anwhile, at the sa ti inside the Scarlet Banes Kingdom.
Upon confronting Princess Selene—and the ten main Alpha Pris backing her—Evelyn and the others were escorted to the nearest city that belonged to another Alpha Pri who was on their side called Ian, volunteering to host them until the eventful day ca.
Evelyn was now on the castle's balcony, gazing up to the night sky.
It was a beautiful night tonight, the sky was clear and the moon was glowing brilliantly.
A relaxing atmosphere that helped her relax her nerves.
Yesterday, Prince Alaric who was inford of Evelyn's arrival to settle the Scarlet Banes Kingdom once and for all, moved instantly. He delivered royal invites, calling the entire Alpha Pris across the land to et at the capital city—a matter of significance he specified.
Nobody is allowed to skip this call, branded a criminal if they do.
Due to the upcoming event, Evelyn was unsurprisingly stressed.
She was the one who was going to speak in front of the Werewolves—and make them understand that their kingdom would fare way better if they accepted to be under the Clarentium Empire.
Just thinking about that alone, Evelyn could tell the blowback would be horrendous.
Family and pride are what the Werewolves are about and this move from them scarred those two key aspects.
Evelyn knew that the day wouldn't be easy for everyone.
A rebellion was most likely to break out which would end up either one of three paths.
It is either a revolution happened where Princess Selene won against Prince Alaric and even the forces of the Clarentium Empire—a succession where Prince Alaric succeeds the throne as the sole suitable ruler, or complete annihilation—where Rex has had enough and decided to exterminate them all.
'Rex doesn't want the third path to happen, I know it.' Evelyn pondered, her fingers pressing against the cold stone balustrade. 'I don't know who Agatha was but like Nadia, Rex adored her, and she's clearly a Werewolf. I'm sure Rex didn't want to have it co down to the third path, which would break Agatha's heart'
Despite not voicing out his thoughts, Evelyn could tell what he wanted.
If Rex had the ti, he would undoubtedly co here himself to make sure of success.
However, the reality states that he has no ti to waste and that burden now lies on Evelyn's shoulders.
'I can't fail this.' Evelyn nodded in determination, her eyes flickering like fire. 'He trusted to do a task this massive, I will make sure to succeed no matter what. So that he could move on and eliminate all the threats that could potentially harm him'
Evelyn has always trusted Rex in his endeavors.
But she wavered because Madam Qonvale predicted his incoming death.
She beca restless and uneasy.
Not to ntion, she couldn't even talk about this to anyone.
It would only make the others panic if they knew about this.
She wanted every threat to be dealt with so she didn't have to worry anymore.
"Evelyn…" A voice suddenly called her from behind.
Evelyn jumped when she heard this, she was too deep in her mind that Adhara's voice startled her.
"Woah…" Adhara rubbed her hands on Evelyn's shoulder, calming her down. "I didn't an to startle you, I'm sorry."
"Don't be," Evelyn shook her head, holding Adhara's arm for strength. "I was caught up in my mind"
Upon hearing this, Adhara hugged from behind and placed her chin on Evelyn's shoulder.
"Is it about convincing the Werewolves?" She asked, tilting her head.
Evelyn nodded, "Rex has never asked us to do sothing, he usually did it himself. Now, the situation forced him to have us here—to replace him. He doesn't want to let us do this from the start so this could be either an opportunity for us or a tragedy"
She bit her lower lip, holding back her fiery emotions from thinking of the possibilities, "If we succeed, he will trust us even more and we could finally stand by him. However, if we failed this, we would be making a confirmation for his guts and he would never let us do anything again"
Listening to this, Adhara pursed her lips.
Now that Evelyn had given it to her straight, she could understand why Evelyn was worried.
Heck, she also beca more worried but she didn't show it.
Both of them being worried wouldn't change anything, it would only make them feel worse.
"Rex has already prepared the groundwork for us," Adhara suddenly said, going over to the side to look at the beautiful view of the Werewolf city ahead, more bustling in the night. "we would succeed, trust him. And soon, once we succeed, this land…" She pointed to the horizon. "Would be our land"
"Oh," Evelyn glanced at her in amusent. "I don't know you're ambitious, Adhara. Since when?"
"Since right now," Adhara giggled. "I an look at this, who would've expected that we're going to rule over not Humans but Werewolves and other Supernaturals? If I was told by soone that I would be the second Empress and rule over Supernaturals and Humans, I wouldn't believe it"
"Second Empress? Really?" Evelyn lazily looked at her. "No such thing as the second Empress"
"Right…" Adhara stepped up and bowed elegantly. "I'm sorry, Your Majesty"
"Stop it, I'm sick of looking at people bowing at all the ti" Evelyn rolled her eyes.
As their chuckles faded, the atmosphere returned to silence again.
It was instantaneous, almost as if their banter was only a facade to hide their worries briefly.
Adhara's expression tightened, "What should we be worried about for later?"
"Sven," Evelyn answered, also becoming serious. "Princess Selene would have a massive disadvantage against Prince Alaric. Both of them ca from royal blood but Prince Alaric is more beloved to the people. However, if Sven ca, the throne would automatically go to him. He's the Werewolf Origin's bastard son,"
"I see…" Adhara nodded before exhaling roughly through her nose. "I'll deal with him, then"
Upon hearing this, Evelyn quickly snapped towards her.
"What? How? We don't even know where he is" She said, not knowing what to feel about this.
Just then, as the two discussed, Gistella creeped out from inside.
"I can't sleep," She cried. "I'm too nervous. I think I'm going to Rex's clone to sleep with him"
"What?!" Adhara instantly stood straight. "No, you can't! We already agreed not to!"
"I'm not asking, I'm telling," Gistella pouted—and ran back inside with a pillow, running out of the room to go to Rex's clone's room across their room. "Good night! I'll tell Rex's clone both of you said hi, no need to see out!"
Upon hearing this, Adhara grinds her teeth and chased after her.
But she stopped at the mouth of the balcony.
Pausing for a second, she glanced over to Evelyn, "I will stop Sven from coming if he sohow decides to show interest in this throne battle. Only worry about convincing the Werewolves, leave Sven to . I'll be leaving now,"
Despite wanting to stop her, Evelyn found no words coming out.
She knew that Sven was dangerous and extrely powerful from what she heard, but on the other hand, she also knew that if Sven ca to intervene then it was ga over. Prince Alaric would lose and Rex's hand would be forced to end the Scarlet Banes Kingdom.
It would spiral into more trouble.
More pain.
However, it brought her a bit of ease knowing that Adhara was the perfect match for Sven.
Possessing the Anti-Werewolf bloodline, siphoning a fragnt of power—from the White Omicron, she's the best suited to stop Sven if he ever ca to intervene in this battle for the throne. No matter how strong the Werewolves are, they wouldn't be completely immune to her bloodline.
Because of that, Evelyn allowed Adhara to leave.
She went inside and exited the room, leaving Evelyn alone.
Once Adhara was gone, Evelyn sighed deeply and looked back to the sky.
"I hope everything is going well on your end, Rex," She murmured. "I promise to deal with this one"
…
anwhile, it wasn't going well for Rex.
"I'm sorry, we decline your offer. Please see your way out…"
"What…?"
Rex was completely taken aback.
He was quite sure that this would make Serevia and Serevan caved since the Dexterous Cat Statue was a gift the System recomnded. Considering how sophisticated the System was, it must have filtered through the entire shop and found the most suitable one.
Due to that, Rex was faithful that this would work.
Not to ntion, he also took into account the fact that the Zahara Consortium worked on a business model, focusing on anything to grow their kingdom as the middleman.
In front of such a tempting offer that was overwhelmingly sided with the Tabaxis, Serevia, and Serevan should've accepted his offer—but reality proved otherwise. Rex gazed into Serevia's eyes in disbelief, he couldn't believe she would decline this offer.
Why…? Kazzir was easily bribed and he even backed up. Surely, his rulers are also the sa.
A subject is the reflection of its ruler so why…?
I did everything right. I showed them respect and even offered a gift.
Recovering from his faze, Rex blinked and focused on the mont again.
"Is there a particular reason why you're declining?" He asked, narrowing his eyes. "I don't see how with the offer I am making, you ca to the conclusion to decline my offer. Enlight — give one good reason"
Upon hearing this, Serevan and Serevia remained silent for a second before explaining.
Monts later.
Rex was escorted out of the building with a sour expression.
Not only did he fail to pull the Zahara Consortium his way, but he also wasted gold on sothing that he didn't need. He was so sure that the Tabaxis wouldn't help themselves but accept the offer that he made a hasty decision to purchase the Dexterous Cat Statue.
Alas, he thought by showing it to them first-hand, they would be inclined to accept even more.
And he wasn't wrong, Serevia and Serevan were srized but they still declined.
"Your Majesty!" Iris ca out from a small house and ran towards him excitedly when she saw he walked out, there was anticipation on her countenance. "How did it go? Did the twin rulers accept your proposal? Are they now on our side?"
Rex remained silent and walked on ahead.
His silence froze Iris' expression, she couldn't believe that this was happening.
'His Majesty failed to clean his soul and now he failed this…?' Iris pursed her lips, her face turned dark as this was definitely another vicious blow to Rex's mind and being. 'Just how can they decline such a good offer? What's going on?'
On the other hand, Rex was also in complete disbelief.
'I know what you're thinking but not all decisions are made for the reasons you think'
'Although your offer is very tempting, and would make our kingdom grow further, there's another thing more important than our growth. It's our reputation. We already accepted the Dark Angels' offer, they ca to us first. So we simply can't accept because we can't go back on our words. I hope you can find it in your heart to understand'
'If you have any other request aside from abandoning the Dark Angels, we'll be happy to hear'
He recalled the answer Serevia gave to him earlier and it didn't make sense.
I get about reputation but when the one you're dealing with could flatten your kingdom after they achieved what they wanted to achieve? Reputation shouldn't an anything—it's still a concept below survival.
Experiencing two consecutive failures, Rex was not in a good state of mind.
Flashes of the consequences of his failure crossed his mind and the thought of it boiled his blood.
He wanted to let loose, he wanted to force the Zahara Consortium to obey but he couldn't.
Doing that would only make their commitnt to the Dark Angels stronger.
Stop. Being emotional would only cloud my mind. Calm down.
Rex regulated his breaths to appease his anger, and once he did, he contemplated—the current situation further with a cool mind. And surprisingly enough, he rembered one detail that he had missed.
He thought he had taken into account everything but he forgot one thing.
Serevia's whiskers turned from pink to blue. She turned from being composed to fearful.
Why…?
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