When Raymond and Jasmine were in their own world enjoying each other's company, the princess's maid made her way back to the Imperial Palace following a well and widely built road.
Phoenix Fire City was surrounded by well built 10 metres high walls. If one were to look down on the city from the sky they would notice that the walls surrounding the city formed an oval shape.
The Imperial Palace was located in the centre of the city, which stretched on for miles. The Imperial palace was a city in and of itself.
The Imperial Palace was where the emperor held his court and ruled his empire. The Emperor's harem resides in the innermost part of the palace. It was one of the safest places in the Empire, second only to the Emperor's Imperial Bedchamber.
The Imperial Palace was surrounded by the hundreds of manors and courtyards with artificial ponds built in it, sky reaching decorative trees, and all kinds of defensive buildings to guard the Imperial Palace.
All of these buildings were again surrounded by well built 15 metres high walls. This inner part of the city was called the Imperial Palace Grounds.
At the west side of the Imperial Palace was a grandiose looking courtyard whose walls were decorated with varying sizes of Phoenix motifs and the floor was made of sparkling white marble.
In the middle of the courtyard, an artificial pond was built which was surrounded by red maple trees. The tree leaves would fall into the pond whenever the wind blew from the open rooftop causing the entire pond to be covered in red coloured leaves which formed a haunting yet beautiful scenery.
This was the residence of the Empire's most favourite and most talented person, her name was Scarlett Phoenix who was the seventh princess of the FireBorn Empire.
In the middle of the lake was a high raised platform made of blood coloured marble on which sat a girl around 20 years of age. She was 1.8 metres tall and had vibrant crimson coloured hair that was tied in a ponytail.
Her snow white skin was unblemished and her face was so exquisite that it looked like God took his time to sculpt it.
She was surrounded by a scorching hot aura that was almost tangible and looked as if it would burn any and all living things to ashes.
If anyone saw what she was doing they would be shocked speechless, because when someone becomes a Martial Sage they can unleash their aura of the element they had an affinity with.
To unleash an aura and make it almost tangible was the sign of someone who is a Martial Greatsage.
Shockingly she was already a Martial Greatsage at the age of 20 and was now trying to convert her aura into a domain.
A domain was something only a Martial King was supposed to have, so it could be guessed how talented she was to have reached this stage at such a young age.
But just as she was about to make her aura more tangible it shivered and broke apart. She opened her eyelids to reveal her ruby-like eyes.
"Hmm, looks like my comprehension of Phoenix Fire is still not profound enough to give a shape to my domain. No matter, I will not stop until I can succeed." With that she again started unleashing her aura to shape a domain.
But she soon heard a series of footsteps coming towards her courtyard. She got up from the platform and made her way towards the guest hall where she received her guests.
Just as she entered the hall she looked ahead to see a beautiful woman wearing a regal dress who had long flowing brown hair making her way at a brisk pace. Upon closer look one could notice the striking resemblance between her and Scarlett.
"Mother, why are you in such a hurry?" Scarlett asked the woman who was her mother.
Her name was Clara Brownheart, she was the current Empress and was the most beloved woman of the Emperor.
"Scarlett, did you really send the annulment notice to Raymond?" she asked sternly.
"Yes, mother, just like you said, I have thought carefully for the last two weeks, it is in his best interest that I have decided to cancel our engagement." Scarlett replied calmly.
"Don't lie to your mother. You just pretended to think about it at my behest, you have been cultivating here for the past two weeks, you didn't even give a second thought about your decision did you?" she chided her daughter.
Even when her mother was chiding her she didn't lose her cool.
"Mother, there is nothing to think about, we don't belong to the same world, I am destined to achieve great things in the future, he can only look up to me, he will never be able to stand by my side."
"Sigh~why are you so stubborn, this isn't about what you can do in the future. This is about what happened in the past. If it weren't for Brother Thomas, I wouldn't be alive today and you would have never been born in this world."
This was true, when the current Emperor ascended the throne there was a lot of resistance, one of the rebellion forces had managed to kidnap the Empress and threatened to kill her if the Emperor didn't surrender.
But she was rescued by Thomas before anything could happen to her and thus she believed that she owed a life debt to him. She became his sworn sister after that and wanted to tie their families with marriage.
She was the one who urged Thomas and the Emperor to form a marriage contract between her only daughter and Raymond.
"Mother, I know you feel indebted to Uncle Thomas but you shouldn't push your only daughter to a life of loveless marriage because of your debt. Moreover, Raymond has become a complete drunkard, he was half decent before, now he has completely lost his mind."
"Just a few days ago, he started spouting nonsense about Uncle Thomas being murdered by someone from our Empir-" She started to vent.
"What? He said that, then he must have heard something, Raymond isn't the one to say things without proof." The Empress frowned.
"Nonsense, he didn't have a single enemy in the empire who would plot to kill him, Raymond has gone insane from too much drinking." She said, shaking her head.
"I don't believe he has lost his mind, there must be some truth to it, I will need to ask your father about it." The Empress said thoughtfully.
"If you want to believe him then go ahead and ask father, it has nothing to do with me, I am cutting all my ties with him."
The Empress sighed helplessly listening to her daughter.
"You shouldn't have sent the annulment notice so quickly without telling me."
Seeing as her mother was still against her decision Scarlett decided to play her final card.
"Mother, you still do not approve of my decision? Just remember, he will never be able to keep up with me, he will reach the end of his lifespan in just a hundred years, whereas I will live for thousands of years. Do you really want your daughter to be a widow for the rest of her life?"
The Empress didn't have the answer for that, she could only remain silent and hope that Raymond didn't sign the annulment notice.