Anne's eyes opened slowly and the bright light that seeped into a room unknown to her was almost too much for her already bleary and tired eyes to handle. She groaned as she turned over to look around the surroundings and found herself in a room full of white. She tried to rub her eyes to get a clear view but she couldn't.
Confused, she looked down and saw her wrist cuffed to a white table. The memories of the recent events flooded her mind and there, she learned that a Ruthenian operative by the name of Rolan, infiltrated Buckingham Palace and took her hostage.
"Hello?" her voice echoed in the white room as she called for someone. "Is anyone here?"
The hinges of the metal door creaked as it opened. The sound attracted her attention and looked to the right and saw a person with purple-toned hair wearing a red military jacket and black trousers step in.
"Do you know who I am?" said the man, his voice echoing in her ears. A moment later, she recognized the voice. It was the emperor of the Ruthenian Empire, Alexander.
"You...Where did you take me?" Anne asked weakly.
"You are in Ruthenia, Your Majesty," Alexander replied as he pulled a chair and sat opposite of her, folding his hands on top of the table. He noticed a droopy look in the young woman's eyes. He also noticed that her wrists were bruised from the metal cuffs. She must have tried removing the plastic handcuff while she was being transported to this place.
"Ah.., Ruthenia," Anne said, the strength in her voice returning. "The whole world declared war on your country and they are making their way to your capital."
"Things are looking bad on the side of the allies," Alexander said. "You see, you don't know anything about the Ruthenia Empire? Do you want to know the reason? Because you don't have a Black Hand agent operating on our soil. Why is that?" Alexander paused as he chuckled briefly. "Ah...we flushed them all out. Not a single Black Hand got out alive from Ruthenia. Do you really think a coalition force of western Europa is enough to take Ruthenia down?"
"This is all you talking lofty but in reality, I can see it in your eyes that your country is losing the war. It's futile to put up a strong facade."
Alexander smirked. "Your eyes are wrong and don't act like you are some smart person who controls everything in your palm. Because we aren't losing, actually we are winning."
Alexander sighed inwardly. "I haven't come here to discuss the war situation. I'm here to ask you a few questions. Did you kill all the foreign delegates that attended the crown ceremony of your now-deceased sister?"
Anne glanced around, looking for cameras that were recording this conversation.
"I don't know what you are talking about. Your people killed them, including my sister."
"There's no point in lying, Anne. You confessed to Rolan that you are an executive member of the Black Hand operating in the Britannia Empire. Just tell me what I want to know and I'll be on my way. Did you order to kill the foreign delegates?"
"How much time has passed since Rolan took me from Buckingham Palace?" Anen asked.
"You were not unconscious for the whole week, but it only took us two days to transport you out of the Britannia Empire."
"Well at this point they are already dead," Anne revealed.
"What do you mean at this point? Are you saying they were six to five days ago and now they are dead?" Alexander asked, clarifying.
"Yes, but we don't kill without a purpose. There's a reason why we killed them," Anne slowly lifted her face and stared at Alexander. "That was to pay for their sins."
"Sins?"
"Take for example the King of Belgium, King Leopold. Are you aware of the atrocities he committed against the Belgian people? You know, cut their arms for disobeying their master, dehumanize them, and treat them like animals. That was his sin. We the Black Hand condemned him. You can call it justice."
"You speak as if you are the instrument of justice but aren't you that different from the person you despise? You kill innocent people just so you can remove them from power."
"Sometimes, we have to get our hands dirty to achieve a noble cause. There's no such thing as a clean war. If peaceful means don't work then there's only one option, to turn into violence."
"So each emperor or king you kidnapped had sinned and was executed for it, right? Including your sister, Diana. You also killed her right?"
"Diana is blinded by greed, wishing to get all the power to herself, circumventing the constitution. Her goal was to become a queen with power similar to yours, who controls the government and the military. While her eyes were set on that, she forgot about the people living under her. The people. Crime rates and poverty rates increased without signs of slowing down. They call the Britannia Empire the most glorious and most powerful empire but in reality, there's nothing glorious about it. We just expanded by invading people's lands and making them submit to our rule. This world has become dirty. Empires scrambling for lands, killing tribes upon tribes just for the sake of expansion."
After listening to Anne's words, Alexander remained silent for several seconds before finally responding.
"I understand your feelings, Anne. I truly do. But it's just how the world works. Your ideals have no place in this world. That's one of the dirty natures of human beings, they never work well together. Fueled by their self-interest. I think I see the bigger picture of your plan now. You are forcing the empires of this world to clash with each other until there's only one left. I mean, that's a good idea, it will definitely cause some empires to dissolve. But have you thought about the people living in a country that you forced to wage war on us? Their fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, sons, and daughters?"
"A small price to pay for our vision of the ideal world. Soon, the world will be controlled by the Black Hand. Your technology may be superior but we know that your country can barely hold out on its own."
"And who will be its leader? Is it the current president of the United States? Oh, now that I mentioned him, where was he? Why didn't you take him along with the europan royals?"
Anne remained silent.
"Hmm...I see. Well. As for my last question, I was wondering, where are you keeping them? Is it under Westminster Abbey?"
Anne smiled smugly.
"Very well. Thank you for hinting us the answer. Now we know where to find them."
"What are you talking about..." Anne stuttered, confused and a wave of dizziness hit her.
Her eyes shut from the excruciating pain. Ten seconds later, all the pain torturing her was gone. She looked up to look at Alexander--
"What..."
Her eyes widened, the man in front of her was not Alexander...but Rolan.
"What...how? What kind of trickery is this?"
"It's all thanks to the powerful hallucinogen we injected into your bloodstream thirty minutes ago. With that, we have deceived your mind. What I need to do is to act like His Majesty. Wear dresses similar to His Majesty, and smell like His Majesty. Now the tricky part is his voice. Fortunately, His Majesty gave us a record of his voice. The voice that you heard when the door opened, was a record of His Majesty. Coupled with answering your question as to where you are, to which we reply Ruthenia, the first thing that comes to mind is Alexander Romanoff."
"You drugged me..?" Anne asked.
"Yes...there's just a time limit though. Soon your mind was about to notice the inconsistencies. Good thing, you gave pretty much what we wanted to hear. And correction, you were not unconscious for one hour, you were unconscious for just two hours."
"What..!" Anne breathed erratically, her expression turning grim. "How dare you trick me! You won't get away with this!"
Rolan simply turned his back on her and left her cell.
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