Prince August watched Damien enter the library through a large doorway with his supposed family member. Then, seeing that the drama was over, the students started leaving to go about the rest of their day.

The Head Professor also turned to leave but quickly stopped in his tracks.

August Greentail, First Prince and heir to the throne of Kassinki. To everyone, he is a friendly and kind person who always has a dazzling smile on his handsome face. With his blonde hair and smile, Damien would have labelled him a 'typical hero protagonist'.

Once the last of the students went on their way, August approached the Head Professor and put his hand on the man's shoulder.

Anyone who passed by would assume they were friends having a happy chat, but the smile had disappeared from August's face and instead became slightly sinister.

Victor had taught August magic as a private tutor when he was a child. When Victor heard people call Prince August a kind and respectable man, he would almost choke and scream in his mind, 'He's the most vicious bastard I have ever met!' When he was a child, he had this sinister smile on more often but learned to hide his true nature as he grew older.

Victor had once been inside one of Prince August's Summer Houses, log cabins built out in the wilderness. Inside he found demi-human corpses; the male ones were hanging from metal hooks and chains, covered in deep gashes and wounds. Some still leaking blood that slowly dripped onto the stained wooden floor below.

He almost threw up at this sight but tried to maintain some dignity; Victor's daughter was a maid in the Royal Palace assigned to Prince August. She tried to escape many times but would always be dragged back by the guards.

She tried to quit her job, but August claimed she knew too many "state secrets" to be allowed to leave.

August was a lust-filled psychotic maniac and was why Victor despised Royalty with his very being. But unfortunately, he can't openly oppose Royalty and can only take it out on the Nobles loyal to them.

August tightened his grip on Victor's shoulder, almost cracking his bones.

"Victor, I speculate you know the ramifications of this duel?" Victor looked at August's face, which had gone from a kind-hearted young man to a sinister beast.

"Evelyn may be paying a visit to my humble abode in the woods." The words seemed innocent enough, but Victor almost fainted when he superimposed the image of Evelyn being chained to the bed with her insides completely ravaged and hanging out like that cat girl beastkin last time he had visited Augusts' Summer house.

"M-my lord, I have recently been in a weak condition," Victor answered honestly. He didn't mind if he died for his loss, but the idea of Evelyn dying in that way was too horrific.

August's threatening smile only elevated as he pulled out a small glass vial filled with green liquid.

As Victor was a scholar, he knew what this liquid entailed.

"I can't use something like that! What if I kill the man?" Victor protested while pushing the green vial away from himself.

August just laughed. "Don't worry, Victor, he is no ordinary man if his pale skin and red eyes weren't already a giveaway; his family member had two small holes on her neck. So he's at least part vampire. Although a true vampire hasn't been seen in over 300 years, he may be a servant to one of the noble vampires."

Victor clutched his chest in pain; the amount of shock he had received in the last half an hour could bring him to the grave!

Victor retrieved the thumb-sized glass vial with the ominous green liquid inside. August nodded and added, "To fight a monster, one must become a monster." he then left, putting on his fake and dazzling smile.

Victor quickly hid the vial within his suit's inner pocket and headed towards the Mage Tower while muttering curses under his breath.

***

Fay sat comfortably in an armchair while reading a book. Occasionally she would sneak glances at Damien.

'Master seems different these days. He's still a bit insane, but his eyes are different. Before they were almost dead as a fish, he would lie around in bed all day and occasionally wake up to have a bath and feed on my blood. But now, they had a purpose behind them. As if Damien has some big ambition or pressure on his shoulder.'

Fay took a cautious peek at Damien; he was sitting in a comfortable armchair with a glass of cheap red wine in his hand. A glowstone was embedded in the wall behind him and cast a soft glow upon Damien and the books surrounding him.

Five books were all floating around him; he was calmly switching his attention between them while frowning from time to time. His level of concentration was insane. Fay knew from her research on magic that Psychokinesis would use up a lot of mental power to manipulate five books at once, but he was also reading them?

Three days had passed since Prince August declared a duel between Damien and the Head Professor. Since three days ago, Fay had never witnessed Damien using magic; she was somewhat surprised to discover that he was a Psychic mage and seemed to never rely on Blood Magic.

Fay had visited the Public Library many times while Damien was asleep, and she found a book detailing vampires. They were long-lived creatures that survived off the blood of mortals to increase their lifespan. A typical vampire could live up to 500 years, but Noble Vampires could live over a thousand years. There was also speculation that they could be technically immortal, but none had lived for more than 5000 years in recorded history. The oldest vampire was Kazimir Nightshade, who lived for 4673 years; he died after being hunted down by a group of A-grade mages after he kidnapped the emperor of Oshal's wife at the time.

The records mentioned that vampires were weak against the Fire and Light magic schools. Silver-coated weapons were also highly effective. Fay noted these weaknesses, should she ever need them in the future.

Fay had noticed that Damien's personality had slightly softened over the last few days.

'At least he stopped threatening to kill me for every little thing. But, of course, he was still a germaphobe control freak. But his attitude towards me has changed. Before, he ordered me around like some slave or livestock; although I technically had been one for a few weeks, I don't remember much of it. It's all hazy.'

'But he seemed to release his mind control on me for some reason. He ordered me around but left me on a pretty light leash, especially while sleeping. Maybe he also had a rough childhood as I did? And that's why he's such an overbearing person?'

Although Fay noticed Damien's slight change in personality, he also seemed to be wearier of her, especially when she used a knife to cut food in the kitchen.

'Is he afraid of knives? He never used to watch me cook; he only ever slept.'

Fay stopped looking at Damien and tried to focus on the book in her own hands. She enjoyed this cosy atmosphere of sitting in the study and reading during the evening.

After trying to read the third page of Basic Principles of Mana Manipulation for the hundredth time and not understanding a word, Fay let out an audible sigh.

'Perhaps I can ask Damien to teach me magic? Will he just say 'No' as Dad did? Maybe he knows how terrible my talent for magic is. Well, worse case, he says no and threatens to kill me, as he does with most things, yet I'm still alive….'

"M-master… can I ask something."

Damien broke concentration from his books with a visible scowl on his face. "What?"

"Since you are so good at magic, could you maybe teach me a spell?"

Damien seemed, for the first time, genuinely bewildered. His hand went to his chin, and he looked off to the side, deep in thought.

'He's considering it?' Fay thought with surprise. She expected to be outright ignored.

After almost a full minute of deep thought, Damien returned his stare at Fay. As if trying to read her mind and peer into the deepest parts of her soul, it was a scary experience, to say the least.

"Sure."

He finally replied!

"Really!! What spell?" Fay forgot to address him as Master for a second, but he let it slide and answered casually,

"A cleaning spell."

Fay almost fell out of her chair.