A whole year, since I had married White Star.

You would think life would improve after marrying someone of such high status. But, it didn't.

My life got worse.

I used to go on mission after mission, bathing in the blood of my victims and further strengthening my abilities. But now, after marrying White Star, missions were few and far in-between. I was now expected to be the "housewife" of the White Star household, tending to White Star's every need. I never wanted to do this of course, so I often isolated myself in the missions reports building.

Aquamarine was never there anymore. She was always out with Blue Star, gallivanting around with him and probably doing things they shouldn't be in broad daylight.

So, thankfully, I usually had the building to myself.

Of course, every goddamn time someone walked in and saw me, they asked me if I was continuously mating with the Heir. Disgusting people…

The next Heir is usually born before the current Heir takes the position of Chieftain, so of course, my next goal was to make this heir.

It was infuriating…

The door was thrown open, and a large man stormed in.

My head shot up from the bar and I saw this large assassin walk over and slam a paper down on the table.

"Gotta mission for ya Shadow."

I narrowed my eyes, picking the paper up and looking down at the mission statement.

"Mission #5786

Task: Eliminate a marriage defiler in Berlin, Germany

Target Name: Jerard Beciclay

Assassin in Working:"

"What's your name?" I asked, looking up at the impatient man. He snorted.

"My name is, and don't laugh… Yellow Star."

I represented a snort. I picked up my quill and scribbled his name down. I read over the description of the mission.

"Description: Assassinate the man named Jerard Beciclay, married to Baileigh Beciclay, for defiling his marriage to his wife. Target has no fighting abilities, but requester as asked for the target's heart to placed in a box and left on the doorstep of the one he cheated with."

I rose my brows… holy shit.

The woman who requested this is unhappy… to an extreme.

"Missions Status: Working"

I lifted a clip and clipped it onto the paper, filing it away.

"There you go. Your target is in Berlin, and you have been tasking with his assassination and gutting his heart. Here, I have a spare box for it."

I pulled out a small wooden box and handed it to him.

"May the Stars guide your path to victory."

He snorted at me, spinning on his heel and storming out. I wasn't sure whether or not he was angry or that was just how he walked.

I put the box away, leaning on the bar once he had gone.

Another mission filed, and that one looked fun. Carving out someone's heart… it was sadistic and rather violent, but a creative way to get back at someone, to say the least.

I wondered if there were any missions out there that I could benefit from or ones that just seemed fun. I decided to go outside and take a look. Wouldn't hurt to go outside for a few minutes.

I moved out from behind the bar and left the building, moving to the giant bulletin board next to it. On it's surface were various missions I had put up that morning. I hadn't actually read over any of them.

I stuffed my hands in my pockets, humming to myself as I looked over the missions put up.

Most missions were focused in Asia, as it was the continent we resided in. There were some for Japan, Vietnam, Taiwan, China, Korea, all places with Star Clan bases. Some missions were to kill a family member for traitorous acts. Others were to kill murderers. And some were to kill people that were believed to be a threat to the Star Clan. Those ones had the most meaning behind them, and if successful, could boost your status in the Clan.

Those were the ones I mainly did, but since my status could not go any higher, I had no purpose from them.

I looked down at the bottom row of papers, leaning down to get up close and personal with them.

A name caught my eye.

It wasn't one I knew, nor recognized, but it was a rather beautiful name if I am to be so bold.

"Missions #5688

Task: Eliminate a blood defiler of the Eater Family"

Blood defiler. Those who have betrayed their family names by committing a heinous act to harm the name. Similar to someone betraying the Star Clan, as my parents did.

I read on.

"Target name: Astoria Eater"

Astoria… despite myself, I had to admit that the name was pretty. Too bad she was on the list.

"Assassin in Working: TBD

Description: Assassinate Astoria Eater, the youngest member of the Eater family. Please take some precaution as the target's mother is a skilled brawler, and if caught, will fight against the working assassin. When the target is eliminated, cut off the end of their hair and drop it on the doorstep of the requester. The address is listed below. The target lives in Melody in a large manor surrounded by forest sealed off with a brick wall."

Mission status: Not Yet Claimed"

Melody, a small micronation in Canada. Known to be similar to Singapore, as it is a singular city that is dense in the center, and gets more and more as it expands outward. I had read once that Melody was one of the most desired places to live, as it wasn't hard financially to sustain yourself, the community was welcoming, and no crime of any kind is tolerated, so the crime rate was the lowest in the world.

I looked up at the name again, furrowing my brows in thought.

I hadn't been on many missions since I had wed White Star, and I was starting to get antsy. I hadn't used the skills I had trained up in too long and was afraid that they would suffer because of it. I needed to flex my skills and abilities before I lost them.

I gently reached up and grabbed the paper, caressing it with my thumb.

Then ripped it off the board.

"Hold on, you want to go where now?"

I had taken the mission paper home with me when I closed up the mission reports. I tried to keep it to myself, but it was hard when you shared a room with someone, and that someone was nosy as all get out. So I told White Star straight up when he asked me about the paper.

"I told you, Melody. There's a blood-defiler there that needs to be brought down, and I intend to take the mission. I haven't been on a mission in too long," I answered, removing a small, brown bag from the dresser.

The room White Star and I shared was towards the back of the house to ensure our privacy. It had a king sized bed in the middle of the back wall with two nightstands on either side. In front of the bed was a large carpet with two small couches by a fireplace for relaxation. The dresser was next to the door of the room, holding clothes and various bags taken on missions.

"Okay? You haven't gone on any missions lately, who cares? That's not your job anymore anyway! Your new job is to be my little wife~" He cooed, strutting over to me and folding his hands over my shoulders.

I snarled, feeling the hairs on my neck bristle in anger. I shook his hands off of my shoulders, picking up the bag and moving it over to the bed, stuffing a day's worth of clothing into it.

"My job remains the same. Cleanse the world of evil for the glory of the Star Clan. I will not bend over and show my belly to an attention whore like you. I may be married to you, but that is only so that our bond be strong so that I may bear the best heir that the Clan has ever seen," I argued, stepping into the bathroom off to the side to take out hygienic products.

I heard White Star make some kind of guttural noise, sticking his head into the bathroom after me.

"Attention whore!? What kind of a nickname is that!?" He snapped, his gaze penetrating the back of my head.

I met his eyes in the mirror, not being able to help the smirk that crawled across my lips.

"I've never met anyone so desperate to have the whole Clan licking his boots clean of the dirt he walks on before. If you were a real leader, a real assassin, then you would never be here because of how many missions you have taken. You'd rather stay at home being finger-fed grapes in a lounging chair then actually winning at anything."

The face he made warmed my heart. A face of disgust, denial, and the hard truth that what I said was no lie.

I turned around and moved past him, stuffing my things into the bag.

"If I tell Father about this, he'll tell you not to go!" White Star snapped, walking over to the door as if going to retrieve him.

White Star was right about that. The Chieftain's word was law. Should he stop me, there was nothing I could do to reject his orders.

But White Star's ego was fragile. I knew the right string of words to keep his mouth shut.

"Oh, so the Great Future Chieftain of the Star backs down to his little, dainty wife, and runs to his dear daddy with his tail between his legs? You are the saddest excuse of a Hier I've ever seen," I sang, hearing his footsteps come to a halt.

There was silence for a few moments.

"... What did you just say to me?"

Got'im.

I sneered, "You heard me. Imagine what the Clan would think if they found out what a pussy their future leader was! That fragile imagine you desperately keep standing upright would crumble into nothing but dust."

I heard White Star turn around, and his footsteps approached me once more. I turned around to see him standing only centimeters away from me.

"Make that threat to me one more time and I'll have your tongue!" He snarled, baring his teeth at me. I could only grin.

"Oh please, you at the state you are right now is all bark and no bite. You can't do anything to me, you know my skill far surpasses your own. Remember when we were younger and I had to save you from that intruder-"

"That was years ago!" He interrupted, straightening out his back to appear larger. I rolled my eyes.

"Even so, your skills are still less than mine. Imagine what would happen if I went into work, and let it slip about how you can't control your own wife, who is supposed to be your Shadow," I threatened.

I would never do something like, for it might bite me in the ass. But if it could keep this hooligan's mouth shut, then it was a threat I was going to make.

White Star's eyes narrowed, "You wouldn't."

I smiled, "Try me."

We both seized up as if waiting for the other throw the first punch. It wouldn't be the first fist fight we'd had after our wedding. I clicked my tongue.

"Tell you what White Star, I'll make you a deal. You let me go on missions whenever I please, and I'll keep these weaknesses of yours to myself. We both get what we want. I get to go on missions, and you get to seem as if you have me wrapped around your nasty finger. How's that sound?"

White Star curled his lip as if trying to find a reason to deny my offer.

But he looked down at the floor and snorted in defeat. His eyes shot back up to mine.

"Fine. But I get to say that I was the one to send you on these missions," he growled, clearly reluctant to accept my offer.

I could give him that, "You got yourself a deal, honey."

This was the best way to sum up the relationship between us. Always threatening to either expose the other of their weaknesses or to enact the highest authority to get the other to listen. There was no such thing as a good moment between us. There never was, and there never will be.

I picked up the bag and slung it over my shoulder, stuffing the piece of paper into my pants pocket. I walked around White Star and out of the room, leaving him to stand there alone.

I avoided the Chieftain by taking the backdoor out, walking past the gazebo and into the bushes.

That gazebo… I felt sick whenever I walked past it. All I think, see, hear, and feel when I did, was that night I spent with White Star the day we got married.

I had never been in so much pain…

I shook my head violently, narrowing my eyes and keeping my gaze set forward. I moved through the bushes and out past the borders of the Clan's village, moving past the hidden guards keeping watch of any intruders.

My next kill was in Melody.

In the name of the Star God Hoshi, I would spill Astoria Eater's blood under the night sky.

I STARTED A NEW JOB AND FORGOT IT WAS THE WEEKEND FUUUUUUUU-

Well it's here!

Yeah, this a shorter chapter than most, but it's meant to be a bit of a filler between two big ones. The next chapter is gonna be preeeety hefty in length and story.

But let's have a chat shall we?

So this chapter gets into the life Velvet has after marrying White Star. She's not happy in the slightest, hates White Star as always, and hasn't gone on a mission in a while. So, out of boredom and curiosity over a mission description she finds, she decides to take one.

Of course White Star isn't happy in the slightest, but she finds a way to cleverly blackmail him. To an Heir, image is the most important thing to him. So when Velvet threatens to expose how little control he has over her, he lets her go. A pretty simple chappy to say the least.

But we're getting to see a familiar face next time! Astoria is coming, and Velvet's life is about to be turned upside down.

Also Marina, Astoria's mummy, is quite the brawler. She used to get into a lot of back-alley fights before she had Astoria, another reason why her family hated her so much.

But anyhoodle, that's it for today.

A BIG ANNOUNCEMENT IN UPDATE TIMES!

Since I have a new job that gives me new hours, I will NOT be able to post in the evenings anymore! It's one of the reasons why I missed this week! So, until further notice, I will be uploading on Saturday's at 9 AM instead! Still Tokyo time (+9)! If there are any changes in the upload time, please check my Twitter for information!

NEXT TIME:

Sick an tired of lazing around, Velvet travels to Melody on a mission. Her target is a young girl named Astoria Eater, a labeled blood defiler. In the dead of night, when Velvet goes in for the kill, something happens that brings her mission to a screeching halt. What happened, and what does Velvet do?

Find Out Next Time: May 4th!

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