– The Dictator and the Caniner
Chris POV
The throne room was still. No music. No echoes. Just silence—so thick it felt like the walls were listening.
I sat upon the Black Throne, dressed not as a monarch of gold and jewels, but as an Emperor forged from obsidian will. Around me, my trusted guards stood motionless—like statues, except for one: Christiana.
She walked in. Not as the little girl I once lifted in my arms, but as The Dictator, the iron-willed executor of my policies. Yet her eyes burned today—not with loyalty, but with something rarer: challenge.
"My Lord..." she began.
I didn't answer. I raised a brow. She continued.
"This new position—the Caniner—why was I not informed before Xavier's appointment?"
The room tensed.
My voice cut through the air like a blade. "Repeat what you just said."
Christiana hesitated. "I only meant to understand—"
"No," I said, rising from my throne. My presence towered. "You meant to question. You—the Dictator—created by my will, raised by my name, forged in my shadow—you presume to question me?"
She didn't back down. Impressive. Foolish, but impressive.
"I've served without fault," she said, more softly now. "I only wanted clarity."
I circled her slowly.
"The Caniner isn't to replace you," I finally said. "He is your counterpart. Your balance. Where you govern the inner mechanisms of the Empire—schools, systems, infrastructure—Xavier will command our outer claws: war, espionage, enforcement, foreign control."
She blinked. Processing.
"Xavier," I continued, "does not report to you. And you do not report to him. You are equal in rank. But you both report to me."
A pause.
She nodded, just once. The flame in her eyes still flickered, but it had dimmed.
I stepped closer. "You think you've seen the weight of power, daughter. But this—this is the beginning of a new era. You will need Xavier. And he will need you. Together, you will hold the empire in place."
She bowed.
And I turned away—not out of disrespect, but because the discussion was over.
Let her chew on it.
Let her learn.
Because even Dictators have lessons to learn—especially when the God-Emperor is the teacher.
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