The White Princess, Hinata, sat in her throne room.
Several men with white wings had been marched in front of her. Every single one of them had conspired to attack and destroy the black town. Even if they were just people who had been caught in Mercury's sweet lies, they were still rebels that had formed a 'volunteer army'.
Even though they never gained permission from Hinata, they were running their mouths off, spouting excuses. This was yet another sign that they underestimated Hinata as a queen.
"This is too much, your highness! We only acted for the good of our country!"
"Exactly! Everything was for the good of this country!"
"It's true that we were fooled by the grimmfolk, but at the root of it all, we only tried to return this country to its proper state!"
Thus came the storm of excuses which could only be described as rude. They had gotten full of themselves. They were convinced that the queen wouldn't be able to boldly do anything. They knew they wouldn't be punished. At the very worst, they would be placed under something like house arrest. Convinced of that, they fully looked down upon their queen. On top of that, those whose jobs it should have been to reprimand that behavior were doing nothing.
All of these actions were because everyone was unsatisfied with their queen's weak attitude… and also held disdain towards her.
"…"
Hinata quietly closed her eyes and pondered. I am the cause of this situation. My weak attitude is what brought about their impudence. That's why I have to be the one to fix this.
Having decided that, she generated a sense of pressure so it was like the heavens themselves pressed down on the people in the room.
"You all… Just who gave you permission to speak?"
Instantly, everyone else there felt like they were being pushed downwards by a giant arm.
It was a talent that all flugels were born with, one to force others to submit. It was originally something given to them by the Goddess in order for them to tame monsters, but these people had never been subject to such violent and immense pressure their entire lives. It was a pressure unique to Hinata, who was level 500—a king's pressure. Being subjected to that, the people were forced to recognize for the first time that the one in front of them was the White Princess.
"I do not remember allowing you to raise your heads, let alone speak… You not only ignored that but started talking as you pleased… On top of that, it was just to try to shift the responsibility… All of you… Should I take this to mean that you all are fine with having your heads fly for lèse-majesté?"
The men, subjected to their queen's pressure, had suddenly started to shiver and shake in a cold sweat even though it was way too late.
'I want to say no.'
'I want to shake my head.'
'But I can't.'
Their bodies were so frozen in fear they couldn't even do that.
"I have been extremely tolerant with all of you. I took you all in when you lost your homes and even gave you your own town. I have ignored some level of rudeness and have acted so as not to frighten you.… But it seems that I was mistaken."
The pressure got even stronger. It was already in the realm of assault. It was becoming hard for the men to breathe, and even the guards who were not being directly exposed to Hinata's pressure were breathing heavily, their legs shaking.
"Do not expect me to remain kind forever."
She was watching them like a raptor watched its prey. There was an insurmountable difference between them, a gap in power that could never be bridged. All of them instinctively noticed that, and they were all controlled by fear.
'Scary. So terrifying!'
The queen that they had only thought of as weak-willed and pathetic suddenly became much scarier than any grimmfolk.
The pressure lifted a little, and the first action the men, who had gained some measure of their freedom back, took was to prostrate themselves. Their foreheads scraped the ground like they were positively groveling for forgiveness, and they begged for mercy through their chattering teeth.
It wasn't just them. Even the ministers and the knights were the same in expressing their submission and fealty. They couldn't help themselves.
'We were wrong.'
'This woman is our true queen.'
'She is the queen of the sky, who unifies all the flugels.'
Like that, Hinata looked down upon her prostrating people and somehow managed to swallow back the sigh that was coming up.
I really am bad at this. Forcing people into submission just doesn't feel good. But that's one of a ruler's duties. A queen needs to do so in order to not be underestimated.
All this happened because I haven't been doing so, so this is just me doing what I was originally supposed to do long ago.
…Is this all right, Naru…? I still have doubts and worries, but I'm fine already. There's a whole mountain of problems, but I'll show you that I can overcome them. I won't make you into a fool. So please… Don't mind me. Just keep forging ahead.
Having thought about her past friend, Hinata smiled.
You've probably already left. The next time we meet, I'll show you that I've become someone I can be proud of.
Hinata's profile as she decided that was still unreliable but hid a certain sort of strength inside.
***
It was dark in the capital.
The vampire capital, Mjolnir, was covered in permanent darkness, as if neither morning nor noon ever existed. The vampires, who called themselves the rulers of the night, had the highest affinity to mana out of all of humanity and were actually closer to grimmfolk than to humans.
In the center of the capital towered the crimson-dyed castle. On the highest floor lived their eternal master, the Rose Princess. She was the only one the vampires ever had and ever would swear fealty to; she was their one and only supreme ruler. Neither the Black Empress nor the Grimm King were even worth paying attention to. They lived only for the Rose Princess, and if she told them to die, they would do so happily.
The vampires were just a group of fanatics who didn't even fear death. Such were the people who lived in Mjolnir.
In the castle's throne room, a single vampire was prostrated in front of a girl.
"I will present my report. As you predicted, my lord, Svel has been freed from the threat of the Seven Grimms of Destruction, and Fiona of the Twelve Zodiac's Guardians has disappeared."
"Hm. As I thought… Hah. Juvia, it was your mistake not reporting this to me. You may have been trying to protect her, but that's just the same as telling me that she is here.… How imprudent." The girl chuckled on her throne.
She had flowing, long black hair with a bang that covers the right side of her face that gradually shifts to red and reaches past her waist. Her eyes were crimson red with vertically slit pupils, and fangs peeked out of the sides of her mouth. She looked to only be around 15 years old. However, her outward appearance had no meaning, as she was an immortal vampire.
"I've waited for too long… Yes, I've waited for one thousand years, my old rival. My beautiful blackbird. I knew you would come back, even from the depths of hell." The girl seemed like she was having fun as she spoke.
She stood up from her throne. Her hair and red mantle swayed in unison as she walked to the window, through which she could take in the entirety of the capital. There, she looked up into the sky like a girl in love.
"I've been looking forward to this, Naru… Time will not move for me until I have surpassed you. Ever since you disappeared back then, I have been frozen in time."
The edges of her mouth curled, showing her fangs. Her deep crimson eyes flared radiantly, and she clenched her fist as if she just couldn't wait to fight.
Those grimmfolk small-fries aren't worth caring about. The Grimm King? Who cares. He can just do whatever. The future of Humanity? As if I care. That holds no interest for me.
If they're gonna die off, then they should just do so already. People are killed because they're weak. Weaklings may cry out, asking why the powerful don't save them, but I don't care, and I won't listen. I'll never listen. There's no value in it.
The world is controlled by the strong. Only the handful of geniuses have the right to decide the future of the world. I have no interest in weaklings and incompetents, no matter what they do.
The only thing my eyes see is and has always been one person and only that person. And that is my long-standing enemy, that majestic blackbird.
"This time for sure, I'll settle things… Just us two. No interruptions. You're not the one who will control the world. Neither is the Grimm King. I'll teach you through your defeat and humiliation that it will be me, Rozelia Ruby!"
For sure…
I'll kill you for sure… Lunaru Fenris.
Having vowed that to herself, the girl—Rozelia Ruby—raised an open hand to the heavens.
This time for sure… I'll settle what I couldn't one thousand years ago.
She strongly craved what was to come.