple of escorts. In fact, that was how business folks and merchants got around in times when they fancied themselves nobility.
But if that were the case, why did this carriage attract more attention from bystanders than most? The answer was simple: it was more than just a carriage, as evident by the pure Star Silver-forged emblem at its focal point.
An emblem that belonged to one of the Nine great houses, and one of the few that still remained. The house of Bloodfallen, now led by the Countess Shalltear Bloodfallen who was known by many as the Bloody Valkyrie despite former heads favouring the discipline of Elemental Archery.
A discipline that had been the specialty of its founder, Lord Peroronchino. Of course, all this was in accordance to the old tomes in the archive section at the Grand Library. However what wasn't stated in those records was how much of a shameless pervert the founder was…
"This is taking forever…" Shalltear murmured with petulance, her crimson eyes peering out the transparent glass and into the wider streets where the common folk stood and watched her passing escort with awe filled eyes.
It was expected, of course. The Nine families held esteem and power that was only surpassed by the Liaqen House. And her household had ties in many different industries including construction, mercantile, the legionary order and other lesser fields.
They also dabbled in a forbidden line of magic, a practice that gave them limited access to the mystical research institution, and had strong ties to vampires due to their direct lineage to the True Ancestor.
What this meant was that everyone and their mothers, wanted to be retainers of her household. This was especially true in wealthier families who sought her hand in marriage—a not-so-clever way to link their bloodline to hers with the assured certainty that the offspring of such a union would be next head.
But Shalltear wanted her love life to be something romantic…and sang about. After all, if that overgrown harlot could do it then she could as well.
A troubling mindset to have, but she was still in the bloom of her youth.
Shalltear looked at the side streets again, and found that an Armar had arrived with his squad unit. She was honestly glad that she wouldn't have to suffer the people's meandering attempts to win her favour.
The city guard, the Trusties held the overeager masses at bay and allowed her undisturbed passage. And yet their travel still lingered, obedient to the speed regulations she had played a role in passing.
She sighed softly, promising herself to be a lot more disagreeable the next time around.
With a delicate manicured hand on her cheek, her boredom was evident even as she watched the blurring images of the magnificent infrastructure and the plethora of humanoid races that made up the vast population of Elgroth.
Yet even then, her exquisite beauty was unmarred by her petulant expression. Her long, platinum blonde hair, pinned from the side with a daisy encased in a state of absolute freshness through the clever cast of [Temporal Lock], still cascaded down her shoulders towards her rump. On her body she was garbed with a white corset dress with an open chest view that accentuated the perkiness of her breasts. The simple yet elegant dress matched well with her hair, and gave her a nice blended image of sultry and nobility.
Appropriate care was taken to ensure that the look wasn't impaired even with the gloom of boredom on her mood.
It also helped that the carriage she traveled in had been Dimensionally Distorted, giving its interior a much larger space than its exterior should naturally allow. Of course that wasn't the only enchantments the carriage boasted, but it was by far the most notable…
Having left her manor early in the morning, she had no time to have her breakfast. Thus on the way, her maid had ordered a myriad of pastries from one of the many bakeries in the market district. The commute from her manor to Velena Palace permitted that much time at the very least.
The very same pastries that sat before her neatly prepared and warmly preserved. Unfortunately, her palpable impatience and anxiety had robbed her of her appetite, bombarding her instead with the many reactions— mostly negative— that her latest love interest would have upon meeting her.
'Surely he will be charmed,' Shalltear assured herself, momentarily lost in her conjured fantasies. 'Cixous did say the outfit was miraculous, after all.'
…
But Cixous had never been one for negativity.
The countess glanced toward the other occupant of the carriage: an extremely pale woman with long black hair and a pair of red, almost bloody, eyes. They weren't akin to her own crimson orbs—the mystical bloodline of the Bloodfallen house that heightened their potent affinity for blood magic and granted them Sanguis Aspectu. No, this woman's eyes were a product of her heteromorphic nature, along with her exceedingly pale skin that stemmed from her vampiric lineage.
The woman sat opposite her, gowned in a shoulder-less black silk dress with a simple pair of gloves. Around her neck rested a cloth choker, which under the spell of [Greater Appraisal] would reveal itself to be an enchanted item that negated the damaging effects of sunlight on vampiric flesh and offered comfort in its presence.
…then again that would be the same for all their wears, sown from precious and rare cloth, and charmed with a myriad of magics.
In one of her hands was a finely crafted crystal chalice, half-filled with a crimson liquid—likely blood. Its strong aroma hinted at high concentrations of mana, likely drained from a rare magical creature.
But most importantly, unlike Shalltear, she didn't seem to be suffering from the boredom that dominated this carriage. "Tiana, remind me again why you insisted I take the carriage to the palace as opposed to just teleporting there with Gate?" She asked the woman, her brows knitted into an unmistakable expression of annoyance.
Her personal maid looked at her unfazed, "Well, my lady Shalltear, aside from the act being extremely improper and rude, I seem to remember you saying that you've lost your ring."
The ring mentioned was a magical artefact granted to her by Lord Arathorn.
The item, powerful in design, not only bestowed its wearer the ability to bypass the restrictive defenses that negated teleportation magic within Velena, but also a plethora of spatial-type abilities that would leave even a Dimension Mage green with envy.
And it was because of its powerful nature that the platinum haired countess didn't worry over its disappearance. Aside from the item being soul-bound to her, it also housed just as many curses as it had skills.
Still, she wasn't going to admit that to Tiana…the unrepentant woman who was shamelessly leering at her knights.
Shalltear scowled, "I misplaced it. And if you were half as good of a maid as you boast yourself to be, you would have found it by now."
The woman flicked her fan and hid the lower part of her face with it, "With all due respect, my lady. What you said makes no sense." She said with a voice touch by amusement, "And when did I become my lady's maid, exactly?"
Her demeanour only seemed to irritate the blood countess even more, probably because her words were without falsities. Yet that was the issue, wasn't it? Despite the woman's loyalty and friendship, she tended to be unapologetically truthful…at least with Shalltear.
But Shalltear was nothing if not stubborn…if she was uncomfortable, then her friend should be as well.
Misery loved company after all.
"Don't take me for a fool, Tiana. I know there's no such thing as a grand guardian. Be glad that I didn't just throw you out to the streets as soon as I found out you were just a glorified moocher."
The vampiric woman just giggled at her words, "Oh my, is my lady really that impatient to meet Lord Liaqen? You should know how scandalous it is for an esteemed woman such as yourself to be infatuated with a married man. Not to mention Lady Albedo would probably gouge out your eyes if she heard you were pining after her husband."
Shalltear huffed at the woman's words, honestly offended, "Like I would lose to that overgrown cow." She muttered under her breath.
Unfortunately, Tiana heard her whispers, evident by her widening smile.
"That's not really denying the fact, my lady."
Shalltear's cheeks burnt crimson with embarrassment, enough so that she had to avert her gaze to the side. Truthfully, she wasn't ignorant of her budding affection. But…
She looked at one of the knights, studying eyes trailing over the man's clad form.
…as a noble born— and a very powerful woman— she had little options in the way of romantic aspects. It wasn't that she had little suitors, the problem was that there were very few who saw passed her house's prestige.
Tiana acted as her anchor, never feeding into her delusions, and sometimes even preventing her from falling further into her household duties. Shalltear just wished the woman wouldn't sleep with her household knights on the regular, it was seriously annoying…
'…and entirely against their oaths.' At least she thought it was.
How unfair was it that she had to maintain her purity when everyone else was having the time of their lives? Well, everyone except for Aura, but her cousin was basically a boy-made-girl so she didn't count.
Her eyes flickered to the front, and she saw the large palace walls looming over her party. They were finally here.
As if a switch had been flipped in her mind, her expression took on a more dignified look.
==========Author's Notes============
The Saint: Elgroth is the name of the nation, Velena is this city. Shalltear isn't actually in love with Arathorn, he's just his latest love interest. We will be seeing more of her in the future because I like writing her POV.
The nine great houses aren't in any way a variant of Nine's Own Goal, but they are inspired by them. Remember, the MC is still a fan of Overlord, thus even though he did Satoru dirty, we will still see numerous remnants of the Ainz Ooal Gown.
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Bye bye.