♚ Black Widow ♚

BUT I JUST—

I know she married him out of convenience for Al Tharmen, of course, and she killed him in cold blood. But I truly, honestly believe she had mixed feelings about him. On one side, she saw him as a puppet…but on the other, she felt confused about how she viewed him, no matter how much she told herself she hated him and he meant nothing to her. She killed him, yes, but I’m sure he truly loved her, and that still confuses her to this day.

He did mean something to her, because she still remembers him.

No. Just...no.

Yes, she’s working with him to accomplish her goals, but she does plan on disposing of him in an extremely painful way once he’s useless to her, killing him herself. Only then she’ll feel her revenge is truly complete.

BUT SHE STILL HATES DAVID, JUST AS MUCH AS SHE HATES SOLOMON

In her mind, she shouldn’t even have wasted her time with such a pig, but he was a necessary pawn in her way up the throne. 

And Kouen resembles his father in many ways, even if he’s not as easy to manipulate. Gyokuen is careful around Kouen, she knows he’s smart, and his pride doesn’t cloud his judgement,as it was the case with Koutoku.

                          “The true pleasures                 Are achieved only through torture”

Alternately: Tell them “You’re a monster” and see how they react.

                 Such pure, lovely princess.

           How disgusting.

           She knowsnothing about the world, no matter how much she would like to pretend she hasidea of what’s going on in her empire. Lovely, pretty Kougyoku is nothing but anotherwaste of space in her palace, another mistakemade by that disgusting pig. She is useless; she has no worth for Gyokuen atall.

          Thus, herwords have no effect whatsoever on the empress. They will never have, no matterwho says them. Why would they, after everything she’s done? She should feelproud of being someone they fear. Fear is the most powerful weapon she has bynow. That they fear her, that they tremble and curse when they hear her name;that is power.

        And she canfeel the hatred coming from the princess; she can see her rukh flutteringagitated, angry. She hates Gyokuen,and she can’t help but find it very much amusing. Does she hate her because ofwho she is, or simply because her brothers do? Such simple creature, cravingfor their recognition. Such pathetichuman being.

Alternately: Tell them “You’re a monster” and see how they react.

           “Monster?”

         Once upon atime, that word was used to describe the one person she hated the most. That manwho thought himself above everything, above Illah. Once upon a time, the peopleshe once considered allies, friends,would scream that word at the top of their lungs while fighting, because they believed.  They believed in Solomon, and they believed inwhat David was.

              He was a monster.

         And now, sois she. It doesn’t matter what happened in the past, it shouldn’t matter tosomeone like her. Yet it does, shecannot forget about the things she did, the things she broke. Does she feel guilty about it? No. someone like her abandoned her conscience, her ability to feel,a long time ago. She acts almost mechanically, because she doesn’t allow herselfto feel anymore.

          She is a monster; she has done things only amonster could do. Killing, lying, clawing her way up in Kou as she did with AlTharmen. And to hear him say such a thing brings no surprise to her; she wouldn’thave expected anything more from him. He knows her, he can see through her,just the same as Hakuyuu did. And that will forever be the reason why she lefthim live.

         Her smileis glass, a mask, a perfect portrait of lies behind crimson lips. Would shehave reacted the same way in the past? Would she have reacted the same way if Shebahad said this? If Solomon had saidthis? No, she doesn’t want to think about it. They are nothing but bitter memories, corpses piling up in her ladder back to Illah.

          “I wouldsay we all are, somehow~” She doesn’tmove, doesn’t blink. “Dearest Judar, your disgusting uncle. Yourself. We are all the same, in theend. Does it truly matter? This empire murdered countless soldiers to standwhere it stands…why don’t you go call dearest Kouen a monster as well? Why don’t you go call darling Hakuei such a name, she who supportedhis wicked plans?

Why? I’ll explain

I firmly believe that Arba/Gyokuen strongly dislikes her daughter Hakuei. She felt proud of Hakuyuu’s potential, she didn’t have any opinions on Hakuren, and with Hakuryuu, he reminded her of Hakuyuu, so she also felt drawn to him and his potential as a fallen warrior.

But with Hakuei is different. Hakuei is good, Hakuei is pure. Hakuei is everything Gyokuen hates, because is everything she was at one point. Think about it, she felt betrayed by Solomon when he became god. She was used all her life by David, she was created by him, someone with shady motives for what he did.

I believe Arba truly trusted Solomon and his cause. Even if it she just joined to destroy David, she cared about Solomon, she considered him a good leader. But she loved Illah more. Because Illah was the creator of Alma Torran, but he wasn’t Arba’s creator. She wanted him to be so, though, reason why she worshipped him so much. 

She has to admit, of all the people who could’ve possibly become tainted in such a way, the little child of the whore was certainly not the one expected. Not that she finds it any less amusing, to see her being consumed by hatred and greed and desire for revenge. To watch her try to claw her way to the top, to watch her try to prove her dearest Kouen that she’s worthy of carrying his blood.

His rukh has truly become beautiful, and Gyokuen can’t help but smile, because she’s become quite a sight. As much the girl hates her, the empress can see their rukhs twirling together in harmony, the darkness filling the room nurtures her with power.

The girl spews her words with venom, and what she intends to be a sadistic streak, which Gyokuen finds truly entertaining. Because it reminds her of a certain someone she knew once, eyes blank and dead and will destroyed, the thought of revenge and hatred clouding her mind.

Such a pity, had she been more powerful, she might’ve become an interesting addition to her little children of darkness. But this girl still had Koutoku’s worthless blood running through her veins, and that made her unfit to be spared a second glance.