"She is."
"He is."
Isadora and Julian answered in unison.
The four of them was riding in a carriage drawn by Snow and Midnight in the dead of night.
The carriage looked ordinary in appearance from the outside, but with expensive interior.
The coach drove them down a rough road, with Arx Immortalis and the Immortal Guardian fading in the distance.
Mila–as professional as ever–donned in her maid uniform, sat in the carriage with her back straight, shoulders square, legs drawn close together and her hands resting on her lap.
Nala sat next to her, also in maid attire. She leaned lazily with her head against the window, staring at the scenery, seemingly not paying attention to the conversation.
But she was listening. She always was.
Julian and Isadora sat opposite to them, dressed in elegant black and red noble attire.
The two looked at each other strangely for a moment then said at the same time:
"I don't want to be an older brother."
"I want to be a younger sister."
They looked at with determination in their eyes, neither willing to back down.
"Pardon my intrusion, but why don't you want to be a big brother, my Prince?" Mila asked.
"Too much responsibility." He never broke eye contact with Isadora.
"And you, Princess Isadora? Why do you want to be the younger sibling?"
"I want to be spoiled by my brother." Conviction evident in her voice, holding Julian's gaze.
"..."
"..."
The two of them had an intense stare down for a few moments, until Julian finally admitted defeat.
Sigh
"Fine. Have it your way." Julian said, admitting defeat, breaking the stare down.
"Yes!!" Isadora exclaimed in excitement.
"What about you two?" She asked Mila.
"Nala is the eldest." Mila responded.
"Really?" Julian asked in disbelief.
"Why is that so hard to believe?" Nala asked in suspicion, still looking out the window.
"Because you are so childish sometimes." Julian replied, without the faintest hint of hesitation.
Sigh
Isadora and Mila released a collective, resigned sigh.
They had grown tired of Julian and Nala's constant bickering. The two of them always tried to get one over the other.
"I think you're confusing childishness with 'fun'." Nala reasoned.
"Same difference." Julian's reply came quick.
"What would a little twerp like you know?" Nala spat.
"Nala!" Mila shouted in terror. "You don't talk to the prince like that!" She reprimanded.
"Tch." Nala clicked her tongue and turned her attention to the outside world again. "He's no prince, yet."
Mila ignored her sister's final words and made a ninety degree bow in front of Julian.
"I apologize for my sister's behavior, your Highness. I promise that this will never happen again."
Julian didn't acknowledge Mila's apology, and kept his gaze on Nala.
"Nala," Julian's voice turned dangerously low, "that was very disrespectful, and this is not the first time.
I know the only reason that you would even dare such actions, is because you know that there's nothing I can do about it."
Julian leaned slightly forward in the seat, his burning crimson gaze causing a small shiver to trail down Nala's spine.
"You better pray Nala.
Pray, that when I am so strong that the very mention of my name strikes fear into the hearts of my enemies, that I am not petty enough to make you pay for all the disrespect you have thrown my way."
The atmosphere in the carriage became thick with tension, all of them experience a myriad of emotions.
Isadora was stunned.
She had never seen her brother angry before, and seeing how he is when he is angry is something that she didn't like. She gave Nala a look that promised death.
Mila was sweating from anxiousness and fear for the safety of her sister.
She had told Nala multiple times to keep her tongue in check, and that even though Julian is still a boy now, sometime in the future he is going to be their emperor.
And you don't want to be in the bad books of an emperor.
And the killing intent she felt leaking from Julian made her worry for her sister's life grow.
Yes, the killing intent was small. Negligible, even.
But it coming from a 10 year old boy that has never killed before, was the scary thing about it. Something that she had never heard of before.
And Nala was shaken up.
She could feel the promise of blood behind Julian's gaze. It seems she had forgotten that even though he isn't fully awakened yet, he still is an Imperial Rank Vampire.
"I'm sorry, my Prince." Nala mirrored her sister's bow. "I seem to have forgotten my place. I'll accept whatever ever punishment you deem necessary."
"Don't let it happen again." Julian said with finality.
Nala nodded her head, and the two sisters took their seats. Not without Mila sending Nala a warning look, which she ignored.
Julian knew that if you give out a barb, then you should be able to take it. But being called a boy when he was 48 years–when you combine both lives–felt like the ultimate disrespect for him.
He does feel like he exaggerated a bit, but there was no take-backs.
Ahem.
Isadora clears her throat, trying to dispell the awkward atmosphere that descended upon them.
"...So, how long until we get there?" She asked.
"Not long, your majesty. About an hour." Mila responded, as diligent as ever.
They were on their way towards the capital city, Drucalis, where Julian and Isadora will undergo their second awakening and be integrated into vampire society.
Julian swept his gaze through the forest the road is passing through.
Well, calling it a forest would be an overstatement, as it was just an endless expanse of dead trees with a black bark.
While Julian were still looking, the endless expanse of dead trees suddenly changed, and turned into a thick canopy of tall, black plants that looked reminiscent of Marijuana.
'No, not weed.'
"Hemp?" Julian accidentally muttered the world outloud.
"Ah. You are very knowledgeable, my Prince." Mila praised. "It is indeed hemp. How did you know?"
"I read a book." Julian replied, still staring at the hemp as if it held deep secrets, trying to make sense of the sudden change of environment.
"Useless and a parasite." Nala added.
"She is right, my Prince. The forest stretches for thousands of kilometers, the plant has no uses, and no matter how much one cuts it down, the next day it will be fully grown again." Mila informed.
'Hemp? Useless?' That surprised Julian, because he knows how many uses hemp had on Earth. It was one of the most versatile plants on the entire planet.
'They're driving through a literal gold mine and they don't even know it.' He mused.
Julian turned his attention to the other phenomenon that took place: the sudden change of environment.
He stuck his head out the window to look down the road and notice that there were no dead trees back there.
Just the same stretch of black hemp plants.
Julian looked at Mila for answers.
"It is the ability of the Immortal Guardian, my Prince." She said, almost seeing the question marks that appeared in Julian's mind. "It grants permission to the Imperial family, and their retainers who hold no malicious intend, to enter the zone of Arx Immortalis.
And if individuals with ulterior motives do manage to override its authority, it will go in full combat mode and erase all threats.
Nothing has ever escaped its grasp."
The rank of the Immortal Guardian just shot up another rank in Julian's heart. Even though he already held it in high regard.