In a crystal white castle that stood defiantly in the heart of a star, a woman waited.

Like violent waves of the sea, the flames swarmed to the castle. Even as the flames swept the castle, it stood still.

It wasn't the resistance of the castle towards the flames.

The tongues of the flames that reached the castle appeared on the other side of the castle, as if they had travelled the distance in the blink.

It was as if they were being teleported. But there were no space fluctuations at all.

Time fluctuations, however, could be felt if one was strong enough.

In fact, a time awakener would see that the castle wasn't even 'present' in the heart of the star in a normal sense.

Its existence was in a state of flux, between this moment and in the future, minutes if not hours and days from now.

The flames of today, no matter how ferocious they were, couldn't burn something that existed tomorrow.

It was a simple yet superior power that negated any damage the castle might take.

And since this star had an aura core—a star core developed over millions of years once the star became one of the many concentrated entry points for aura coming out of the innter space—even rank 7s would have to be careful in this place.

So, any being standing here, even the guards in the castle, were beings that could destroy an entire duchy by themselves.

Of course, no sane warrior would go that far, unless they had the authority to back it up and a good reason to do.

But some guards began to wonder if they should do that crime and get jailed. At least that way, they could find a legitimate reason to stay away from their boss and save their fragile lives.

Because since the 'boss' seemed to be in a bad mood lately.

Not a single word was said out, but the oppressive atmosphere in the castle was reaching new heights.

At this moment, the feared 'boss' was watching the latest readings of her subordinate with a frown.

The assassin she had sent was a competent one. Many assessments even say that he's the best among his peers and the most suitable for the job.

So why…?

It had been over two weeks now.

It's understandable for a professional assassin to take time in their mission. It's a fact that he had to kidnap and not kill—a significantly harder task than just killing the target.

Perhaps the man had disguised himself as someone and was carefully waiting for an event where he could get the job done.

That's why, like all professionals, he cut off all contacts with the outside world to allow no chance for the enemy to notice his presence.

Zahara Onyx understood the intracies of the profesion.

Yet…

"It's too long!"

She regretted sending only a rank 7. Sure, the leader of that civilization was a rank 4 or something.

But when it's an order from the Princess herself, she must've used her full force. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝘯𝘰𝘷ℯ𝘭.𝑐𝘰𝑚

In fact, it's not her fault.

Princess Eshala herself asked her to send someone not so powerful to avoid suspicions from the 7th Prince's forces.

Those bastards were preparing for a limited-offensive against the Pala kingdom—all the routes were under their supervision.

If she did send someone powerful, there's a real risk of raising the Prince's suspicion.

Zahara, like most people, did not have a deep understanding of the 7th Prince. His childhood, his aspirations, his character and his ambition.

But she heard rumors.

Not about him being a womanizer who liked to collect women like they were toys and throw them into his uncountable palaces.

That was just a…symptom.

The rumors said that the 7th Prince once deeply loved a woman. So much so that he was ready to give up the Empire to live with her.

The bright prospects of a Prince, the influence over trillions of lives, the countless women that would prostrate at his feet.

He was ready to give all these up.

Just for one woman.

So, what happened then?

No one knew.

But the Prince started collecting women. They said that the first woman he ever collected had a similar shade of hair compared to her. The second had a similar eye color. The third laughed similarly. And the fourth…

Zahara shuddered and wrappe her arms around herself to press down the creeping fear.

She was a peak rank 9. A woman directly under Princess Eshala and in a sense, being trained under her to reach the divine ranks.

Yet…

If not for the Princess' protection, a single glance from that man would turn her fate from a feared and honored leader into a humanoid pet kept in a palace zoo.

So, even though she felt compelled to finish the mission as quickly as possible, the experienced deputy held back. If the Prince was distrubed, then even though she might be safe, she would still suffere a lot.

"Just a while…if it still doesn't work," She clenched her fists and said with resolve . "I'll go there myself."

*** *** *** ***

Unaware of Zahara's complicated circumtances, Varian held a family meeting.

Yep.

A family meeting of a husband and his three wives.

"And why is she here?" Varian raised an eyebrow and pointed at a silver-haired beauty.

In contrast to the four of them seated on lush green grass in the garden, that woman was on a chair, cross legged and looking the other way, as if she wasn't going to pay the meeting any attention.

"I…I am here to forgive you." Isadora said with an arrogant expression, though her trembling eyelashes proved that she wasn't feeling very confident in her choice of words.

"No thanks. Keep your apology with you and leave. We have a family meeting here." Varian waved his hand.

"You!" Isadora rose from her seat and pointed at him with a disbelieving gaze. "W-Why are you so cold? It's my mistake, okay? But I never recieved a gift like that, so I did overreact. I'm sorry. Happy? I'm sorry for behaving like that yesterday."

Isadora couldn't believe what she was saying but those words just rolled from her tongue.

She was still sulking at Varian's words from yesterday. But Varian didn't bother to apologize to her.

Yes, she knew he wasn't in the wrong. She wasn't even a priority for the gift. That's why he used only the left over beast skin.

And not only did she not thank him for the surprise gift, she even threw a stupid tantrum.

"Are you really sorry?" Varian crossed his arms and asked in an authoritative tone, like a teacher who had caught a misbehaving student.

Isadora glared at him for dragging this out. But with a deep sigh, she lowered her head. "…How many times do I have to say? I didn't recieve gifts like that…so my reaction was over the top. Still, it was my fault. So, I'm sorry."

"Good girl. Please join the meeting." Varian pointed to a position that's different from the seat of the wives but still close enough to be considered family.

"I'm not considering you family or anything. I'm just here to ensure Sia and Enigma don't do anything stupid." Isadora said, her arms crossed.

In just a few seconds, she recovered from her previous state and now was back to her arrogant, haughty self.

Enigma looked at her with a look of pity, as if she had seen her future.

But Sia covered her mouth to cover her laughter, finding the whole affair funny.

On the other hand, Sarah smirked at her with an enormous smugness and mouthed something that went like 'You'll always be my junior.'

The three of them had different reactions to the situation. But the commanility shared by all of them was they were all on Varian's side.

"The 8th family meeting begins."