After several long gasping breaths, Marco finally recovered enough to pull me away. I rubbed my lips hard with the back of my hands, trying to show him the disgust I felt for having done this.
"What did you hope to accomplish with this? That I approve of what you asked me to do?" Marco finally showed an ugly face, annoyed and offended. Who in all the history of the human races had even come close to do a "surprise attack" to an omniscient emperor?
I was already waiting for that, and I spat the answer ready to fight him:
"You said you would give me what I asked for a satisfying kiss. You had yet to put any other condition. By your reaction, you can no longer say you did not like it.
"So what?" he retorted angrily, but seemed to be more lost than I was when I was trapped under his spell "I still do not…"
"You, "majesty"... proposed me an agreement! I did my part, and I placed my request and paid with the kiss. If you do not fulfil it, then will it not be as if you've lied to me?", I made a point of emphasizing each of the words. "And I thought the Emperor could never lie to anyone at all, or his powers would falter... I have already made my request, and I paid the price. Not accepting would be tantamount to breaking your word."
The fury was stamped on every little line of expression on Marco's face. Then he mimicked the same gesture as I did, rubbing the back of his hand hard against his lips, and moved away. He looked at himself in the large mirror and tidied up his robes, which had been slightly crumpled.
"You'll regret this…", he replied, with nothing less than contempt in his voice, "I will accept what you ask for now, but you must fulfill what I have asked about the Wisdom Relic and under no circumstances should you comment with anyone about the agreement we have made here, or about anything that has been done for it."
"Do I have your word?" I insisted on seeking more confirmation.
"Hmpf... as if I ever needed to reaffirm anything I say!"
And without waiting for anything else, I simply turned and left the dressing room and ran straight to the nearest toilet, leaving none other than the emperor with the shattered pride behind.
My blood was vibrating in fury. My hands trembled and I felt my body convulsing lightly, I could feel the objects around me having their energies stolen, and some lights fail and start to fade, then blink until finally they extinguished. Even the temperature dropped rapidly to the point ice crystals began to form on top of the surfaces.
It took me a long time trying to focus on stabilizing my body and my mind. Somehow I was feeling my body different now. When at last my breathing became even and I was able to control my anger, I could feel the vibrations of the Creation power squirming and slowly dilute until it became stable again in my body. It seemed that the feeling I had of myself had changed completely. I felt... bigger. As if I was holding something too big inside me that wanted to leave. Well, I was actually doing it... wasn't I? I think this Wisdom Relic had more impact than it looked.
Somewhere outside, or everywhere in the palace, there was a loud clanging sound. I could hear the crowd outside exalting in euphoria. It was ending the last hour of the day. It was missing 15 night hours for the New Year. When I returned to the hall, Henry was still talking excitedly to Isaac. All the others had stepped out onto the balcony, and I followed them. Henry leaned back towards me, with Isaac following him.
I smiled at them, and gazed into the sea of multicolored heads that stretched across the palace's enormous gardens and realized that everyone was looking at several specific directions this time.
"The emperor stands on a throne prepared for him in front of the fountains, and personally welcomes all the representatives of the various imperial quarters. Since it's a lot of people, he always uses at least thirty bio-sensory automatons. So it's like he's in several places at once!", Isaac spoke, looking at me, "Father Marco is really incredible... a normal person can use one, at most two automatons of this type, if do not move! But he uses thirty, and still is there in person in the main fountain, look!"
"The New Year's party is simply an opportunity for the emperor to show off the reaches of his power to the affiliates of the empire", Henry said.
I felt a slight disarray again inside me as I had to hear about Marco again. Even more having to hear about how he was so abnormally powerful.
"Has anyone ever caught an emperor by surprise?" I asked vaguely interested, trying to move the conversation to a more impersonal tone, not specifically about Marco.
Henry frowned and looked at me suspiciously. Of course he should have noticed the fluctuations in my energy, but he thought seriously about an answer:
"Technically it is impossible ... the person should be versed in a very powerful type of magic to get close without having the thoughts detected, or the movements blocked by an omniscient. And then, the one who takes the burden of an emperor always puts upon himself an invisible, impenetrable and unbreakable magic barrier that prevents anyone from even touching him…", then Henry came closer to me so no one else would hear him speak "...which makes it incredible that someone, for example, can slap his face to the point where he loses his balance and falls."
I smiled awkwardly... I had never imagined that what I did was something 'so great'... I was thinking about it as at most challenging an authority.
"What did he say to you?" Henry asked after a while. I looked at him with an empty, tired expression. As I guessed, Henry had realized that something was wrong. Who better than him to realize the breakdown of my inner energy while he was around?
But I did not know what to answer. I did not want to explain that Marco had determined I should not tell anyone, but I did not want to talk about it either. Nor could I convey Henry any information about the plan of the Wisdom Relic without drawing the attention of others. But if I did not say anything... Henry would spend the rest of the night wondering what the hell Marco would have done to me.
Then I pulled him to a corner of the porch, and without saying anything, pointed discreetly into the inside of my neckline. Henry lifted his confused eyebrow. I insisted, and he approached to look. Then I covertly showed him the reliquary between my breasts.
"Ah!", he exclaimed, and a light of understanding shone in his eyes. Then he put his arm around my shoulders and crouched down until his mouth was next to my ear. I felt my face heating up tremendously with the proximity, but I was pretty sure it was because of embarrassment. His approach reminded me of the kiss. Henry had just got near me to whisper in my ear: "I got worried wondering what he was doing to get you involved. Do not let him disturb you when he comes to talk to you, or he will use whatever is within his reach to hurt you in some way."
"I'm not that fragile..." I complained, pulling his arm away and turning my face to the other side. I did not want to have to face him, "It was not I who got out on the losing end after our little "meeting" today…"
Henry did not ask any more questions. Of course he understood that something had happened, but he could also feel that it was not the time to talk about it.
"Forget about it!", he said again pulling me by the hand to the divan where he was talking to Isaac earlier, along with the boy. The boy was very nice, in spite of who had raised him. As I suspected he was much older than me. He was almost fifteen Imperial years, which is almost twice my present age, but he was definitely a pre-adolescent in his appearance and manner of speaking.
From what I understood, he grew very fast for a Jomon child. Since his mother had been a Brard, he was a half-breed so would grow up faster than normal for a purebred Jomon. However, contrary to what I might expect, Isaac explained that when his body matures, it would be more like a Jomon than a Brard, even in longevity.
"I always knew Henry was my father too. Father Marco always explained to me that the reason we could not be together before was because Father Henry was very sick of the heart, and when he was well again we could meet, so I'm very happy today", Isaac began to explain to me his family history. Henry looked at the boy with a thoughtful expression. Isaac evidently liked and respected Marco very much. "Contrary to what many people think, Father Marco always gave me a lot of attention even though he was always busy. He treated me very well, as if I were his own blood. He always let me be around when he can, and when he can not, he activates an automaton to keep me company. He even teaches me about omniscience personally, even though he's so busy."
I looked at Henry wondering if he would have any reaction to those words. But the boy was also an irreparable fan of Henry's work. When he did not spend his time studying Omniscience, he read everything he could about Medical Bioengineering, especially about Henry's work.
I listened quietly, while Isaac seemed to be boasting cheerfully of having two fantastic men as his fathers. Intelligent and powerful men beyond any other. He was really quite proud. I wonder if he knew how the personalities of those two were like when he was not around... or even the story of his family and his mother?
I had not yet spoken a word, when Isaac began to want to talk about the Relics. He was rather curious and began to ask me about the side effects of the Creation Relic.
"It was very difficult at the beginning, but now I think I will be able to manage…" I replied to Isaac, hoping Henry would translate my words.
But Henry did not translate. He looked at me with his jaw on the floor, completely surprised.