Fu Bingwen felt excited when they boarded the starship to leave for Vanessa's Planet, which he still didn't know the name. The starship is different from hover cars and aircrafts, starships can leave planets with no trouble. Only Mecha, starships and warships can leave planets, citizens can't own any high graded crafts.
So this is a first for Fu Bingwen, Graceful Blue was a A graded starship which despite being named Blue was an earthy green. The AI was a woman who looked like a tree spirit or a dryad, she controlled the ship when it was on autopilot, if she wasn't then she would be found in the garden that the ship has. Fu Bingwen understood even more how much his fiancée loves nature.
Even her starship wasn't spared from having plants all over. He didn't know that her many house plants that you could see every time you turned was her having control. If she truly give up having control, they would be living in a giant tree like the people in Avatar or a mud house that had flowers growing out of its walls.
-x-
Vanessa had made it a rule that no one will bother her when it was time to eat with her family. Her mother and father had only came back home to watch her train and see her progress. Her grandmother was the only one who lived at home all the time and took care of her. Her grandfather was home even less than her parents.
She didn't want a cold house for her future husband and her children, a lively home was better. To get a lively home, it must start with the adults, if the adults are not happy then the children are not happy. To have a happy partner, you must spend time with them and make them happy?
It sounds right, Niles said it was the right idea and Fu Bingwen looked happy to eat with her and Vance. So, it must be right. Only that didn't mean life would let her do so, sometimes she had to cut dinner short or skip it. It was annoying and she wanted to punch the next person to ruin her meal through a wall. Especially the past few days, it seems like she will sit down at the table and she gets a notification on her damn bracelet.
So she decided that she had to cut the problem at the root. Her army was in charge of the border of their Empire, where most pirates live and hide. Doing a clean sweep won't solve anything in the long run, but no soldiers will be calling her during lunch for awhile.
Her soldiers started working with the local police forces, cracking down on crime. In doing so, they uprooted many rotten officials and police officers. She was labeled as bullheaded and domineering. She had an almost twisted pleasure at seeing the corrupted officials struggle to defend themselves in court or in the news.
The current emperor looked away from the chaos she was creating on the borders. She of course, took that as permission to be aggressive in cracking down on crime. Vanessa even left her planet for a couple weeks to join a few raids on star pirates bases and illegal auctions.
It was impossible for netizens not to know of her army's work. The rich citizens labeled her as ruthless while the poor citizens called her a hero. Vanessa never seen the politicians and reporters debate so much about the fact that crime rates are declining at a sharp rate.
Mostly about how they handled the criminals. The cases that they bring up are about major criminals who did horrific crimes. Criminals who are cruel and have twisted interests. That were used as boogie man stories to children who grow up on Trash Planets, the ones that her younger soldiers feared more than Zergs, the ones where she would have killed in her first world without thinking about it.
She wanted them dead before they could escape, but it was impossible. Their deaths would be a mark in their records, another excuse not to promote her soldiers. Disabling them wasn't a mark, cutting off their limbs or damaging their nerves was just written off.
The Emperor hid the fact that all of their spiritual system were ruined before they got a swift death. She knew it was him, his power over the empire was getting weaker as he reached the end of his life, but he still had a fight in him. She wished she was born in his prime, that she could have fought for him as his general.
She didn't feel a part of this world, where people would rather give chances over and over again. Where people would let others run over themselves and not fight back so they won't cause more problems.
The Emperor was their best leader, who made the empire reach its highest peak and developed a shield that saved billions of people across the universe. Vanessa admired him because he was the only Emperor who fought the zergs after he was crowned with his younger brother ready to take over if he died in battle. The emperors before him stepped away from danger, Vanessa knew if she was born in the same generation, she would've married him.
Vanessa told Fu Bingwen that if the emperor was younger she would marry him when she got home, it was completely off topic and she didn't really mean to tell him. Fu Bingwen was silent, a complex look in his eyes. Vanessa tried to change the mood by talking about how she met a fan.
Fu Bingwen leaned forward, serious as he asked why. She looked at him, before she started to explain why she would have married him. "The Emperor was powerful and ruthless, a very attractive trait for a mate. As someone who was powerful, I was always advise on having children with equal strength or stronger."
"So you would marry him for the potential your kids could have?" He asked, taking a drinking of his smoothie. Vanessa didn't say anything, not sure if she answer it. "Or do you want to marry because of who he was and how he did things?"
"..Because of his strength," she answered, not completely sure. "I do not know him or how he was, but I have seen the battle reports with him, along with the videos. In my world, we only have children with people who are powerful or attractive."
Fu Bingwen nodded, "so did you choose me for my looks?" Vanessa looked at him, this sounds like a trick. Somehow. But she still told him the truth and nodded, she didn't know him before agreeing. She didn't fall in love with first sight, she didn't even know if she loved him now. He was soft, gentle, something she didn't see often in the army. Cute.
"It's good that I am so cute then," he smiled at her, looking very goofy and happy. He pat his check before pausing, "wait, you only saw the original's photos and only saw me during the meeting. Who do you think looked cute?"
Does my future wife have a weird taste??! Fu Bingwen almost didn't want to hear her answer. The original looked like he went to the hair salon that had the worst ratings and reviews. His hair was long and colorful, it wouldn't be too bad if his hair wasn't so damaged and dry. He had to get it cut and washed twice before it looked okay.
"I was planning on getting the engagement called off as long as he wanted. But I saw you and changed my mind, marriage didn't seem that bad." Vanessa watched relief fill his eyes, wondering why he was so panicked about if it was him or the original. Bingwen wasn't jealous enough to get mad at her relationship with the original. (Right? She need to ask Niles.) "I felt like we talked about this."
"Maybe, you like to talk about things when I am half awake," Fu Bingwen took another sip, it was a problem because he wouldn't remember half of their talk the next morning.
"You go to bed too early, and I don't know who to talk to because Niles sleeps so early." She sighed, everyone around her sleeps so much and she doesn't know what to do some nights besides wake up Niles or Bingwen.
"It's not our fault we need more sleep than you." Fu Bingwen pouted, especially poor Niles, who is stuck between A rank and S rank. His mind works at a faster rate and holds more than his body can handle. So his body needs more sleep to deal with the large of amount of information he is taking in.
Vanessa only needs a couple hours of sleep, two- threes hours and she is good to go. While she could sleep more, she said that it makes her legs feel restless all day. Niles even did various tests to make sure it was healthy when they were young and it was. It even lead to reseach on Ranking and what it does to your sleep schedule.
"Your talks are always interesting." Niles piped up from his spot at the stairs, a bowl of fresh fruits in his hands. "I never know how its going to end."
Fu Bingwen jumped, spilling his smoothie all over himself. "Are you trying to scare me to death!?!"
"I've/He's been here since the start." They looked at him innocently.