Astria's steps were measured against the marble floor of the corridor. She paused by the railing, casting her cold gaze down into the hall.
At the sight unfolding below, no expression flickered on her face, yet a strange glint appeared in her eyes. Without a word, she turned and moved toward the grand staircase.
In the silence, the rhythmic 'click-clack' of Astria's heels and the rustle of her heavy gown's silk sounded like the warning of an approaching storm.
As the sound of her descent grew louder, drawing nearer to the hall, the faces of the two maids below turned ashen.
The maid who had been seated on the sofa bolted upright like a spring. Her limbs began to tremble, and she stared down at the floor, quivering with fear.
Astria cleared the final step and stood in the center of the hall. Her presence made the very air feel heavy. "What is going on here?"
her voice was as hard as stone, each word cutting through the air with sharp precision.
Both maids instantly bowed, their spines shivering with terror.
"Forgive us, My Queen... please forgive us!" Their voices were on the verge of breaking.
Yet Len, still seated upon the large table beside the chessboard, remained entirely unfazed.
He turned his head with effortless grace and locked his golden eyes onto Astria's. While the entire hall had forgotten how to breathe out of fear, Len's face held only a calm curiosity.
"Is your headache gone now?" he asked with such simplicity, as if nothing were amiss. His voice resonated through the tense silence like a pebble dropped into a still lake.
Astria completely ignored Len's question. Her brows knit together, and a frosty glint emerged in her eyes.
"I asked you something," she repeated, her voice now even colder and heavier than before. "What is all of this?"
Len shifted his gaze from the chessboard and looked at Astria with utter ease. "I was just playing," he replied without a hint of hesitation.
Astria looked at the boy perched upon the table and then at the maid, who was shivering with dread.
"Could you find no one else to play with?" There was a sharp bluntness in her words, echoing off the hall walls with a bitter ring.
Hearing that tone, the expression on Len's face shifted abruptly. The softness in his voice vanished, replaced by a cold clarity.
"You were the one who told me to go away and find someone else to play with," he said, his voice rising slightly in pitch. "So, I am doing exactly that. What is wrong with it? I had asked you beforehand that I wanted to play."
For a brief second, a spark flared in Astria's eyes, as if she hadn't expected Len to answer her back this way.
She tore her gaze away from Len's face and directed the full weight of her fury toward the maid, who still stood with her head bowed.
"He is a child," Astria's voice lashed out like a whip, "but you are not. Do you know the rules of this place or not?"
The maid, already trembling, seemed to shrink under the weight of those words. Tears were on the verge of spilling from her eyes.
"Forgive me, My Queen... I have made a terrible mistake," she pleaded in a wavering voice, her entire frame quivering with terror.
Len locked his golden gaze onto Astria's eyes. He took a deliberate step and nimbly climbed down from the massive table. During his descent, a sharp, protruding edge of the wood caught against his leg. There was a faint 'skritch,' and a thin, crimson scratch appeared across Len's pale skin. A wave of pain flared, but not a single muscle on Len's face twitched. He stood perfectly upright, as if the scratch did not even exist.
"I was the one who told her to play," Len said, making his voice even more steady. "She wasn't playing with me; I was the one insisting on playing with her."
Astria's gaze slid from Len's face down toward his feet, where the fresh scratch was slowly turning a deeper shade of red. She shut her eyes and took a long, cold breath. When her lids opened again, there was less fury and more of a confused bitterness in her eyes.
"Fine, you were playing with her," Astria lowered her voice, though that royal edge remained intact. "But what were the two of you doing this way?"
Len tilted his head slightly, a strange look of innocent indifference in his eyes. "What way?" he questioned back.
Astria took a deep, heavy breath, as if trying to rein in her mounting frustration. She took one step closer, the rustle of her gown echoing through the hall. "I mean, what were you doing on that table? And she... what was she doing on this imperial sofa?"
Astria's question bounced off the high ceilings of the hall and reached Len's ears. Len pressed his scratched foot lightly against the floor and, staring into Astria's eyes, began to prepare his reply.
Len blinked his golden eyes and replied with utter ease. "The table was too large; my hand couldn't reach the pieces on the board, so I climbed up. And I was the one who told her to sit on the sofa; that is why she was there."
Astria's gaze shifted from Len's innocent logic back to that fresh scratch. "If your game is finished," Astria said in a measured tone, "first have this wound cleaned and bandaged."
Len tilted his head and looked at the thin red line on his leg. He touched it lightly with his thumb. "But it's so small," he said, fixing his gaze back on Astria. "I can't even feel the pain."
Astria took another step closer, her face set in a serious expression. "But it is bothering me," she whispered, her voice like a deep resonance. "The scent of your blood is very strong... and it is testing my patience. Go and clean it right now."
The state of the two young women standing in the hall had become even more terrifying. The echoing scent of fresh blood was awakening their primal instincts. Their pupils were slowly drowning in a deep crimson, as if fire were racing through their veins. They were trembling, struggling to control their rising thirst.
Astria sensed their condition and turned her face toward them. "Both of you, get out of here!" she shouted sharply.
The two of them, whose eyes had now turned entirely blood-red, turned without wasting a second and fled toward the dark corners of the hall. Their speed was so great that they vanished in the blink of an eye.
Astria gripped Len's small hand with her strong fingers. There was a firmness in her hold that left no room for resistance. She began leading him toward the grand staircase. Astria's strides were long and swift. Len, with his small legs, was almost running to keep up with her. He stumbled occasionally, yet there was no complaint in his eyes; he was simply being pulled along by Astria's determined lead.
Astria pushed the heavy doors of her chamber inward and entered with Len by her side. With a gentle yet firm nudge, she directed him toward the edge of the velvet bed. "Sit right here," she commanded.
As Len sank into the softness of the bed, he lifted his gaze. Astria stood before him, the same deep gravity still lingering in her eyes. "Can you heal your wounds on your own?" she asked in a low voice.
Len looked at his scratch and shrugged. "No," he replied simply.
Astria's brows knit slightly. "Then how did your previous wounds heal?"
"They just healed on their own," Len answered, his voice carrying an air of indifference. "I don't know how."
Astria took a long breath and moved toward the carved dresser in the corner of the room.
She searched within the drawer for a few moments, and soon, a roll of clean white bandages was in her hands. She returned to Len and knelt before him. With great care, she began to wrap the bandage around the slight scratch on his leg.
Len watched her in silence. "What are these things doing here?" he asked, gesturing toward the old bandages. "Did you ever get hurt?"
Astria didn't look up from the bandage; her fingers were working skillfully. "Yes," she said in a very quiet tone. "I used to need these quite often. When I was small, I frequently got injured. That's why these bandages have stayed in my room since then."
She secured the bandage for the last time and continued in a softer voice, "Slowly, I learned to use my power correctly... and after that, I never needed them again.
" She paused for a second, as if a faint, old memory had surfaced in her mind. "I never thought I would have to bring them out again."