Villain: The Play of Destiny

On the eve of November 28th, the King of France, Robert Luther Valois II, returned to the Palace of Versailles after his two weeks-long Royal visits to the four allied Kingdoms.

All the guests at the Palace, dignitaries of the Eastern Axis, USCC, South-East Asian Countries, and Persian and Arabian Kingdoms, met with the King at the dinner.

There were no official talks held that night, and the very next day, early in the morning, the final meeting was called.

Robert presided over the meeting himself along with the upper echelon of the French Government, and a series of agreements were reached, mostly relating to bilateral trade.

By now, it was no secret to the world Governments that the Europe Union was establishing its allied Military Unit, and needless to say, it had alarmed everyone.

However, the French Government had revealed the news themselves and had invited envoys from all over the world. Many refused the invitation, but all the nations who were on very good terms with the European Union were here now.

Since they planned on forming an allied Military Unit of the EU, the Nations that were previously engaging in the trade of Military Equipment and Technology with the Royal Five, unanimously ended their agreements.

Promises over the continuity and expansion of trade were reached to not appear hostile and stand in support of the European Union's decision. One of the key agreements was the reduction of tariffs on the exports of the other countries that did business in the Royal Five. Additionally, mutual agreements were reached by the Royal Five with each country in private, showing and lending support on their national issues.

Even though more than half of the major countries of the world had refused their invitation, the Royal Five had managed to garner the support of most of the major economies of the world including Netheria, China, Korea, Japan, Russia, Persia, Arabia, Indonesia, and USCC. And these countries comprised more than half of the world's population.

As soon as the agreements were reached, the very evening, the Royal Give made the news public that they were establishing an allied Military Unit, citing the need to bring more stability to the world, tackle any threats that weighed heavily at times of dialogue, and to, of course, be better prepared to defend and protect the European Union in case of an unfortunate war.

The stance of the Royal Five was rather strong, but with these major countries keeping quiet or outrightly supporting the decision of the European Union, there was nothing that those who wanted to object and oppose the decision could do in this situation.

Of course, sanctions were on their way as the opposition had to appear strong. And the other major powers of the world were holding meetings of their own, but the Union's economy was safe and any economic sanction was only going to backfire on the opposition.

Even though he already had no interest in this world's politics, after all these meetings and diplomacies, Keith yearned to escape this boring world as soon as possible. And Rebecca had the laugh of her life when he honestly revealed to her what he felt about the world's politics.

Keith felt a little better after hearing her melodious laughter, and then he sighed in his heart. He knew that of all his women, Rebecca would perhaps be the one most reluctant to leave this world.

He knew that behind all her masks was a girl who deeply loved her parents and family, and it was going to be distressingly hard for her to let go of all of them.

As as soon as the blonde girl stopped laughing, she wrapped her arms around his neck and captured his lips.

"Make love to me..." She seductively whispered but a knock on the door cut her off, and the way she glared daggers at the door was too funny for Keith to hold back his laughter.

"Sleep in my room tonight." He planted a kiss on her cheeks, consoling her, and then called for the one who had interrupted her good deeds to come inside.

"Lord Keith, Lady Rebecca!" The aged maid tensed up when she found Rebecca indifferently looking at her.

The blonde girl was still in his lap with her arms around his neck, and the maid understood that she had interrupted them at the wrong time, but there was nothing that the poor her could do.

"My apologies." She sincerely bowed to them, and Rebecca stopped looking at her.

"It better be something important." His gorgeous Fiancee indifferently said, which tensed up the maid even more.

"Your Majesty has invited Lord Keith to his study. The Queen, the Princes, and the little Princess are also waiting for him."

Her words failed to appease Rebecca's mood since she did not consider this as something more important than their love-making session, but she still nodded her head and asked the maid to leave the room.

"I am yours for the night." He mischievously whispered in her ear and squeezed her left boob, which agitated her even more.

"Come back soon." She said and then stood up to walk inside the dressing room.

Keith reached the Royal Study, and he did not need any help in finding it since they were given the tour of the entire Palace yesterday.

The guards politely bowed to him and opened the door for him, and inside, just as the maid had said, the Royal Family was waiting for him.

"Good evening, Your Majesty," He smiled and greeted the king with the trademark pearl white hair and a French moustache.

"Lord Keith." Robert was up on his feet and politely nodded to him to take his seat at the round table, right next to the little princess who was smiling at him.

"Hey!" He gently patted her head before he sat down and then looked at the King and the Queen who were lightly smiling at him.

"Lord Keith," Robert said, not wasting any time. "I won't play with my words and the reason why I have asked you to see me is that I need to know where you gained the knowledge about our plans." His ocean-blue eyes bore right into him.

Keith just smiled back at him for a good minute before he reached forward and poured himself a glass of wine from the decanter.

"If you are worried that someone close to you or anyone in the Families of your allies has betrayed you, then you can rest assured that no one associated with the Five Kingdoms informed me about it." He lightly said and then leaned back to sip on the wine. "As for how I got to know of your plans. Well, I and a few special of my fraternity have ways to hear even deeply buried secrets, and I can not divulge our ways to you."

His words tensed them all and the King's eyes grew more serious.

"And the other ones who knew of this secret besides you were the Lady of the Night and Hermes?"

"Poseidon too." He nodded to him.

"Your Fraternity has never shown much interest in world politics."

"That's not quite true, but if you want to know whether I have such intentions, you can rest assured that I am not interested in this world's politics." He chuckled and shook his head. "So, shall we get to the point now? You said you won't be playing with your words."

His words flustered the King a little, but he soon managed to compose himself.

"May I ask why you informed the City of Sin about our plans?"

"You may. And I can tell you that I did it because I needed a favour from the City of Sin." He half-lied to him. "Also, as you might already know, I kept dear Avriel's secret."

"But you informed them about all other key figures of the Royal Esper Association." Robert frowned.

"And you benefited from it as the City of Sin helped you gather the finest of the Espers in the world ahead of time." He looked the man in his eyes. "You did not specifically ask for me to lead the Netherian Delegation to only get your answers. Did you?" He curiously asked.

There was silence after his question and the King sighed after a good minute.

"The Royal Family of Valois has always been on good terms with the Lady of the Night. And we hope that we can build a good relationship with the Lord of Darkness." He truthfully said.

"And what sort of relationship you are seeking?" He showed some interest and asked.

"A relationship where both the parties never have to hold ill-intentions towards each other. And a request where you would lend your help if we need it. Of course, we would never ask anything of you that may put you in a difficult position." Catherine hopefully said to him, and Robert nodded to her words.

"I see." He thoughtfully said, and then a playful smile crept on his face. "Well, I am fine with that. I have no reason to hold any ill intentions towards your family or any of the Royal Five. But the second request can not possibly be agreed to without a price."

"We understand." Robert smiled and nodded to him. "As long as it is something within our power and not something unreasonable, we can promise it to you."

Keith smiled in his heart. He wondered what their reaction would be if he asked for Avriel or her hand in marriage. But he did not want to associate himself with them too much. At least, not for now. There were a lot of things on his hands for quite some time.

"Château de Chantilly." He said with a light smile. "One of my ladies loves that property. If it is not too much to ask for, I would like to buy it."

The one who was the most surprised by Keith's words was not the King or the Queen, but the little princess by his side. And the reason for it was that she absolutely loved that property.

Robert was glad that Keith had raised a very serious demand, and he happily nodded his head.

"It can be arranged. And if you intend to buy it, we would like to exchange it for a Castle of our choosing that you will be building in the new Noxville."

The King was, of course, saving him a lot of money.

Château de Chantilly for a Castle in Noxville Netheria. Whereas the former was easily worth nearly 1.5 Billion Euros, not to mention that the Royal Family would have not sold it to anyone else, the latter was going to be only half its value or even less. It was a sweet sweet bargain for Keith.

"Very well." He nodded to the King and then finished his wine. "Since you are showing such sincerity, I feel obliged to advise you on something." He placed the empty glass on the table and smiled at Avriel.

"Please do." Catherine nodded to him and waited for what he had to say.

"Xavier Zaragoza," He took a name and everyone tensed up. "One of the Strongest Psychic Espers and the Royal Teacher of your Family. He will one day ask to be allowed to teach Avriel how she can control her Powers better. Do not leave your daughter alone in his care." He seriously said.

"He plans on betraying us?" Robert grimly asked.

"No." Keith shook his head. "He's an ambitious man, but he's a very loyal person. However, a man who is more loyal to the crown than the one who wears it is a very dangerous person to trust." He meaningfully said. "And it's more dangerous when such a man is very ambitious. You don't want your daughter to lose her innocence and turn into a cold weapon, do you?"

"Of course, not!" Catherine frantically stood up and yelled, and then she glared at her husband.

"We don't." Robert shook his head. "But she does need some help..."

"Avriel will be fine." Keith shook his head. "Even without anyone's help, she will be able to learn how to control her powers. By the time she turns 16, she would no longer face any instances where she would lose her focus, composure and control unless she was hurt. These are just the quirks of being a child who's rapidly growing up."

His words surprised the little girl and her family. It was something that they were all very worried about as Avriel had lost control over her powers more than once. And now they were immensely relieved after hearing Keith's words.

After he met with the Royal Family, he returned to his room to get ready for dinner, and he found Celine and Rebecca waiting for him.

The playful smile on his face flared up his blonde fiancee's curiosity.

"What did they want to talk about?"

"They just wanted to give me a gift." He said to her as he approached her.

"What gift?" Celine curiously asked.

"How about I take you there tomorrow?" He suggested.

"No. Tell us now!" The grey-eyed lady shook her head and insisted.

"Château de Chantilly." He said and their eyes widened in surprise. "It's mine now."

"What?!" And they both called out in shock.