An elderly woman sat in a rocking chair in the garden. She was dressed in a bright red dress, and her unnaturally pale skin positively gleamed in the shade of her location. A red awning stretched above her head created an even more gloomy atmosphere, given the slightly overcast weather. Even despite the poor lighting, the wrinkles barely visible on her face, she was still beautiful, retaining that mature beauty of a woman no longer young but not yet aged, despite her age, which had definitely passed sixty. Not a single gray hair showed on her hair, black as gloom, and an experienced eye could clearly tell that the Duchess did not dye her hair.

  Lady Katerina, the Duchess Blood, as if trying to live up to her age, was engaged in embroidery, holding knitting needles in her hands. Making confident but not very dexterous movements, she tried to embroider, creating something like a sweater, but for now, she was indeed producing something resembling one. Then, making another awkward movement, the elderly Duchess pricked her finger.

  "Damn this knitting!" she swore loudly, throwing her embroidery attempts aside. There already lay a small pile of needles, threads, and scraps of unfinished work.

  Katerina licked the finger from which blood oozed and glanced lazily at the awning. The elderly woman's life was dull and inevitable. She always found it difficult to find hobbies that women her age pursued. Lately, she had tried her hand at knitting and embroidery, but it turned out terribly badly, despite her last attempt being not bad. Some time ago, she bred noble horses, but watching those stallions run across the field quickly bored her, and she started selling them. What else had she tried to dispel her boredom? Earlier still, she held secret gatherings among the nobility, organizing orgies and various kinds of indecencies, but that too quickly bored her, and besides, an elderly woman shouldn't engage in such debauchery. But if only she were young again... Her hobbies also included searching for a husband, but few wanted to marry an aged Duchess, even despite her title. Every time, old age creeps up unnoticed, and yet Katerina felt so young.

  A male figure emerged from the large white estate, slowly and limping towards Katerina. Like the woman herself, the approaching man had deathly pale skin, but he was also blessed with a bald head that gleamed even in this weather. He was dressed in a red tailcoat, on the back of which were two coats of arms: the first was two crossed fingers, the coat of arms of the Fingers family; the second was a hand pierced through by a sword, the coat of arms of the Hands family. In his hands was a folder with papers, which he was apparently bringing to the Duchess. Reaching her with his unhurried, limping gait, he bowed awkwardly to the elderly woman, then straightened up as much as his leg allowed.

  "I have brought the documents you requested, Mistress," the man said in a rough, deep voice. Up close, it was evident that he was definitely past fifty, even though he tried to look good; a large number of wrinkles and sagging skin suggested otherwise.

  "Oh, this work," Katerina said wearily, accepting the papers from the man's hands, but continuing to rock in her chair, she slowly began to leaf through the stack handed to her. "Gabriel, is this everything I asked for?"

  "Yes, Mistress," the man replied. Gabriel, Baron Fingers, was one of those aristocrats who personally served the Duchess and was her primary assistant.

  "Oh, these problems. Did we receive royal permission to build our railway?" the Duchess asked wearily, handing the papers back to her assistant.

  "No, Mistress. The Royal Chancellery replied that they first need to deal with the matter of Lord Charles, the late Baron Star. Currently, all his affairs are being handled by Viscount Lines, who serves Count Sky," the man replied calmly, occasionally even seeming not to blink, staring somewhere into the void rather than at his Duchess.

  "What a bother," Katerina said wearily, retrieving a fan from a small bag hanging on her chair. "Count Sky, that's the one with the arrow stuck in a cloud?"

  "Yes, Mistress."

  "Still a bother," the elderly Duchess sighed wearily. "There were always problems with them. What is Viscount Lines' coat of arms?"

  "Three parallel red lines on a black background, Mistress."

  "I don't really remember them. Is that a new family, Gabriel?"

  "No, Mistress. According to my records, the Lines family—specifically Lord Howard himself—served the previous Count Sky as well."

  "Do we have anything on him? Illegitimate children, a love of gambling, poaching? Well, or whatever else we have on nobles," the elderly woman replied, yawning slightly, clearly not very interested in continuing this dialogue.

  "There's a problem, Mistress," the Baron said, clearing his throat slightly. He understood that this conversation had already bored the Duchess, but he had to continue it.

  "What problem now, Fingers?" Katerina said, and Gabriel detected a growing irritation in the tones of her voice. The Baron knew that when the Duchess Blood addressed him by his surname, she was clearly displeased about something.

  "He's clean," the man replied, knowing that this would provoke a storm of indignation.

  "That cannot be," the Duchess stated affirmatively. "If this old Viscount served the previous Count Sky, that vile Elgar—may he rot in hell—then he definitely has some skeletons in his closet. Perhaps, Fingers, in your old age you've simply gotten lazy and haven't opened his little closet?"

  The elderly man sighed heavily. He sensed an unpleasant conversation coming and that no excuses would save him from Her Grace's wrath.

  "Mistress, I investigated everything I could, contacted our friends in the capital, but all in vain. It's as if someone cleaned up all traces behind him," the Baron replied, spreading his arms as if to show he could do nothing about it.

  Katerina rose from her chair and slowly approached the Baron, then struck him on his bad leg, forcing the man to fall to his knees before the Duchess. She grabbed his chin with her hands, and her nails, with blood-red manicure, dug into the man's skin. The Duchess, with a strength an elderly woman should hardly possess, lifted his head towards her and looked with her scarlet pupils directly into Gabriel's eyes.

  "Fingers," the Duchess said, digging her nails even deeper into the man's skin, sending small droplets of blood trickling down his face. He didn't utter a single cry of pain; not a single muscle moved on his face, as if the Baron felt no pain. "I don't understand, have you completely lost your fear of me? Forgotten to whom you owe your long life and baronial title? If not, then why should I have to listen to all these excuses? Explain to me, Fingers, why you didn't complete your task? Found nothing? Sounds like an excuse for laziness, which you've apparently decided to cultivate in yourself after all these years. There is not a single aristocrat without some secret they hide from the world, and if you didn't find it, it means you didn't look hard enough."

  Katerina released the man's chin, leaving bloody marks from her nails, and sat back down in her rocking chair, beginning to move slowly in it. Baron Fingers remained on his knees, not daring to lift his gaze from the ground without the Duchess's permission.

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  "Do you understand me?" the woman asked angrily, but very quietly, looking at her subordinate's bald head.

  "Yes, Mistress," the Baron replied quietly, still not raising his head.

  "Then, for heaven's sake, go and get to work! You may use all the resources of the Duchy; just get me information we can use to pressure that old geezer! We NEED this railway, Fingers!" Katerina shouted at the man. He stood up and merely bowed to the Duchess, not lifting his gaze from the floor, and moved towards the estate.

  Just at that moment, a young, tall girl emerged from the estate, dressed in men's riding clothes. On the back was embroidered a design of a hand clutching a heart—the coat of arms of the Blood family—and a sword in its scabbard was fastened at her waist. Seeing the man walking towards her, she greeted him dryly, then headed towards the Duchess, holding her back straight, thrusting out her small chest, and in her gaze was a kind of challenge to the person she approached.

  "Grandmother," the girl greeted when she reached Katerina. In her scarlet eyes, which were like two drops of water compared to the Duchess's own, burned a challenge she wanted to throw at the elderly woman. Her short blonde hair, whose color she got from her father, was more like a man's, greatly distinguishing her from the elder Katerina.

  "Lady Katerina," the Duchess began, addressing the girl, clearly not very pleased with her granddaughter's behavior. "Don't you think your appearance is a bit excessive, unbecoming for such a young and noble lady?"

  "Grandmother," the younger Katerina repeated, ignoring the comments about her appearance. "I want to study at the Royal Academy of Crow in the Military Corps."

  The Duchess sighed wearily. Her granddaughter had been an uncontrollable tomboy since childhood, dreaming of studying military affairs, while the elderly woman wanted the girl to resemble a noble lady more than a soldier. And having grown up, she still intended to follow her own path, although without the approval of the Duchess Blood, it was hardly possible. Perhaps it was the rebellious blood of the Crow family making itself known, and the poor girl was born that way, instead of being an honored lady of her family.

  "No," the elder Katerina replied curtly, clearly ignoring her granddaughter's request.

  "But why?!" the young girl protested, continuing to stare directly at her grandmother with her scarlet eyes.

  "I've already told you, Katya," the Duchess waved tiredly, switching to a more informal tone. "They'll eat you alive in that Academy. Besides, you'll be like a thorn in the side of that bitch Carolina..."

  "Grandmother!" the girl exclaimed, interrupting the old woman. "How can you speak about my sister like that?!"

  "I say what I want," the elderly woman replied calmly to her granddaughter's outburst. "I don't understand at all how you want to study where the murderers of your mother reside. And yes, let me remind you, your sisters and brothers will kill you at the first opportunity, just so you have no rights to the throne or the Crow name, if you suddenly..."

  "I am Katerina Blood, future Duchess Blood! Daughter of the late Katerina Blood and granddaughter of Duchess Katerina Blood, and nothing will make me change my decision," the young girl said proudly, as if proud of herself, her surname, and her lineage.

  And she had reason to be proud. Despite the entire architecture of the city of Blood being in Gothic tones, and houses teeming with various statues of strange and incomprehensible creatures, the capital of the Duchy was the second city, after the city of Crow, in terms of standard of living and trade. It was here that most merchants from the Free Cities conducted their deals, and afterwards their goods were distributed throughout the kingdom. Even before the creation of the Kingdom of Crow, the Duchy of Blood was a country whose vassals included the current Duchy of Wood, and their natural resources were sold to the Free Cities and other states. But one hundred and ten years ago, Arthur I Crow declared a rebellion and within ten years conquered four kingdoms, which are now the four Duchies in the Kingdom of Crow. Because of this, the Wood family's vassalage was abolished, and they now kept apart, especially from the Blood family, supplying their products independently. Of course, some suppliers continued cooperation, but on different terms, yet even they could not be lost, because they allowed the Duchy of Blood to remain one of the most trade-oriented places in the kingdom. Even the Duchy's army was one of the strongest, and only against it did Arthur I spend five years of war, but even then defeat was inevitable, as he had already subjugated the Storm and Celestial families, and the Wood family was planning to betray the Blood family to gain independence. So, although they had to surrender to preserve the army and people's lives, Arthur I reduced its size by about half, simply disbanding it.

  Yet the Duchy of Blood retained its dignity, and the name Howard Hart went down in history as perhaps the finest commander, who defended the city of Hart for a year, thereby allowing the rest of the Blood family's troops to regroup. And only the support of the Storm family allowed them to break the siege and advance the troops, conquering another former kingdom.

  "Katya," the elder Katerina said, continuing to rock in her chair. "You may think so, but they might have a different opinion."

  "But..."

  "No buts, young lady. And before you prove to them that you are the true heiress of the Blood family, they could kill you, and I cannot allow that. You are my only granddaughter, and I have no more children, nor am I likely to. But you must carry our banner forward, so that our descendants are as proud of our family's achievements as you are."

  "I understand, Grandmother, but I can't hide from my enemies forever! They might think I'm a coward and easy to manipulate! I must show them my strength and determination!"

  "Of course, my girl, of course, but not like this. I will not send you to your death, don't even ask," the Duchess concluded. "Don't be upset, granddaughter. Soon you will become head of the house, and they won't be able to harm you so openly. Your grandmother doesn't have long left."

  "Don't say such things, Grandmother! I don't want your title through your death. I will prove myself worthy of the title of Duchess and your approval while you are still alive, but you won't let me take a single step!" the young girl exclaimed.

  "Can't you understand, Katyenka, I do this only for your protection. I have already survived the death of my daughter; would you let your grandmother also bury her dear granddaughter and allow the Blood line to disappear?" the elder Katerina said, trying to soften her intonation and the sternness in her scarlet gaze as much as possible.

  The younger Katerina merely looked at her grandmother with a fierce glare and, turning around, walked away without even a word of farewell, tightly gripping the hilt of her sword in her hand.

  *What a wretched girl. Never mind, just need to endure a little longer, and all her beauty will become mine*, the elder Katerina thought to herself, maintaining an impassive expression on her face, but inwardly the elderly woman smiled. She remembered seeing the fall of her kingdom a hundred years ago, when that dirty barbarian Arthur invaded her domains; how she captured the kingdom of Wood two hundred years ago to gain some of the longevity for which they were so famous; how she became queen three hundred years ago, transforming from a filthy servant into what she was now. Every time age caught up with her, Katerina used an old ritual she had accidentally found in the basement of an abandoned castle when she was still a little scamp. In it, one had to bathe in the blood of the person whose appearance and age you wished to assume. Back then, the very young girl, an orphan, was surprised but kept the old, tattered book describing this very ritual. A couple of years later, that castle was demolished, declared that all teachings there blackened human values. When the young girl was told she would soon die for having visited that castle, the girl, terrified with fear, ran to her friend. There, in a fit of horror, an idea came to her: why not use the ritual and simply become her friend? While one girl was comforting the other, the future Katerina struck her friend on the head with that very book and continued beating her until she stopped showing signs of life. The friend only cried out "why?!" briefly before losing consciousness, but Katerina no longer cared. Following the instructions from the book, she placed the victim's body in a tub, cut her arms in the necessary places so blood would start flowing from them. The young girl was amazed at how quickly the red liquid could flow from a human body. Then she climbed into the tub herself and began to read the transcription of words she did not understand at all. And then she began to see how all the blood in the tub began to absorb into Katerina herself, and she began to cough blood onto the dead friend sitting before her, feeling as if she was about to burst from the inside. She thought then that this was probably her punishment for killing her only friend. The hellish pain lasted about five minutes, then stopped. When the girl came to, there was no corpse before her, not a drop of blood, not even her clothes. Looking at her reflection in the water of a nearby jug, the girl saw her friend's appearance and smiled, understanding what future might await her with this power.

  And so, for hundreds of years now, Katerina had been killing her daughters and granddaughters, bathing in their blood and taking their appearance, youth, and life force. This was the only reason the elder Katerina did not want to let her granddaughter go to the capital. Soon, she would have to die in the name of her grandmother, just as others had died before her.