[KURAYAMI]
Five of the seven royal kingdoms had shown up by midday on the day Yuzuki had allotted for the meeting. She knew it wasn't an easy thing for them, and when their protectors walked in with swords and shields, Yuzuki just stared with a smile.
They had come. That was all that mattered, even if this was the most diabolical and dangerous meeting the realm would ever have to be lined up for. It was not easy, never would be.
Yet as they made their way to the royal court of Kurayami, Yuzuki stayed watching.
She had been standing on the balcony of her chambers, watching as Kurayami warriors went on with their duties, not once mesmerized by the royals. It was almost like they didn't give a fuck.
"These people are weird. Why is the security not amped up?" one of the rulers asked as they settled inside Kurayami's court.
It was unusual, really, how the gates of Kurayami had been open for almost a month now. How the merchants from across the different kingdoms had traded with the Kurayami merchants even within the kingdom.
How people still went home to their kingdoms despite entering Kurayami.
It felt like an illusion, one that they didn't exactly understand how it worked. Yet with blind faith they had answered the mad queen's call. It was insane, yet it made them more curious.
What was the queen planning?
Was this just about trades?
Was this about something else?
The royals settled, but there were still two seats at the high table that were empty.
Queen Kuramitsu... the woman wasn't in the crown room yet.
And...
King Kazuya Yamashita, of the Yamashita Kingdom.
It was late, and yet even then there was still no sign of so much as an envoy from the Yamashita lands.
King Kazuya had always made it obvious over the years that he didn't trust the mad queen of Kuramitsu.
That he would not be convinced by any acts of kindness from the woman who murdered without even thinking twice. A woman who didn't give a shit about every crown she sat on.
Because for Kazuya, that woman in power went against everything. There was something dangerous about Queen Kuramitsu. Something that he couldn't wrap his head around.
Especially in the past two years.
It was as if the mad queen had changed.
She was more dangerous. Commissioned attacks like she was playing a long game of chess. Manipulated things to work for her in the kind of ways that no one who bothered copying her would ever be successful.
She was dangerous.
She was insane.
And Kazuya did not trust her.
If there was no shame in any admission in the realm, then King Kazuya would have dared to say that the mad queen of Kurayami scared the shit out of him.
But he was a king, wasn't he?
He ruled the second-largest kingdom in the realm, of course, after Kurayami. Had the most lethal enforcer the realm had ever seen.
So, what did he have to fear then?
"Your Majesty, King Kazuya is yet to arrive. Shall we keep waiting?" Rinko asked by afternoon.
The leaders of the realm had arrived already, and to keep them waiting was not right. Not that Yuzuki cared about that. Yet hearing Rinko speak about the state of things, Yuzuki knew she had to make a choice.
"Let's go," Yuzuki said.
She was still wearing her servant clothes, a habit Rinko had tried to get her out of, yet Rinko had had a hard time making her change. Even now she was headed to the throne room, looking like she was just another peasant in the kingdom.
But was she?
"If Ayami comes..." Rinko tried, hoping that it would make the woman change her mind. Hoping that was motivation enough for Yuzuki Kuramitsu to change what she was wearing right now.
But Yuzuki just laughed.
"We are not heading to a wedding ball, Rinko," Yuzuki said, staring at the ball gown she had had her seamstresses make for her. She had modified it with her magic, and the first fitting had had her looking so gorgeous in it.
Yet now, that same gown lay on the dresser as Yuzuki and Rinko walked ahead to the royal court.
"Zuhra!" Consort Hirano called out, and Yuzuki paused for a moment.
Rinko looked at the consort.
Then at Yuzuki.
When Amaya came up to Yuzuki again, kissing the queen lightly on her lips, Rinko had expected her to be pushed away. To be told to step aside. Yet Yuzuki had let her; the consort who had so many scandals in the realm.
She had let the woman entwine their hands as they walked ahead.
And as if their positions changed, Rinko walked back, as was the custom of a queen and her enforcer.
She was just the enforcer.
Yuzuki's executioner.
She had no qualms about it, but fuck if Rinko didn't like the way things were right now. And it wasn't even because of the way Yuzuki had beheld Amaya's hands, listening to the consort mumble and yap about things that Rinko couldn't give two shits about.
"Your Majesty..." Rinko tried a second time when they got to the door of the throne room, and Yuzuki did not have a crown on her head.
She looked like a regular servant, truly. She looked like she couldn't give two shits about what was happening. But did she?
Was this all an act?
Was this Yuzuki acting out because Ayami wasn't coming?
Well, that would be hard to tell.
"All rise for the queen!" Takamoto, the guard at the entrance, announced.
The doors of the throne room opened roughly, the sound of metal and wood moving apart making everyone inside the room pause. It was so loud, so unparalleled.
Maybe because the entrance they had used to get into this room and the one Yuzuki had used were different.
"No way, she looks magnificent," someone murmured, and Rinko had to do a double take at the woman she walked after.
Magnificent?
MAGNIFICENT?
What the fuck did these people think of the queen?
Were they that desperate to worship the ground her queen, who was clearly in servant clothes, walked on that badly? What the hell was wrong with everyone?
Yet Rinko watched in surprise as every head bowed down as if by instinct.
They were royals. They were kings and queens in here. Yet every single head bent for the mad queen of Kurayami. And Rinko stared, unsure what the fuck she was watching right now.
There had to be a mistake somewhere.
Well, that was what she thought, until...
"Why can't we see her face?" one king asked, looking at the others as if to ask if they were seeing the same thing.
"Every time I try to look at her face, I can't remember what I'm seeing," another asked.
"Is this how she kept her identity a secret all this while?" a king wondered.
The same surprised gasps were let out for the queen without a clear face.
"You look beautiful today, Zuhra," Consort Amaya Hirano said.
And it took Rinko a moment to realize what was going on.
This...
This was a game for her queen.
Yuzuki had used magic to look different, majestic perhaps. Because Amaya Hirano wasn't the kind of woman who would see Yuzuki in servant clothes and call her beautiful.
What the fuck?
"Take your seats, and welcome to Kurayami," Yuzuki announced.
Then Kazuya walked in.
Behind him?
Enforcer Ayami Araki.