The Princess of Wrath

Chapter 3 - Part II: Another Little Conspiracy

After a minute of frustrating loneliness, she heard the careful steps of someone behind her between her cries, and with him showed up a play of light and shadows that diminished the darkness of the landing.

"Princess..." the voice of the Alchemist reached her with upmost concern.

"What do you want?" she asked him with hostility that, next to the sorrow that she was emanating, was not threatening at all. She felt his presence very near her, and heard him sigh.

"I told your bodyguards and Mr. Belmont that you are feeling sick. It took a bit of effort, but I was able to convince that brute knight and the masked demoness to allow me to personally escort you to the medical guard. They will follow us," he explained to her.

"Don't talk about them like that!" she warned him, and again, with the intimidation of a kitten.

"Will you accompany me? We can talk in private there."

As she raised her head and turned slowly, she saw Roland leaning against the wall, watching her patiently and calmly. With the help of the softlight emanated by his electromagnetic cane, she managed to see between theshadows his lips forming a sympathetic, warm grin. It was still impossible forher to connect that kind of expression to the man she knew for his usualself-centered attitude.

"You never saw me cry before today, right? This fucking curse showed you today not once, but twice, how weak I am..." she told him with a depressed smile as she cleaned her face off the tears. "Alright. Let's go."

In silence, the duo descended slowly down the few stairs until they reached the underground. From above, the strident but slightly muffled sound of the horns announcing a half-hour interlude was heard.

"Ugh, I truly hate that sound! Just wait until the mass production of one of my voice amplifying machines is approved," Roland commented, showing off with pride his cane. "That way the voice of the Empress will reach to cover the entire Coliseum and beyond it without the need of those antiquated horns. You'll see, lady Asura: electromagnetism is going to change our lives to the core."

"You seem pretty optimistic about your science," Asura did not know with accuracy if Roland's intention was to make her feel better through conversation or to simply show his genius and intellectual superiority.

"How could I not? Imagine carriages without the need for horses to move, heat generating machines that do not require burning wood or coal, mass communication devices within everyone's reach... The future is not written, lady Asura, but I can assure you that it will be as bright as Belrus in the morning sky."

"Well, that sounds very promising," she commented with a little smile, but the tone of her voice diminished a bit because of her realization about an abnormal mobilization of security forces around them: soldiers armed with fire guns were patrolling along the corridor but they never interacted with them, only to politely greet her. "Strange..."

"I'm sorry, what did you say?" Roland asked her.

"Oh, nothing! Please, continue."

Regardless of her suspicion, Asura had to admit that talking to the Alchemist without insulting each other lifted her spirits up a little bit. He told her about several ideas that transcended the technological level of the moment and that some successor of his was going to have to bring them to reality in his place.

Asura considered telling him to keep Stanislaus in mind for when he graduated from the university, even though he had already asked him to send him a letter, but she kept the idea in her mouth when they passed in front of the entrance to the Coliseum's huge medical ward.