32. Don't say I didn't warn you.

"I, Niyanica Hemsworth, swear in the name of Sanctus Liber that I will uphold the sovereignty and integrity of Vamp Prime and that I will faithfully discharge the duty upon which I am about to enter. I will, therefore, protect the people of this planet as well as this universe from any foreign attack as commander-in-chief of the Vamp Army," Niya recited the oath, looking at the people standing in front of her. Marcus smiled at her while giving her the royal sword of honor and concluding the ceremony. Everyone in the room applauded her.

"All hail, Queen Niyanica Hemsworth," Marcus exclaimed to the crowd and the phrase was once again repeated by them.

"Finally, now I can proudly make strategies of war in front of you, Your Majesty," Marcus said, looking at her with a proud smile. She smiled at him, looking into his dark grey eyes. For a moment she felt like she was drowning in them. His intense gaze was giving her chills down her spine. She broke off the eye contact before someone could notice how intensely they were looking at each other. Archie came with a glass of wine and gave it to Niya. He started talking of some national issues along with William but Niya zoned out, still thinking about Marcus's intense gaze on her face.

*What the hell is happening to me? Hold your hormones, Niya. He is the general of your army and nothing else. Stop behaving like a desperate teenager*, she mentally slapped her, trying to get out of the trance she had found herself in.

"Niya? Niya?" Someone called her name and she came out of her thoughts. It was William.

"Are you fine?" he asked as she was looking like some lost puppy.

"Yeah, I- I am fine. It's just I am a bit tired," she said, patting her forehead nervously to avoid any sweat drops.

"We can leave if you are not feeling okay. We can do this press conference some other time," Archie said, touching her forehead with the back of his hand to check her temperature and tucking a few baby hairs out of her face once he realize she was okay.

"No. No, I am perfectly fine, Eve. I am ready for the conference," she said, giving him a small smile and walking towards the hall where all the press was waiting for her.

"Okay, you just wait here. Let us greet them first and we will call you later," George said, checking something in his tablet. She nodded. They all left immediately and entered the press room.

*I hope you know what you have to do. Please don't disappoint me*, Niya texted an unknown number nervously.

And while Archie and William addressed the press, at the very back row, someone's phone buzzed in their pocket. They opened the text and smiled.

*You have my word, Your Majesty. Don't you worry. I am ready,* They tucked their phone back in and looked up to Archie and William.

Once George gave her a nod, Niya entered gracefully in the hall with Edward and sat beside Archie in the middle.

"Good afternoon, guys. Proceed," she said while vetting comfortable in the chair, feeling—no, knowing—it was going to be a long press conference.

"Your Majesty, first of all, I want you to congratulate on your big day as from now on you will lead this planet in every war. Congratulations," A reporter said, looking at Niya with excitement in her eyes.

"Thank you, Miss... Rose," Niya said, reading that reporter's name from the nameplate placed in front of her.

"My question to you is about the golden clouds many have witnessed. Recently we saw our sky turn completely gold for a week. Many are suspecting the presence of an angel on this planet. I want your comments on this particular event."

Niya looked at her for a second and paused as she knew already that this question was going to be asked. Archie put his hand on top of hers under the table to encourage her a bit.

"We still are investigating that event. Our very capable team of scientists from VPSRO is working day and night to find the real reason behind those clouds but as of now, we cannot comment until we come to our conclusions," Niya said without hesitation, smiling at the reporter. She felt a bit guilty as she was lying.

"Next," George said to other reporters to ask the next question.

"Can we expect more visits in the minority area after your visit to the forbidden Starland City, Your Majesty?" Another reporter asked.

"Of course, why not. The people of this planet are my subjects and I am duty-bound to help them. Minorities are going to be my priority from now on," she said, looking at him with a smile.

"My question is to King Archie. Your Majesty, I want to know about the project Collex," he said.

"Oh, yes, we are working on it. Our new spaceship Collex will be ready to use by next year. There were some problems regarding the engine but now everything is back on track as I am personally leading the group," Archie replied confidently.

"My question is for Queen Niyanica, we have heard some rumors that you are discussing removing the firewall so that our universe could contact other universes, is it true, Your Excellency?" she asked with a polite smile on her face.

"Yes, kind of. We are having discussions about it. You will soon know our decision for sure," Niya replied.

"My question is also for Queen Niyanica. I wanted to ask if the Defense Department is doing something about the recent attacks on Vamp Prime or not? As per my knowledge, the person behind these attacks is King Samael of Drac Prime. Are we going to act against it or not?" A purple-haired man asked, looking into her eyes. She gave a slight smirk as this was the question she was waiting for. Archie and William got panicked as they knew Niya wasn't going to stop now.

"I am aware of that. We don’t have proof against King Samael but since steps are being taken to drop remove the firewall, I’m sure he’s watching us at this very moment. So now I speak to you, King Samael, I am ordering you to stop hurting innocent lives. Dare to hurt a single life on this planet and I swear I will turn the whole Drac Prime into ashes by just snapping my fingers. And you know very well that I can do this, can't I?" she asked, smirking in the cameras. Archie closed his eyes out of frustration while William muttered curses under his breath.

*This girl will be the end of me. Provoking that rascal is not a good idea at all*, Archie thought looking at Niya with a frustrated face.

"Thank you guys for joining us. No more questions," George said, looking at Archie's expressions as he knew Niya had messed up. Niya and the others left the room immediately.

"I told you to examine the questions of all those reporters, it was a strict order not to ask anything about Samael. How come that boy asked that ridiculous question?" Archie angrily asked George while walking towards the parking lot.

"I checked it already before starting the event. I don't know how he dared to ask that," George said, looking blankly at the floor with confusion.

Archie paused for a second. "I think I know. Niya!" Archie screamed her name in frustration as she was walking a few feet ahead of them. She closed her eyes as she knew Archie was going to kill her.

"Seriously, Niya? I told you not to provoke him." Archie took big strides towards her and grabbed her left arm with anger. She turned and smiled like an innocent kid.

"Listen to me first. I can't just ignore him, dude. I can't let the people of this planet suffer," she said, looking at him with puppy eyes.

"Provoking him is a bad idea, you idiot. He is more powerful than all of us," Archie said, looking at her.

"Not more than me. Even if I have to reveal my identity to the world to protect my people, I will do it," she said, jerking off his hand and walking ahead.

"She is crazy." William chuckled at her antics. Archie looked at him with angry eyes as if saying ‘don’t entertain her’ and he shrugged.

***

On the other side, Samael was also watching her recent press conference.

*Dare to hurt a single life on this planet and I swear I will turn the whole Drac Prime into Ashes by just snapping my fingers. And you know very well that I can do this, can't I?*, Samael looked at the big screen in front of her and smiled while touching Niyanica's face.

"Feisty!" He chuckled again looking at her. His purple eyes sparkled like a kid while watching her on the screen. His long black Royal cost was perfectly complimenting his snow-white skin. His light brown curly hair was just working as the cherry on the cake.

"Your Majesty, should we start the second phase?" A man asked Samael.

"Definitely, Mr. Rai. It's the perfect time to start the second phase of our plan. It's her birthday next week so do whatever you wanna do because it’s time to celebrate this special occasion with her," Samael said, sipping on his glass of red wine.

"Don't worry, Sir. I will not disappoint you." Mr. Rai bowed and left the room immediately.

"I can't wait, Niya. I can't wait anymore," Samael said, sitting on his golden throne, all the different gems shinning under the palace’s light.

***

Niya was back in her room, preparing for the next event.

"Niya? You have an online meeting with the chief of the Southern Province in half an hour. Are you ready?" George asked, checking her schedule.

"Yup," she put her crown back on her head, muttering profanities when the damn thing didn’t want to stay in its place.

Chucking, George moved forward and swatted her hands away, fixing the dilemma for her, "You have to attend a music award show tomorrow, remember?" he shifted the crown a bit more before smiling at her through the mirror, satisfied with how she looked.

"Music awards?" she frowned at him.

"Yeah, The Star Shine boyband has won the Inter-Planet Awards so you are going to present the award to them for making our planet proud in the music world," George said, smiling proudly.

"The Star Shine? Stay with me, oh my baby baby, stay with me," she sang, imitating their steps on one of their famous songs. "Them?"

George chuckled at her cute antics, "Yeah."

She nodded and picked up her makeup, "Did Archie order to remove the firewall?" she asked, reapplying some lip tint on her lips.

"Yeah. Done in the afternoon already," he replied.

Suddenly someone knocked at her door loudly.

"Yes?" she asked. It was her office assistant, Emily.

"Your Majesty, King Samael is on the line. He wants to talk to you as soon as possible," Emily said, looking at Niya. Niya smirked, her eyes glowed with a spark knowing Samael would call for sure after what she did in the conference.

"Let's go. Time to knock him down one more time," she said, walking towards her office while George followed her. Archie was already waiting there, glaring at the phone as if he could kill who was on the other line. She picked up the phone but paused when she felt a hand grab hers.

*Speaker*, Archie mouthed while lowering the phone and pushing the speaker button. She could only roll her eyes at him.

"King Samael, finally!" She said while smirking. Samael paused for a second before speaking as if he was lost in her sweet angelic voice.

"Good Evening, Queen Niyanica. How are you?" he asked with a sweet smirk playing on his lips elegantly.

"Cut to the chase, King Samael. I'm not here to waste my time on these formal questions," she said.

"You just threatened the whole existence of my planet in your conference. May I know what proof do you have against me? I have never intended any harm to you and your people and still, I only get hate from your side," he said from the other end of the receiver.

"I know, you know, so stop pretending as if you have nothing to do with the recent attacks on my southern province," she replied without hesitation.

"I intend no harm to Vamp Prime. Now that you have decided to open the communication channels for both ends, I would request you to listen to my side of the story too."

"I don't believe you. You want to prove your innocence? Sign a peace treaty with Vamp Prime and I'll let you live your life peacefully."

"I'm ready to sign any treaty. Invite me to come there and I will never harm a single soul on Vamp Prime," he said. Archie, who was listening to their conversation, silently shook his head to stop Niya. Niya paused for a second, looking at Archie.

"Okay then, come to Vamp Prime. I invite you for my birthday celebration and we will talk business." She hung up and Archie lost it.

"Niya? Are you out of your mind?! Why the hell did you invite him here?!" Archie questioned, rounding the table to get closer to her.

"Because I want to end the bloodshed of my people. If he is willing to end this, we should cooperate," she replied confidently, looking into his green eyes that held so much anger at the moment.

"This is his trap, Niya. This is his trap to come closer to you," he said, grabbing her shoulders, trying to make her understand how Samael’s mind works, "Cancel this meeting, Niya. Don’t let him in, you can’t."

"This is the only way to make to end this, Archie. I assure you, I will not let him harm anyone. Please, trust me," she said, looking at him with pleading eyes.