In this world, there are two types of people. People who are born with a talent, and people who have to find their gift.

She belonged to the second group, and her search for her gift ended in her early years of life. Now, she was a master of it.

When she was a hopeful youth, she had fashioned a simple alias for herself- Vynthea. While it may be a simple name, she adored it. She loved the way of how every syllable, how even the name itself felt on her tongue.

Part of the reason she had stuck with 'Vynthea' was because she felt that it exuded an air of sophistication, giving the impression that whoever bore the name was someone cunning and formidable.

And that's who exactly Vynthea is.

Vynthea Vallera not only commanded a loyal army that awaited her every command; Vynthea was also feared by all. She was the epitome of everyone's hidden or known desire. She was youth, power, ambition, wealth- everything- all rolled into one.

Vynthea Vallera drowned not in water, but in blood and riches. Her connections made even the Governors want to be associated with her. Regardless of one's personal feelings to them, everyone that was smart wanted to ally the Governors, for they knew having the Governors' favour was key to having their dreams realised.

That was as challenging as conceiving a child these days.

And she had it all.

Vynthea Vallera twirled in her red gown, admiring the way the fabric swished. If it wasn't for her lifelong ambition, she would never have had her riches that she had today.

Even as a young adult, she knew that she had to make the Governors a longtime ally of hers. Even when they had not even won the Blood Revolution, she had foresaw their glorious success and planned to align with her.

Behind every great woman was a man. Her man was Valesque, who was now her 'official' head of the Ascendancy Agency. The only reason he was regarded as the 'real' head was because she was often too busy managing other matters.

Yes, it was she that was the true head of the renowned Agency, the place where everyone wanted to be in. She was the head of that place. To run the Agency well to meet her needs, she had assigned roles to both Valesque and Mallory Pearson respectively. Mallory's role was an easy one- to force young children into becoming weak-minded soldiers.

The reason? So that she could brainwash and control them easily in her personal army.

Meanwhile, Valesque's role was to manage and handle the Agency's affairs well for her and to act as the 'real' head of it.

Back in the olden days, no one would have ever believed that it was a young woman who had painstakingly constructed and organised all of these by herself. Now, look at her, what she, Vynthea Vallera, a , had achieved.

Her brilliant Ascendancy Agency was synonymous with hope, especially for the hopeless. Ordinary Excidiums who were accepted into it were rightfully grateful to her. After all, how else would they even have the rare chance of enjoying decadence and a taste of the lavish life if it wasn't for her?

If only I can truly, be Vynthea Vallera. Unfortunately for her, she was not born into the role as Vynthea Vallera. She had to make it from scratch.

And like everything that was created, she had a before and after. Her before was a roller-coaster of a life prior to the Blood Revolution. She was 27 when she had Alara, and thirty when she had Renald. During the tyrannical times of the 21st Century, her only purpose was to be a servile housewife while the men did all the work.

Naturally, she felt that it wasn't fair as her fate had already been decided for her. Back then, her gender at birth defined her fate.

If she was born as a woman, she was a wife and mother.

If she was born as a man, she could be more. She didn't have to be a mother or wife; she could be more. She could even serve Excidium; be a scientist. If she was born as a man, she could be anything she desired.

Even when she was a teenager, she was the cream of the crop of a prestigious chemistry school and even had a rare flair for politics. At 19, she had already won elite awards due to her inventions, but was never taken seriously in spite of her potential. Stupid men stole her dreams as they were considered as the important and capable sex.

Obviously, a hunger for more grew in her the older she grew. The young Cynthia dreamt of a day where she could be her real self and boast her talents.

There will be a day where the world bows down to me, she had promised herself. Her hatred of the unfairness of her country consumed her. Her ambition to govern the world was a fruit of that hatred.

Thus, she started to analyse world affairs and state of the world.

In the 21st Century, there was a rise of feminism as women wanted their voices to be heard. They demanded for more authority and power over men, for the men always had higher pay, higher chances of promotion even though women were better than them. Thus in the first two decades, women started voicing for equality.

Their voices would divide the word for the next three decades.

Some men supported their cause, but a majority did not. Naturally, there was gradual unease grew among them while they watched women's organisations succeed and collapse.

As the old proverb goes, 'Good things come to those who wait', and in 2060, things took a turn for the better. The women's fight for equality paid off and they were granted a victorious win. Obviously, this did not sit well with the men as this caused the status quo to change.

The 2060s would have been a respected decade if it weren't for the men. Majority of the men became increasingly insecure and incensed, and started protesting against this new trend to regain their power.

One of the men's strongest arguments was the drastic decline of birth rates. "If we have no children, the great human race will fall. Nothing is more important than that!" was the men's slogan. Cringey, but effective.

It was effective because it was true. Vynthea hated the truth of it all, for it cost her everything she had. It was amazing how much power the men's slogan had- it ended up crushing every woman's dream. To destroy the women's triumph, the world exploded into war for neither side was willing to back away.

For Vynthea, the 2080s was the worst decade she had ever lived through. The climax of the Genders' War bore fruit to the stupid Blood Revolution, a revolution that her idiotic husband, Alvino Berrera, had wholeheartedly supported. Due to the women's movement in the 2060s, a massive gap between the rich and poor grew. 80% of the world's population was wealthy, while 20% was poor as dirt.

Alvino's precious Blood Revolution's cause was foolish. He was fighting for the battle between the ordinary and the powerful.

A worthless, predictable battle for equality. Looking at the ratio itself, she knew that the rich would win. But she was a mere housewife, so what could she do? Nothing but wait.

Her wait ended when she met the ambitious Valesque. In his younger years, he, like her, was trapped in poverty at the time. Since great minds think alike, they blossomed into lifelong friends and started planning for something that would better their future. That something woudl later be the Ascendancy Agency.

She started calling herself Vynthea when Valesque approved of her idea for Excidium's future. Her plan was to give the rich children. In exchange, their glorious lifestyle would be given to her- forever.

Valesque had supported her too when she had shared her idea with him. "We'll get those kids from the poor," he had declared. "Yes, we will. And to prevent people in the 22nd Century from being knowledgeable about history, we will destroy every record of the past."

She had never really doubted that he would not support her. After all, it was as if the rich were cursed for while they had infinite wealth, they had no children. It was the opposite for the poor, and a concerning issue for the rich. After all, how would they continue their 'pure' bloodline if rich women could not reproduce?

But for their plan to work, they had to observe the times. It was because of Valesque that she even bore children in the first place. "Do you think that the powerful would believe your sincerity when you don't even have kids?" Valesque had berated her, and that sealed her fate as a mother.

That was the first time she had hated Valesque, for she never wanted kids. Yet to prove to the powerful that she was sincere in her proposal, she had to become a mother. That was the only way her dreams would materialise as to the powerful, proposals meant nothing if the proposer had no family of their own.

Besides, they won't be with me forever. I will be using them to further my power when I am older. But first, she had to survive.

To avoid Alvino suspecting her, she started poisoning herself with the deadly nightshade in small doses. It was only enough to make her minor systems fail, not kill. She often coughed up blood as the years passed. It was only a side effect, but it fooled everyone from her neighbours to even her own daughter.

Thankfully, these all happened when she was poor, as if she lived in Ashlar, she would have been cured rather quickly. As nobody cared about the poor, she got away with her wily scheme.

Instead of serving her country with her talents, she worked as a nurse while her husband fought for their country. She was always in the background, unnoticed and unheard.

And she hated that.

The only pro of it was that it helped people underestimate her, so she continued doing it and her duties as she was told to do so, and nobody had ever faulted her for anything.

When Alvino passed away, she had genuinely mourned, for it meant that she had to really care for her children and be Cynthia Berrera instead of Vynthea Vallera.

If it wasn't to cement her image as a compassionate, poor mother to avoid being suspected of being the actual head of the Agency in the early days, she would have given up the farce. The only thing holding her back were her dreams.

Thankfully, the naive townsfolk loved her and believed she was a frail, uncomplicated mother.

In 2102, when the first kidnapping started, she perceived it as a sign that she could return to her empire soon. It was she who had planned Renald's kidnapping for the sooner he was gone, the quicker she knew Alara would look for him.

So she had bided her time while continuing her doings meticulously.