Dante Jackson- Son of the Black King

All men are not created equal. The strong devour the weak. Those are the mantras of the great Holy Brittanian Empire.

That is the environment that one Dante Jackson was raised in. From his earliest memories these 2 creeds have been hammered into his head.

He didn't disagree.

One only had to look at his place of upbringing to understand why. Being the son of Marcus Jackson aka the Black King came with its perks. At 25 years old with blue eyes, brown skin, a tapered fade haircut and standing at 6 feet tall with a track runners build Dante was often said to resemble his father in his youth albeit with a small cut along his left cheek courtesy of a knife fight he'd won 6 years prior.

With his father having been born a noble and the head of one of Britannia's most notorious crime families and his mother Catherine daughter of a minor noble in the arms manufacturer field Dante saw these creeds solidified and practiced daily.

His father ruled with an iron fist and tolerated no failure and his mother was a perfectionist to the core. Anything that displeased them was swiftly dealt with and served as a warning to others not to repeat said actions.

Which leads us to how Dante found himself sitting outside a small upscale cafe in Area 11. He was to meet with a potential fiance set up by his father.

The young lady in question was one Milly Ashford; granddaughter to Rueben K. Ashford of the fallen House of Ashford. According to his father the girls parents had approached him to have her wed his son so that they could once more live their lives as nobles if not by title then in name. In exchange they would hand over data collected from the Ganymede and old blueprints of potential knightmare frames as a dowry.

_'In short they're selling her off to live a little bit more lavishly than they already are.' _Dante scoffed mentally.

Naturally Marcus was only too happy to agree. Data from a pilot as talented as the deceased empress Marianne the Flash AND a chance to build never before seen knightmares? And all he had to do was have his son marry some brat from a family of fallen nobility? The chances of him saying no were lower than a snowballs chances in Hell.

Normally Dante would have little to no care about this. He knew his duties to the House both the legal and illegal. So long as the family prospered and/or advanced higher he was to see it done. He had rarely failed to meet his parents expectations be it academically or in...dealing with subordinates or 'clients' who displeased his father.

This was different however. You see this would not be the first such marriage meeting for Milly Ashford. The young lady had gained quite the reputation for driving those who courted her mad. The stories varied but ultimately the people who tried were all so thoroughly embarrased that it was better to just wash their hands of the girl and treat the meeting as a mere bad dream than seek retaliation on the girl and her family.

Thus Milly Ashford had earned the moniker The Deal Breaker.

When Dante's so called friends heard the news they pitied and wished him good luck on his eventual recovery. Dante would never admit it but he was unnerved at the girls track record. At first. Unknown to anyone he had gained a secret weapon just three days ago while looking for appropriate accessories to the blue and white 3 piece suit he currently wore.

He'd been mindlessly trying on earrings when it happened. With the meeting only a few short days away he'd been distracted and distant. So after putting on a pair of golden N shaped earrings he'd left his room to procure a drink from the kitchen. On his way as he was passing his mother he'd accidently bumped into her and knocked over a small bust of the family founder.

Dante had waited for his mother to snap and rant about watching where he was going, how useless he was and wondering why he was even here if he was going to make such a mess. But it never came. Instead she'd called over a maid to hurry up and pick up the mess.

Dumbfounded Dante asked (against his better judgement) why she wasn't taking it out on him. The response:

"It's fine. These things happen from time to time." Catherine said casually.

Dante had been downright stunned and seeing him not continuing the conversation his mother left the scene with nary a care in the world while the maid cleaned the mess without batting an eye.

Dante couldn't leave any of this alone and so began a series of tests which left him utilising the rest of the day to figure out the strange event.

Eventually he'd figured out it was the rather tacky earrings that allowed all he did to be percieved as normal and take what he said as basic common sense.

With this discovery began another series of tests that spanned the next few days. From small scale things that happened around the house like having the staff calling him 'young master' instead of 'young lord' to larger ones that changed how his father typically ran the mafia.

That is why he now sat perfectly calm despite having waited over an hour in the hot summer sun. Even as he saw his soon to be fiance walk up to the front desk of the cafe and ask for her reservation he didn't feel any animosity toward her. His victory and success was already assured. Milly Ashford could try to rattle him all she wanted but he'd be the one to win in the end.

That said it'd be awfully dull to just force her to love him on the spot. Or maybe it would be an appropriate punishment for the concern she'd given him a week ago when his father announced the courtship to happen and making him wait in this heat for over an hour.

The cafe was air conditioned but that was besides the point!

So as the young lady approached his table Dante made his choice.