**
The castle was a monument to opulence and power. Light, filtered through vast stained-glass windows, flooded a throne room where white marble and gold seemed to be the only permitted materials. On a dais, a throne carved from a unique substance, halfway between amber and metal, held the sovereign of Bialya.
Queen Bee. Her beauty was of an almost intimidating perfection. Flawless, sun-kissed skin, large, piercing dark eyes, full lips set in a disdainful curl. Her jet-black hair was crowned with an ornate golden diadem that shimmered with her every breath. Her gown, immaculate white adorned with gold filigree, hugged a figure both graceful and commanding. She radiated a cold authority and a sensual luxury, a true queen in her garden of decadence.
The air, heavy with the cloying scent of an exotic nectar, was suddenly torn by the hurried entrance of a man who shattered the room's entire harmony.
Psimon. Her telepathic master. His skin had the waxy pallor of one who lives secluded from the sun. But his most striking feature was his skull: the right half was perfectly transparent, revealing the greyish convolutions of his brain pulsating beneath a thin membrane. This grotesque peculiarity gave him an appearance both frightening and profoundly vulnerable.
Queen Bee did not deign to turn her head. Only her eyes, settling on her servant like one might crush an insect, betrayed her attention.
"What?" Her voice was a blend of honey and venom, sharp and weary.
Psimon stopped at a respectful distance, slightly inclining his misshapen head.
"We have been hacked, Your Highness. The main servers of the research complex. The breach was... of a brutal elegance. No firewall held."
An icy silence settled, heavier than all the gold in the room. Queen Bee's perfect hand tightened on the armrests of the throne.
"By whom?" she asked, each syllable freezing the air.
Psimon shook his head, an expression of frustration on his gaunt face. "We could not trace the intruder. He erased his tracks with diabolical precision. He was a ghost."
He paused, knowing what came next would ignite his queen's wrath.
"But the files he accessed... it was the Project V dossier. Specifically, everything related to subject 'M'."
Queen Bee's fingers whitened as they gripped the amber of the throne. Her eyes, suddenly, were not just piercing, but promised absolute vengeance. Her toy had gone missing, and now someone was interested in her most precious secret.
"Find him," she ordered, her voice now a dangerous whisper. "Use all our networks. Put a price on this hacker's head. And find me my Subject M. No one steals what belongs to me. No one."