[SAKURA]
"Unfortunately, it seems like we have trouble getting to her. Her name is Kiyomi… Kimura," Cronos said with a smirk, knowing so well what that would mean for everyone in Doiwa.
And expectedly, there were murmurs.
But even then, Sakura Watanabe didn't react.
"The resources allocated to the Bogdan system should be able to take care of that, no?" Sakura asked as she looked at the man like he had lost his mind, desiring not being able to show any real emotions.
She was a stone wall and she didn't feel like letting anyone in.
What Cronos was trying to do was dangerous and would leave them in positions that they never wanted to find themselves in, but at the end of the day, this was a lifestyle they had to embrace.
Maybe that was why it didn't seem to bother Sakura as much.
"Your majesty," Cronos began again, clearly not expecting what the woman had resorted to. He had expected that she would be passive and ready to defend Kiyomi Kimura, but then Sakura was who she thought she was.
She wasn't shaken by the attempts of an old man who didn't know when he needed to take a step back.
It was crucial for him to decide what and where his allegiances lay, but right now, he had to figure out if he wanted to be the name that Sakura would clear out in an instant or if he wanted to face the truth and live the life that was waiting for him.
"That is not an answer, Cronos. The royal court has allocated so many resources to you and your team and certainly not for you to be coming here and talking about the Kimura rogue like a defect you don't know what to do about a single rogue.
"Should I make changes? Is that why you are here?" Sakura asked again, and this time there was rage and disappointment written all over her face. Her aura had also changed and the council room was suddenly so suffocating for the people within.
They all were glaring at Cronos for doing this and for putting them in tough positions, the realization did dawn on Cronos, but a little too late because the Lycan queen was walking toward him, her staff in her hand like she wanted to send him into oblivion.
It wasn't something that could be put past Sakura and definitely not when she was this pissed.
"My ap… apologies, your majesty. We will get on the Kimura case as fast as possible. Please excuse me," Cronos said as he stepped back from the queen until his back hit the council table and there was sudden dead silence.
The queen was playing with the man and he had nowhere to go. Otaru, who could have saved the man had long learned that the Sakura who had come back from Odanera was a changed woman and she was unpredictable as fuck.
She was unstable, quite literally, and wasn't the woman to be playing games with. It was a lesson that even he had gotten to learn a little too harshly over the weeks.
"Get out of my face before I take your life," Sakura warned with gritted teeth and that was all it took for Cronos to run away from the council room since the only person who could portal in this council room was the Lycan queen herself.
She had made that rule so people wouldn't run away for her when she was pissed.
But right now, Sakura couldn't deny that seeing Cronos running for his dear life while his lackeys followed after him was the best feeling for her; it was the second-best thing that had happened in the past hours she had been here.
"Does anyone else feel like bringing unimportant matters to my attention?" Queen Sakura asked the council members and they stared at her in silence and with bent heads.
It was like the world was not theirs to be a part of and boy was it interesting to watch. But even with all the antics, the need to sign was enough to distract Sakura from the fact that her erasthai was away from her. It was torture and she hated it.
"None at the moment, your majesty. All the issues have been sorted and Cronus was the last one," Lola breathed out carefully, worried about her safety.
She didn't want to be eliminated by the time the queen got to her, so she was saving her life. It wasn't even easy to tell what the queen thought about her, perhaps that's why she was always being extra careful.
"Then get out of here, all of you. And bring me three pets. They have had enough of a break since I left. You have thirty minutes to prepare them," Sakura ordered and the council members rushed out, not even waiting to hear what was next.
Lola just bowed and ran out to do what she had been ordered to do while Otaru stood in his spot, staring at Sakura like the woman couldn't be serious about what she had just said, there was no way that she could be that cruel to her erasthai.
Perhaps he had heard her wrong, but then with the way that the room was slowly changing Otaru knew that he wasn't wrong. He had heard her. He had heard the woman who had spent ten months with Kiyomi Kimura start talking about her parents again.
It was not fair, oh it wasn't, but Otaru didn't have the power to talk that to Sakura when she was enraged because of how much she missed Kiyomi. Perhaps there was going to be a way out of this, right?
But what else was there then?
It wasn't like Kiyomi could come back to the Lycan lands even as a pet, seeing as Cronos was out of her blood. Oh, but Otaru was frustrated and he needed to do something.
So naturally, he slammed the table and walked out of the room. He didn't need to see the madness that Sakura was coming forward with. She wasn't the same woman that he had known and hells be damned if he let that work him out.
But that was freaking him out more than it was stressing him.
Oh, but Sakura was a piece of work.
"You didn't get to leave, Otaru. You are my subject and your work is to make sure my pets are ready for me," Sakura said and Otaru stilled. Of all the things that he had expected from Sakura, this was the last of them.
Of course, he knew it was his job as her enforcer, but damn was it a lot for him.
He didn't think of betraying the good doctor who had meant the words to Sakura and clearly, with the way that Sakura was looking at him, Otaru could see her silently begging him to save her from herself.
But what else was to be done?
A decree had been made, and she had done it herself. All of this wouldn't ever stop unless she wanted it all to. But clearly, she was having enough fun with the chaos she was stirring at the moment.
"Ah, I see. Well then, Your Majesty, what do you want me to prepare now that your little erasthai isn't here? You want me to betray her like you are too?" Otaru asked with gritted teeth.
Sakura flung a chair in his direction.