Chapter 45 The Prince Of Death
To chortle in the presence of Esong Wu and the seventh prince was not just embarrassing, it was frowned upon. The leader of those who were frowning was none other than her mother.
In the battle of Scarlet vs proper decorum and social cues, the latter were losing.
"Sorry, Adler's elbow hit me in the ribs." she lied.
"Oh," the Seventh prince replied, pretending that he was shocked. "That explains it. For a minute I was worried that you did not consider us family."
He was speaking with a smile on his face but pale icy blue eyes were saying 'I dare you to defy me.'
"That's impossible." Mega came to her daughter's rescue. "Scarlet is Esong's wife and you are his brother so of course we are all family." She stood up and walked toward Scarlet and forced her to stand up. Then she looked at Markay and Esong and she said, "Which is why we should never allow our family to starve. We will be in the kitchen preparing dinner."
"But I am the governor." Scarlet whispered.
"And you will get us all beheaded with your little quips." her mother replied.
"We could be beheaded!!" Scarlet whispered back but her voice came out as a squeal.
"What do you think happens when you disrespect a member of the royal family in public?" her mother asked as she dragged Scarlet out of the living room by the arm.
Mega had a tight grip on her as if Scarlet could escape at any moment.
In the kitchen, she let her go and she lightly hit her back. "What is wrong with you?" she asked. "Are you trying to die?" she yelled at Scarlet.
Stubbornly, Scarlet raised her hands in a 'what did I do manner?'
"The seventh prince is known for being sweet, kind and understanding. He is also the most generous of all members of the royal house but he is also the most ruthless when you offend him.
He is not known as the prince of death for nothing. Whatever jokes you want to make, please save them for when he is absent."
Scarlet heard all that her mother had to say but she had a bigger question. "Why do they behead people in this day and age.? It's so barbaric!! '
Even prisoners on earth were killed in more humane ways. The only things that were beheaded on earth were zombies.
This was the interstellar world, they had advanced technology and she expected something different from them. Beheading was so eighteenth century.
"Because nobody ever forgets the scene of a head falling from the neck with so much blood spurting out. It's horrific but it serves the purpose of reminding us all to be law abiding citizens." Mega told Scarlet.
Scarlet made a very disgusted face and Mega asked her, "Have you not seen scenes of mecha fighters in a war? I have seen creatures and humans be squashed to death like bugs beneath a mechas feet.
I have seen them slice space pirates into two. You cannot imagine what it's like to see blood, guts and body parts falling from the sky like rain."
She wanted to say that she had witnessed worse scenes, like cannibalism but Scarlet had never seen such horror. So she made the disgusted face again and pretended that she wanted to vomit.
"Let's just prepare food for the guests. Let your father deal with them until your presence is necessary."
"Why do you think they are here?"
"If I have to guess, my answer is food. Either they want a part of the food we are growing or they want access to the Blue forest."
Scarlet was holding a knife in her hands and she pointed it at Mega. "I will slice anyone who dares to touch my plants."
"Don't point the knife at me." Mega turned Scarlet's hand away from her face. "They will probably offer money for it." she said. "Money is a good thing, we need it to develop this planet and if you agree to share some food with them, we will also get the protection of the mecha warriors."
"Do we need their protection?" Scarlet asked.
"Of course we do. As soon as this planet develops, all sorts of riff raff will gather to try and somehow get a portion of it. Those companies which have monopolized the shake business will not stand by and idly watch as you popularize food in the empire. You will be taking money out of their pockets so they will either want to work with us or destroy us. The Luna federation will also not want to see another planet ruled by the Sun star growing in strength so they will try to destroy us.
We need the protection of the royal family and the mecha warriors so my darling daughter, whatever you do, do not alienate your husband or his cousin."
None of these things had crossed her mind before. All she considered as dangerous had been the mutated beasts. In this break down of the anger which was surrounding them her mother had not even mentioned them.
If she was right, then this planet could be destroyed before it got the chance to rise.
She made up her mind then, planting food and giving them a portion was not an issue. If they could protect this small world until it's strength rivalled that of the Sun star, she would be contented.
"It has to be a lot of money." she told her mother.
"The mecha warriors are extremely wealthy." her mother responded. "Their association has shares in half of the businesses in the empire. Most of the mines in the empire belong to them too.
Why do you think everyone's dream is to be a mecha warrior?" her mother asked.
"The glory." she replied.
"The money." her mother answered.
In Scarlet's opinion, fame went hand in hand with money. There could not be one without the other in the case of the mecha warriors.
She took the potatoes which had been peeled and placed them in water with some salt to boil.
After telling her mother that she had a storage bracelet, she could now pull items out of thin air comfortably. She took out rice, chicken, cream and other ingredients.
Her mother and Fey watched on in fascination. Scarlet felt like a magician and she started pulling out even unnecessary items like bicycles, flowers, fruits and cutlery while laughing.
"You actually have a storage bracelet." a deep male voice said.
The small wooden toy horse in her hands fell down.