"You, you wouldn't dare. I'm still a prince; you wouldn't dare torture a prince of the empire." Andrew replied as his face lost a bit of colour.
"Oh, that's not a problem, little Andrew, we can just remove you from the imperial family as punishment for what you have done here today. Do you really think the public will care what happens to you after they learn what you did? How you were responsible not only for the planet-wide power cut, but also involved in your own family's death, including your father and the Trillion neutron reactor bombing." Victoria said with a smile so evil and eyes so dark that it chilled Andrew's soul.
"I…. I never had anything to do with what happened on Trillion."
"You will after we spin it, I mean, we already have a data log of you talking with those that we suspect did it, all we have to do is tweak it slightly."
"No…. no….." Andrew stammered.
"What happened to all your bluster, Andrew? Didn't you say you were strong enough to tame me in bed? Why am I not seeing that? All I see is a weak little bastard who doesn't appreciate the easy life he's had till now."
"Enough, Victoria," Michael said before looking at Andrew again and saying, "Now choose."
💫💫💫
"It's strange for you to call me so early in the morning, Romy, I mean, we're both still in our nightwear. Is something wrong?" Raphilia said as Andromeda watched her run her hand through her messy hair on the holographic screen.
"I need your help with something, and it's urgent as it affects the Terran race," Andromeda replied.
"The Terran race? I just saw the newscast about the power cut on Terrana Five and the assassination of the imperial family. Is it to do with that? Did you witness it with your vision ability?"
"In a way," Andromeda said as she avoided looking Raphilia in the eyes while remembering her dream.
"Who are you speaking to, Raphi?" A male's voice suddenly asked.
"It's Romy, you go back to take a bath first, honey," Raphilia replied while looking to the side with a smile.
"Are you going to come join me?" The male voice asked in a flirtatious tone.
"That depends on how you persuade me," Raphilia replied with a flirtatious smile.
"Cough, cough," Andromeda made a fake coughing noise in an attempt to politely remind Raphilia that she was still on a holocall with her.
"Oh damn, sorry Romy," Raphilia said with an apologetic smile while blushing slightly before turning to the side again and saying, "Go have your bath."
"Ok, I'm going, I'm going." The male voice said before he stopped speaking.
"If you want to flirt with your husband, would you mind waiting until I'm not on a call with you?" Andromeda asked with a smirk.
"What, are you jealous, Romy?" Raphilia replied with a teasing smile that changed to a look of surprise and suspicion as she noticed that Andromeda was once again not meeting her eyes.
"N no," Andromeda replied.
"Hmmmmm," Raphilia replied as she narrowed her eyes while looking at her best friend in suspicion before saying, "Why do I find your answer suspicious, and not just this one, but the other one you gave me before as well? You didn't meet my eyes either time you answered me. Did something happen?"
"Ha, happen? Like what?" Andromeda replied in what she thought was a natural tone.
"You tell me, Romy, I can't remember the last time I saw you this flustered."
"I'm, I'm not flustered. I don't know what you're talking about."
"Then why are you stuttering slightly as if you have something to hide? I know you, Romy, you're amazing at hiding things and keeping secrets, you have to be, as the oracle."
"Fine, fine, you win," Andromeda replied with a sigh before saying. "My visions have been…. strange as of late."
"Strange? Have you lost the ability to have visions or something?" Raphilia asked with concern.
"No, nothing like that, the visions themselves haven't changed much, it's the dream I have after the visions and before I awaken."
"Dream? Is there something strange about the dream? I mean, everyone dreams even though most of the time you don't remember it."
"That depends. Would you say that having the same dream every single night counts as strange?" Andromeda asked sarcastically.
"Look at you being all sarcastic," Raphilia said before replying, "To answer your question, though, yes, I would say that's strange. Is the dream always exactly the same?"
"Until last night, yes."
"How did it change? Tell me everything."
"Everything?" Andromeda replied with slight embarrassment while blushing slightly.
"Why are you blushing all of a sudden?"
"I'm, I'm not," Andromeda replied as she felt her warm cheeks in surprise.
"Oh yes, you are. This is definitely suspicious. Tell me everything, Romy."
"Fine, fine," Andromeda said before taking a breath to calm down, after which she began explaining.
"After my visions end, I always wake up in my bed; however, I am not waking up for real but dreaming. I know this because…. Because…."
"Because?" Raphilia asked with growing interest. She had never seen her best friend this flustered, and it got her curious as to what could make her like this.
"Because….. Because I wake up naked next to a man in my bed."
"What! A man in your bed? And you're naked?" Raphilia asked in surprise.
"And, and, and.. There's blood on the sheets." Andromeda said before covering her face in embarrassment and shame.
"WHAT! BLOOD." Raphilia replied before her mouth hung open in pure shock. She knew what that blood was hinting at, but she still felt the need to ask her next question.
"Blood as in virgin blood?"
"I, I think so. My lower body parts hurt in the dream."
"Oh my god," Raphilia replied in even greater shock as her theory was confirmed.
It wasn't surprising that Raphilia was so shocked, considering what this meant. People often spoke about how the Phoenix Empress Revi was the ultimate celibate because she had never had a boyfriend and was thought to have remained celibate over her twelve lifetimes.
The reason they spoke of her as the ultimate celibate was because it was well known that over her twelve lifetimes, Empress Revi had had many suitors and that she had refused them all, even insinuating a few who refused to take the hint.
In actual reality, however, Andromeda could be called the ultimate celibate instead of Revi because she had never had a boyfriend and maintained her virtue for over three thousand years.
The main reason that Revi held that title and not Andromeda was that no one ever expected Oracle Andromeda to take a lover. It was said that once an Oracle lost their virtue, they also lost the ability of prophecy and visions, as that ability transferred to another female Nonpareilus.
Apparently the Oracle, before Andromeda fell in love and got married and then on her wedding night, when she lost her virtue, she also lost her ability, as it transferred to Andromeda, who became the new oracle.
Everyone knew that the oracle was a special existence, as there could only ever be one in existence, and they always came from the Nonpareilus race. What everyone didn't know, except for the leaders and important figures of each race, was that the oracle was free to interpret her prophecies as she wished and reveal them only if she wished to.
Long ago, when the universe was still young and there were only a handful of races that had achieved space travel and knew of each other, the first female Nonpareilus gained the ability of prophecy and visions and thus became the first oracle.
In the beginning, the oracle used her abilities for good and advised her own race as well as the others about what she prophesied. However, over time, she started to realise how much every race relied upon her, and she became corrupted by that power.
She started charging the races if they wanted to learn what she had prophesied, and in some cases, where she hadn't prophesied anything, she would make something up and then claim that her prophecies were not absolute.
Over time, the races got suspicious of her actions when her prophecies failed to come true time and time again.
In the end, one of the races sent an assassin and killed her because they believed that having no oracle was better than having an oracle who lied.
What they did not expect was the oracle's ability to shift to another Nonpareilus after she died.
Luckily for the new oracle, Lord Omniel managed to persuade the other races to give the new oracle a chance and prove that she wasn't like her predecessor.
Over time, the new oracle managed to gain the trust of the different races, and they once again began to listen when she prophesied something, though now they didn't automatically believe her.
Over the three thousand years that Andromeda had been the oracle, she had earned the trust and respect of almost every race in the universe since she always told them the truth about what she prophesied and, in doing so, helped the different races many times.