Saylia never got the chance to ask Nik again about what a “type” was. She still didn’t understand. Apparently it had to do with physical attraction? Saylia never really understood what other people considered attractive. Bodies were….just there. Everyone had a body. Sure, there were differences between two people but what about one person’s body was more “attractive” than another’s?

Minds, however, were a fascinating thing to Saylia. She loved having intellectual conversations with her tutors and various scholars. But she couldn’t say she felt any sort of…draw… to those old stuffy vampires. She enjoyed picking their brains and learning things from them.

And something about Nik’s mind was incredibly interesting to Saylia. Her honesty and openness was intriguing.

She was lost in thought one night while dining with her father, when something King Luther said snapped her out of her daze.

“Lord Damien, the second son of the Duke of Carmine will be arriving tomorrow.”

“Is there a reason for it, Father?”

“There are talks between us and the Carmines of a marriage proposal. Damien is a fine young man who would make a great king. It’s genuinely too bad that he’s the second son - he’s much more qualified to become the next duke compared to the elder brother.”

The Carmine dukedom was one of the four largest territories in the Red Kingdom. The other three are the Burgundy, Vermillion, and Amaranth duchies. As well various other smaller territories. The four dukes held the most power in the kingdom besides King Luther.

The current Duke of Carmine was an older vampire named Stefan. He was older than King Luther. He had two sons - Eldred and Damien. Eldred was around 400 years old and Damien was just older than Saylia at 250. She'd met Damien a handful of times at various events. He seemed more intellectual than a lot of the other noble sons, but he was still a noble son.

"Must I get married already, Father?" Vampires lived for thousands of years. They were essentially immortal - though they did get weaker with age. The weaker the vampire the easier their head was to cut off. Saylia was only 200 this year. She had plenty of time to get married.

"Continuing our family's legacy is your most important task, Saylia. You know this. If your brother was still alive we could probably wait. But as it is, you and your spouse are the next in line for the throne. But you don't currently have a spouse. You must get married and bear a son as soon as possible."

And there it was. Saylia's entire purpose in life was to one day give birth to a son. Of course it had to be a son. Because a daughter was useless, just like Saylia was. No matter how intelligent she was, no matter how much she loved her kingdom and its people, she would always be less than a man. Nevermind the fact that it can take a vampire a hundred years to conceive a child and there was no guarantee that the child would be male. The main downside to vampires and their long lives is that conception is rare and pregnancy often doesn't result in a live birth. Hence the fact that at over two thousand years old - King Luther has only had two children.

"I promise you'll like Damian. He's a good man and very accomplished." King Luther continued to sing the praises of the man he's decided his daughter is going to marry. Saylia zoned out, not wanting to hear more about some random man. "Are you listening to me, Saylia?"

"Yes, Father. I know my place and I'll do my best."

"Good. If all goes well tomorrow, we'll be celebrating your marriage before the year ends."

Dinner continued in silence. Saylia didn't want to speak more on the topic and King Luther was content, thinking his daughter had accepted her fate.

After dinner concluded, Saylia worked her way back to her rooms with Nik following close behind. Nik was always close. Once they reached her bedroom, she sat on the bed dropping her face into her hands. Nik sat next to her. "All you alright, Saylia?"

Saylia looked up at the guard, tears in her eyes. "I'll be fine. Tell me more about the human towns. I want to learn more."

Over the past week, Nik had been teaching Saylia about human culture. The population of most towns in the Red Kingdom consisted of mostly humans, with vampire mayors overseeing them. They weren't ran fairly, the humans had to pay ridiculously high taxes, and famine was starting to sweep through most of the kingdom. But the vampires didn't care - human lives were already so short and inconsequential.

Saylia didn't think so. She thought that humans could truly help their society and kingdoms grow if they were given a fair chance at life. After all, the vampires couldn't live without their blood and their labor.

"In the middle of the village square where I grew up, there was this massive oak tree. Children would climb it - often they were slaves hiding from their vampire masters. Eventually the baron - the same one who sent me to the Knight Academy - caught on to this and had the tree cut down. The town was heartbroken, it was one of the few places people could sit and enjoy being outside. Last I heard, the stump still stands and is mourned every year during a festival the town holds. Of course, the town has to give the majority of the revenue from the festival to the baron.

But they've never forgotten that tree. Every year the villagers gather around it and sing." Nik looked off into the distance - remembering her home and where she started.

"Did you ever hide in the tree?" Saylia asked.

"Oh, absolutely. I was actually in the tree when I saw the baron's daughter being attacked. I was the only human in the area willing to step in. I was only eight and got my ass handed to me. But I was able to slow the attackers down enough for the baron's servants to retrieve the daughter."

"So you really were amazing from a young age."

"I wouldn't say I was amazing. I was definitely stupid though. I got into a lot of fights. But it made me stronger and that's what led to be going to the Academy."

Saylia looked over at Nik, even more curious about the life the woman had lived to get to this point.

"What do you think of me having to get married at my age?" Saylia didn't want her conversation with Nik to end. Nik's voice was like a calming wave flowing over her.

"Well, I couldn't imagine being 200 years old. But I imagine for you that's pretty similar to being around 20ish and I couldn't imagine getting married then. I also couldn't imagine being forced into marrying a man I don't really know."

"Especially because you don't like men." Saylia bluntly stated.

Nik chuckled and looked over at the woman sitting next to her. "No, I don't like men. What about you, Princess? Does the son of the duke strike your fancy? I've heard that you've never been particularly attached to anyone."

"I don't like anyone. Men tend to disgust me and women bore me."

"Then if you could marry anyone you wanted, what kind of person would you choose?" Nik asked quietly, unsure if she should continue this conversation or not. She didn't want to overstep any boundaries with the vampire princess.

"I'd want to marry someone with an intriguing mind. Like yours." Saylia blushed.

"So you're attracted to minds?"

"I-I guess? I don't understand attraction. I don't care what someone looks like or what's under their clothes. But most people - both human and vampires are incredibly dull. And I would hate to be married to a dull person." The princess sighed.

In the next moment, a maid knocked on the door. She came in to help Saylia prepare for bed. This was Nik's cue to leave for the night - another guard is stationed outside the princess's chambers as she sleeps.

"Goodnight, Your Highness."

"Goodnight, Nik."