"Can I ask you something?" Niti asked calmly from close to Rudy's ears.

  Rudy's ear twitched after the cold sensation on them, but he managed to stay calm and nodded without saying a word.

  "Do you… do you love princess Jane?" she asked.

  "Of course, I do. What type of question is that?" he replied instantly.

  "My apologies. That's not what I wanted to ask. I wanted to know 'if' you loved princess Jane before you entered this world," Niti rephrased herself.

  "Oh. No… actually. I will be honest and say I hated Jane before. But not the kind of hate you are thinking, oh. I was… angry at her. But everything changed after I found out the truth," he replied awkwardly.

  "So, what made you fall for her?"

  "Her beauty, of course. And her haughty personality. I wanted to dominate her. I wanted to make her meek. I wanted to… make her mine. It was lust. But falling in love with her was inevitable. And she turned out to be more meek and interesting than I thought."

  "……"

  After sensing Niti's silence, Rudy added, "Please don't tell her I said this. She already knows this since I told her myself. But I sugarcoated it a lot, so she doesn't get angry."

  Niti smiled and said, "Don't worry. I have no intention of doing something like that."

  "……"

  "……"

  Everything was awkward between Rudy and Niti. It was the first time they had an actual conversation, and it was Niti who started it.

  Niti was still braiding Rudy's hair, so he couldn't leave the room either.

  'Think of something to talk about!'

  "Why… did you ask me such a question?" Rudy asked curiously.

  Niti smiled slightly and said, "Princess Jane is… like my daughter. I raised her and took care of her every need, and I still do. So I wanted to know how you feel about her. I knew that you held her dearly, but I just wanted to make sure. Think of it as a mother's worry for her daughter."

  "Oh… that's right!" Rudy exclaimed in amusement and muttered, "And that day you found us naked, and after that, you walked on us having sex. That must be awkward for you, but not as much as Virgil, I guess."

  "No wonder Jane was so flustered after seeing you," he added with a soft scoff.

  "I was astonished to see that. Princess Jane was always so uptight and never let her guard down in front of anyone other than princess Rias. And to see her in such a meek state with you left me baffled. But I now know why she chose you to be her partner," she said with a gentle smile on her face, which Rudy couldn't see.

  "What do you mean?" he asked with a confused face.

  "You are so kind and caring. And every girl likes such a man since they know that he would treat them dearly for their entire life and love her for eternity. It's… not something every girl gets to experience."

  Niti's voice sounded sad when she said that.

  "That's the same for us men. But you know, something like that doesn't exist. I don't think one can satisfy all the needs of their partner. No one is perfect to that extent, and I say that's not a bad thing. Perfect is boring."

  After a brief pause, Rudy suddenly asked, "You said you have a daughter who is around 69 years old and also Rias' personal maid, am I right?"

  "Indeed. Her name is Vriti. I think you haven't met her yet since she is with princess Rias all the time," Niti responded.

  "Umm, you don't have to answer my next question if you don't want to, but can I ask who your husband is?"

  "……" Niti stayed silent.

  Rudy had a faint guess, but he wanted it to be false.

  "I… don't have one…" she answered in a low voice.

  "Did he pass away?"

  "No. I never had a husband. I was… back then, I was the personal maid for the leader of the royal family. And he… he used my body to pleasure himself every night…"

  "What's his name?" Rudy asked in an emotionless voice.

  "It was normal for the masters to use their maids for such tasks. It was part of our duties. Consent didn't matter as being a maid of a royal family was a voluntary act that included everything," she added.

  "What's his name?" Rudy asked again in the same emotionless voice.

  "Vesier…" Niti answered. "He is the son of Vampire's Monarch's blood-related brother."

  "So is Vriti his daughter?"

  "Yes…"

  "I see."

  "When he found out I was pregnant with his child, he wanted me to get rid of it, and when I refused, he tried to kill me."

  "……!"

  "Vampire Monarch was someone else at that time, but the current Vampire monarch saved me. If he hadn't, I would be dead."

  Rudy bit his lips and asked, "Did he try to kill you even after that?"

  "Yes. He sent his soldiers to assassinate me, but I got lucky, I guess. When Vriti was born, he wanted to take her away from me. He said he would raise her and make her his personal maid later.

  I knew he was planning to do the same thing he did with me and the other maids, so I ran to the current vampire Monarch and asked for his protection. And he helped me by making me his personal, even though all the other royal and noble family members were against me and wanted me dead."

  "And that stopped them?" Rudy asked reluctantly.

  "Yes. There is a strict rule about the personal maids. And no one is allowed to order or touch someone else's personal maid. And if they did, that would be considered a serious offense," she responded.

  "What was the punishment for breaking that rule?"

  "They would lose their status and fortune as a royal and be removed from the family name."

  "And that's the only thing that makes them so arrogant, so they would never risk losing their title.

  ====

  Someone just made a to-kill list.