“And so?” Kromald asked Rucille as withdrew a cigar from his breast pocket, watching with a steady gaze as the end was clipped before bringing it to his lips. “Will it work?”

“I don’t know, maybe?” she responded with a tinge of annoyance. Perched on the edge of the same couch that Reina had sat on during the previous week, she had quickly found that she didn’t like to be on this side of the room. It was mainly because she saw these discussions with her father as an unnecessary chore, but she wouldn’t tell him that. If he wanted results, why did he pull her away from her work? It was easier to just let him know when she was done.

“I don’t need to tell you how much is riding on this,” he said after he had finished lighting the cigar. Pausing for a moment as a lazy tendril of smoke rose in to the air, he sat back in his chair. “If we can do this, our place as the number two estate in the district will be secured.”

You mean if I can do this, your position will skyrocket, she thought to herself as she resisted the urge to roll her eyes and stood up. “If that’s all, I’ll return now.”

“Sit,” Kromald barked. “We’re not finished.”

This time around Rucille didn’t bother to hide a sigh as she again perched herself on the edge of the seat. She had experiments to conduct and a nation to save, yet her father seemed to be more interested in working out how to claim as much of the glory for himself as possible. Surely he didn’t need regular status updates to conclude how he could make that a reality, so why didn’t he just let her do her work and think of something in the meantime? It wasn’t even like she herself cared that much about recognition, so he should know that she wouldn’t object either way.

In fact, she hardly cared at all. Ever since Kromald had singled her out for being different as a child and pulled her from the public eye, she had grown to like the life away from the spotlight. Instead of playing with the same toys as her sisters, she had been scolded for playing with the pretty liquids that she found in the lab. While her brothers had admired the powerful estate representatives that had passed through their front door, she had instead asked why they wore such impractical clothing. Eventually, her father had realised that he could kill two birds with one stone by installing Rucille as the head of the estate lab instead of a third or fourth son which had been the custom. She eventually stopped landing him in embarrasing positions, and in return he found that she was talented in her role. She knew that she was unpredictable, not as serious as she should be, and also difficult to communicate with, but they were things that he would have to live with.

Her tired gaze drifted over to Andus who sat in his usual seat behind Kromald with a smirk on his face. It was probably difficult for him not to smile now that she thought about it, as all three of them knew that he stood to enjoy the most benefits from her work in the long run. Kromald may head the estate now, but the creases around his eyes showed that age was ultimately catching up to him. If Rucille’s project was a success, the currently unmarried Andus would instantly shoot to new heights which would be second only to the first few princes.

“So how is your progress?” Kromald asked while ignoring her frustrated expression.

“I don’t know,” Rucille sighed as she repeated herself. “You can’t expect answers this early in the process as there isn’t enough data to work with.”

“Try,” he replied as he exhaled a cloud of smoke, not bothering to direct it away from Rucille who sat opposite him. She thought that he saw the corner of his lips curl upwards as her nose wrinkled, but she knew that saying nothing about it was the quickest way to leave.

“I took some blood and ran some tests,” she shrugged. “It looked similar to what I expected, so I jabbed her with the virus that I prepared earlier. Early signs are positive, but it hasn’t broken her yet so I’m waiting to see how it plays out.”

The first results from the blood testing had been promising when she analyzed the structure, but she knew from experience that unforeseen circumstances seemed to crop up from just about anywhere. After a short discussion with some of her assistants, she had instead decided that the easiest way to crack through the middle of all the uncertainty was simply to inject her with the Terminus virus and see how she fared. She had already tested it on subjects from Neo Luesa with disappointing results, so how Nina fought against the invasion would be critical to working out how she could break down further subjects.

“I see,” Kromald frowned at her explanation. “What are the chances of success?”

“I’ve told you twice already, I don’t know,” she sighed. Instead of answering the same question three times, why not just let her go back to work? “She’s delirious right now, but that doesn’t mean that she won’t recover. It’s certainly more effective against her than the subjects from Luesa, so I’ll have to do some study on how exactly her body resists.”

Kromald nodded before being interrupted by a knock at the door.

“Enter.”

The three sat in silence as the door was pushed open by a royal guard who had adopted a formal posture. Stepping inside after taking a cautious look around the room, he walked over to where they were sitting before stopping behind Rucille and placing a fist across his chest. “I’ve delivered the message.”

“Good,” Kromald grinned with an expression that left Rucille unnerved. “Dismissed.”

Waiting until after the guard had excused himself, Kromald turned his smile in Rucille’s direction as he placed the cigar on the tray which sat in the centre of the table. “You can forget about Nina’s friends now, they won’t be coming back.”

“Is that so?” she replied casually while her eyes narrowed. If she was truthful, she didn’t have a problem with Nina’s team at all. She could even say that it had been enjoyable to listen to their stories about the plates she would never see for herself. Unfortunately for them, however, Nina wasn’t something that she could let slip through her fingers. She had hoped that the rest of them would eventually be able to move on from her in time, but it seemed like her father didn’t even plan on letting that happen. Frankly, it was overkill. They wouldn’t be able to make it back inside the district, so why not let them do their own thing in peace? If her idea of pinning the blame on SuTSU had worked in the first place, they might even be able to continue business with Reina’s team in the future. If they were none the wiser to the real truth, their anger would be directed elsewhere.

“The suits will deal with them, so don’t get distracted.”

Kromald’s attention turned to the liquor cabinet which was off to the side of the room, indicating that she was free to leave. Springing up without a word, she strolled towards the door before her father’s voice called out to her one more time.

“I’d like a daily report submitted at the end of each day. You can have one of your assistants bring it over.”

Would you even understand what you were reading?

Without acknowledging his request, she pushed the door open before slipping into the foyer and then stepping outside into the cool breeze that swirled around the manor. Not bothering to admire the perfectly maintained flower beds that surrounded the path that she walked along, she sighed to herself as she gazed at the lab which loomed in the distance. Although the late afternoon had still not surrendered to the evening, bright lights already shone from each window like torches.

Images of Nina strapped to the chair flashed across her mind as her thoughts returned to the task ahead. Nina had called her insane, but she didn’t think that there was any truth in it. She was used to shrugging off insults as anyone from her other subjects to her previous assistants had called her a range of things. The common factor that these people all shared though was that they were now dead. One of her sisters had even called her a monster once, but Rucille was glad that she did it privately. That way, it didn’t become suspicious when she mysteriously died three weeks later.

She smiled as she wondered if Nina had already joined the group of people that had cursed her before becoming stepping stones in her life. She may never have the chance to leave this plate, but she thought that when you considered it she was actually the most travelled of all. She may only see the seven plates through the eyes of others, but in exchange she was allowed to peer deep into their eyes in return. Others might see things, but she saw inside things. What was the point of living if you didn't understand how anything truly worked?

“Don’t disappoint me Nina,” she muttered to herself before turning onto the path that snaked across the lawns in the direction of the lab.