RD 5 Ch 15

Simone stared at me unblinkingly, making me nervous. What exactly was she going to do with me? I knew she wouldn’t remember, nor recognize me. Like my trail her memories would be blocked.

The trial of kings was a test of who you were at your core, not who you were trying to be.

Eventually, she waved a hand to dismiss the ladies who had dragged me before her. 

I stared up at Simone, my Simone. Yet, it was like looking at her evil twin. Everything was right where it was supposed to be, down to the mole on her shoulder. Her illusion was in place to change her hair blonde, though the rest of her was real and she needed no magic to make herself more beautiful.

If I understood correctly how the Trial of Kings worked, this was indeed my Simone. She just didn't know it. Instead of love and devotion in her eyes, she stared down at me with a look like I was something to be scrapped off her shoe.

As I knelt there before her in silence for several long minutes, I couldn't help but worry about what would come next. Perhaps Sissy was right and this was suicide because a quick glance at my character sheet told me I absolutely needed help if I was going to make any progress.

"Well," she said, finally breaking the silence, "I suppose you must have some use." 

I nodded. “There are a fair things I can do. For one, I’m skilled in inscriptions.” 

Simone drummed her fingers on the side of her throne like she was still thinking and didn’t hear me. "I can't have you running around and repeating what you heard, now can I? Which means I need to put you to some use that’ll be under close supervision." 

I had the faint feeling that one of those potential uses was being ground up and fed to the pigs. I checked my character sheet again and saw the solution. "What if I told you that I could help with your bloodline problem?" 

Simone's eyes narrowed dangerously at me. "Share your character menu with me," she demanded, even though she said it politely. I had no problem sharing it with her, but unfortunately, it was less than ideal.

[Name: Bran

Level: 21

Class: Vampire B [Blood Hegemond S - Sealed]

Status: Healthy [Sealed and obfuscated]

Strength: 420

Agility: 69

Vitality: 912

Intelligence: 98

Spirit: 1259

Skills: [Heavily Sealed]

Inspect D

Regeneration C

Axe Proficiency D 

Inscription B 

Swim D (Bracer) 

Bloodline Manipulation D 

Powers of Blood D 

Training F]

Fuck that was painful to look at. I bet Sissy was one of those assholes that actually liked the depowering arc of stories. Because it was also clear she had a personal hand in those stats now that I looked at the numbers.

At least between some vitality and keeping Regeneration, I wasn’t going to fall over at the first gust of wind.

Of course, when I shared this, the sealed abilities didn't show, which meant Simone only saw the active abilities. But I might have just what she needed. Between inscription and my abilities with bloodlines I could be of substantial use.

Her eyes flashes a few seconds after she got to the page, a strange shift into the middle distance as she likely looked up the use of two of my abilities. "Interesting," she mused aloud, eyes raking over me once again. "You are aware that this is a dangerous ability to have, do you not?" 

I chuckled. "Well, hopefully I'm in the right place to put it to good use." I didn't want to suggest anything to her lest she reflexively did the opposite, but I was hoping the ability would give her very dangerous ideas. 

Simone paused. "If you understand the situation and have shown this to me, I can only assume you're offering to use it on behalf of myself and the Mul Branova." Her words were terse at best, her eyes boring into me with thinly veiled disgust. I'd never been looked at this way by my Simone and found it highly discomforting. 

"You said you have a recruitment problem," I said. "However, if you were to still be able to give people powerful bloodlines, I have no doubt many would continue to flock to your banner, especially those of lower levels, who would get the most use out of a bloodline." 

Simone tapped at the screen before her. "In order for you to use this, I understand you would need to harvest the bloodline from others. However, this is not a net positive." 

It was my turn to smile. "Oh, who I harvest this from does not have to be willing." 

Simone's eyes locked onto mine, understanding dawning in them. "I see," she said slowly, coming to her own conclusion and leaning back to stare at me once again in that highly disconcerting manner.

"I won't kill you," she said after a minute. "However, we must come to a very direct understanding. You play the mascot for the Mul Branova. Pretend to be Bran. We will hold ceremonies in which we can grant some newcomers bloodlines, but you are under no circumstances to ever believe you are Bran."

I smirked at that. "Now why ever would I get that full of myself?" I said, resisting the urge to roll my eyes and potentially upset the volatile woman before me.

"Humor will get you nowhere. Parading around as if you are Bran," Simone scoffed. 

A bit of my heart crumbled at that scoff. I love Simone, my Simone and for her to not even recognize me hurt me more than I was willing to ever admit. 

"Of course not. I'll be a good little mascot and stay by your side, as you can see. My own stats are lacking," I said, which only caused Simone to tilt her head ever so slightly. 

"And why would that be? For that matter, why don't you have an incredible bloodline to yourself?" she asked.

I almost shot the question right back at her before holding my tongue. It would do no good for me to be flippant. "Opportunity, mostly, and some unfortunate side effects," I said.

Simone tilted her head ever so slightly sideways before nodding. "Some people don't get the luck they deserve," she said. "Now, if you'll forgive me," she continued, though the way she said it was asking for no forgiveness, "there are simply too many things I must attend to. Between you and I, we will act as if you are Bran. However, do not let it go to your head and do not touch any of Bran's women. Those amongst the Mul Branova are his and his alone." Her eyes were filled with baleful fury, like a mother hen protecting her flock. 

"Don't worry, I won't get the wrong idea," I said, staring back.

"We'll see how well you can hold up. I'm afraid to say a few men could resist the temptation that the Mul Branova's devotion offers." All I had for her was a flat smile, thinking back to my own life outside of the Trial of Kings and wondered if this is what Simone really thought of that arrangement. 

"Don't worry, I will resist temptation. However, how am I supposed to pretend to be this Lord Bran?" I said, holding up the pair of shackles around my wrist.

Simone snapped her fingers and the inscribed shackles fell to the floor. She stepped up and pulled out one of my outfits from her spatial ring. 

"Used to always carry a few spares in case his other ones got," she hesitated, "dirty." In a strange way, it was her showing affection for me without it being directed at me.

In this moment, I wanted to flash a smile, only to realize that I simply could not smile in front of the woman before me, lest I give her the wrong impression. 

"Well, wasn't Bran a lucky man," I said, keeping my thoughts out of my expression. 

"Incredibly so," Simone agreed, a faint smile touching her lips. "Get dressed quickly," she said, her tone harsh enough that I didn't dare delay.

"Once we leave here, you will be Bran. I will put on an act. You will understand it is nothing but an act, but you will act appropriately, yet behave as a gentleman in public. I do not want you touching me as familiarly as if you are my Bran. My body is his and his alone. However, you may hold my hand and touch my shoulder as if we are familiar, especially if we're to put on this act." Simone ground that out as if the thought was making her uncontrollably upset.

I was one part happy that she was so devoted to me, but another part upset that I could stand before her and she didn't recognize me. It was a complex set of emotions flowing through me, enough that I was having trouble parsing what they all actually were.

"And then, what am I to do?" I asked, not wanting to make assumptions and upset the woman who very well held my life in her hands at present.

"Get dressed, follow me," she said. "If we're going to put on a suitable act of you being Bran, then we need you to at least make your presence somewhat known to the rest of the Mul Branova." She narrowed her eyes, considering this for a moment as if wondering if she was doing the correct thing. Rather than give her time to think over it further, I hopped into the outfit she had laid before me, put on a massive grin, and hoped we would start right now. 

It seemed that putting on the outfit had done the trick.

The second I was done, Simone was already moving forward, leaving this room for whatever came next. I just hoped it was marginally as nice as Simone had been thus far, if not far nicer. Though wearing my own clothes was certainly a start, I was understanding now just how difficult it could actually be to subdue a Simone that had no idea who I was.

It was very strange talking to the woman I knew so well but who treated me as someone else entirely. It was almost an uncanny valley situation, completely recognizing the woman before me as she acted like an entirely different person. 

Though I could only think those words and not speak them aloud as I followed her out of the chambers and watched as multiple members of the Mul Branova stopped in their tracks to stare at me, or more correctly said, staring at Simone. And the fact that she had a man following behind her.

"Is that going to be a problem?" I asked, speaking in a low voice.

"It'll be your problem," she said softly. "If you wish to be Bran, even as fake as you are now, it's vital for you to understand that he puts the needs and wants of the Mul Branova far above his own. And you need to solve their problems, well, all of them but one." She narrowed her eyes at me. They were a pair of daggers stabbing into me in accusation.

"Got it. And already clearly understood. Rule one don't sleep with the Mul Branova," I said, keeping my tone low and avoiding other ears that might hear me.

"Good boy," Simone said with very little humor in her tone. "The Mul Branova were made for Bran and no one else.”

“What exactly happened to Bran?" I asked as I followed behind her.

She paused. For a second, I thought she was going to be angry. Instead, I received a far different reaction than I expected. Rather than being upset with me, she seemed genuinely exhausted. 

"That's the worst part. I don't know," she frowned. 

"How can you not know?" I asked, trying to sound as diplomatic as possible. 

"Another problem," she said, not hiding behind any obfuscation on this one. 

"Could he have died?" I asked, posing what I thought was the most logical question. 

"No," Simone said with absolute conviction. "If he was dead, I would know. And since he's not, my only assumption is that something happened to him that the Mul Branova has yet to understand. But in time, we will. I will bring Bran back to my people if it's the very last thing I do with my breath on this world." 

"And what if he's already back and you just don't know where he is?" 

"Then I expect Bran to find us," Simone ground out, starting to get annoyed with my questions.