“Hi!” Amber’s warm toned voice filled the meeting room as she turned to greet the new additions to the room with a smile. She was wearing a black dress-shirt and pants along with a pair of white shoes. “Ah, you must be Joohyun, a pleasure to meet you.” The girl said as she made her way to the duo, taking Joohyun’s hand in her own and kissing the back of it with a self-satisfied smirk.

“Amber!” Seulgi whined out from her side making her laugh as the other woman pulled Joohyun to her side, wrapping her arms around her waist with a pout on her features. Joohyun blushed slightly but chuckled at the response, leaning up to place a soft kiss on her girlfriends chin before turning to the short haired girl.

“Hello. It’s a pleasure to meet you Amber.” Joohyun said bowing as much as she could in Seulgi’s arms. Amber chuckled lightly and pat the girls head, and after having her hand swatted away by the pouting girl holding on to Joohyun she spoke with amusement.

“You know, you’re not supposed to bow to someone right? Seulgi, I thought you’d at least teach her something about her position in society.” Amber said with a tsk and flicked the girl’s forehead making Joohyun tilt her head in confusion, which didn’t escape the short haired girl. “You’re probably going to end up as our future empress; bowing to others would make you look weak in front of other people. I know its part of your culture but try and contain yourself.”

“If you don’t mind me asking Amber, how do you know so much about Earth?” Joohyun asked as the trio made their way to a long conference table and sat down, with Joohyun and Amber sitting next to each-other and Amber sitting in front of them.

“My father is going to be the administrator of Earth if the empress decides to take it over and I like to learn about planets that I’m most likely going to inherit rule over as a way to conserve their culture.” The short haired girl explained, while she took a small apparatus out of her pants pocket, receiving a soft hum from Joohyun. After placing the apparatus on the table the lights in the room dimmed slightly and a hologram appeared in the middle of the trio. “Sooyoung told me about your little predicament Joohyun, so I’m here to help.” Amber said with a smile, which Joohyun reciprocated. Much like Joohyun, she believed kindness and mercy was a far better mechanism to gain your people’s respect than fear and intimidation.

“Thank you so much Amber.” Joohyun said once again and Amber nodded. Their conversations went from small talk to strategy after that, Amber explaining what would be done that day in court in great detail, her plan almost infallible. Joohyun was surprised at how serious the girl could get, contrasting her seemingly bright and happy-go-lucky attitude she had shown earlier. When the trio had finished talking they exited the room, deciding to meet up at court after having something to eat and getting dressed. Joohyun had been too nervous, pacing around and refusing to eat anything. Seulgi had sighed at her girlfriend behavior, begging her to eat least eat a light snack. After a lot of hugs and persuasion Joohyun had finally given in and eaten before they were called by Yuri and Seohyun. A half hour drive later and they were in front of the court building, a giant and intimidating white building that made Joohyun gulp. Seulgi took the girls hand and smiled a reassuring smile, leading her girlfriend out of the car, through the flood of flashing lights of cameras and into the building. Amber was there to greet them, walking down the hallways into the courtroom with a serious look on her face which did nothing but add to Joohyun’s nervousness. The courtroom was not much different from the ones Joohyun had seen on TV, a large desk sat elevated in the middle of the wall in front of the door with two others lower at the side. Two desks sat in front of the three elevated ones and seats sat behind them. By Seulgi’s whispers to her ear the side behind the desk she was assigned was mainly filled with the rich people of the capital and media, probably to get on the empress good side, the other side was filled with normal day to day people and the defendants family, a wife, two small children and the man’s family, grim looks on all of their faces when they saw Joohyun. The human gulped and walked down the short isle to the des, Seulgi standing at her side and Amber at the other. After a while three guards brought a disheveled man, who Joohyun recognized as her assailant, into the courtroom. His face was bruised and his stare was pleading. He was sat down on the chair and a man dressed in a black gown followed him, probably his defense attorney. After a while the room fell into silent mutters of Joohyun’s name, the tone ranging from snickering to angry. The human took another deep breath and stood as the door letting the judge in opened, revealing Taeyeon who walked to the big elevated desk with an unreadable expression on her face.

“All rise.” Everyone in the courtroom rose to their feet, bowing at their empress and sitting down. “We are here today to discuss the punishment for the man who dared touch my daughter-in-law inappropriately without her consent.” Taeyeon spoke, her voice powerful and domineering. Even without Seulgi translating in her ear just the tonality of the empress voice would’ve made Joohyun shiver in anxiety. “I will not bother hearing any side out; this man’s actions were so despicable that the people pushed him out themselves. I have decided that the best course of action would be to simply get rid of this scum.”With that the whole courtroom erupted into hushed whispers, some in angry disagreement and some in fake agreement.

“Objection your holiness.” Amber’s smooth voice silenced the room, all eyes turning to the young woman. “As written in the law by your hand specifically the victim decides the assailant’s punishment as long as their heart is true.” The confidence behind the words caused nothing but more murmuring within the room. “Joohyun was the one that was touched inappropriately and I believe it is her right as the future wife of the empress to be treated like one of our own people, do you not think so your holiness?” Taeyeon pursed her lips, eyes trained on the confident short haired girl. They had backed her into a corner; Amber knew what she was doing.

“Of course. If Joohyun is willing to go through with the tests then so be it.” Taeyeon said as she leaned back on the chair, eyes trained on the human girl, who stood up and was led to one of the elevated desks at the front of the courtroom by Seulgi. The bear like girl gave Joohyun a smile, comforting the girl somewhat and stood by her side. “Very well, this is how the procedure goes. You will give your statement and then you will be connected to a lie detector and placed under a simulation to see if you are true to your word. Do you understand?”As Taeyeon spoke Seulgi translated, and after a deep breath Joohyun nodded. “Very well, you may begin.” Silence reigned in the courtroom; even breathing seemed to be halted. The only things heard was Joohyun’s deep sigh and the defendants whimpering as he tried to hold back his tears.

“What you did was despicable, gross and wrong. I do not condone this type of behavior from anyone.” All eyes were on Joohyun now, some shocked at the fact that she was speaking their language and some just awaiting the verdict she would give the man. The human only took a deep breath, thankful for being able to memorize the speech Seulgi had translated for her in such a short time. She turned to the heiress and received a reassuring nod, telling her she was doing great. “However…”  A baited breath. “I don’t believe you deserve to die for it. While you might’ve done something we can all agree was disgusting your children do not deserve to grow up fatherless, your wife does not deserve to lose her husband and your parents do not deserve to bury their child.” The words caught everyone off guard, eyes wide as they stared at the human. “I believe you should at least continue to be able to support your family while suffering the consequences of your choices. I believe the best punishment is for you to be imprisoned. Whenever you can pass a lie detector test that proves you’ve learnt from this experience you are free to go.” Joohyun could feel her heart trying to beat out of her chest, eyes glued on the man who was crying his eyes out, the family behind him still in shock. After a few moments a machine was wheeled in the courtroom, cables coming out of what seemed like a display.

“Are you ready for the simulation?” Seulgi asked her girlfriend, taking her hand and giving her a kiss on her knuckles as two women started setting up the equipment.

“I’m a little scared to be honest.” Joohyun said with a small, nervous smile as one of the women motioned for her to put her hair up, dabbing some drenched cotton behind her neck and sticking a needle in, making Joohyun wince, and connected it to the machine that started making a low hum.

“You’re going to be fine Hyun; I won’t let anything happen to you. I promise.” Seulgi said and let go of Joohyun’s hand as the other woman attached two small metal plates to her fingers. The last thing Joohyun saw was Seulgi’s smile and soon the world went dark.