Hearing a knock at her door, Ino slowly removed her hood to reveal her lovely face. She was the spitting image of the Empress, someone countless people would recognize. However, her face conveyed a little more wear after slaying all the inhabitants of an entire village.

"Come in," she called out politely as she saw one of her servants entering the room.

Darius entered with his head held low and immediately prepared tea for himself and his mistress.

After several minutes, he finished setting down two cups and a bowl filled with berries and nuts.

"Alright, Darius, you may begin with your report," Ino instructed.

The man bowed once before beginning. "Grand Empress, so far, everything is going according to plan," he said, staring straight ahead. "We've found most locations where the traitors were hiding away, along with the biggest one, the village, which your almighty strength has already destroyed."

Ino only nodded and expected Darius to leave.

Darius, however, seemed to be hesitating.

"What is it?" Ino questioned.

Darius finally lifted his head and met her eyes, telling her something was wrong. "There was a slight problem with one of our newer recruits," Darius explained quietly. "Tammy, the one with an A-Ranked specialty in recognizance, was following subject one when her implanted chip exploded."

Ino frowned and asked, "Which one?"

Darius twitched his eyebrows as he thought, "Right... she did have me install more than one chip on the newer people in the project.'

"The exact chip that exploded was for anti-treason, Grand Empress."

Ino nodded. This was quite the predicament for them. It would be a pain in the ass if someone discovered this plot beforehand.

"Do we know who was responsible and what knowledge the people could gain?"

Dropping to his knees, Darius quivered before Ino. "P-Please spare my life," he begged before spitting out words faster than Ino's ears could follow. "We don't know anything. All we know is that it happened inside Le Booty." He continued muttering apologies and begging for forgiveness.

"Darius, you know how much I like the carpet. Don't stain it with your filthy man legs." Ino's demeanor suddenly changed as her hand reached out and gripped his neck, cutting off his airflow and making him choke and gag on his own saliva.

"You filthy man, do you remember why I put you in charge of this project?"

Gasping for breath after Ino let go of his neck, Darius tried to answer but couldn't get any words out past a gasp or a groan.

After a few seconds, he was about to speak, but a sudden jolt of pain shot through his back when Ino stabbed him with a butterknife.

"Speak up, now, filthy man!" She yelled at the top of her lungs. Blood poured from the wounds until the knife slid out of his flesh.

"Ino Empress-"

"It was because I couldn't stand the sight of subject one, so if I needed someone to kill, you'd always be there instead of him." Ino pulled the knife out again and cut off another chunk of his skin as blood sprayed. "Now, give me one good reason why I shouldn't have your head taken off now."

'I know we go through this every time, but I just wish I wouldn't have to do this for once,' Darius thought, as he defeatedly said, "This filthy man begs for mercy and is willing to sacrifice his manhood for you, Grand Empress!" He then began weeping uncontrollably before getting slapped several times for good measure. Finally, his entire body turned red as the blows continued to rain down upon him.

Finally deciding she had had enough fun with him, Ino released him with a slap that sent him tumbling onto his face.

"Don't worry, I'll be generous and spare your manhood this time," she informed him coldly.

"Thank you, Grand Empress," Darius said, completing their tradition as he limped out of the room.

===

The Duchess..

The Duchess curled up on a lounge chair, the ever-present Volf sleeping on the floor beside her.

'Back in my beautiful mansion,' the Duchess smiled, 'though not as large as the Empress's', she frowned. 'Well, whatever..'

"Now, Volf," she said, using her toe to poke the sleeping animal in the ribs, "wake up. I have an important question for you."

The animal didn't move, but he did give a big sigh.

"Good, you're awake," the Duchess said. "If you were a man, wouldn't you love to receive a letter requesting your presence at a dinner?"

Volf's head popped up, eyes intent, 'dinner'?

"I will take that as a yes," smiled the Duchess. "Okay. Now that I've talked to the Empress, she will look into Ryan and find out something happened between him and Mara, hopefully canceling the wedding. After that, she'll just have to figure out how to deal with her mother."historical

Realizing no food was forthcoming, Volf sighed again and put his head back on the floor.

"Meanwhile, I must ensure my Emily doesn't stay with Ryan." She poked Volf's ribs again, "Maybe Volf, when Mara and the Grand Prince break up, that will be the perfect time for the Grand Prince and Emily to get together." The Duchess clapped her hands in glee.

"And, Volf," she almost poked again, but Volf's upper lip went up, a hint of his white fangs peeking out.

Ignoring Volf's testiness, the Duchess continued, "And I, of course, will have my boy toy Ryan all ready to go!" She giggled, kicking her feet up and down.

The Duchess brought up the hologram and entered the message,

"Ryan, I have something vitality essential to talk to you about. Please meet me at my house tomorrow evening.

Also, I am so very sorry for the egg mix-up. You can take it with you when you leave, I promise I have not made any scrambled eggs with it!

Sincerely, the Duchess."

"Well, Volf," The Duchess said, leaning back in her chair, "that should do it. When Ryan gets here tomorrow, he will have more than dinner..he'll be having dessert!" The Duchess covered her face and giggled.

Volf's head popped up again. 'That word dinner again. She must mean it this time.' Volf jumped up and ran to the cupboard, a loud howl conveying his hunger.

'Forget that pansy ass man. You've got a real animal here to feed, lady.'