Rays of sunlight poked through the cloud strewn skies, cascading into the room through the open blinds. Standing next to the window was a woman in a ruby red dress. Her snow-white hair that normally hung down to her waist was tied up in a thick ponytail, nearly halving its length. She sipped on a glass of red wine as her eyes tracked the people walking through the unknown street below.
The exquisite room she was in matched a woman of her status. She was in the penthouse suite at the Kyokan Capital’s most high-end hotel. As soon as she had made her presence known, using her creator’s name instead of her own, she had been escorted here and told to wait. The time was coming soon that she would be called upon again.
Two knocks came from the door to the room. “Your Highness, Senator Ito is here to speak with you.”
A smile crept upon the woman’s lips as she moved to sit down on the couch in the center of the room. The couch, adorned with luxurious leather and stained with intricate decorations, was uniquely positioned to be facing the front door as soon as it opened.
“Let them in!” The woman called out before taking a final sip of her wine.
Two natives of Kyoku entered her room. Both were Demi-Humans, cat people to be precise. A man and a woman.
The man was staggeringly tall. Nearly 2 Mer in height. His dark hair did little to cover the two cat ears popping out of the top of his head. Though it might have been better to say it was one and a half ears, as one was cut in half. A deadly scar cut across the left side of his face, pointing directly at the injured ear, having been earned in the same slash.
The woman was a head shorter than the man, and looked significantly younger on top of it. Her light-brown hair was done up in an intricate looking braid.
Both were wearing traditional garb from the nation of Kyoku. Kimono’s that the woman had only seen worn by officials within the city.
This man in front of her was the one who had bested Alec in combat. She had no room to make any mistakes in this conversation. If she did, then he would find her out.
“Thank you for letting me in, Miss Serilo.” The man bowed his head as he greeted her, a motion that she had learned was a custom in this land.
“Of course.” Ruby responded while plastering the most sincere smile on her face, a far cry from the emotions she really wanted to show. “You two have given me the greatest service since I arrived in this city. How could I do anything except show you the greatest respect I can?”
The man stifled a small laugh. “Please, no need to be so formal, Blood Queen. This nation would not be here if it wasn’t for our Shogun and my chance meeting with you three centuries ago,” The man narrowed his eyes and clicked his tongue. “You look like you haven’t aged a day since then. Hell, I would go so far as to say that you even look younger.”
“You don’t say?” Ruby could feel her smile tightening as the man’s words grated in her ears. Her creator hadn’t told Ruby much of her travels, so hearing that she had already met this man and the Kyokan Shogun before caused her heart to race again. Would they see through her? It had been three hundred years, so maybe she could pass any irregularities off as a change brought through time.
“But of course. I am quite jealous. Those two centuries have not been as kind to me, as you can probably tell.” The man stroked the scar covering his face as he said that. “I’m sure my wife is also quite jealous.”
The woman standing next to him took that as her cue to speak up. “Of course I am. Any woman would be jealous of your longevity, your Highness.” The woman bowed even deeper than the man had when she spoke.
To most observers, she might’ve simply seemed like a simple wife who was following her more powerful husband around. Many would assume that the husband, who was the right hand man to the nation’s ruler, was the one who made all of the money in the house, and therefore made all of the decisions. His wife was most likely a homemaker.
But that wasn’t true. The woman in front of Ruby had a shrewdness to her that most would never see. Ruby only barely glimpsed it herself in the moment. She was sure that the man standing next to the woman knew nothing of her shrewdness, and even less about where she was each day.
“Well then, Sir Ito, since you are here, does that mean you have word about the Shogun’s decision?” Ruby relaxed her smile as she steered the conversation back towards the main topic.
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The head of the Ito household straightened his posture before handing an envelope to Ruby. “Yes. While the Shogun would like nothing more than to lend you our aid, he can’t make this decision by himself and will need the votes of half of the council. There will be a meeting between every council and senate member in three days time. You are hereby invited to take part in this council meeting so that you may present your case to the Shogun and his advisory board.”
As he spoke, Ruby opened the letter and quickly scanned its contents. Everything matched with what was being said verbally. Three days was a tad longer than she had wished, but it would still allow her plans to move smoothly.
“I understand. Thank you for giving me this news and this opportunity.” Ruby stood up and bowed her head to the man in front of her, who mirrored the gesture.
“Of course. Now, my wife and I shall get out of your hair and leave you in peace. I look forward to hearing your proposal at the meeting.” The head of the Ito household turned to leave, but was stopped by Ruby, raising one of her arms.
“Actually, if you don’t mind, could I borrow your wife for a few minutes? There are a few things I want to ask her about, woman to woman.”
“Of course.” He turned to his wife. “I will be waiting in the lobby.”
The woman quickly lowered her head as the man left. The room fell silent as the two women listened to his footsteps until they disappeared.
Instantaneously, the mood in the room changed as the man’s wife prostrated herself on the ground, her head practically slamming on the floor in front of Ruby’s feet. “Your Majesty! It is wonderful to see you again. Please do not take any offense to what my husband said or did.”
Ruby chuckled softly as she knelt down next to the woman. “Lift your head, Luna. You’ve never had to bow to me before, and yet you are always the most outspoken when it comes to it.” She reached out and lifted Luna’s face with a single finger.
“But of course, Mistress Ruby. Your path for this world is the only true path.” As Luna spoke, she slowly stood up and straightened out her wrinkled clothes.
“You are just as loyal as the rumors say you are, Miss Luna,” The closet door creaked open and a man missing an arm stepped out. “I am disappointed that I questioned those rumors simply because you are married to that buffoon.”
Ruby clapped her hands together and her face lit up in happiness as she saw the man. “Alec! I hope that closet was too uncomfortable for you. Let me introduce you,” Ruby grabbed Luna by the shoulder and brought her in close. “This is Luna Ito, one of the founding members of our revolutionary group. She has been a close friend of mine for nearly 150 years. She is also our main informant of the going-ons here in Kyoku.”
When Ruby finally finished introducing her, Luna stepped forward and extended a hand towards Alec. “So you’re the famous rookie I’ve heard about. Rising up the ranks to become Ruby’s right-hand servant in a matter of months once you officially joined.” The two shook hands.
“Now that introductions are out of the way, Luna, do you have any updates on the production of that?”
Luna turned back to Ruby at her question, a look of sorrow on her face. “I’m sorry, but I don’t have the sword I need to make it. Without the sword, I can’t activate magical feedback and produce poisons that potent. The best I can do right now is a poison that works at about seventy percent what that one does.”
Ruby pursed her lips as she contemplated how to change their strategy with this new information. “Could you make us enough to dose the entire council?”
“The entire council? Are you sure?” Luna skeptically looked at her leader, wondering just what their backup plan would be.
“If they don’t agree to what we want, we’ll need to be able to force them into working with us. You aren’t having second thoughts about this, are you, Luna?”
Luna furiously shook her head. “Of course not. It’s just that producing that much poison in three days will be a bit taxing on my body.”
“Just don’t completely knock yourself out.” Alec made a rare interjection that was in support of someone being good with their health.
“Whatever you can give us, we can make use of it. Like Alec said, make sure you stay healthy.” Ruby agreed with her right-hand man easily and smiled at Luna.
Luna’s cheeks grew rosy-pink as she averted her eyes. “I understand.”
With their main topic finally finished, Ruby asked a few more questions for Luna, mainly about the city itself. Their conversation lasted for a few minutes before Luna finally disappeared from the room.
Once she was gone, Alec looked at Ruby with a quizzical look. “Will waiting a few days work for us?”
“Are the soldiers still waiting out in the ocean? Unmoving?” Ruby answered the question with another question.
“Of course. They won’t move until we give the signal.”
“Then waiting a few days will be fine. This country will either become a vassal for the new world, or they will die in the ruby flames of war.” Ruby’s words were a silent declaration of war that no one heard except for Alec.
A single sentence. A single gambit. For the sake of her perfect new world. Ruby would throw away anything and everyone if it leads to the birth of her ideal world. No one would stand in her way.