Tyrant of the Ruined Sun-Chapter 180: Eve’s Arrival and Expertise

The boom of their voice was concussive enough to reach even beyond the sealed doors, making Eve, who was yet to be accustomed to such grandiose acts of homage, to become momentarily taken aback by the unexpected display.

Meanwhile, Isaac; who was by far the most impressed by his new empress' divine talents; even envying them slightly, for giving her the innate ability to achieve every true assassin's lifelong dream of closing in on any target, even in broad daylight, with absolutely minimal, or even complete evasion from any and all forms of detection; vanished from his spot by my side, and appeared a second later with an exquisitely crafted and ornate chair in hand, that they'd apparently prepared this morning for when they believed she'd join us for breakfast.

I immediately rose from my seat then, gently taking her hand in mine, as I slowly guided her to her seat now placed beside mine, before I replied with a small smile, one that exuded a form of honest affection so unexpected and almost foreign in my ordinarily eerie eyes, that many of my most loyal retainers stared at me in shock at that moment "Though I would've liked to claim that my senses are strong enough to trace your presence when you utilize your ancestor's powers, I'm afraid that's a lie too great even for me."

"Then how did you know I was here today, if you didn't sense my presence?" She asked again, as she elegantly rested upon her seat, her controlled elegance surprising many of the gathered men and women, not for it's unfamiliarity, as they had long since become accustomed to such mannerisms after having bore witness to a world where grace was as common as green blades of grass in an open plain; practiced not for it's simple adherence to archaic etiquette and tradition, but as a critical skill for life, more akin to breathing than anything else; a demanded skill for mere survival in those gilded halls that hid more heinous beasts than a pit of writhing snakes.

No, the cause of their shock was due to the fascinatingly foreign presence of such controlled and confident movement in one who seemed to them as blind; an assumption they quickly forsook, as they quickly deemed it a product of their new empress' eccentricity, or sadly, as their own eyes had many a times bore witness to, a person pretending to be weak or disabled as a camouflaging shield, donned to help them dodge unwanted eyes deeming them a threat; or more cynically still, it was weakness cunningly worn not as protection, but as an insidious weapon, born to more compellingly deliver baneful drops of hateful lies into the unguarded ears of those gullible enough to believe them.

Oh but how amusing their shocked expressions would soon be, when they inevitably discovered the fact that she was indeed without sight, and not some overzealous actor, desperate to defend themselves against greater threats, or some sinister speaking charlatan, employed by unseen hands, possibly their own, to sadistically corrupt the harmony of others.

"I only realized you were here because I know you so well, and I know exactly how you prefer to handle things, especially those who you deem a dangerous or unexpected variable in your plans, which is always by initially gathering as much information as possible, preferably before you even encounter them, making me expect your silent entry since the beginning, but I could never detect as simply as you expect; your ancestor's blood is not so easily circumvented after all." I then replied as I took my seat next to her, my hand still holding hers, smiling unabashedly as I did, meanwhile she seemed both satisfied and unsatisfied by my words.

She was pleased that I had so earnestly and publicly praised her divine bloodline and abilities, something she had always held great pride in, being this generation's chosen one to carry on the great honour and burden of her ancestor's sacred blood, as well as being the true successor of her forefather's silent empire; but she was also unable to hide from me the fact that she was still, understandably, so conflicted about how to feel about a stranger she had only met personally yesterday, being so familiar with her that he could so effortlessly and accurately foretell her every move, when she previously had the notion drilled into her with draconian discipline that predictability is a vulnerability, a weakness, and all weakness must be purged.

Knowing this, I remained silent for a moment longer, before I then added with a playful hint to my voice "Though, admittedly, I did sense the slightest hints of your presence last night, when you came into my room riding upon Horus' and Isaac's shadows, but that was only due to how sloppily you were using your powers, on account of how anxious you were."

My words earned me an instant head swivel, with an added glare from her, as she exerted a moderate amount of her divine power into our interlocking hands beneath the table, seemingly wanting to crush my fingers between hers; and though both she and I knew that such a thing was impossible due to the sheer disparity between our current strengths, with her still being in the first gate and I having already breached into the third, I still instantly retracted my limb from her grip, as though I was in true pain.

Though her face remained as cold and inexpressive as before while she slowly rotated her head away from me again, turning to face in front of her, before releasing a single haughty snort as a seemingly last sign of displeasure, I knew that she was in fact in a much more agreeable mood than she let on; amused by my jokingly retreating action before her apparent wrath.

Meanwhile I, seeing the wanted effect of my earlier playful jab and following performance playing out perfectly, chuckled briefly, before deciding it was high time we return our focus to the matter at hand, as I asked with a returned edge of seriousness to my voice "So what say you about our current predicament? Do you think you can aid us in straining the Frozen King's relationship with his son?"

"Wait, you want me to personally intervene in this matter?" She asked in surprise, though her tone did not betray such an emotion, as she had thought that I had suddenly called her out only to give her opinion on the matter, but would not be suddenly invited to play an active role in the clandestine operation.

"Of course." I instantly answered with a calm nod, as I continued "Your ability to meld so seamlessly into shadows without detection is not only invaluable for this plan to work, but it will be the linchpin of it all."

"How?" She instantly asked, almost betraying her excitement on the matter, as she was greatly intrigued by the sudden notion, hoping to better master and understand her abilities, thus by decreasing the time required to unlock her second gate, by way of me, who was so uncannily familiar with her family's gifts in this gift, as she was confident I wouldn't aske her to do something she wasn't capable of doing.

Smiling at this, as it clearly showcased her growing trust in me, as well as her acceptance of my admittedly mad sounding claim that she and I were once lovers in a past timeline; well at least to the degree that she no longer so vehemently opposed it.

"Darius." I suddenly called out, my gaze still fixated on her.

"Yes, sire?" He answered.

"Tell me, if we were indeed to act upon our plan to sabotage the brewing alliance between the two powers, what would be the greatest obstacles we would face in such an endeavour?"

Realizing the aim of my question, he quickly replied "There would be several, but the primary of which would firstly be our utter ignorance on the terms of the discussed deal, which would leave us unable to properly gage the proper amount of value to present the Frozen King to maximise his enticement in the deal, thus by extracting the most amount of time from him we can; for if the offer was too low he wouldn't bother consider it for long, and if it were too high he might immediately accept our offer, which we would not be willing to hand him either way. Our contract must be just barely superior to that of the Luminous Empire for this tactic to succeed."

He paused for a second to moisten his throat and better organize his thought and articulate his next point, before continuing "The secondary challenge will be the fact of our previous orchestration of the crown prince Nicholas' coming humiliation in the not so distant future, before the entirety of the world's leaders and their representatives no less; a grudge the Frozen King will not so easily forgive, and in all honesty, it would probably qualify as grounds for him to ally with our enemies on it's own in his mind; for if nothing else, the infamous Frozen King's love for his sole son is not something I would presume to overlook or question, for he has been shown to time and time again to be willing to drown entire nations in frost and snow if it meant the mirth of his long awaited heir is guaranteed."

Once done reciting the issues of newest strategy, I replied "So to solve both problems, we would need to both gain access to the details of the most certainly well guarded terms of the Luminous Empire's agreement, as well as create a greater grudge between the two, that would even leave their many millennia of constant and periodic wars as a mere foot note before it, correct?"

"In essence, yes. That would be the most cost efficient method to achieve our objectives, while also shattering both nation's fledgling relationship." Darius affirmed.

"Isaac." I called out to my Shade Corps commander, asking "Tell me, if I were to order to you uncover the secret accords discussed by the two nations, would you be able to do it?"

Isaac hesitated in his answer for a moment, before replying a moment later "It would prove to be a difficult task, sire."

"How difficult?" I asked for specification, and he seemed even more awkward than earlier, before he then honestly answered.

"Near impossible, especially in the short term." 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

"Then what about if I commanded you to stage an assassination attempt on the northern crown prince, with the aim of implicating the western hegemon?" I asked with a frightening smile, one that dripped with Machiavellian malice.

My words stunned those who heard them, as they felt chills race across their skin from the mere thought of what horrors would be unleashed upon this world after such an event happened. A few even doubted the Frozen King would even wait for the Banquet's conclusion, let alone the rest of the year, before he declared war on the Luminous Empire, consequences and benefits be damned.

Meanwhile, Isaac remained silent, his mind already preoccupied with envisioning scenarios to achieve my decree, before he answered me a few seconds later "It would remain an extremely difficult order to complete, but far more manageable than the first. Though the margin of error will be even less forgiving, so even if we succeeded there would be no guarantee of it being done cleanly, or with the intended effects being accurately achieved."

Smiling at this, I asked for the final time to all those present, not just Darius and Isaac "And if you were given the aid of my bride and her unique abilities? Would you be able to accomplish said tasks with greater ease and proficiency?"

None needed to voice their answer for their notions to be known, as it wasn't a matter of opinion anymore, but of fact.

Something that was further cemented in everyone's minds, when Eve's broke through the silence, confidently saying with a small smile upon her rose lips "Absolutely."