To His Hell and Back
Chapter 76: Do They Have Heart Too?

Chapter 76: Do They Have Heart Too?

Queen Morgana’s knowing smile made everything even more uncomfortable. The woman looked at her as if she knew what there is to know, something that she couldn’t even understand or see from Cassius herself.

He had made it clear. He wasn’t kind for a reason that won’t be beneficial to him, so Queen Morgana didn’t have to "worry".

Queen Morgana clinked the teacup to the saucer and then, as if she had completed the previous conversation, turned to Princess Marissa, speaking with the gentle tone of a mother but lacking the warmth that Bella noted by the words she had uttered to the Princess.

"I have heard that your nursemaid had come down with an illness, Marissa. Let me know if you ever need help, as I was a human myself before. I know best which doctor is most trusted for these kinds of worries," Queen Morgana said, which made Arabella’s eyes to slightly widen.

So this is how she could differentiate vampires!

She had always noticed the lack of red colors in Queen Morgana’s eyes, but it had turned out that the woman was a human before. Seeing that she drinks blood now, that means she has been converted into a vampire, perhaps by the King she would like to assume. That explains why there was a need to comment on a vampire being "purebloods," as purebloods meant that they were born as a vampire.

Pureloods’ eyes were blood red, though by far, Cassius’s eyes gleamed the brightest, even when compared to Princess Marissa, as if to tell of his strength.

Then there are the vampires with reddish brown eyes, proof of those who were once a humans but decided to forgo their identity and become vampires. But there was also one more young man at their family dining table before, and that young man’s eyes were clearly human. Was that young man another sibling of Cassius? But one without the King’s blood, only Queen Morgana’s.

Princess Marissa was calm and collected as she responded to Queen Morgana’s words, "Thank you for your kindness, Mother. I have chosen a doctor myself and had asked her to retreat to her daughter’s house for a full rest."

"Indeed, you are always kind, Princess Marissa, even more to humans, but that is what worries me the most," Queen Morgana pointed out. And Bella saw the princess’s hands holding the teacup tightening. "You wouldn’t want another case of betrayal to ring in the castle ground, do you? Let us not forget what humans could do to our peace."

"..but you were also a human..."

Silence.

Arabella felt the blood drain from her face. She had bit down her lips hard when those words left her mouth. Princess Marissa and Queen Morgana were wide eyed as they stared at her who had spoken without thinking. The weight of her words crashed into her, too late to take them back. She squeezed her eyes, bracing herself, waiting for the Queen’s cold fury to descend, only to hear a faint chuckle from Princess Marissa.

Princess Marissa set her teacup down, looked at Queen Morgana, and smiled, but the smile was not the kindest, allowing for a split image of Cassius to reflect on her beautiful face. For the first time, Arabella saw it— the resemblance to Cassius. The same dangerous amusement curled at the edges of her lips, the same blade-like precision in her words.

"Indeed, Mother," Marissa murmured. "Perhaps we should extend some consideration to humans. We must indeed ensure their loyalty, lest they become a threat to our kingdom..."

She tilted her head slightly, eyes locked onto Morgana’s.

"But our family has accepted a human before. This means we can accept more; after all, we know it is possible for them to be loyal. And loving."

Arabella dared not lift her gaze—but she didn’t need to. She felt Queen Morgana’s stillness and awkwardness. As a human striving in a vampiric world, the woman must have felt looked down on by everyone, including her own stepson, which must have made her extremely unhappy. Arabella could tell that her words had only made it worse.

The way Morgana’s hand, which had been absently rubbing her stomach, suddenly stilled. She was staring at Marissa now, her expression unreadable. For the first time, Arabella realized something.

This wasn’t just a conversation.

It was a battle.

And Marissa... had just landed a strike.

Considering how the Queen could easily ask her to betray Cassius it wouldn’t be weird for her to hurt Princess Marissa as well and from what she could see Princess Marissa wasn’t foolish or naive, instead she is well rounded and also knew how to survive in the castle, including the masked kindness that was more often deadlier than not.

"Indeed, but humans are fickle creatures, though that does not mean vampires are any less so," Queen Morgana mused, her voice carrying the smooth cadence of someone merely stating facts. "I simply hope you do not repeat your old mistakes, Marissa. After all, neither Cassius nor His Majesty would be pleased if they were forced to... intervene again. You do remember, don’t you? The last time, an entire village burned for just one of your missteps."

The words slid into the air like a knife drawn from silk, and Arabella didn’t miss the way Princess Marissa’s fingers clenched around her teacup. A flicker of something. Rage, guilt, or perhaps both, passed through her burning red eyes before she schooled her expression back into impassivity.

Arabella, however, had no such control. The breath caught in her throat, her stomach twisting at the casual way Queen Morgana spoke of destruction, of entire lives reduced to cinders for a single mistake. A village. An entire village.

She didn’t want to react. She knew better than to show weakness, to let the horror bleed into her face. But Queen Morgana was watching her now, her gaze settling on her like a spider appraising a caught fly. And then, with an almost amused tilt of her head, she spoke.

"What do you think, human girl? I assume you’re unsettled by what Marissa has done."

Arabella froze.

This woman... she wanted her dead, didn’t she? Not just dead; she wanted her to trip, to slip, to expose herself as something weak, something breakable. A convenient casualty in whatever game she was playing. She wanted Princess Marissa to be unhappy with her words, causing her to be hated by the Princess and perhaps worse.

She straightened her spine. "It is not my place to speak, Your Majesty."

Queen Morgana’s smile didn’t falter, but something sharpened beneath it. Her fingers tapped against the porcelain rim of her teacup, once, twice. Then she raised a brow, displeased.

"Why not? I insist." Her voice remained soft, almost sweet, yet it coiled like a noose. "After all, you were born and raised in a human village. Surely, such things make you uneasy."

Uneasy? Of course they did. Death unsettled her. The thought of an entire village, women, children, families, turned to ash made her stomach churn.

But Arabella had lived among humans long enough to know that cruelty was not exclusive to vampires. She had seen it in the eyes of desperate men, in the selfishness of those who turned their backs on others, in the cold indifference of the world. The castle was no different from the village, and the village no different from the castle. The only real difference was power and who held it.

Who could say that the people in that village were entirely innocent just like those people in the Gordes Town?

She would have lived in the castle or the village, and it wouldn’t make no difference. They have unkind hearts and are heartless. Everywhere, there are good and bad people, but she never plans on staying, no matter what.

She will leave to take Ariel and escape to something better. But now, sitting here, with the weight of Queen Morgana’s stare pressing against her like a blade to her throat, she feared that "better" did not exist. She feared that if she stayed here long enough, she would become just like them. That one day, she would look at a pile of corpses and think, This is fine. This is how the world works.

"I—"

"I would like to hear it too," Princess Marissa interrupted.

Arabella’s eyes flicked toward her, startled.

Marissa’s voice was calm, devoid of venom, but there was something else lurking beneath her words. A quiet curiosity. A flicker of something uncertain.

Was she afraid, too?

Arabella didn’t want to think about it.

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