BLITHE  —  Devourer of Worlds
Chapter I.VII

Blithe stood deep in the abandoned garden where she knows no one will set foot in. Sleepless nights plagued her as she thought about her plans and tried out her theories.

She's got everything listed, but there's one important thing she needed first before her plans set into motion—

CLINK.

“Your Highness? W-Was this note from you?” the henchman approached her from behind, his necklace clinking with his armor once again.

Blithe knew she couldn't do everything alone. So, she called this one person who was with her as she bawled her eyes out and was always ‘coincidentally’ near the survivors of the places they went.

She secretly placed a note for him, telling him to go to this place. Of course, she had to put in a few threats so that he would really come. As much as she didn't want to threaten him, she knew she had to.

“Yes. I wanted to ask you something.”

“I will… answer to the best of my abilities…” he answered cautiously.

“What did you do with the baby you found during that last job?” she asked.

He was taken aback.

“I… I threw him in the river nearby,” he answered.

…

“What did you really do?”

He stayed silent for a moment before answering again.

“As I said, I threw him in the river.”

“Mmm… You’re pretty tight-lipped. Well, you did keep what happened with that family a secret,” Blithe nodded.

“I’m telling the truth, Your Highness.”

“Sure.”

The red-haired man flinched. He did not expect the sarcastic tone she spoke with.

From his impression and interactions with her, she was always straight-forward and curt with her words.

He didn't know how to respond, fearing that one wrong move would kill him, but he knew that telling the truth would be risky as well.

A deafening silence dawned on them until Blithe broke it.

“I’ve been practicing something.”

“Your Highness? Practicing what?” he asked, bewildered with the abrupt shift of conversation.

“My black holes pull everything apart. Everything it comes in contact with is sucked in, tearing everything apart with a tremendous amount of gravity and nobody survives,” she looked down. “You saw what happened to that henchman’s body.”

The red-head swallowed nervously.

“But I survive when I enter it,” Blithe continued.

“What… are you trying to say, Your Highness?” he had no idea where she was going with this.

“Lately, I’ve been experimenting on small objects to transport. I plan to try transporting animals next,” Blithe continued.

The man furrowed his eyebrows, his frustration slightly increasing at the disconnect of her sentences.

Blithe turned to face him. He flinched.

“If I’m able to perfect it, would you be willing to let me use that power on you?”

The henchman swallowed. He couldn't understand if that was a threat. “For what purpose is that for, Your Highness?”

“For transporting people out of the star systems we destroy.”

Silence once again.

The henchman looked around cautiously, trying to see if this was a test. It wasn't a secret that some of the henchmen had a grudge against him so maybe this was a ploy to get him killed.

“Your Highness, I don't understand what you're trying to say—”

“Nikos.”

The henchman’s eyes widened at her suddenly calling his name.

“That is your name, right?” Blithe asked for his confirmation.

She looked away. “I searched for your name on the roster of henchmen my father gave me from when I first started doing my jobs. I never glanced at it before so I had a hard time searching for your name.”

“I couldn't risk asking around. Anyone could get suspicious,” she looked away.

Nikos was stunned and was scared of what was to happen.

“D-Did I do something to upset you, Your Highness? I-If this is about what happened before, I swear I—”

“I know what you’ve been doing and I know you're not alone,” Blithe interrupted him.

Nikos bit his lips.

“I’ll be direct instead,” Blithe sighed. “I want you to help me test my power. I need a live test subject — a live person to enter the black hole I create and successfully transport them to another place without any damage.”

“And if that's successful, I want you to help do that in the next job we go to. If this can help save lives on the next job we go to, are you willing to accept my proposal?” Blithe said without any pause, fearing that stopping will make him reject her.

Nikos looked at her astonished, bewildered and distrustful.

A high-ranking official, much more the Dark Emperor's daughter, asking him to help her save lives? The princess that didn't bat an eye when she slaughtered innocent people. He was baffled.

Blithe could sense his disdain.

“I-I know the things that I’ve done… And…” Blithe didn't know what to say next.

What was she supposed to say? That she regretted all the things she had done? She felt that she had no right to say it considering all the painful and despicable things she did.

Blithe bit her lip and tightly closed her eyes as she held her head.

Nikos looked at her, the memory of her weeping on the ground on that day coming back to him.

He remembered the raw emotion of her cries, as if she just discovered something devastating.

He remembered her tucking the baby in his blanket and sparing the both of them.

He remembered her letting the two children behind the wall live.

He remembered the past few months when she turned a blind eye to the survivors that slipped away.

He remembered her delaying scheduled warps to the next star systems in favor of ‘planning.’

He remembered sending a large chunk of henchmen in uninhabited places in the star systems.

He remembered her gazing at the sky, towards the place where a star cluster used to be.

Nikos shook his head.

He looked away and scoffed. “You have a lot of trust towards me, Your Highness.”

“You're the only one I can trust…” Blithe looked down, her eyes reflecting a sadness she wasn't even aware she was showing.

Nikos’ eyes widened. She looked just like a child. Not a woman who emotionlessly followed her father's orders to destroy, but a child desperate to find someone who she can trust with her problem.

His face softened.

“I have to risk asking you, because you're the safest person to ask based on my observations,” Blithe opened her eyes and looked at him.

“I need someone who won't report everything to my father. Someone who can help as an inside job,” she steadied her face.

Nikos looked at her.

“Please… Help me…”