<h4>Chapter 351 Learning the Truth</h4>


    Erich agreed to marry Erika, and the new lit the grid ame. The most famous popstar of this generation would be marrying the sessor of the Supreme Leader. While there were many young women who were envious of Erika''s betrothal, the young men were extremely hateful towards Erich. Especially those who had yet to reach the age of majority and be assigned a wife.


    But what was perhaps the bigger news was the fact that the Germanic Star-Empire would be resurrecting the ancient ceremony of marriage. Not only for Erich''s wedding to Erika, but also as a general tradition among the public.


    After all, Tia''s analytics had reported that since wedding ceremonies were abolished, the general public had be less happy overall. After all, there were certain asions that needed to be celebrated to take people''s minds off of cruelty of daily life in a heavily oppressive dictatorship, and national holidays which were already few and far in between were not enough to really lift the spirits of the working ss.


    Thus, Tia and Erich had worked hard to convince the Supreme Leader of the necessity for such celebrations. The first of which would be Erich''s wedding to Erika. As for the other women who Erich had already made some impression on, that being Yumi, Lunaria, S''aleth, and Mirage, they had different reactions to this information.


    S''aleth almost immediately demanded an exnation for Erich''s wedding. The two of them had grown rather close over the years, and Erich''s rtionship with Yumi had been the breaking point for the Dvrakian beauty, she demanded the same kind of rtionship with the man that Yumi had, knowing that she would never be able to publically be with Erich.


    Thus, as Erich sat in his penthouse at the bar section, he prepared a drink for S''aleth, who was in a rather pitiful mood after learning that Erich would be getting married. There were so many questions on her mind, and so many desires that had gone unfulfilled.


    Yet she was afraid to give voice to these thoughts, and it wasn''t until Erich had served the woman her cocktail, while drinking straight from a bottle of liquor himself, that the silver-haired man finally broke this awkward silence.


    "I can tell you''re upset about the wedding... Do you wish to talk about it?"


    S''aleth sighed heavily, as she drank the entire cocktail in one go. Perhaps to give her the courage she needed to speak with Erich about her feelings on the matter. Which if that were the case, then it worked like a charm, because the young woman was quick to do exactly this.


    "Erich... I need to know... Does this change things between us? I''ve been here in Germania for years now as my people''s ambassador to your Empire... And my father''s rivals are already trying to recall me now that the Naraku menace is taken care of.


    You are now marrying a stranger, and I am starting to get the feeling that maybe I should return home. I-"


    Before S''aleth could finish her words, Erich leaned in and kissed the woman, which though a surprise was a wee one as she returned the gesture with equal passion. Once the two of them had ceased this expression of love, Alex whispered into S''aleth''s ear his confession.


    "You will always be my first love.... I have so many regrets.... I don''t want to have another. Won''t you stay with me here in Germania? I know I can''t give you what you want most, but just having you by my side... It means the world to me."


    S''aleth felt relieved when she heard that nothing would change between her and Erich, despite him getting married. She understood theplex and taboo nature of their rtionship. Neither the Empire nor the Consortium would ever approve a marriage between them, even for diplomatic purposes. But, if they could remain together... Then S''aleth knew that would be good enough.


    ---


    While Erich and S''aleth spent the night together in a loving embrace, there was another woman who was also displeased with this oue... Yumi was scowling while watching the news feed from the Germanic Star-Empire.


    Hans had acted too quick for her. She had hoped to broach the subject of a betrothal between Erich and her niece during the victory celebrations which followed the destruction of the Hive Fleet Terminus. But Lunaria''s outburst had destroyed any chances of that.


    Any by the time she could even get an audience with the man, he had already proimed that Erich would be marrying a woman from his own civilization. No doubt for propaganda purposes, but Yumi still felt as if this was a wasted opportunity to cement their alliance in stone for generations toe. And thus, she harassed Hans until he answered her call.


    Where the man saw the mature Oni matriarch sitting with a bottle of sake in her hands, and a drunk expression on her otherwise beautiful face. Which was made all the more fierce by her harsh words.


    "You fucking bastard! You knew exactly what I wanted to talk to you about, and hid from me long enough to set these things in motion!"


    Hans had a stoic expression on his face as he denied the allegations that Yumi had haphazardly thrown in his direction,rgely due to her current intoxicated state. Still, he remained civil as he spoke with the Oni Matriarch, knowing that their alliance was extremely important to the Empire''s future.


    "My Lady, I have no idea what you''re talking about... Is this about my sessor''s betrothal? What exactly could you possibly be upset about?"


    Hans obviously knew what Yumi''s goal was ever since she first reached out to him all those years ago to improve rtions between their two nations. But a marriage between Erich and Ayumi would cause more problems than it would solve. The Germanic Star-Empire was a highly xenophobic society, one that considered interspecies rtions to be a sin worthy of the death penalty.


    And though Hans had suspicions that Erich was regrly breaking this taboo with the Dvrakian Ambassador, he also knew that Erich was the best chance of the Empire''s, not the Gxy''s, survival. Thus, he was willing to overlook his sessor''s taboo rtionship with the Dvrakian Ambassador so long as it never became public knowledge.


    But that was the problem with Yumi''s scheme. A marriage between her niece and Erich would be a public affair, one that would easily cause civil strife within both the Germanic Star-


    Empire, and the Great Oni Empire. Something which could be quelled with time...


    Unfortunately, the gxy didn''t have time, and if the Germanic Star-Empire were to y a leading role in the defense of the Milky Way from an extra gctic invasion, then they could not waste time with such frivolities such as rebellion.


    Yumi, was unaware of the threat the Naraku posed the gxy, and was thus thinking far more long term, after all, if such civil strife was put down, and the xenophobic tendencies of both of their species were mended, then the long-term benefits to their two Empires would be quite great. And because of this, she was quick to announce her n aloud, even though Hans pretended like he didn''t know what she was thinking.


    "Hans, don''t y dumb with me! You and I both know that a marriage between Erich and Ayumi would be extremely beneficial to both of our empires. So why? Why would you waste such a valuable opportunity to expand our power and influence within the Gxy for mere propaganda points?"


    Considering Yumi was not going to give up on this matter, Hans sighed heavily and poured himself a drink from his nearby cab, where he kept a bottle of Rylonian Ale, a breed of heavy alcohol that was now near extinction. He obviously wanted to loosen the tension in the air by joining Yumi in intoxication before making the big reveal.


    And once he had downed an entire ss of the substance, Hans began a conversation that wouldpletely blow Yumi''s mind.


    "Yumi... It is time you learned the truth...."