Tyrant of the Ruined Sun-Chapter 174: Nights of Masquerade 17

The next hour or so passed in a haze of rushed preparation, as we all readied ourselves for our soon to be arriving guests, the meeting of whom would forever change the political landscape of the world for centuries to come; the direction of which swaying heavily in accordance to whether it all goes according to plan or not.

Meanwhile, Isaac staying true to his word, masterfully propagated our desired version of the events, infecting the entire palace, and even the city below, with the sickeningly sweet tales of young love and eternal affection, blossomed in these cold and ancient halls, warming the hearts of even the most ruthless and brutal of high kings and lofty queens.

Which ultimately provoked my little brother, who grew embarrassed by the almost melodramatic fable we had so eagerly dispersed, to sheepishly mither "Did you have to exaggerate everything quite so much brother?"

Smiling as I looked away from the bustling staff, busy with all that must be done in such a short time, while Darius carefully scrutinized their work, and I prepared several counter measures to all would be problems that might arise during today’s talk, and reply to him "If you think it unsightly now, then I would implore you to ready yourself in the coming days little brother, because it will only become harder from here on out. After all, rumours have a tendency to grow increasingly more obscene with the passage of time and the nourishment of public interest, something that neither you, nor your possible intended, will ever be able to escape with your identities and future escapades and achievements."

Nizam merely hung his low in defeat at my words, knowing them to be true, before I then continued, in an asking tone "Of course, if you despise it so much to be spoken off in such relation to the eastern princess, then if you wish, I can still pull a few strings to ease your discomfort?"

Though what I said was not an abject lie, it was not fully truthful either, as I could do very little by this point to halt, or even slow down the spreading gossip, as it was now akin to rolling boulder going down hill; it was naught but suicide trying to stand in it’s way at this point. This is besides the fact of it being an undeniable mistake to do so, as that would be utterly counter productive to our current objectives.

In actuality, the purpose of my words was meant as, an admittedly, unfair test on my part, conducted to better gage the authenticity of my earlier hunch, of their being more to this than meets the eye, particularly in relation to my brother’s motives on the matter, as he quickly answered thereafter.

"No brother, you don’t have to do that." Nizam instantly replied with undaunted resolution, as if he were making the easiest decision ever, despite his earlier complaints.

"Are you sure?" I asked again, my eyes gleaming in unspoken scrutiny.

"Yes." He adamantly repeated, before continuing with a cold, calculated composure to him "And you said it yourself brother, this might prove to be a previously undiscovered golden opportunity for our nation, so it would be beyond ridiculous to stand in the way of it for my own personal feelings. Besides, wouldn’t bailing out on the plan now be akin to dancing directly to our enemy’s tune?"

"...Yes it would." I replied, with a subtle smile and playful ruffle of his hair, but hearing him still speak in such a seemingly ordinary manner further cemented my odd feeling about this.

And though I didn’t tell him at the time, this exaggeration of ours also proved to be a stroke of excellent luck and timing for us, as we very quickly ran headlong into the oppositely proliferating propaganda of Marius, who much like we predicted, spun an entirely contradictory string of words that spoke of forceful advances, maniacal manipulations and other unspeakably despicable deeds, inevitably bringing us into a war of fabricated words, a conflict we both clamoured to emerge victorious from, as we both busied ourselves rallying more willing ears and volunteering tongues to unknowingly stand in the vanguard of the opening skirmish of our new-born war.

But before I could further contemplate the report I was given a few minutes ago by the preoccupied Isaac, Horus came to my side, saying "My liege, your royal attire is ready."

With the absence of my Grand Chamberlin, who had currently forsaken his usual uniform and palace etiquette to don the cloak and daggers of the Shade Corps Commander, Horus took it upon himself to temporarily stand in his stead.

Nodding to him, I rise with resignation, knowing I would have to again weather the awkward suffocation of those horrid, yet necessary pieces of cloth.

And a brief while later, as I was being shackled to these chains of layered fabric, and manacled to the great mantle laid upon my shoulders, embroidered boldly with the empire’s sigil, Darius entered my room, already dressed in his formal attire.

"Has everything been arranged?" I asked, as I beheld his reflection from the full body mirror before me.

"Yes, my liege. Though I would have wanted a bit more time to iron out a few of the persisting wrinkles in our arrangements, they are still well enough to host the eastern emperor." He answered after performing his customary bow.

"I suppose, but that is all the time we could scrounge to make ready. If only emperor Tianlan had not requested we postpone the time of our meeting till lunch, we wouldn’t have to be burdened with all this unnecessary pomp and ceremony." I said, annoyedly pulling at the collar of my royal attire.

"Indeed, we could have had a more casual meeting with him, but I am still baffled as to why he would request such an ostentatious time for our meeting, knowing full well that we would have to abide by the customs to host him?" Darius wondered, his brows furrowed as he questioned why Tianlan would want more attention on this meeting than there already is.

"Buying time?" Horus hesitantly offered his guess.

"If so, then for what purpose? What would he gain from such a thing?" Leonid replied, pointing out the flaws in Horus’ speculation. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"Maybe it is to see who would come out on top in our wrestling match with Marius?" Horus argued back.

"You think he might be waiting to better his options before he decides?" Leonid asked, cocking his eyebrow as he did.

"It wouldn’t be an unwise decision." Darius then remarked, hailing a sombre silence to the room.

"Whatever the case maybe, we will know when they arrive." I then said, bringing an end to the contemplative quiet of before.

But then as if a lever being puled in my mind, I remembered the time and inquired "Speaking of, where are our guests?"

I asked since the time was close at hand, yet no news from the few we placed close to the eastern emperor’s allocated wing had sent us any message of his arrival yet, despite him priorly agreeing and deciding on the hour of this fateful meeting, supposedly even seeming excited for the given reason.

"Nothing as of yet, sire." Darius then answered, shaking his head.

"He wouldn’t be planning to renege on his word at the last minute, would he?" Leonid then worriedly speculated, his fingers at his chin.

We all again grew quite at his words, concern flaring through us as we contemplated such a scenario, that could prove troublesome in our escalating conflict with the western hegemon, before I asked "Have our spies reported any suspicious activity occurring near the eastern emperor’s wing?"

"If you are questioning whether any messengers from Marius, or any from the Luminous Empire have entered the eastern emperor’s wing, then no. Not one visitor has been granted audience this day." Darius reported, his voice calm.

"What about letters?" I inquired again, my deranged paranoia gaining the better of me.

"I’m afraid those would be near impossible to tamper with and check, so we can’t be certain." Darius said with a shaking head.

I sigh at this, knowing that what he said was true and feeling somewhat foolish for even asking such an obvious question, before I then decided to pivot and ask "And what of my brothers?"

"Awaiting in the dining hall." Abraham was the one who answered this time.

I nod in reply, taking one final look at my finished outfit, as I asked "Any other word from Isaac, and the progress on our preliminary scuffle with Marius?"

"Nothing yet from the Shade Corps Commander; in addition, it is still too early to say, sire. But we can be sure that victory or defeat will be heavily influenced by the results of today’s meeting. Even if we can’t secure the marital alliance, then we must secure his cooperation at least." Darius emphasized, his eyes cold and a drift, clearly already lost in the sea of his own conniving thoughts.

Yet before he could drift too far away, the door opened and in entered a maid, who we all knew to be part of the Shade Corps, as she quickly handed Darius two letters, marked as urgent.

Swiftly stripping away their seals, Darius quickly read their contents, and his eyes showed both relief and agitation.