PoV: Emperor

I was instantly put into a daze.

Everything seems to make sense now! My wife was one of the cousins of that whore Juan, and it had been a well-known secret that she was trying everything she could to 'Unite the two families'... 

It was fraud though, all she wanted was to further her standing, and gain power. It probably also had something to do with the fact that Jin was a rich, young man that was extremely handsome.

I had always known the way my wife worked. While I could look over some small things here and there, with a topic like this at hand. I couldn't help but feel anger. it could cause an extremely large amount of harm. I found myself wondering if I even could love a woman like her.

With my thoughts taking a dark turn I quickly decided that it was time for me to find the Kaiyo girl.

"Jin? Do you have any idea on where she could be?" I hope he at least kept a cordial relationship with her. I had known this man for years and I could say that he was extremely blunt in his words and emotions. So with a heavy heart, I started dreading the potential tragedies that could happen to my empire.

"Fu! Why is this so important?! You are acting like this is could cause a coup! Isn't she one of those new worthless nobles in the new territories to the east? You can't honestly be thinking that it will be that bad. If they try to rebel then just crush them! we conquered them a hundred years ago what makes you think it would be any different if they rebelled now?"

 There was little Jin didn't know about the empire. Yet, Jin didn't know there was anything important that related to the recently vassalized islands. He only thought they were a buffer to the potential invading forces by sea. His father knew the truth about the Kaiyo controlled territories, but he had never taught him of the severe importance of the islands.

So now the Emperor had to tell this stupid man that he potentially killed everyone in the capital...

"What you don't know is those islandss that we recently conquered were never even harmed by our armies. They annihilated any soldier we sent and demolished any ship that tried to storm a port. We never captured the islands, they joined for free trade and only recently started to remove their walls." I had no idea that Jin wasn't informed of the power the Kaiyo's had. If I had known I would have taken the Kaiyo girl to another noble. *Sigh*

~~~~~~~~~~~

And so the poor emperor spent nearly an hour explaining the circumstances behind the annexation of the islands. However, I don't want to type an hours worth of dialogue I will just explain in summary.

1: Trade

2: Trade

3: Trade

Last but not least,

4: Trade

The island was deficient in monsters and in raw materials while the mainland had a shit ton. So like most countries, they traded for them with the countries bordering the sea. Then, when the Empire conquered said countries the Kaiyo's tried to trade with no success. They were a major militaristic state. Yet for some reason, they refused to invade and take what they wanted so they simply shut themselves out from our empire.

For a thousand years, the two countries simply ignored the existence of the other. That was until the warmongering emperor decided to invade them. The war raged on for 5 years causing massive casualties and an economic crisis. Then when the Emperor died suddenly his son took the throne and set our country on a better course. The archipelago was almost untouched while our armies were practically nonexistent.

The emperor went to their capital to request a ceasefire. 

No one knew why they suddenly joined nor what the deal they brokered was, but the Empire won the war.

No one knew how or why they agreed to annexation, but it was hushed by the imperial family and any high ranking nobles at the time.

So, in short, they surrendered to an empire that they beat. Then they became an area that the same empire controlled. Yet, the empire ruled only in name, they held with no actual power.

So after that, they left to search for Olivia.

They questioned maids and guards about her and after an entire 90% of the staff had answered the questions, the first person that knew of them showed up.

"You mean the sweet darlin' that's livin' in that raggedy ol' shack? I know 'er. She's an angel! She goes on nearly every day to work. Poor thing, 'er 'usband must be a retarded ass not to treat 'er better."

The first woman that knew of her spoke some crazy words... 

And insulting a noble straight to his face. That could be punishable by death yet the emperor seemed to agree with the old woman.

They left the house hoping to find a woman that was fine and not holding grudges. Never did they expect the woman had a child nor did the expect the woman was genuinely enjoying her time here.

~~~~~~~~

PoV: Alexia

With my birthday in full swing, the entirety of my small family was there. Uncle White Arms, Auntie Eliza, Mommy, and me.

Uncle White Arms had these beautiful arms that looked like Ivory sculptures. He was a doctor and was absolutely the best person to ask for snacks. His real name was something like Howard? I don't remember I just call him Uncle Army.

Auntie Eliza was the second best person to ask for snacks. She would constantly have some sort of sweet candy on her.

Mommy was more serious. She never was a hard-ass but she could really force you to stop what you were doing with only her voice. Never I repeat NEVER ask mommy for sweets.

At my party, I also met a couple other ladies. They were nice but touchy. I don't like getting touched like it's not that I feel disgusted by it. Neither do I feel as though it is scary. I just hate it.

Another thing is that my emotions are in a constant state of disarray. My emotions are volatile and childish, it feels like they are being amplified tremendously by the growth my body is experiencing as well.  While I have no way of truly knowing why my brain is adapting into a less serious and more childish personality I can't help but enjoy my life.

In my past life, I was trained vigorously and mutated by treatments to make me into a hitman/assassin. Those same treatments also affected my mental state. It tightened its grip on my mind and my hormones thereby preventing any powerful attractions between people, or hobbies.

Now that I am in a new body and my brain is unaffected by the brain-numbing drugs I believe that my soul must be adapting to the rapid changes in its environment. So with those thoughts, I rationalized the further loosening of my personality.

However, I seemed to be in a constant state of rationalizing my actions. I would rationalize a childish comment with bullshit that made no sense. 

"Mommy I really hate veggies." I could rationalize that by thinking something like, 'Veggies taste terrible so I need to inform her of my distress when being forced to eat them.

While I say that sentence quite often I also am fine with eating my vegetables. After all only eating junk food might do the same in this world as in my previous. 

However, on days like today, it's one hundred percent that sugary goodness!

Fuck eating healthy shit! 

All hail that gloriously sweet and savory goodness; cake!

After a while of having fun, my mother wanted to take me on a wake to talk to me alone. So, being the child who can't sit still for more than 5 seconds I instantly took her up on her offer.

As we left the house she spoke to me about who I was and what my future would look like. "Alexia I know you know more than normal kids. I think you are also more mature than anyone even a half-dozen years older than you. Can you handle some serious conversations?"

"Huh? I can handle it. What's up?"

"Sweetie your father is a noble in our country. He is a powerful man who can both form armies and kill people politically. My family holds absolute power control of a large Archipelago. The only reason why I was to get married in this empire was due to the copious amounts of resources this land had. We used this marriage to further the relationship between our families. The Imperial family didn't quite follow up with their promises though. I was going to be this bastard Jin's main wife, however, due to meddling done by the Empress and the Ru families they diminished the standing I had and forced me into a concubines' position. From there they crushed any attempts to get ahold of the Emperor and even used the guards of the palace to prevent any attempts of me moving around the city freely. I want you to start training in a special method to improve your strength."

"What? Why do they not like you? You're pretty and smart." 

"The current wife of Jin is a power hungry bitch that won't let anyone stand in her way. With me being married to the man she had her eyes on, it was almost instantly making me her enemy. While I could have just let her get killed and then murdering her entire family I, saw fit to let the imperial family deal with it."

"Then nothing happened? Why do you want me to know this stuff though?"

"Really? I just needed you to get the picture of our situation."

"Ok, I'm going to go have some fun."

"Well okay... You were listening right?"

"Yup! Bye!"

And so I ran as fast as my genetically enhanced legs could carry me. I ran over to the pond and bumped into some serious looking men.

~~~~~~~~~~

"Hey, you! What are you doing here? I thought I said that no one was allowed to be here!"

"Leave her alone Jin! You're in enough shit as is want me to beat your face in for bullying children?"

"But sir! It is dangerous here! There were reports of snakes around the water's edge. Specifically Water Vipers."

"Oh, I figured that it was your hangout spot. Maybe you did your kinky business in it."

"That too."

"Anyway, little girl? Huh? Where the fuck did she go?" Their first thought was she left, however, that thought was quickly overturned when they spotted the child wrapped in vipers.

"Fuck!" As they ran over to attempt to save this little girl they noticed the girl was giggling.

"Stop it guys! You are all wet! What's mommy going to say when I get home!"

The two men watched dumbfounded at the event and couldn't do anything until the girl put the snakes down and started getting yelled at by an old gardener. "Hey, girlie! Where's your mother? I doubt she would want you to be playing with those snakes again!"

"It's fine Joe! It's my birthday! She wouldn't even care if I 'accidentally' impaled one of those whores that Jin married!"

The old man chuckled at that and spoke while walking away, "Your words not mine! Be careful though!"

"Bye Joe!"

And so the little girl ran off towards the building that housed Olivia. 

When the Emperor and Nobleman finished processing the information they just got they immediately guessed the identity of the girl. 

A little Kaiyo.