Primula clutched her head and crouched down in front of her bed. Slapping her flushed cheeks, she felt a desperate need to find a hole and jump into it.
"Why was I like that?"
Not wanting to eat veggies like a typical child.
"And I started crying when he fed Sia more than me."
A selfish but natural desire to monopolize all attention.
"Worst of all, I was coaxed by a candy! A mint choco one at that! Ahhh! Primula Konstant, you are a disgrace! Please cease to exist immediately!"
Knock. Knock. Knock.
When the door made a slight noise, all the nervousness from the teenage girl's face vanished.
The casual clothes on her vanished, replaced by a white on white military uniform with several medals that reached their place after terrible battles that no one saw thought would turn in her favor.
With a snap of her fingers, the items in the room were rearranged and the one-room office turned into a meeting room with a large desk and a leather chair.
"Come in."
Primula's voice was stern and her pitch measured.
"Commander."
A high ranking officer stepped in and saluted her like a robot. But the deep respect in his eyes betrayed his poor attempt to appear indifferent.
"Report."
"Go on."
"The two empires have found a way out of the world and are secretly amassing a force to penetrate the weakness of the world boundary. What should we do?"
Primula closed her eyes and recalled the moment when she transformed into a teenager from an adult.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtSarah and Isadora, both of whom enjoyed teasing her when she's young and ruthlessly snatched her brother's attention, were the ones to greet her.
Unlike the usual playful or prideful demeanor of the Queens, they were very serious.
'To ensure we'll be found as late as possible, I'm dropping Hortus' defense system internally and externally. It might buy us a few more hours, but it's a couple of years for Varian.'
'But the bastards will start making trouble once they sense a weakness in the boundary. Should we kill them all first?'
'Don't. Any power we use will carry an intent of divinity with it. It doesn't matter if we suppress our power. A divine is still a divine.
And divine intent strongly resists timeflow manipulation in its surroundings. Hortus is only so big and the divine intent pretty much covers all areas.
We can do the clean up but Varian's timeflow will slow down and he'll lose at least one year.'
'That's too much of a loss. But we need a solution.'
'We have one, don't we?' Saying so, Sarah turned to Primula who was just coming to her senses and trying to figure out their conversation.
'Your brother is in trouble, little girl.' The Queen looked at her with a critical gaze. 'You should prove yourself to be of help at least now. If something happens to him because of your negligence, you won't be able to forgive yourself, right? And your true self, your younger self, she'll be crushed beyond measure. Do it for your own sake.'
Primula clenched her fists and placed her hands on the desk.
She didn't like the conversation at all. It always felt like they were condescending and proud.
And who were they to question the relationship of the siblings? Even if they're his wives, it's too much to comment on their bond. Especially the 'help' part.
'I will prove it you.'
Primula gnashed her teeth and her eyes flashed with a decisive gaze. If she might have been panicking without that memory, she's fired up now.
Instead of a hyper conservative plan which mainly relied on intrigue and decreasing casualties as well as the reward, Primula decided to go all in.
"Ask every warrior above rank 7 to gather. Use teleportation circles, space portals, whatever they can to get here in five minutes.
I don't care if they are sick, tired or ran away because of the rigor of training.
But they must report to the HQ in five minutes.
Those who do not…will no longer be needed for the Empire."
The officer gulped at the brutal order, which was in much contrast with the flexible one that she typically gave out.
Primula thought she's going to prove Sarah wrong using her own personal strength and the vast knowledge of her military tactics.
What she didn't know was that the words spoken by Sarah were deliberate and induced to bring this very change.
"Yes, Commander."
The officer left with a firm face and once he's out of the door, he sprinted to the communication room.
'10 seconds lost here. I'm sorry, you have only 4 minutes 50 seconds.'
Every warrior who got the emergency message felt that something was off. So, they headed to the HQ at the fastest speed they could.
Meanwhile, Primula visited the place where she reunited with her brother.
"Grandma, you should come with me." The girl insisted as she dragged a reluctant Alison out of her small farm.
"I'm done with politics. I just want to farm and live in peace." The Ex-Imperial Secretary, Alison, shook her head.
"Stop your delusions, my brother won't let you live in peace." Primula smirked, a pride rising up in her naturally as she spoke of her brother.
"…He used to be a cute boy. Now look at him, a black-hearted boss who won't even let his employees retire."
"My brother is the best! You shouldn't say call him those bad things!"
"Are you protective of him even now? You're no longer a child!"
"But I'll always be his sister. If someone is going to curse him, it can only be me. Anyone else is not allowed!"
Alison looked at Primula with a complicated look and sighed. "Why does everyone in his family turn so weird? Poor Evander, he was such a nice guy and now he wanders town to town buying diapers and milk powder, every brand, every flavor, every size. Even you turned weird after meeting him again."
"…I know, right? My brother's wives are so weird! Why are they so obsessed? They won't even let me spend time with him!
How petty do you have to be that you won't allow your husband to feed his own sister?!
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmMy brother made a mistake in marrying four women! Hmph! If there's only one, things could've been better."
"So even you realize your brother has women problems. I admit, I was surprised he didn't bring back anyone after 20,000 years. But well, the nymphs of his generation were obsessed with him.
There were demands for his hair and nails in the black market which I had to crack down. The prices were touching trillions, a bunch of crazy bitches they were."
"…Really? If nymphs were so rich, why are there only a few hundred of them today? That species is near extinct."
Alison looked up at the sky with a complicated expression and rubbed her forehead. "It's hard for me to explain but for the nymphs, Varian's presence was like a drug.
Think about it, a single man crushed your entire race, conquered your world and eight more like yours and rules an incomparably vast empire built on the legacy of a mythical tribe.
And he has four wives but zero concubines. They all saw a chance. From the just legal ones to the just about to kick the buckets. Well, since they're blessed with eternal youth, all of them were beautiful and wanted to give it a try.
Simply put, they were all smitten with him.
They'd rather die a virgin than marry a normal man. So, that's what they did.
A quarter of them were realist and decided to lower their standards."
"Oh? How low?"
"A quarter of Varian's achievements at four times his age."
"Pfft."
"Yeah, except for a few hundred who really settled down, the rest of the race died off. I guess your brother has to add another race on his extinction list."
"Wait, why are you telling me all this now?"
"…Because I want you to see your brother as a normal person. Don't be like the rest of the members of his family. He is not flawless. Blind obsession will ruin you."
Primula crossed her arms ad snorted. "This is where we disagree. My brother is perfect, not because he's flawless, but precisely because of the flaws he has. I'm not saying they're not weird, but my brother's wives have no issue criticizing or helping him out."
"I don't know, girl. I guess I turned paranoid after the rebellion. I trust him a lot, perhaps even more than myself, but I wonder if he'll do something wrong. It could destroy everything. That's why I wanted you to be a good ruler."
"A good ruler should always punish enemies. So, just come and watch. Blood will flow into rivers today."
The two vanished.