Chapter Sixty: Ground Breaking News.
2034 Words
The May Flowerian Times HQ
Mandy
“How, how is this not breaking news? I saw the Empress’s sister enter a dark magic shop!” Mandy said, jogging, as she tried to catch up to the speed-walking Preston. “Dark Magic is forbidden. That has to be huge news, especially because she is influential.”
On the one hand, Mandy was frustrated by having to struggle to catch up to Preston’s pace, but on the other, it was mesmerising to see her practically outwalk men in near six-inch heels and a tight skirt.
“Michael, I need those photos by six, Edward move it. We have to be the ones to report the news first before the papers get a whiff of it,” she commanded as they rounded a busy office corner.
“Look, Kid.”
“We agreed my name is Mandy.”
Preston rolled her eyes.
“Look, Mandy,” she insisted, “Yes, what you have is huge news, but its timing is off.”
“What do you mean its timing is off.”
“Do you know what the biggest news today is, in fact, for the rest of the week is?”
“No, I have not watched the news or read the papers yet!” she said, “I woke up and rushed straight here, but it is like an hour away from the slums!”
“Okay, in the time that it took you to rush here, more news was discovered that is yet to be aired in any station!”
“What..what is the news?”
“That is exactly what we are trying to spread now. The offices are really busy with this, Mandy!”
“But what I have is part of it. There is no such thing as too much big news!”
Mandy followed Preston inside a well-lit room with the classic beige news desk, with ‘Mayflower Times’ sprawled in silver cursive and crystal light background that presented a live aerial view of Mayflower.
Penelope Guise, a light blonde and green doe-eyed angel with nothing but pure innocence displayed on her face, rushed to the spinning seat on the news desk then hastily rearranged the documents on the table.
Penelope was the epitome of blonde beauty in the capital and the only woman to have had a scandal with several actors, Florencio included. She won Miss Mayflower’s pageant last year and was thus decidedly the best representation of Mayflowerian Times news. The most prestigious news channel in all of Mayflower.
‘A dream come true,’ Penelope had told the tabloids upon accepting the job offer. However, to Mandy, she felt rather dejected that her lifelong dream had been gotten, ‘just like that,’ when she had literally looted corpses for answeres. It just did not seem fair to her.
But now that she was standing before her, before Penelope, whose makeup lady had rushed to her side to pinken her already blushed lips, Mandy could not help but compare their differences. The woman before her was spotless while freckles danced wildly across her face, the woman's skin looked smooth, and her clothes polished while her skin was cracked and clothes dirty from the commute.
The differences were plentiful.
A part of her was glad that she was young because she still had time to better herself. However, another craved instant gratification and a different life than the one she led.
The room was abuzz with all sorts of commotion, from the cameramen struggling to get the shots ready to the lining of the word prompter, which ensured everything Penelope would read was displayed smoothly.
-It's okay Mandy, in just eight years, I will be twenty years old and a pro in my field!-
“Where is he? Where is Lewis?” Preston called, and some of the newsmen shook their heads in reply. “Gods! Again with this?!”
Lewis was Penelope’s co-host and Celebrity disgrace as he was more often than not involved in gambling scandals in one form or another.
“Air!” Preston began, “AIR THE DAMN THING WITHOUT HIM!”
“Wait, what about my news!” Mandy protested, having momentarily forgotten herself amid the flurry of energies mingling in the room.
“Kid, I am telling you-,”
“It is Mandy!”
“Sheesh, okay, Mandy, your news is not in line with this weeks theme.”
“Theme? What do you mean theme?” she questioned, “Since when does news have a theme? News is news!?”
“Penelope.” The cameraman called to grab her attention, and once her large, wide doe eyes turned to the cameraman, he began, “You are on in three, two and….”
The familiar jingle of the Mayflowerian times news filled the studio as he pointed to Penelope, and just like that, all traces of innocence left her face as she morphed into an unsmiling and formal persona more familiar to Mandy.
“Good afternoon Mayflower, I am Penelope Guise here to take you through the groundbreaking news.”
“Earlier this afternoon, her imperial majesty, Empress Azalea Oleander Cursix, announced her engagement to Lord Aleu Diox Luciano, an illegitimate son of the Western Territory of Nissa.”
“WHAT!?” Mandy exclaimed when she heard fierce shooshing sounds aimed viciously at her.
“Do you see what I mean? An Emperor is bigger news than a dark magic scandal,” Preston whispered, “especially as this channel is the first to broadcast it in all the territories, so it will help the viewership. In any case, you can probably hand over the proof of your news to a newspaper or even a gossip tabloid, but I guarantee it will not get as much attention as this news, likely it will be ignored.”
“My advice, save it for the build-up of a case if you suspect that that trip will lead somewhere. That way, when scandal does blow up or a tense situation, you will have proof.” She said, “If you do insist on going through with it, even if you wait to publish it because she has a lot of political backing, you will simply be in trouble.”
“Damn!” mandy cursed; Preston had a point.
Still, an emperor?
“Are your journalist senses tingling?”
“Journalist senses?” Mandy asked.
“Yes, questions like, why is she hasting the engagement? I heard they only met at the ball a few days ago, and she has set the wedding to about two to three weeks? She had just asked for a harem, so what is with the sudden change? Why is he worthy of the throne when his reputation in the west is terrible? Do you see the loopholes? It is as though she has been given a potion, perhaps a love potion? But that is simply idle chatter.”
“She has just woken from an illness and is sending the Nissa’s on to the throne next? Imagine the news? None, not from Mayflower, has ever sat on the throne?”
“If I had been in that ball, I would have been able to get you some answers!”
“Is that right?”
“yes, that is so!”
“Hmm…listen, kid, the biggest question right now is: who is Aleu, what is he like, what is his temperament, how well does he work with the Empress and most importantly, how long will he last.”
“They did permit us to do an interview. I have one of my field agents at the Bodwin Café interviewing them. That was how we got the story, by the way, the Empress gave it to us. Imagine that we would have remained slow and slackjawed like the rest of the stations had it not been for her generosity.” She muttered the complaint part of her sentence.“But you can only get so much from interviews, so I will get you into the royal academy.”
“What? Really?”
“Yes, you will be in the primary section, so you will not be able to associate with the Luciano dame there, but during the sports day, both primary and high school are mixed, so you might have a chance at communicating with her.”
Mandy's world had stopped.
“Oh, gods! So it is like I will be undercover!!”
“Close, but since I am covering your fees, you have to bring me results,” she said, “Come on, let us go to my office, we will not have to whisper there, plus I have some of your documents ready, for your uniforms and books only go to AppleBottom Schoolary. They love me there.”
“Also, the sports day will be held in the imperial palace-,”
“Wait? I will be going to the palace.” Mandy asked as they left the main studio.
“Yes, keep up,” Preston chanted, “There I want you to find out anything interesting newsworthy about the Empress, soon to be Emperor, and you know….”
“Okay, oh wait-,”
“What?”
“My..my brother, I need my brother with me.”
“What? What do you mean you need your brother, this deal was only for you.”
“I get that, and I probably should have said some things sooner, but my brother can go through walls, so he really helps me with the sneaking around.”
“What?”
“My brother, he has an ability-,”
“Wait, wait, wait! your..your brother’s mana has manifested at an elemental level?”
So had hers, but judging by Preston's reaction, it would be best to leave some mystery.
“I- I mean a little bit?”
“No, no, sweetheart, that is a wonderful thing! That means that I can invest in him without worrying about losing money.”
“Again, my name is Mandy.”
A question Mandy wished to avoid prodded her mind, was she making a mistake in trusting Preston?
Christoff Luxury Train.
Upper Aristocratic Section.
“Was the engagement planned?” the interviewer asked the empress, who had her hand tucked snugly inside Aleu’s.
They were seated in a large café building whose main theme was white, and both had wide grins plastered across their faces.
“No, absolutely not. It was love at first sight.” The Empress gushed.
“Oh, your majesty, you would have girls dreaming for such a man to walk into their lives!” the interviewer gushed.
“I believe that there is someone for everyone. There is no shame in that, is there love?”
She turned to her partner.
“Lord, no, I suppose that title does not befall you anymore, His Imperial Majesty, Emperor Aleu Diox Luciano.”
“I actually intend to take my wife’s name,” he corrected.
“Ah, so Emperor Aleu Diox Cursix?”
The celebratory whisky glass in the western grand duke’s hand snapped, and the shards flew to every corner of the room.
“Stop the train!” he growled. “STOP THE GODDAMN TRAIN!!!”
“S-sorry, father, but the conductor says the train does not stop until it reaches a checkpoint. The closest checkpoint to the western rail is Dru here in Mayflower.”
“WHAT?” he yelled, “THAT GODDAMN INGRATE!!!”
“CHANGE HIS NAME?? CHANGE HIS NAME? WHAT THE HELL IS HE THINKING!! THIS WAS GOOD; THIS WAS AN OPPORTUNITY FOR US!!”
“AND WHAT THE HELL WAS VIRGINIA EVEN DOING WHEN ALL THIS WAS HAPPENING!!”
“but father this is-.”
“YOU SHUT YOUR TRAP!” He yelled to Trident, who all too willingly kept his mouth zipped.
“This must be remedied. Get Virginia on your crystal and tell her to finalize giving Aleu the Nissa name.”
“GODS, THAT SCUMBUG!! WRITE A LETTER OF VISITATION TO THE PALACE!”
- Writer
