[YUZUKI]
For months, no one saw Yuzuki's face again. It would have been so easy to assume she had left for the far lands, but then she hadn't left.
Because they had experienced her.
They didn't need to see her to know why she was there with them.
Sure, as a hidden face that everyone now knew, the same face that was never seen again, and raised more questions on whether that had just been another illusion that the queen had pulled.
There were so many speculations about Yuzuki, but no one had speculated about her inability to be the queen of Kurayami.
Her impact…
It was felt to the core.
It was as if she were living in their lives.
Reminding them of what the end goal had always been for the people of Kurayami;
The safety of Kurayami and its citizens.
"It's been three months, and the only time we got to see her face, she disappeared."
"She is Queen Kuramitsu, you seriously don't believe that she would show us her real face, do you?"
"I just don't understand why she has to stay in hiding. She is the most powerful person across all the realms. She has nothing to lose and no real reason to stay hidden. Besides, she didn't make her name by being a secret."
"I don't think we should even be complaining that she went back into hiding. She saved us. Made sure we were all safe. It took a mating ball for us to see her face for the first time, and she hasn't tried to erase it like all the other times.
"The warriors who left don't even remember her face. I bet we should be worried if she wasn't good at her job, but then, since she resurfaced a lot has been happening; all for the good of Kurayami.
"I say we cut her some slack and let our queen be, don't you think?" Rinko said, interrupting the group of wolves who had been speculating.
This wasn't the first group that she heard that from, and honestly, it was interesting to see how far Yuzuki would take this.
She had triggered everyone across the realms.
Everyone knew that she had erased memories of the wolves who attacked her people, but no one remembered her face.
That was the one thing that scared the hell out of most because, over the years, they had gotten used to hearing the stories about the mad Kurayami queen who didn't care about anyone or anything.
They had gotten used to the scary tales told about her but had always dismissed them as rumors.
But it wasn't a rumor anymore.
Queen Kuramitsu was alive and well.
She was dangerous and real.
She was the very thing that shook the foundation of the realms and beyond.
Now, as Rinko walked and listened to the different versions of what the queen was supposedly like, Rinko wondered if this was what Yuzuki had aimed for. It was crazy, nonetheless.
Well, until Rinko was summoned back to the palace, where apparently the queen was holding a council meeting. The first after the months of disappearance.
"How are the borderlands?" Yuzuki asks right as Rinko walked in.
She was late.
She had just assumed that the meeting had just started, which made her wonder if this was intentional, or the reminder that Rinko would always be a warrior for the queen, never a council member.
"The kingdoms are pulling their warriors from their borders. They believe that Kurayami is cursed and that they don't have a realistic interaction with us, which is dangerous because, for treaties, we need to interact with them.
"We can't always be a dictating kingdom," Councilman Ishiguro said carefully, like he knew that one wrong move would have his insides sprawled on the floor of the throne room.
It was one thing to piss off Yuzuki, but it was another to make her into a bad prison in front of everyone.
Maybe Yuzuki didn't care about anything other than the girl in the far kingdom, but maybe she just wanted to be normal. Which was something she would have to work extra hard for because now everyone was scared of her.
A part of her believed that the fear was good. Because fear saved her from attachments that could snap. Fear saved her from having to care about someone else and just lose them in the end.
Maybe she was okay with being lonely, and maybe, just maybe, there was more to life than the cruelty she was not even shogun to the fullest just yet.
"What if instead of confusing what the people outside are doing, we actually focus on the queen interacting more with her people? Ghosting an entire kingdom for months isn't exactly good practice, Zura," a woman spoke suddenly.
And the entire council stiffened.
Like they knew this woman.
Like,some tension hadd been between her and Yuzuki, or rather, Queen Kuramitsu.
This right there wasn't what she had imagined, and as she looked at Rinko, Yuzuki knew that this woman was definitely interesting. Perhaps she would play the last memory card for a moment, yeah?
"And who do you think you are talking at my council table like that?" Yuzuki asked coldly.
Once again, the councilman stared everywhere but at the two men. This was the kind of shit that she needed info on, and the only person she could turn to was already squirming like the tension in the room was getting to her.
'Who is she?' Yuzuki asked in the mind link, making Rinko suddenly turn to the queen.
It was like it was okay not to remember anyone and everyone, but not her.
Not the woman standing here, and Yuzuki wasn't sure she was ready for any theatrics at the moment.
'Your beloved,' Rinko said calmly.
Yuzuki choked on air.
"I knew I still affected you, but choking on air isn't the only thing you can do for me, princess," the woman said, and Yuzuki could already tell that this woman was going to be trouble for her.
She was definitely going to drive her nuts a little more than she had imagined.
'My what now?' Yuzuki asked.
She couldn't believe that in a kingdom that had spent their entire lives fearing Queen Kuramitsu, there was a crazy woman who talked to Yuzuki as if she felt like and that people were obviously very scared of. What the hell was even going on?
"Rinko, walk the woman out," Yuzuki said as she struggled to come to terms with the fact that Kuramitsu had a beloved.
Of course, it was stupid for Yuzuki to assume that the woman who was feared and loved with the same measure wouldn't have had someone keeping her bed warm, but then she couldn't understand why that was part of the memories she recovered of Kuramitsu.
It made her wonder what else she had missed out on because this wasn't it.
This just didn't seem like the kind of thing that she would miss out on.
"No need. I'll walk myself out, princess. But considering what I suggested, it would work better than staying hidden after they saw your gorgeous face," the woman said.
Yuzuki growled at her.
Only for her words to shock the living shit out of Yuzuki Fukada.
"I'll wait for you in your chamber, princess. And you look hot as hell today," the woman chuckled on her way out.
And Yuzuki faltered for the first time, in front of the Kurayami council.