The Spider Queen

(Planet Gaia)

(Peterlor Mansion- West Wing- Sophie's Bedroom)

Two beautiful moons shone brightly in the night sky as hundreds of stars merrily twinkled and sparkled.

It was simply a spectacular view.

Sophie was currently laying down on her king-sized bed while carefully looking over an important document sent over by her father.

Two days had passed since Sophie had met Adam at the clothing store and the new dress had not arrived yet.

This was not something to be concerned about as Adam reassured Sophie that he would take the utmost time and care to sure that this piece would be his greatest work yet.

Sophie had actually developed quite a liking towards the eccentric young genius who constantly praised her beauty.

"Let me look at these files one more time," Sophie muttered to herself as she fiddled with her communicator.

Holographic windows soon projected outwards and Sophie could see the profiles of numerous handsome men and gorgeous women.

She needed to memorise the names, houses, and factions of thousands of noble heirs before the meeting.

Each profile contained the name, cultivation level and a brief description of any noticeable traits or personality flaws.

Of course, this information was only what was revealed to the public and it would not be surprising if these young heirs had hidden cards up their sleeves.

It was fortunate that the genetic upgrade that occurred when advancing to a new cultivation realm would cause the memory and intelligence of a cultivator to improve.

Sophie could now easily scan through the different profiles with minimum effort and still be able to recall the information clearly and accurately.

This was the first meeting between all the high nobles with at least the rank of duke.

No one knew what to expect.

Sophie intensely studied the characteristics of her potential allies or enemies.

Duke Peterlor had helpfully grouped the data into different subsets based on the factions their houses were aligned with.

The sheer number of different factions and alliances was almost dizzying.

Humanity unlike most races of the universe were not unified as one and often fought for their own personal interests using their respective factions.

Duke Peterlor had steadily been building a network of connections with the younger generation of nobles but most of those houses did not have a high rank.

Only a handful of duke houses were openly in support of hybrid rights, but others had silently granted their support.

The problem was that the main opposition faction to Duke Peterlor's campaign for equality was led by the Imperial Teacher.

A man whose influence on the emperor could not be ignored.

Sophie frowned as she saw three profiles in particular that her father had marked with a special danger warning under their names.

Under no circumstances was she supposed to be alone or make contact with any of these noble heirs.

The first was Viktor Devonshire who was known as the 'Blood Baron.'

A man with known ties to the slave trade and the black-market.

At one hundred and twenty years of age, his cultivation level had never quite matched his father who was now over three hundred years old and still going strong.

But Viktor was a ruthless man whose love of bloody sadistic displays made him extremely dangerous.

Raven Calarook whose house was famous for creating one of the best information guilds in the entire Federation.

There was even a rumor that no noblemen could even step out of their territories without the Calarook family recording their every move.

While members of this house generally stayed out of political affairs, Raven the future heir of the family was quite the active member in a radical faction that sought to extend the war with the Insectoid Empire.

The final person on the list had the least amount of information displayed on her profile.

All Sophie could see was the name and a blurry portrait.

Allison Rosenberg.

Sophie made a mental note of these three dangerous heirs to make sure that she avoided them at the meeting.

It was not that she was scared but there was no need to engage in unnecessary conflict.

Sophie was only eighteen years old and the majority of participants in the meeting would be several decades older than her.

Hence their cultivation realm might easily surpass her own.

Every duke house should have the resources required to turn their future head into a powerhouse in the Federation.

Sophie reached for a glass of water on her nightstand and took a small sip while contemplating if she made the right decision on the attitude she wanted to present.

It wasn't that she had not taken etiquette classes as her father had made sure that only the best tutors entered the Peterlor estate.

But there were several different ways she could present herself at the meeting….

She could be warm and friendly.

How about cold and aloof?

Or even sharp and twisted?

That was the unfortunate part of being a member of high society.

Everyone wore a mask that hid their true emotions beneath a smiling appearance.

Trading sharp barbs under the disguise of civil conversations. Mocking and gossiping about those who stood out.

Sophie pressed a button on the floating screen image and the holographic windows collapsed back into her communicator device.

That was enough studying for the day.

It was time to send some messages to her loving girlfriend that she was missing quite a bit.

Sophie smiled happily as she scrolled through her contacts until she found the number she was looking for.

She could not stop the small giggles from escaping her mouth as she saw the nickname Cleo had set for her.

Step on me Queen: [Hey you up?]

Step on me Queen: [I was thinking about you today…]

Step on me Queen: [How long until your transport ship reaches planet Gaia?]

Sophie sent a flurry of messages but apparently Cleo must have been offline as several minutes passed by with no reply.

Well, this was not exactly a shocking event.

There was naturally an enormous time zone difference between galaxies even those next to each other.

Sophie yawned sleepily and checked her other messages to see if anyone else was active. Astrid and Qiana's statuses were both set to 'do not disturb', but Luna was still online!

Sophie was just about to send Luna an opening message when a small chat notification caught her attention.

It was from a number that Sophie had not expected to ever hear from again. She could have sworn that this person had deleted her contact information years ago!

Sophie truly felt mixed feelings about the sender of the message but eventually curiosity overcame trepidation and she clicked to open the chat window.

Leona Braveheart: [Hi…. it has been a long time….]

Leona Braveheart: [I completely understand if you delete this message and never want to talk to me again]

Leona Braveheart: [It's just…. I…. really want to call you]