The so-called “Childhood Companion” was a singularly interesting subject. Presented to Definitely Bad Guy as a cursed individual, it had not taken him long to deduce the truth behind her invisibility.

Naturally, once he determined her true status, he had vowed to do everything within his power to keep her safe.

Definitely Bad Guy was nothing if not loyal.

Nevertheless, he had noted that her invisibility, granted to her for protective reasoning, seemed to cause her some low level of distress. This was akin to causing the Evil Emperor, long may he reign, some low level of distress.

This was unacceptable.

It was of paramount importance that the Evil Emperor’s chosen Concubine be kept happy.

If one were to ask Definitely Bad Guy why it was so important that Evil Emperor, and his extensions, be kept happy he would have been unable to answer. Realistically speaking it probably had to do with the unfettered access it gave him to rare reagents and fresh subjects to study, but something about that didn’t ring true to him.

His loyalty felt… thin, now. As if what had once been a rich source of ever-lasting devotion had been infected. It had happened the very moment he had left his tower and been touched by the Evil Emperor’s Concubine, Qube.

Perhaps that touch, the energy behind it, had been what had caused the Evil Emperor to lose focus for the first time in his campaign of terror. Definitely Bad Guy considered Qube. She was taking herbs from the Chosen One, carefully putting them in her backpack, and then quickly taking them out again and staring into the backpack with intense concentration.

It could not have been her looks. She was attractive, yes, in a relatively generic fashion, very much a village girl style. Considering some of the beautiful creatures that regularly draped themselves around the castle, it would not have been her physical appearance that attracted the Evil Emperor’s eye.

But when she had [Heal]ed him, it had felt…

Like the world as he knew it was being ripped away from him, and behind it he saw the uncaring eyes of the gods. That his undying loyalty to the Evil Emperor was but paint, layered over the portrait of his true self. As if the golden threads that had chained him to his work, his life, had snapped free, and latched onto the half elf kneeling over him.

The Chosen One and his group had been charming company. Even the giant spider lady had treated him as a human, rather than a useful but ultimately faceless entity, like he was just now realising the Evil Emperor had. The more time Definitely Bad Guy spent with the party, the more he began to realise that there was more to life than research and power.

And had things been different, were he to spend enough time with only the party, without the Evil Emperor’s Concubine present, then he knew that eventually that tantalizing taste of true friendship would have been enough to turn him against his ruler.

But Qube’s touch, that indescribable infusion that let him see beyond the veil, even for a moment. That moment had bound him to her and her master, the Evil Emperor, for as long as he existed.

Definitely Bad Guy was nothing if not loyal. And he was, now and forever, hers.