“You are not going to believe this!”

A tall muscular man with long red hair and reddish-brown eyes strode into the room.

Since he had just left the Emperor’s Court, having held court sessions all day, he still had on his purple Imperial robes, his gold crown, and his seal insignia ring.

He stomped up to the couple sitting at the dining table and slammed a media chip onto the tabletop. It clattered up against the scrambled ostrich egg dish and plopped into the braised redfish.

The Emperor of Erenveil harrumphed. Braised redfish was his favorite dish and now it was ruined by this rascal son of his.

“Byron! What could possibly be so important that you must throw things into our faces while we are eating dinner???”

“My apologies, Father. It slipped from my hand.” Byron responded without the least bit of remorse.

“Dorothy, bring another dish of braised redfish to the table,” the Empress called out to the serving maid standing nearby.

The woman cleared out the tainted fish dish and returned with a new dish along with the cleaned media chip.

The Empress turned back to the Emperor and patted him on the back.

“Darling. There is no need to get upset with Byron. I’m sure there’s a very good reason why he is throwing a tantrum at us.”

“Clarissa. I am NOT UPSET!!!” The Emperor shouted as he stuffed a piece of baked eggplant into his mouth.

“He is the one who is upset!” The Emperor pointed at his eldest son.

“Yes, yes.” The Empress placated. “Of course you’re not upset, Rex. You’re the calmest person I’ve ever met.”

She tsk tsk and turned to Byron.

“What brings you storming into our dining hall and throwing things into our faces, Son?”

Byron’s reddish-brown eyes were livid. He folded his arms across his chest and looked down at his parents.

“Are you both aware of what is going on with the Avgo contest?”

The Empress shook her head, wisely holding her tongue.

Next to her, Emperor Rex waved a dismissive hand.

“It’s just a beauty contest to choose the next Avgo female. What could possibly go wrong?”

“It has turned into a bloody battlefield!” Byron announced with righteous anger.

The Emperor gave a startled look at Byron.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

Suddenly, his eyes brightened.

“Are they making the women mud wrestle? That’s a great idea!” He began cackling. “What a sight that would be, eh Byron?”

“Oooofff!” The Emperor choked on his laughter as the Empress’s sharp elbow dug into his side.

He gave a surreptitious smile at Byron.

“Tell me the situation, Byron. Tell it slowly,” and with all the juicy details, he wanted to add, but Clarissa was sitting next to him and her elbows were quite sharp…

“Mother. Father. It would be far better for me to show you a short segment of what happened, rather than bore you with words.”

He waved his hand and a visual terminal appeared in front of the Emperor and Empress.

“It all began with the first meeting to determine the validity of the Avgo contestants due to a duplicate entry by Earth.” Byron said as the visuals began rolling.

A flailing red haired woman with her legs being sucked up into the air was desperately clawing and grasping the woman standing next to her. The screams and cries of all the contestants were ear-piercing.

The Emperor snorted with laughter as eggs flew out through his nostrils spraying everywhere.

“Oh my! Hahahaha!” He guffawed with tears running down his cheeks.

Empress Clarissa grimaced and covered her mouth and nose with her napkin. She pushed her plate away, her appetite vanished.

“Hmmm.” The Emperor winked his violet eyes at his eldest son. “That red haired Earth woman looks like a good match for you. You both have similar red hair, a fiery temperament, and look at those long shapely legs!!!”

Byron gave his father a scathing disgusted look.

“Do I look like someone who would be suited with such a crude, coarse imposter? She is no Avgo Female!”

“Right. She can’t possibly win anyway.” The Emperor waved a finger. “Continue.”

Byron heaved a sigh and showed the next section where a beautiful butterfly woman fell from the Sky Walk into the water.

“Ouch!!!” The Emperor winced and turned his head away.

“Yes.” Byron’s eyes were sympathetic. “Both her wings are broken.”

“Permanently?” Empress Clarissa raised an eyebrow.

Byron nodded.

“She can never fly again.”

The Empress shook her head with regret.

“Send the best mage healers and make an attempt to heal her.”

“Yes, Mother.”

The Emperor peeked over at Byron.

“Show us the winner of the first round.”

Byron snapped his fingers.

The visuals panned out on a graceful ballerina who danced down the Sky Walk wearing a white bridal outfit that had the unmistakeable invisible signature stamp of Jason and Jared.

The magical sparkle suffusing the material was one that only Jason and Jared could give to their outfits and jewelry.

The Emperor gasped as he watched her perform an aerial split high above a crowd of thousands and safely landed on her feet.

His jaw dropped as he saw her front flip after the flying leap, and then run down the sky walk.

“Oh my! She’s the loveliest one I’ve seen yet! How about her? She would make a good match for you!”

Byron sighed.

“Father. Please focus on what I’m trying to show you!”

The Emperor swirled his wine goblet and took a large gulp.

“What am I supposed to focus on? This looks quite exciting!” He indicated the monitor with his goblet. “The crowd is going crazy!”

Byron shook his head.

“Father, this is not what the Avgo contest is all about. The organizers have hijacked an important event and turned it into a ticket-selling game show to make money hand-over-fist!”

The Emperor sighed. It was all Erenveil Crown money after all.

“What do you want me to do? We are a Galaxy of Laws, and no one is breaking any laws. Making legal money is not a crime. Selling show tickets, advertising time, and Avgo Princess dolls is not a crime.”

“But Father, we’ve interfered with the Avgo process. The Twins have shown their preference by creating a gown for the Earth Avgo Female, and Slate has been seen several times escorting her to and from the events!”

He waved his finger and a scene of chaos ensued where Candace Farrah and Slate were fighting their way through a mob of Earth delegates.

The Emperor harrumphed.

“What’s the matter? Are you jealous? I told Slate to protect her. She is alone. She needs somebody to help her through this process.”

“She’s an Earthian. There is an entire delegation to take care of the Earth Avgo Female!”

“But the Earth delegates are still trying to recover the gem to give to the red haired female they’ve chosen.”

The Emperor’s eyes narrowed.

“There has been a warrant sent throughout the Galaxy for the arrest of the Avgo Female Candace Farrah. If they catch her, they will strip that gem from her and send her back to Earth in a jail cell.”

“What???” Byron frowned. “That’s ridiculous! First of all, that gemstone can’t be stolen, and secondly, that old book belongs to us, by rights.”

The Emperor nodded.

“I will just tell them that I’ll be taking the book back now since it was pried from the long dead hands of our ancient ancestor, the Empress Hanaka. That should clear up the issue with the book.”

“As for the gem, I’m afraid she’s going to have to find a way to defend it herself, and you boys are going to have to help her.”

Byron turned to his father with determined eyes.

“If the Earth delegation is determined to remove her from the competition, I will lend her my strength.”

The Emperor’s eyes turned serious.

“You can and should help her, but don’t set your heart on that Avgo Female, Son. It’s still too early to tell who will win the competition.”

He set the goblet down and stood up.

“There are six other trials they each have to pass. It only gets harder from here.”

“I understand, Father.” Byron nodded.

“You are the Crown Prince. All your brothers are given their choice from any one of the six non-wining Avgo females—if they so desire.”

“But you, my son. You have no choice.”

The Emperor pointed directly at Byron.

“To you must go the final Avgo Female, the winner of the Avgo competition.”