Viina Secela, on her knees in disbelief, was looking at the spot that her Judgment used to occupy, and then back at me. “You! I just-”
“I couldn’t have you changing your mind on our deal.” Joshua cut her off. “Even if you had some relation to him before, that program is not your father. It’s an A.I. with his personality. Don’t worry though, after he recovers all his speech functions, I’ll let you have a long talk with him.”
Viina grit her teeth, but ended up choosing not to argue, reasoning that she’d certainly lose out on his trust if she pressed the issue.
Unfortunately for her, even if Viina herself had abandoned any thoughts of making a fuss about it, it was someone else entirely that began to yell at Joshua.
“What did you do to my daughter!?” Queen Laina shouted at the Paladin, causing Viina’s heart to sink.
As opposed to her tone, the Queen strode into the corridor whilst taking her time. She came to a stop next to Viina, and looked down upon the girl, spreading a fan out in front of her face.
“What are you doing here?” Viina managed to ask through her nerves. If her mother found out that she was planning to defect to the Metron Kingdom, right after their embarrassing loss to them, there’s no way she would let her do as she pleased.
“She was just going to service the loser.” Joshua said, causing the eyes of the two women to dart towards him instead of each other.
The two of them were shocked into silence for a moment, and the paladin took that chance to speak further. Meanwhile, his Judgment programs all disappeared from Viina’s view.
“It’s natural, isn’t it? Your daughter bet herself on the outcome of this match, and now she is nothing more than my slave in everything but attire. Really, I should be thanking you Primal Monarchs for giving the Metron Kingdom a free win, and with it, another concubine for me.”
Viina was stunned. Why would he purposefully make himself out to be the villain, especially when within hearing range of the queen? Didn’t he know that would only earn him malice and ill-will?
‘Wait.’ Princess Secela forced herself to take a deep breath. ‘He’s doing this for my sake. He’s being just as cautious about me defecting as I am, and he’s using his poor reputation to make a normally implausible scenario seem more likely.
Viina smirked, despite her situation. ‘Maybe he was right. Maybe it does pay to have a good information network paint a less-than-flattering picture of yourself.’
“The nerve of you!” Her mother shot back, her focus shifting entirely to Joshua, and neglecting to look in Viina’s direction again. “For even daring to lay a hand on my daughter, I should have you arrested for your insolence!”
“On what grounds?” Joshua raised an eyebrow, then shook his head in disapproval. “Speaking the truth? Also, ‘your daughter?’ You’re so used to viewing her as nothing more than a piece on the board that your subconscious doesn’t even allow you to use her name. Instead, she’s your possession. Don’t try to act like a mother. You disgust me.”
Laina’s face twisted and became crimson in anger, but she couldn’t come up with a rebuttal for the verbal onslaught.
Viina was sad to find that she agreed with Joshua’s assessment of her mother. Even if she knew how Laina viewed her oldest daughter, it was still unnerving to hear it verbalized so clearly.
“Well, I think it’s time for me to go.” Joshua said, after seeing no sort of further comment was going to come from Laina.
He motioned to leave, and then turned around to face the pair again. “Don’t forget, you’re my possession now, Viina. I’ll come to the palace tomorrow to pick you up for departure. Be sure to have everything packed.”
Just like that, he was gone, leaving Viina alone with her mother, who was definitely still feeling the paladin’s presence.
“Mom,” Viina said weakly. “I-”
Viina turned away as Laina’s scream echoed in her ears, the Queen not giving a care who or what was around to hear.
When the noise stopped, Viina looked back on her mother, only to see the woman’s glowering expression directed at her.
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
“Judgment support ticket.” Laina spoke, and a white box with black text appeared between the two of them.
The Queen closed the fan she was holding. “File an arrest warrant for Joshua Cole, on the grounds of crimes committed against the state.”
The support ticket whirred to life, and Laina almost lost it for a second time when she saw the response: “This individual has committed no crimes. No support ticket may be logged at this time.”
She snapped her fan in half, throwing the pieces to the ground. Her gaze met Viina’s, and the younger Secela flinched.
“Viina…” Laina called in a sing-song voice that gave the princess shivers. “We’re going to have a very long chat when we get home about strangers… yes, we’ll have a very, very long talk indeed.”
---
“Well, that was grand.” X commented as we finally reached our base. The King and Queen were staying in the city, and Reya, Raiden, and Lucina had gone to stay with them.
On one hand, I was a bit miffed that they had decided to leave the management of their subordinates to me, but on the other, I was glad I could just be alone for a few minutes.
I walked into the small shack, and pressed the button under the bed, popping open the small escape hatch that led to the bunker down below.
“Haha! I couldn’t have said it better myself.” Un joined X in floating beside me as I climbed down the ladder.
I didn’t dignify the comment with a response, either out loud or in my thoughts. There were still fifty feet of ladder left, and I didn’t want to be the idiot that had every advantage against this world and killed himself due to gravity.
“You’re no fun.” Un clicked his nonexistent tongue, and together with X, waited for me to reach the bottom.
“Of course I’m not gonna answer you. For all the good your powers do me, I’m not going to survive a fall from fifty feet up, no matter how strong you make my muscles.”
Not used to taking criticism about his wit, Un began to pout, and disappeared from my view, leaving just X and I.
He wasn’t supposed to be out in the first place, was he? I asked her mentally. She shook her head and sighed, floating behind me as I walked down the corridor towards my room.
“Of course he wasn’t, Master.” She scoffed. “The thing is, I don’t know how he’s bypassing his command code to escape. He hasn’t used it for anything malicious, and he still can’t act in an aggressive way towards us, but it’s really bothering me.”
I smiled at X. For all the shit we gave each other, I realized that I liked our relationship the way it was: like close friends.
Admitting to Viina where X came from had coincided with something else: admitting that very same fact to myself. For the longest time, I had tried to deny it. Tried to deny that being ripped away from the girl I had confessed my love to on the very day this happened had affected me in any way.
Unfortunately for the pain tugging away at my heart, it was out in the open now, and X would certainly needle me for it.
However, every cloud has its silver lining. I felt like I could make a fresh start, and finally begin to put my past behind me… for the most part.
Even though I felt like I was trending in a positive direction, I still needed to hold on to some hatred- some of the fuel that had gotten me this far in the first place.
I stepped into the bathroom, X following behind me. When I began to strip, she let out a girlish gasp.
“My, Master, I didn’t realize you were into flaunting yourself in front of a lady.” She fanned her face as I turned around.
“Please. The day I get embarrassed by you seeing my dick is the day you can actually do something about it.”
X looked offended by my response, and floated out of the shower room and into the bedroom. I smiled again, despite myself.
I wonder if X had even noticed that she was becoming more and more expressive and self-sufficient every time she appeared?
My smile fell and I instantly turned on the shower to a relaxing 40 celsius. Not fahrenheit? The architect must have been from here. I mused, looking at the thermometer.
What little I knew about the Judgments had been supplied to me by them, and Starlord Alexstasia. I still knew jack shit about the Trials of Damocles, only that I was supposed to receive an explanation about the second round now that I had collected five programs.
Hopefully that information would reveal itself in the coming days. I didn’t like how much obvious hostility was being thrown my way from the Metronian Royal Family, and that could prove to be a ticking time bomb that could blow up any time from now to the next war game.
I finished washing, and lazily began to dry myself. Great. Just what I needed. More things on my plate.
I sighed and opened the door, only to be greeted by Lucina, her bathrobe, and her smiling face. I rolled my eyes. “Alright X. Enough playing around. I need to go to bed. I’m exhausted and need to be up early tomorrow to pick up Viina.
I walked through the hologram- or at least, I tried to. I stumbled as I met Lucina’s chest and didn’t phase through.
Instantly I sighed. “Why are you here? You’re supposed to be with your family.” She smiled, and led me to the bed, where we both lay down.
“I wanted to see you. Not to mention, I had to protect you from a certain dog that likes to crawl into her owner’s bed at night.”
I sighed, and started to drift off to sleep, when I felt a pressure on my neck. I opened my eyes to see Lucina sitting on top of my chest, a forearm on my throat and a twinkle in her eyes. Her hair cascaded down and blocked out all light, leaving me just a pitch black tunnel to her face.
“Joshua,” she began, her tone sweet. “What was that about picking up Viina? Care to elaborate what you’ve been up to in the past six hours?”