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"You did well, Nephew," Princess Rebecca praised, delivering a drink to Khan. "Rejecting them has always been the plan, but the bait you\'ve thrown will give them hope for future negotiations. That will buy us time."

"Your performance was excellent, My Prince," Prince Thomas added. "However, they are right to suggest a more inclusive approach. You also have the cards to make it work."

Khan supported his head with his palm, leaning on the cargo area\'s chair\'s arm. He took a long sip from the drink while his mind explored the topic. He would partially follow that approach anyway, but going all-out would involve things he wasn\'t willing to sacrifice.

"I can\'t tiptoe around the Empire," Khan shook his head. "That\'s not how the Thilku work."

"You could involve them in your game," Prince Thomas suggested. "That way, there won\'t be treason on the side that matters."

"The Empire has spies," Khan reminded. "I\'d only give the factions a reason to unleash the evolved soldiers on me once they find out."

"If they find out," Prince Thomas corrected.

"That\'s your game," Khan refused. "I\'ll play this my way."

"Your way is a gamble, My Prince," Prince Thomas pointed out, "And I don\'t think you have accounted for every variable."

"The nobles?" Khan asked.

"Exactly," Prince Thomas confirmed. "The representatives on the planet aren\'t the only nobles. The factions have their own connections to the other families, and they all outdate yours."

"The training grounds are almost ready," Khan announced. "Success with the Fuveall implants would also reinforce my position. As long as the aliens look up to me, I\'m irreplaceable."

Prince Thomas wanted to retort, but Khan was right. Khan\'s unique talent with alien species had already borne fruits, and those advantages were bound to increase. Realistically, no human party could affect him publicly.

Ensuring the human parties\' alliance would still improve Khan\'s situation, but Prince Thomas understood they would go on a different path. Keeping Khan alive until he could face the other factions directly was the only issue now, so Prince Thomas planned to overhaul the planet\'s security while the tournament was ongoing.

By the time the ship returned to the quadrant, the various parties had reached their critical point. Most guests had departed, heading to their quarters to prepare for the new tournament day. Joining them would be pointless now, but Khan didn\'t even consider that option.

Truth be told, Khan had considered the parties, but the meeting had changed his plans. Encountering an evolved soldier had filled his mind with ideas and restlessness. He wanted to train immediately, and his phone ended in his hands as soon as he stepped foot on the planet.

It took a few hours, but everything was ready before the morning could get close. Even deep into the night and immersed in many projects, Abraham\'s scientific team came through, creating a new training area from scratch.

The place was in the depths of one of Khan\'s caves. The scientific team had dug through the rocks, creating a square hole and covering it with an insulating alloy. Of course, as per Khan\'s strict directives, the area had no trace of technology or synthetic mana.

The hole obviously wasn\'t the end of it. Khan sat before that insulated cavity, his bright eyes illuminating the dense liquid that filled it. The scientists had poured part of the reserves of the blue plants\' dark green substance into it, creating a toxic pool.

Khan wasn\'t alone in the cave. Monica stood beside him, her expression clearly showing her disgust toward the pool. That concentration of dark green substance threatened to make her head spin, but she mustered her strength since she knew Khan had something far worse in mind.

"Is this necessary, dear?" Monica asked, pulling her dress sleeve to cover her nose.

"You didn\'t see her," Khan said. "Her body was one with her element. It wasn\'t even a container or a channel for her energy. The mana flow was seamless as if no barriers existed."

Khan had obviously summarized the meeting to Monica, highlighting the evolved soldier\'s presence. Things were getting serious faster than he had predicted, so he planned to resort to drastic methods.

"For once," Monica cursed, "I hate Abraham for being so efficient."

"We have gallons of this substance to spare," Khan explained, "And the team only needed to dig and cover a hole. Luckily, we had already experimented with the insulant."

"Luckily," Monica sarcastically repeated.

"This was so obvious," Khan sighed. "Why didn\'t I think about it before?"

"Because your first interaction with this substance made you hallucinate?" Monica wondered. "Because you already use both plants and substances in your training?"

"This should be more effective," Khan stated.

"And painful," Monica added, "Dangerous, and potentially deadly."

"I don\'t think it will kill me," Khan said, "Or trigger another hallucination. I should have built enough tolerance."

"It\'s still poison," Monica pointed out. "A toxic element meant to destroy your body."

"Change it," Khan corrected. "The destruction is only a part of it."

"You\'ve set your mind," Monica sighed, sitting beside Khan, "Didn\'t you?"

"I told you," Khan uttered, the excitement on his face creating a deep contrast with Monica\'s worried expression. "Her body had transformed to convey life itself. You should have seen her."

Monica knew that seeing Miss Christen wouldn\'t have changed anything for her. She didn\'t have Khan\'s eyes. She didn\'t look at the world in the same way. Even if Khan explained it, Monica wouldn\'t understand half the words he said.

However, Khan\'s palpable excitement tried to push Monica\'s worry away. That character trait hardly showed itself anymore. Monica only saw it when Khan talked with the aliens or found one of her new skirts. That was Khan\'s childish, curious side, something that had made her fall for him on Milia 222.

"Keep talking about this bitch\'s body," Monica threatened, "And I\'ll make that pool look like booze." n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"I bet you\'ll try to stay here," Khan chuckled, pinching Monica\'s lips to disperse her pout. "Can I convince you otherwise?"

"No," Monica refused, speaking through her pinched lips. "Someone has to rescue you if you die or something."

"How do you plan on rescuing me if I\'m dead?" Khan laughed.

"I\'ll beat you back to life," Monica explained.

"That might work," Khan joked, releasing Monica\'s lips and looking past her flesh. It had taken longer than predicted, but Monica\'s attunement had finally crossed the necessary threshold. She was a proper fourth-level warrior now.

"I need to adjust your magic items to your new level," Khan considered, seizing Monica\'s wrist and pulling down its sleeve to inspect her dark skin. "It shouldn\'t take long."

"Are you trying to distract me with trinkets, dear?" Monica wondered. "I might play along if you continue until morning."

"You know," Khan muttered, still looking at Monica\'s wrist. "Part of me had hoped I\'d be a fifth-level warrior by now. We could have announced the ceremony during your birthday. It would have been perfect."

Monica temporarily forgot her worry. Khan was talking about their marriage, and she almost couldn\'t believe he had the time to think about it with all the chaos of the recent period.

"Are you serious?" Monica asked, forgetting her teasing names.

"Of course," Khan confirmed. "We\'ve been engaged for almost three years. I know descendants take this stuff slow, but I\'m not exactly like them."

Monica didn\'t know what to say. She even forgot about the nasty smell afflicting her nostrils. Her body moved on its own, seizing Khan\'s arm and leaning on his shoulder.

"Besides," Khan continued. "You\'ll be twenty-seven in a few weeks. You are getting too old to play the spoiled fiancée."

A punch landed on Khan\'s chest, triggering his laugh. Still, Monica didn\'t continue her assault. Instead, she climbed on Khan\'s lap, sitting on it and lifting his face to look deep into his eyes.

"I can stop the birth control whenever I want," Monica said, holding Khan\'s head steady. "It might take a month for the effect to vanish, but we should be able to try afterward. I only need your word."

Khan could see the confidence behind Monica\'s statement. They had talked about the topic many times, and she had grown more resolute each day. The idea of becoming a mother worried her, but having Khan at her side fully reassured her.

Khan scoffed, wrapping Monica\'s back into a tight hug to place his head on her chest. Her heartbeat resounded through his brain, clearing it from all the recent problems. For a second, only Monica existed, and that was enough.

Monica played with Khan\'s hair, caressing his nape while understanding what was happening in his mind. She knew Khan was born for leadership. However, he would have spent decades as an explorer in a different life, traveling the universe out of pure curiosity.

That simple life would have allowed Khan to indulge in such simple but deep desires. He would have already built a family with Monica, which would have become his whole world. The latter would have been far smaller than what he had now, but no doubt happier.

"Me, a father," Khan scoffed again. "I just threatened the other factions with a suicide play. How will I even sound believable once we have children?"

"Khan," Monica called. "The moment we have children, you\'ll burn down anything that even hints at threatening them. You would never get to mentioning suicidal plays."

"What if we have a daughter?" Khan gasped, lifting his head in terror. "Should I kill every man in the galaxy?"

"We\'ll keep that option open for now," Monica nodded.

"I need to become an evil overlord or something," Khan realized, pushing Monica aside and standing up. "I need to become so strong people will be terrified even to think about crossing me."

"Hey!" Monica shouted, watching Khan remove his clothes at the speed of light. "Marriage talks mean sex! It\'s the rule!"

"I\'m doing this for our children!" Khan joked, but seriousness replaced the playful mood as he jumped forward, diving into the dark green pool.