B L O O D W / R

C H A P T E R II

"Ruby Jane-Sama, meet Kim Jong In," is what Julian—her otoh-sama, tells Ruby Jane as she enters his private room; the old Kim is accompanied by a tall figure who is probably a couple of years older than her. Despite their expansion throughout the whole world with them residing in and ruling from South Korea, each member of the main family of Kim is always addressed with Japanese honorifics; one of the family traditions that has been passed on ever since the era of Kim Jinzāburō.

"It is my pleasure to finally meet you," the lad bows in ninety degrees as it is what anyone must do in the presence of the Ruby Jane-Sama, showing his respect to the lady, proffering his hand for hers. Ruby Jane places her hand on his and he puts a gentle kiss on her delicate hand. It impresses Ruby Jane that there is no sign of curiosity on the lad's demeanour assuming nobody has ever been able to put a face to the name of Ruby Jane. He does not even cower as most presumedly will do at the known presence of the one and only heir, who without the title is already intimidating enough with her bright cognac feline eyes that can stun anyone who dares to stare.

She recognises the man.

It gets her wondering about what kind of scenario where she fits in that scene in which her father and this Kim-whatever-his-name-is are also involved. It gets her wondering even more after realising that her father just broke a rule he made himself about disclosing her identity to anyone. In his private room. Of all places. It cannot be for business talk because it simply just does not make sense. Then it hits her quite severely that she has to tighten her fists to get ahold of herself as the sense of the privileged revelation of her identity to the man standing before her starts to seep into her brain.

This is the man she will have to marry.

This is Julian's way to calm the raging storm within the family regarding the new rules and traditions about the future head of The Kims. See, along with Julian and James, there are six other heads of households within The Kims, who are members of this board of directors that is responsible for orchestrating the Kim family business and executing them with Julian acting as the chairman of the board and James Kim, his brother, as the vice-chairman, called Orochi.

Orochi was first originated in 1755 by the fourth-generation leader of The Kims, Kim Katsunosuke, when internal chaos within the family took place because there were heads of households in the family—his cousins, who felt as if they did not receive the least they deserved. They wanted power; at least a quarter of the power Katsunosuke carried because according to them, they were also entitled to have opinions on the matters regarding the family business and affairs as offsprings of Kim Tatsuzō.

To avoid any possible chaos that was already brewing at that time, Kim Katsunosuke gave in by creating a board he called Orochi and appointed 8 heads of households of The Kims to be members of the board. Later on, the Orochi becomes a board of directors who answer to the head of the family of Kim. They are given the privilege to propose a rule when they see fit and are responsible for carrying the legacy of the rules and traditions of The Kims. Orochi is considered as the elders holding the compass to keep everything in line as they guard the rules and traditions along the long line of the family history as well as taking care of the family business and assisting the head of the family to this day.

Julian Kim is the first head of the family of Kim who is also a member of Orochi acting as the chairman, and although in the end, it will be Julian's decision whether to approve or reject a new rule that is proposed by Orochi, still, the strong opposition from the other six members of Orochi and their failure to see how Ruby Jane will fit the shoes as the head of the family taking over for Julian in the future somehow force Julian to make some sort of 'consolation prize' just so their egos will not be wounded as much.