<div class="floatleft">(https://rei.animecharactersdatabase.com/uploads/chars/5688-1841060616.jpg)</div><br/>Lord Alexander Vance awoke just after the sun disappeared beyond the distant horizon. Though the curtains shielded his bedroom from direct sunlight by the curtains, he still allowed some light to shine in so that he may know when the sun was gone. It was always a potential threat to him, for if someone were to come in and tear his curtains in the middle of the day he might burn. But anyone who would be so foolish would meet an untimely end before they could make it to the door.<br/><br/>This was the sort of life Lord Vance lived. After centuries of defending his land against invasions by Turks, Vikings, Russians, and more, he had become a loathsome beast of a man. A paranoid creature forced to live in the same sort of fear he struck in the hearts of his subjects.<br/><br/>He could only hope they feared him more than he feared them.<br/><br/>Rising from his bed, he pulled back the bed curtains and slipped on a bath robe. His shoulders were sore, so he decided he would call in one of the servant girls to help him bathe so she might work out the knots in his back and muscles.<br/><br/>Exiting his room, he turned to the nearest attendant and said, "Send a young lady to my bathing chamber."<br/><br/>"Yes, my lord," said the attendant.<br/><br/>Lord Vance continued on his way to the bathing chamber. The way his servants looked at him, he was sure that some of them had seen past his ruse. Over the centuries, he had made sure to spend some time abroad, then return having used alchemical means to restore a more youthful appearance and claiming to be the previous Lord Vance's son. To his servants, he was Lord Vance VII, but some were too smart to fall for such simple tricks.<br/><br/>In his bathing chamber, his servants, having anticipated his needs, had filled the tub with hot water and bubbles. Lord Vance thought the bubbles a silly addition, but he understood their necessity if he was to have one of his young servant women come in and attend to him there. Too many servants would flee if they thought he'd ordered them to come to him for untoward reasons.<br/><br/>Lord Vance stripped off his bath robe and climbed into the tub, relishing the warmth he felt as the water gathered around him.