#YRH AU

[the-delta-42]

Your Royal Highness - Chapter 1

Your Royal Highness

Chapter 1

Marinette subtly scanned the room, Nino had already scouted it out and informed her that everything was safe. As usual. She spotted Kim sitting with Max and Alix, laughing at something, probably the latest attempt Lila made to get back in his favour.

Marinette thought back to the incident that caused Lila’s empire to collapse. She claimed to be dating the Prince of Elysium, a small country that lay between Asia and The Americas. It was one of three countries that had kept its boarders closed for the latter half of the millennium, the other two were Eden and Babylon. Marinette had seen theories, a couple by Alya, that Eden, Babylon and Elysium were named because they were the Countries that had proof that God existed. Marinette internally snorted at the cover story.

A flicker of light caught Marinette’s eye, her eyes zeroed in on the source. Immediately jumping into action, Marinette ambled her way towards Kim, picking up a metal tray on her way. Marinette got five feet away from Kim, before she ‘tripped on something’. The tray went flying, just as a small pellet hit the flat side of the tray.

“Marinette?” Said Alix, looking over at the pigtailed girl, “Are you alright?”

Marinette remained face down, before she said, “I’m glad my lunch wasn’t on that.”

Marinette felt a pair of hand grab her arms, looking up, she came face to face with Nino.

“You really need to watch where you’re going, dudette.” Said Nino, keeping his question in his eyes. ‘Where?’

Marinette’s eyes flickered to the roof outside the window. Nino frowned, before subtly glancing in the direction.

“We have our project to work on.” Said Nino, making Kim’s shoulders slump.

“Now?” Whined Kim, as Marinette grabbed his bicep.

“Yes, now.” Said Marinette, pretending to be too weak to haul Kim to his feet.

“Dude,” Said Nino, folding his arms, “the last time we had a project together, you didn’t do anything, and we nearly failed.”

“That was last week!” Exclaimed Kim, as Marinette let out small grunts in an effort to hide her laughter.

“Yeah, that’s why we have this project,” Scolded Nino, “Mendeleiev is having us redo it so that everyone participates.”

Kim groaned and got to his feet, “Fine.” He pouted.

As soon as the three were outside the cafeteria, Marinette whirled around.

“Nino, you keep the prince safe,” Commanded Marinette, her mind going into captain mode, “I’m going to investigate where that shot came from.”

“Wait, so there isn’t a project?” Asked Kim, looking affronted.

Marinette and Nino stared at him.

“Elysium is in for a bad ride.” Commented Marinette, before spinning on her heel and marching off.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Demanded Kim, as Nino carefully herded him away.

“Probably another one of the ‘inside jokes’ she has.” Said Nino, completely oblivious to the three people hiding around the corner.

Alya and Adrien gaped at each other. Marinette had just made a sarcastic, boarder-line snide remark about another country and had walked off. Then Marinette had called Kim a Prince. A. Prince.

“But she has a point,” Said Nino, looking down at the tray in his hands, flipping it over as he spoke, “someone tried to take a shot at you and, quite frankly, I don’t want to be on the receiving end of the Queen’s wrath because the two bodyguards she had watching her son couldn’t do their jobs.”

“What is that?” Asked Kim, looking at it closely.

“I don’t know, but knowing Marinette, we’ll find out soon.” Said Nino, before grabbing Kim’s shoulder and walking him away.

Kagami poked her head around the corner.

“Okay, they’re gone.” Said the Japanese girl, allowing Adrien and Alya to release the breath they had been holding.

YRH

Marinette hauled herself up the fire escape for the building. Granted, she could’ve just transformed and used her yoyo, but she felt like pushing herself today. She carefully looked across the roof, before hauling herself onto it. The equipment for taking the shot was scattered around haphazardly, as if whoever fired the shot was in a panic to get away. Marinette walked towards the rifle and crouched to pick it up.

A cold blade was pressed against her neck.

“Dead.” Said the Marksman, before putting the sword away, “I honestly thought you were going to do well today.”

Marinette scowled, before standing up to face her brother, “I did, you’re just a pessimist.”

“Really?” Questioned Michael, his arms folding, “I didn’t see you scout around the perimeter of the area before heading up here.”

Marinette froze, before swearing.

“Hm, fuck indeed.” Said Michael, as he started to gather up the equipment, “Don’t worry, Nino’s not out of the woods yet. Maria has a special test prepared for him.”

Marinette remained quiet, before looking around the roof top, “If I’d scouted around the block, the sniper could get away.”

Michael sigh and turned to face his sister, “Little one, a great leap forwards often requires two steps back. You need to examine the situation before jumping to conclusions, what if where was a second assassin waiting for you to turn up?”

Marinette scowled and glared at her feet.

“Plus,” Said Michael, “if you can get above them, they won’t see or hear you coming.”

Marinette snorted.

RYH

Nino kept ducking his head down the aisles of bookcases, looking for the Librarian, or anyone else for that matter, and finding no one.

“Typical, the one time we need a crowded place, all the intellectuals go on a sabbatical.” Muttered Nino, before a hand grabbed his shoulder and shoved into a bookcase.

Nino looked up at his attacker, they were wearing a black balaclava, hiding their features. Nino quickly rolled over and jumped to his feet, before swinging his leg out, kicking his assailant in the side. Another assailant grabbed Nino and slammed him against the wall, before a cold barrel of a gun was pressed to Kim’s head.

“One more move and his brains will decorate the floor.” Said the Gunman, making Nino stand down.

There was a tense silence, before the Gunman holstered their gun and pulled the balaclava off.

“Nino, did you forget the actual techniques you were taught for a situation like this?” Demanded a woman with green eyes, tanned skin and red hair.

“…Nooooo.” Nino trailed off, before looking away, “I take it the sniper thing was Marinette’s test.”

“Yes.” Said the woman curtly, before hauling Kim to his feet, “I can only hope her test went better than yours.”

“Sorry, Maman.” Said Nino, scratching the back of his neck.

“Keeping them here has made them complacent.” Said Michael, striding into the library.

Marinette was red in the face, while her gaze was firmly on a spot on the floor.

“Let me guess,” Said Nino’s mother, “She didn’t scout around before heading to the roof?”

“Got it in one.” Said Michael, leaning against a bookshelf, “Now, what’s this I hear about a failed assignment because a certain Prince didn’t pull his weight?”

Marinette let out an undignified snort as Kim went red. Michael suddenly tensed, spun around and launched a knife towards the door, the blade embedding itself in the wood of the door.

“All of you, come out!” Commanded Michael, as Adrien, Kagami and Alya slowly shuffled into sight.

“Guys?” Asked Marinette, looking at the three, “w-what are you doing here?”

“Little one, they’ve been following us since we entered the building.” Said Michael, stalking towards, “Who are you and what are your intentions?”

“They’re our classmates,” Said Nino, getting a reprimanding look form his mother, “Sorry.”

“Great.” Grumbled Michael, “Loose ends, just what we need.”

“Kim’s a prince?” Asked Alya, disbelievingly.

“Current heir to Elysium, yes.” Answered Maria, before looking at Michael, “You do realise that we have to take them to be debriefed, right?”

“Did you tell anyone about what you’ve found?” Asked Michael, giving the three a cold, calculating glare.

“Our lips are sealed.” Rushed Adrien, “Um, what do you mean ‘debriefed’?”

“Why?”

“Because I’ve got to be somewhere soon and-” Adrien was cut off by Maria.

“That’ll have to wait.” She flicked her wrist and three darts shot out and hit the three students, rendering them unconscious.

Michael, Marinette and Nino stared at the unconscious teenagers.

“Maria,” Said Michael, “my leg’s busted, remember? I can’t carry them.”

“They can.” Maria gestured towards Marinette and Nino, “It can make up for the sloppy work they’ve done.”

YRH

Skye frowned at the man sitting at the desk. The Mentor had found that mayor of Paris had links to the enemy and that he was possibly one of them. She silently made her way behind him and gently resting the palm of her hand on the back of the chair, before she flicked her wrist and a short blade pierced the back of Andre’s chair and went into his back, piercing his left lung and nicking a major artery.

“What?” Rasped Andre, as Skye appeared in his vision, “You…”

“Reposez en paix.” Murmured Skye, as she went through his pockets, smirking when she found a data stick and a disk. She looked down and spotted a hard drive plugged into the computer. She unplugged it and stuffed it, the data stick and the disk into her jacket pocket.

“You did great!” Came Rafael’s voice in her ear, making her jump.

“Christ, Raf!” Gasped Skye, “Don’t do that!”

“Sorry, you’re going to need to get rid of your wig and jacket,” Said Raf, “There should be a uniform closet near Bourgeois’ Office.”

“That staff id that you made should work, right?”

“Of course it will.” Said Raf, “Mike and Maria are collecting our two novices and Cal and Toby are dealing with the other two targets.”

YRH

Toby silently groaned as he hung from the ledge, he was thankful for the tree hiding him from sight, the Bourgeois woman was with Tsurugi, with a cd player playing violin music in the room next to theirs. He peeked over the edge and saw Bourgeois was facing away from him, and with Tsurugi being blind, it gave him the opportunity to leap out at them.

“Claudette’s not worthy of our order.” Were Bourgeois’ last words, as Toby rammed his fist into the back of her neck and slammed a vase over Tsurugi’s head. The two women dropped to the ground, unconscious.

He quickly rummaged through their pockets, and Bourgeois’ bag, but found nothing.

“Fuck.” Muttered Toby, glancing around the room, “Where is it?”

Unfortunately Toby didn’t have the time to rummage around the room, as two burly men charged into the room, making Toby run and jump out of the window he entered in.

[thedeadthree]

thinking tavtash thoughts listening to this *giggles*

[teriri-sayes]

Reactions to The Unknown's Chapter 353

Brief summary: Discussion about RPOG's influence in Earth 3. Talks about Transparent Corporation's honorary chairman. Cale's group meets Ahn Roh Man.

==========

We got the last of the background info today, explaining how RPOG was a global hit, played by hundreds of millions of players. Because of that nations and companies vied to control it, but Transparent Corporation stood adamant, refusing outside interference and stating that they only want to focus on the game.

They allowed ads for companies and national policies though, done stealthily that players wouldn't outright recognize it as an ad. Because of that, the fields of entertainment, sports, gambling, and so on also entered RPOG.

As someone who read Legendary Moonlight Sculptor, it made me think of Unicorn Corporation and its virtual game, Royal Road, in terms of its influence to the real world. Who knows, perhaps our author, YRH, read LMS and used it as the inspiration for Transparent Corporation and RPOG.

There was some talks about how the Transparent Bloods minimized the damage of monster attacks in Earth 3 because they settled here. It made Cale and Alberu wonder the state of Earth 1 and Earth 2, and if it had become peaceful there too like Earth 3.

Is this a foreshadowing that Cale will revisit Earth 2? And what about Earth 1? Please, author-nim! I want Cale to meet OG Cale! 🥰

Next up was the presidential elections. The honorary chairman of Transparent Corporation was Han Taek Soo, and his win was almost guaranteed. There was some parallels here, like Ahn Roh Man (ARM) represented the war-ridden past while Han Taek Soo represented the peaceful future.

People were tired of the war against monsters, so when RPOG was released, showcasing a "new world" that was peaceful and did not affect reality, it became a massive global hit. Thus, its honorary chairman became a symbol of "peace." He was also a known philanthropist and citizen of Roan.

ARM had a trusted aide who knew his secrets, and this aide was Earth 3's counterpart of Mary! She was described as a dull person with a mechanical voice. But she wore glasses, and called ARM as "oppa."

Cale's group finally met ARM, and they were dressed in branded black suits! And when ARM offered drinks, Cale asked for tea while Rosalyn asked for Americano which she found addictive. 😂

Wait, remember that character checklist Modern AU something that RIDI released as a bonus content for the LCF Korean volume bundle? In that checklist, it wrote that Rosalyn liked iced Americano! So if Earth 3 was a Nameless 1 parallel world, perhaps that Modern AU checklist might become reality?! 🤩

Here's a link to a summary of that checklist I posted here in the past: TCF Modern AU Character Checklist (Official)

Ending Remarks The two Alberus finally meet! And Cale, Alberu, and Rosalyn in suits! I'm excited to see more Earth 3 counterparts of our Roan characters! 🥰 Next chapter would be ARM's talk with Cale's group. I wonder, did ARM really not receive the Emperor Quest? Because when E3 Mary asked him if he received it, he did not reply and only thought of our Alberu.