Chapter 44 - Conspiracy

Planet Vardak was home to many creatures- but the most dominant one was the Sahallas. They were fairly intelligent and their looks were humanoid: two arms, two legs, two eyes, one mouth, and one head. They had all sorts of hair on their heads and the colors ranged from bright pink to dark purple. The most common hairstyle was the black afro.

However, unlike humans, they didn't possess noses and their skin was like that of bronze: very shiny.

They were dominant all over the planet but- they mostly spent their lives in the vicinity of the massive tree in the middle of the west continent.

The massive tree in the middle of the west continent- or the tree of Roudia (souls) as the Sahalla liked to call it, was home to about 80 million Sahallas while the rest of the 7 million lived in various parts of the planet.

The Sahallas mostly lived below the tree, but the privileged few lived in chambers directly carved in the tree. The largest chamber inside the tree was the royal palace, said to be home to the immortal leaders of the species. The royal palace was exactly one kilometer in radius and the entirety of it was situated inside the tree.

In one particular room of the palace, one man was in front of a foreign device. He was a prince. And he could see a woman on the other side- inside the foreign device.

***

"Ah it is good to see you again your majesty." Venira bowed before the Holo monitor.

There was a certain someone who was staring back from the Holo. This certain man lacked a nose. All he had were three holes in place of his nose and a slight downward curve on where it should have been. He wasn't human.

"Cot Ze crap empross. Yoo do know what Vy want, correct?" Though he spoke English, his accent was poor. He couldn't pronounce words correctly and he even misspoke a few.

"Of course." Venira clicked her tongue but didn't show any dissatisfaction on her face. "I have already laid the necessary groundwork. I assume things are going fluently on your end as well?"

Venira in fact did lay the groundwork quite nicely. And she knew everything was going according to plan. There was a bit of a problem in the middle- but now- everything was moving smoothly.

All she had to do was now wait and make sure even if something went wrong, it didn't go down the drain.

"Bot zof course." The man swayed his long fingers. His grin grew wider. "Vy can't wait to taste yoor lovely daughtor."

Venira let out an exhaust. "Of course. She shall be yours." Her tone, very neutral. But her stare had more than enough disgust in it. 'But the question is, will you still be-'

***

'Taste her daughter?'

Emily Black was on her way to see her mother when she overheard a particular conversation. 'What are they talking about?' In the Black family only Emily and her younger sister Rosaria were yet to be wed. Rosaria was only thirteen. 'They couldn't possibly be talking about me?'

She was hesitant between listening to more, or jumping right in and confronting her mother. Although her mother was strict and had her way with almost anyone, Emily trusted her mother. Emily didn't respect her, but she trusted her judgement. After all, Venira was one of the wisest people she knew.

And though she hated to admit it, almost all the time, her mother's words came true.

Her eyes became wet as she considered the possibility. The tears didn't flow. She didn't see the Holo live yet and it could just be something else.

She made her decision and took a leap of faith. "What are you talking about, mom?"

"Oh, great timing. Emily, meet Aunghasit, the prince of Ceren." Venira was expecting Emily.

Emily looked at the Holo screen and couldn't choose between whether to be surprised or dumbfounded. 'What the hell is this thing?' The man in the Holo looked humanoid but had no nose. But that wasn't all. His clothes were different, weird threads, and definitely not enough. The skin was like bronze, pale yellow bronze. There wasn't much technology and, in that regard, there wasn't much of anything inside the room. Everything there looked like relics of the past. And the room was made of…wood?

Emily looked at her mother, utterly confused.

Her mother explained. "We recently found a distant planet. There was life there: intelligent life. To strengthen our bond between the two races, we decided to hold political marriages between the two worlds."

But if that was the case, how come she was finding it out now, this way? How come she had never heard of this before?

How come-

"You can't possibly mean-"

Besides, if they found a planet with intelligent life, wouldn't this be a major discovery of sorts?

"But I do mean that, my dear." Venira smiled. "You will marry this man."

Man? What man? How's this thing a man?

Emily wanted to scream those words, but she remained calm. "I refuse!" She flat-out rejected her mother's proposal.

The look on the prince's face crumbled and he raged like a teenager. He spoke in a language and the words he spoke weren't quite something she could understand. To her, they were nothing more than gibberish.

Venira didn't look worried even for a second. 'I suppose she is my daughter.' "Not even for your big brother? Not even for Theo?" She raised a brow with a very knowing grin.

"What do you mean? What-" Emily's mind abruptly descended to chaos. She put the puzzles together.

Theodore Black was a social outcast. He was different and weak. The weakest even. And yet he was given the opportunity to go on an important mission. He wasn't judged by his abilities. There was a catch and Emily knew that. At first, she thought, maybe the whole thing was arranged by her mother to finally give Theo a job. But now she knew. Now she knew what her mother cooked up. "You sent him as a hostage." Emily didn't look at her mother. She already knew.

"Don't worry prince. It's already settled. She will happily march onto even hell if needed." Venira smirked and the Holo ended.

The prince had a marvelous expression too. His previous raging self was nowhere to be found.

He had slept with hundreds of women so far. But when he learned of humans and saw their beauty- his lust couldn't be quenched anymore. Such magnificent skin! Such magnificent bosoms! Such magnificent-! He wanted- no, he had to sleep with a human, he just had to.

The only one who couldn't believe reality, however, was Emily. Her eyes refused to leak and became reddish. 'Theo.'

Contact: first run