Beast Gacha System: All Mine-Chapter 194: Entrance

The day of the announcement banquet arrived. The sky above the Dawnoro capital residence was a vast, unsullied blue. You know, the kind of sky that promised frost by nightfall but offered, for now, the perfect, golden light of a sun too polite to mention the coming winter.

The residence itself had been transformed.

Since the wolves of the northern territories had never quite trusted the softness of marble and gilded cornices, it had always been decorated and built like a fortress. But today, those walls were hung with banners.

Deep red and silver, the colors of the Dawnoro house, rippled in the cold breeze alongside more neutral tapestries woven with scenes of unity and peace. Torches lined the approach, their flames bright even against the sun.

The gates stood open.

And through them, from the earliest hours of the morning, the guests began to arrive.

They came in carriages and on horseback, on foot and, in a few cases, on wings that folded only at the last possible moment before touching ground.

They came from every corner of the known world. From the human empires, from the beast territories, from islands so remote that their names were barely whispers in the halls of conventional geography.

They were either very important, or invited to spread the words.

For the Black Wolf King.

So the guests arrived. Human nobles in silks and furs. Beast lords in forms both humanoid and otherwise, some striding on two legs in finely tailored robes, others padding on four with retinues of attendants struggling to keep pace.

Diplomats from kingdoms that had no official relations with the wolf territories, scenting opportunity in the air like blood in water.

Spies, of course, dozens of them, disguised as servants and secretaries and distant cousins, their eyes missing nothing even as their mouths smiled and murmured pleasantries.

There were faces that would have been recognizable to any student of politics. Like the sharp, assessing features of Qinryc Lukas, Prime Minister of Cassia, or the predatory grace of Chief Hettor of the Jaguar Tribe.

The iron presence of the Iondora Emperor himself, flanked by his handsome, watchful son, a statement in itself, that the most powerful human ruler on the continent had chosen to attend in person rather than send an envoy.

And there were faces that would have been recognized by no one. Beings who dwelt so far outside the usual circles of power that their very presence was a different kind of statement. A loud one.

An ancient tortoise in human form, his skin weathered like old leather, his eyes holding the patience of millennia. A council of avian lords whose territories spanned mountain peaks that no human had ever scaled. A representative from the deep ocean, her skin shimmering with the faint iridescence of scales.

You know what they say. At the time of peril, no one would come. But when it was time for celebration, even the unreachable reached back. Although, it was more likely because it was Arkai Dawnoro.

The great hall of the residence had been cleared and prepared. Long tables groaned under the weight of food and drink, enough to feed an army, prepared with the care and pride of a household that knew it was being judged.

Servants moved through the crowd with trays of delicacies, their expressions carefully neutral, their eyes missing nothing. Musicians played in a corner, a soft, unobtrusive melody that wove through the murmur of conversation without dominating it.

The guests mingled, smiling at old allies and colder eyes at old enemies. They wondered, in a hundred different languages and a thousand different ways, what announcement could possibly justify this gathering.

Nikolas looked around the great hall and felt, for the first time in a long while, the uncomfortable weight of being observed rather than noticed. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

Everywhere he turned, he saw peers in influence. Faces he recognized from diplomatic gatherings and tense border negotiations. Names that carried weight in councils he had not yet been invited to join.

Beings whose power was measured not in wealth or territory, but in the simple, unarguable fact of their existence.

It had been a long time since he attended a party where most of the attendees were equally or more important than him.

Still. He had advantages.

Thanks to Ruby, still the most special existence in the world, still the Saintess whose visions shaped the decisions of kings, people spared him more than two glances.

They looked at him and saw her. They looked at her and saw the future. And because he stood beside her, because he had married her, some of that light reflected onto him.

He should have been proud.

He had been proud, for the longest time. When his love for her still burned as bright as the sun, when her hand in his felt like destiny made manifest, when every prophecy she whispered was a gift he alone was privileged to receive.

Those days had been golden. Those days had been right.

But now?

Honestly, he wasn’t sure.

To be seen not for his own achievements...? Just because he married the divine?

Actually, he was fine with that. He should be fine either way. Just... it felt like... being attached as her shadow on the ground, stepped on by everyone who chased her.

He ignored that for now. Dismissing that thought, he knew he might have been too harsh with her. The accusations that she kept taking Arzhen’s side, and kept defending him, had flown from his lips too easily, too often.

He shouldn’t have said them. He shouldn’t have let his jealousy poison the space between them.

But love did strange things to people. Love could ruin itself, given enough time and enough wounds.

In the end, though, Ruby was still his mate. Nothing in this world could sever their connection. Only death could part them. Or the Meleth Flower, that legendary bloom that appeared once in every generation, the flower Arzhen and that missing, fake Saintess had used to sever their bond.

Nikolas had no intention of finding a Meleth Flower.

He would work things out with Ruby. He had to. She was his, forever. There was nothing they could do to break things off anyway.

"Ruby." He leaned close, whispered. "Don’t forget to apologize to His Majesty in front of everyone today, alright?"

Ruby turned to him, and her smile was warm. Genuine, he thought, or at least genuine enough. She nodded, the motion graceful, submissive in a way that made something in his chest ease.

"I did not forget, Nik." Her voice was soft, reassuring. "I will do anything to regain his favor. Please don’t worry, okay?"

Nikolas smiled back.

It was nice when she was like this. Obedient. Tactful. Focused on him rather than that damned tiger prince. If only she had fewer ideas and simply loved him, simply be his, then he would grow stronger.

In influence, certainly. But also in physical power, drawn from the bond between them. In reputation. In every aspect of his existence.

She was the key to everything. She just needed to remember that.

CLICK!

The sound cut through the murmuring crowd. A cane, striking the polished floor once, twice, a summons to attention.

The announcer stood at the entrance to the great hall’s dais, his posture rigid with ceremony, his voice carrying to every corner of the room without seeming to rise above a conversational tone.

The acoustics of the hall had been designed for this moment. For announcements, for proclamations, for the quiet assertion of power.

"His Majesty," the announcer declared, "Black Wolf King, Lord Alpha Arkai Dawnoro—"

A pause.

"—and his Luna, Lady Sees!"

The doors behind him swung open.