Beast Gacha System: All Mine-Chapter 123: Being Right

Far from the mountain aerie, in the heart of the Cassia Kingdom, Prime Minister Qinryc Lukas narrowed his eyes as he walked out of his front door.

A cart had arrived at his private residence. Somehow.

Now, Qinryc stood before the haul, bewildered.

Before him, lining the sturdy shelves of the vault, were not the one or two precious vials he had been cautiously promising to his most loyal—and wealthy—allies.

There were dozens. Rows upon rows of delicate crystal phials, each filled with a luminescent, honey-gold liquid that seemed to hold a captured sunset within.

The soft, healing glow from so many of them together lit the courtyard with an ethereal light. It was a treasure hoard that would make a dragon blush, a stockpile of miracles that defied all logistical and alchemical sense.

The man, once again, could only narrow his eyes, complicated feelings brewing behind them. He pinched the bridge of his nose. "I told everyone," he muttered to the sky, "they needed to pre-order to even have a chance at one of these... to drive up the scarcity, the exclusivity..."

"But now... I have too much in stock."

And the note on it said that it was just the first batch?

***

"You want to return to the Capital?" Nikolas asked with a flat voice, giving nothing away.

Ruby turned to him and smiled, gentle and saintly. She nodded. "Yes. Since Father has regained consciousness, and since we now know who the real enemy is..." She let the words linger, allowing the unspoken ’and I was right’ to resonate in the space between them. "...I need to return to the capital and do what I can."

Nikolas’s expression didn’t change. But inside, the gears turned with a grating, uncomfortable friction. He had been wrong. Wrong about Arzhen attacking them. Ruby’s persistent suspicion, which he’d dismissed as an emotional, rather than rational opinion, had been proven correct by his own father’s waking testimony.

It made him look like the fool, the one who had nearly launched a retaliatory strike against the Vasilievs based on a false assumption.

He hadn’t attacked the Vasilievs. But would Ruby believe that now? After he’d dismissed her concerns, would she now doubt his denials?

If only the Vasilievs had attacked them...

It would have simplified everything, vindicated his stance, and buried her inconvenient correctness. Now... would she love Arzhen more...?

No. The reality was more tangled. Because he hadn’t attacked the Vasilievs, it left open the possibility that Arzhen had attacked his own father, as Nikolas had originally claimed. Or perhaps, the Lion from the South had.

"Wait a little bit," Nikolas said. "I will return with you to the Capital."

Ruby shook her head, gentle, understanding. "Nik... I know Father has recovered. But seeing how busy you are lately, I know there’s a lot you need to attend to here. I understand." She placed a soft hand on his arm.

"You can come when everything’s sorted." She paused, her wide eyes searching his. "Father... would he begin a war soon...?"

The question was indeed a needle, dipped in shame and expertly plunged. Nikolas felt the sting, hot and sharp. The shame wasn’t from her subtle implication that he was avoiding her, it was from the way she framed the impending conflict. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

As if the Delanivis were the inevitable aggressors, a force of chaos she merely sought to mitigate.

More shameful was the truth that they couldn’t. That for now, they had no strength for it yet. This was different from a war with the Vasilievs. That had been a fight against a clan with a sick lord and a prince whose power was diminished after severing his human bond. This was the Edengolds.

Eastiel Edengold wasn’t Arzhen Vasiliev. The courtly whispers that placed them as peers were just that. Whispers. In reality, they occupied different leagues altogether.

The Edengolds weren’t just about one king’s brute strength either. They still had the formidable Lioness Harriet, a strong matriarch in both politics and war, and the Warrior Prince Elias, a commander without equal on the open field.

Their influence was a web of accumulated favors, impeccable reputations, and generations of loyal alliances. To move against them was to risk stirring a hornet’s nest that could swarm from multiple hidden directions.

Revenge, if it came, would have to be silent... or it would require allies. Allies who wanted the golden throne burned as badly as they did.

And all of this was complicated by the ongoing, messy skirmish with the Vasilievs. Even with the truth about Dorian’s attack revealed, the Vasilievs still loudly accused them of assaulting Anton. They were caught in a two-front quagmire of accusations and posturing.

Everything was a knot, and Ruby’s simple question about war felt like a child pulling at the loosest thread.

"You are the most considerate, Ruby," Nikolas said, the words tasting like ash. He pulled her into an embrace... a gesture that felt more like enclosing a valuable asset than comforting a wife. "I will follow you to the capital soon. But bring with you my strongest men. Alright?"

Ruby smiled and nodded against his chest. "Don’t worry..." she murmured. "...no one can hurt the Saintess without consequence..."

Nikolas nodded. That, at least, was true. Her divine status was a shield. It was one of the reasons he could agree to let her go alone.

Alone. That was the key. Ruby hugged him back, hiding her triumphant smile in the fabric of his tunic. Her colleague had confirmed it. Arzhen was waiting for her in the capital. As expected of him!

She couldn’t wait. She couldn’t wait to be seen again, to be desired again, to have her worth reflected in the burning intensity of a tiger’s gaze instead of the frosty indifference of her own husband. Nikolas had his complications, his wars, his cold calculations.

Arzhen? Arzhen had heat. And right now, she was so very, very cold.

Arzhen truly was the best!

"I will wait for you, Nik..." Ruby looked up at him. "Don’t... overwork yourself, alright?"

Nikolas smiled. "Alright."