RIVALS INCARNATE

Chapter Sixteen: Double Trouble

839 AD, 9th Century of Japan (Kyoto)

***Crowned Prince Shin was twenty-one years old while Aoi Takugawa, the future Empress and soon-to-be-wife of Prince Shin, was 19 years old during this time***

Her first impression of him was not really good.

Aoi had heard a lot of rumors about Prince Shin's bad temper and rude attitude towards other people but she never really expected him to be that worse in person. 

"You must be thankful that you have been chosen to marry me, the future Emperor of this nation."

How conceited! She was simply offended. She could never tolerate such unapologetic arrogance and vain approach if she were to live with him. And someone like him was supposed to become the Emperor? Too bad for the future of this land, Aoi had later on concluded when she left the royal palace to return to her home. There was no way that she would even want to marry that kind of man with an ugly personality. He was too far from her type: a real gentleman and sweet loving prince. 

How can she marry him? She would never be happy... What would become of her child, if he was the father? 

"I don't want to get married, Mitsuki. I don't like the prince. I can never love him," Aoi confessed in a miserable voice towards her personal court lady as soon as she had settled herself inside her room. There were things that she could not easily admit and complain about to her parents even when she had wanted to tell them about it because of her status and limitations, and the only way for her to express her concerns and worries was to share them with Mitsuki, the only person who would even try to agree and comfort her.

"My Lady Aoi," Mitsuki sadly sympathized with deep worry as she gazed back to her master, "Please don't say that. You can try to know him better next time, My lady. I know things will get better. Please don't be sad."

But those were only mere words, and no matter how much comfort and support she would have received from her attendant and family, Aoi would never feel any much better. She was completely trapped in this arrangement. And it was inevitable... She will have to marry the crowned prince, with or without love.

"I want to meet her again."

But while Aoi felt so disappointed and depressed about marrying him after their meeting, Prince Shin, on the other hand, was feeling otherwise. He actually found himself fond of the young lady. He actually liked her. And for him, he felt like he had finally met his match. She was frank, graceful, and lovely. She embodied the type of woman Prince Shin would have imagined for a future Empress, and despite only having such superficial reasons at the time, he knew right then that he would grow much more attracted to her.

Because she will be the Empress... And Prince Shin believed that fate had ultimately decided that they were meant to be together.

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PRESENT, 2020 (Tokyo)

"Miss Komatsu?"

Kyouhei Kurosaki stood frozen in utter surprise and confusion as soon as he witnessed Ami Komatsu walking into the doors of the meeting room with four other big men in black suits following behind her. Her presence caught him off guard as she was immediately greeted with bows and formal welcoming remarks by the other members of the Socio-Liberal party group. And while in the middle of his startled state, his colleague, Maeda, who was just standing beside Kurosaki, distractingly tuck the sleeve of Kurosaki's coat and motioned his eyes at the young man to do the same greeting.

Kyouhei immediately obliged, hastily bowing his head and quickly standing up again to stare at the unexpected appearance of the woman. Compared to how he had first met her at the party, Aoi today looked rather more intimidating and cold as she stopped by the front of the long table placed inside the room while giving each of the members who stood before each chair surrounding the table a short glance.

"As you all well know, Miss Ami Komatsu is one of the most influential people in our country nowadays and on top of that, she is also playing a very big part in funding projects for the charities run by different government units and is affiliated with a lot of sponsors," the acting chairman of their group began as he proudly spoke on behalf of the woman's visit.

"Now, without further ado, I'm very proud here to announce that Miss Komatsu has now chosen to give her support on our side in the coming deliberation and is willing to provide generous resources for our chosen candidates."

The members applauded except Kyouhei who was still so dumbfounded by everything he just heard right now. Why was she here? And why was she suddenly sponsoring them for the elections? There were too many questions running inside his head that Kurosaki failed to process everything as he kept staring at Ami from a distance with a frown appearing on his face which he could no longer conceal this time.

"I always am one with making this country better and progressive. Being someone who advocates peace, sustainability, and equality, I am really glad to have finally found a group of people who completely share the same ideals and ambitions as I do to achieve all the good things for the people of this society," Ami, who was then given a chance to elaborate her thoughts, finally stated with a charming smile as she addressed the people in the meeting room, "And moving forward, in the hopes of choosing for the next leader of this nation, I have decided to give my utmost support for the one I knew would certainly play the standard role of the Prime Minister. The only one who had recently caught my attention here."

Upon hearing her last few words, the members of the group started to exchange confused glances, wondering about what Ami meant by her statement. The chairman even did a double-take and also looked at Ami with a worried smile as he voiced out his question.

"What d-do you mean, Miss Komatsu?"

As anxiety slowly built in the atmosphere, Ami chose that moment to stare straight in Kyouhei's direction with a provocative look on her face as she curved her lips into a playful smile.

"I have decided to sponsor this group with all of my money and resources. But on one condition," she brazenly explained, ignoring the shocked faces sent her way the moment she revealed her intentions, "You will all have to agree to choose Kurosaki Kyouhei to become the next Prime Minister of this country. I want no one else but him... And if you submit to this one request then I am all yours, for as long as you want."

Kyouhei felt his knees weakening as the pressure suddenly weighed over his shoulders, he could not even breathe for a few seconds, with his eyes glued on Ami's face. But even when she met his stare, she did not even move nor get swayed from the loud gasps and murmuring noises of the people inside the room. She was even smirking. Yet the longer Kyouhei kept gazing back at her, the more unsettled he had become...

What the hell just happened?

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"This is so f****d up."

Yuko Amazawa failed to censor her words again as she voiced out her thoughts after hearing what Osamu Sato had wanted to talk to her in person when he had called a while ago. It was really messed up. And she felt the horrors and risks of this entire plan finally beginning to haunt them now.

"It's really disturbing," Osamu expressed, frowning with that bothered expression as he raised his hand up to his face to massage his temples as if trying to nurse a headache, "Your Highness, I can't simply just tell you how much I am worried right now. You told me that you wanted that damn Rei to become the prime minister, but it feels like doing that would cost so much more for you. On top of that, even the royalty Empre--"

"Stop," Yuko strongly cut him off, gritting her teeth as she processed things inside her head, "I can't back down now, Sato."

"But Your Highness, this is not like how we lived back then anymore. Things are far much worse when it gets dirty in this business. And even this woman. She is completely different from the late Empress, Your Highness. She might have her soul, but she is no longer the same person. We have no idea yet of what she's even planning," Osamu implied, sighing loudly in regret. He never really thought that it would even get darker than he had anticipated.

It was not shocking to find something nasty in politics, especially in this modern era, when money and power both come hand in hand. But Yuko and Osamu never anticipated that they were actually heading towards the wrong path instead of carefully avoiding it. 

They had a really good plan. Until now, the idea that Yuko had thought of so much in the past few years was exemplary and almost perfect for their main goal. Sato even thought and believed that it would successfully work. But when Sato discovered the corruption going around in the Socio-Liberal party group with a lot of midnight meetings, and some disturbing information about their connections with the Mafia and drug syndicates, this certainly twisted the game for them. But this was not really what dismayed them the most.

What actually got them into a state of distraught was the knowledge that Ami Komatsu had an even more horrendous secret. And this got Yuko feeling disheartened and insanely bothered.

What the hell was she doing and why was she like this now? What happened to her pure and innocent Aoi? Who is this woman? 

Things were about to get more complicated.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------next chapter: Chapter Seventeen