Chapter 98: Sanctuary for the Dhampir
The carriage stopped at the threshold of the Agares estate just as the sun dipped behind the distant mountains, casting long shadows over the marble steps of the ancestral home. Inside the spell-shielded carriage, a fragile figure lay unconscious—her breathing shallow, her aura dim but persistent.
Valerie Tepes.
A Dhampir born of tragedy and legacy, she had been little more than a vessel in captivity. Now, freed by Volundr's hand, she was a guest of House Agares—a sanctuary few in the Underworld could offer, and even fewer would risk providing.
Volundr stood silently at the gates as the servants carefully lifted Valerie onto a levitating stretcher. His eyes, though young, were filled with calculated focus and quiet resolve. He had orchestrated her rescue not just out of compassion, but out of vision. A vision of a future peerage that would shake the realms, and Valerie… would be one of its beating hearts.
"Bring her to the starlight chamber," Volundr instructed. "Activate the life seals and ward the room with anti-corruption glyphs. I want a sanctified mana field maintained around her until she stabilizes."
The head healer bowed. "At once, young master."
Valerie was placed into a softly glowing room at the heart of the estate, one originally built to house the gravely injured. Blue runes lined the floors, pulsing gently in rhythm with her heartbeat. Elixirs crafted from phoenix tears and sacred herbs were fed into her system, coaxing her body back toward equilibrium.
Volundr entered the chamber only once the healing rituals were fully underway. He said nothing, merely standing at her bedside, studying her.
She looked impossibly pale, her silver hair splayed across the cushion like strands of moonlight.
But beneath the stillness, he could feel it—a gentle, pulsing core of magic that hummed with life. Her aura was unlike any other: fragmented, scattered, yet overflowing with potential.
Her mana... it resists corruption instinctively, he thought. It heals itself, even when her mind cannot. She was born to restore, to preserve, to protect.
But what intrigued him more was how the Holy Grail fragment embedded in her soul had not completely consumed her. She was still herself—Valerie Tepes. And that meant she could be shaped, refined.
Volundr's eyes softened for a brief moment.
"You're safe now," he whispered.
"And your Scared gear is the reason causing this. If you trust me, I would like to remove first and when you are strong enough to control, I will put it back in safely."
He stepped back and motioned for the healers to continue, his voice cold once more. "Do not disturb her with questions. Let her rest, and report every shift in her condition."
As he left the chamber, the protective wards activated behind him with a low hum, sealing Valerie inside a cocoon of healing.
From the outside, Valerie was just another rescued noble in recovery. But Volundr knew the truth—he had found a miracle wrapped in pain. And in time, he would awaken her to it.
Not as a savior.
But as a King .