Beast Gacha System: All Mine

Damon was surprised when he heard the details about the woman he was going to marry.

He had truly thought Angela would bring him a perfect woman of noble origin. Surely it would’ve been someone polished, traditional, and safe, who would become the conservative backbone of the empire.

A figurehead with impeccable bloodlines would be the safest choice. Especially with his precious failed engagement. But...

He was wrong. And it was the best kind of wrong.

He liked this decision, just as Cecilia did.

The plan was audacious, and it made a kind of sense that only his sister could have orchestrated. Angela had been locked in a dungeon for years, and yet she had still managed to out-think everyone above ground.

"Well done," he smiled at his sister. "You... kinda never disappoint me, even when you enter that dungeon."

Angela rolled her eyes. "Did you mean that as a compliment?"

Cecilia smiled, being quietly amused while watching the siblings had always been her favorite pastime in the past. It was still the case.

Then Damon turned back to Bessa, and the steel in his eyes softened. "Does it sound harsh?" He asked, and Bessa immediately realized he was asking about what he had said just before.

"You want to build the strength of this empire and our rule... using the might of the alchemists?"

"Even if I said that, you understand why it’s the only way to establish initial control, right?" Damon asked. "Only when strict control is achieved can we think about how to build the best realistic and independent world for alchemists."

S... strange.

Contrary to his first impression and the rumors about him, cold, ruthless, madly cruel, he somehow felt... especially gentle.

There was no condescension in his voice. No dismissiveness. He was speaking to her as an equal, or at least as someone whose understanding he genuinely wanted.

"I think it’s best if you know why you were especially picked too," Damon said.

Angela nodded. "You were especially picked because of your beauty and the loss of your leg."

Bessa couldn’t be surprised anymore. Of course they’d be blunt about this.

Though something didn’t add up... She could understand her lost leg, since it made for a good story.

But her beauty?

Where?

"Someone like me can only prevent disasters. You two are the only ones who can make this kind of change," Cecilia smiled at the imperial siblings. "Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for this plan."

Angela giggled. "Who are you to say that? If not for you, would we even have been inspired like this, Lady Sees?"

Huh?

Cecilia tilted her head, momentarily thrown.

"The influence of the former Saintess reached even the imperial family," Damon said cryptically as he began ushering the two women toward the door. "Now, get out."

Cecilia blinked beneath her veil. What he said just now...

Her eyes faltered. He was saying it was because of her.

Because they knew her? Because of who she had been and what she had done, they had made these decisions?

"What did you just say?" Cecilia asked, while Angela just teasingly giggled.

Damon, though, was determined to shoo everyone away, including the servants inside.

Even if those servants were among Angela’s most trusted beloveds, this was something he needed to do privately with his future Empress.

"We’ll discuss things regarding tomorrow’s court meeting. Get ready. Screw off." He said, and slammed the door shut.

Bessa stood alone in the sudden quiet of the reception room, facing the Emperor of Iondora.

The door had closed, and the world had narrowed to just the two of them.

Suddenly, she felt nervous.

What... what was he trying to...

"Please, let me invite you to sit down," he said casually, yet politely and gently. The Emperor today... truly felt nothing like the Emperor in the news or the rumors.

After they were both seated across from each other, Bessa finally allowed herself to look at him properly.

The man was handsome the way an Emperor should be. His genetics were the product of the best bloodlines in the empire. His appearance was carved from countless generations of beautiful consorts and concubines, not just those of the imperial bloodline but also the generations of Empresses’ bloodlines.

He was, in every sense, a living monument to centuries of selective beauty. But perhaps, crucially, also intelligence.

"Refuse the offer," Damon suddenly said.

Apparently the surprises of today weren’t over yet.

Bessa glanced toward the door, wondering a great many things all at once. Even if she managed to stay confused and shocked, she was still thinking clearly enough to wonder whether this man was truly aligned with the two women who had just left.

"I indeed haven’t answered whether I’d accept or not," Bessa said. "But it’s a debt of favor I have to pay."

She was telling him she had no real choice in this. Even if the Emperor didn’t like something about her, she wasn’t in the position to refuse.

Damon shook his head. "No. That woman with the blonde hair? If you can convince her, you can change my sister’s mind too. You need to appeal to sentimentality. That woman is even more benevolent than the goddesses in scripture—no, think of her as one of the goddesses in scripture. She’d find you a way out."

"Why do you suddenly want me to refuse? Didn’t you previously seem like you completely agreed with this plan—ahem... Y-Your Majesty?" Bessa asked, her voice rising at the end before she caught herself, reminding herself that she hadn’t even properly addressed him with his title.

"I welcome this plan. I like it. I’ll endorse it and support it to the end, I promise that. But if you are not a hundred percent in on it, it’s better for you to refuse," Damon slowly and gently explained.

"...Why?" Bessa asked in the end.

"The problem is entirely about me. The one you’re marrying is me, in the end, so this is as important as it gets. But if you are ready to stake your future on this dream, I’ll tell you what the problem is," Damon said.

Bessa frowned. "That’s... basically a trap."

She was a bit afraid now. Smoke existed because of fire. Those rumors outside existed because of a reason, no matter how skewed it might be.

But Damon smiled instead.

"Yes," he said. "Forgive me."

Bessa didn’t know anymore.

"If this had nothing to do with the reputation and honor of someone I deeply respected, I’d tell you everything without the promise of you staking your future on me. Please understand that my hands are tied," Damon said.

So, it all came down to Bessa’s resolve.

Bessa looked down at her hands... and then at the prosthetic leg hidden beneath her skirts. "Actually... I also have problems."

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