The cerulean heavenly skies reveal its vastness for itself. Its beauty and grandeur are unique only to its own, and for times gone and past, the world itself might change, but the skies will never be different.
"I want to be the sky someday." Thamuz quietly murmurs as he gazes at the skies above him while he leisurely drinks his tea. In the imperial garden, he ponders on the possibilities of a future yet to unearth.
…
Gazing upon the same sky is a woman with long black hair. She wears a gorgeous white dress highlighting its wearer's purity. On top of this, she possesses a pretty face. Truly a beautiful specimen. Sadly, there is no one to appreciate her beauty for she is alone.
It has been a week since she finds herself in entrapment in this tower, and only through the maids that regularly feed her can she find companionship. Not that the maids are willing to for most of the time, they are like unmoving statues to which she cannot even fathom what kind of discipline must require for them to be this orderly.
At the top of one of the tallest towers in the Empire is her prison, and her warden… is none other than the 2nd imperial princess, Maize Lana Ezelea.
Coming from the narrow but artistic carved stone door is another woman. She has white hair and crimson eyes. Wearing a dark gown, she exudes a sense of maturity, and coming with it is her unique regal bearing. She is none other than Maize.
"How are you doing?" Maize asks with concern to the mysterious woman whose eyes remain glued to the hovering clouds above.
The mysterious woman in question shortly responds in a dull manner. "I think… I am fine…"
If not for the long ears peeking from her hair, the woman could as well be human, but clearly, she is not. For she is Zeraya, the half-elf. "Forgive me your imperial highness, but I still remember nothing…" She adds.
"You are a good liar," Maize compliments. "You see, I am the same."
"Forgive me, your imperial highness… I don't know what you mean…" With a pitying look, Zeraya bows her head in guilt showing that she really doesn't know what Maize is talking about.
"Hmmm…" Maize crosses her arms in contemplation. "You started acting like this after you were forced to drink the Truth Potion. Because the Truth Potion can only work once, you are able to safely rely on this scheme. You are smart to think of playing the amnesia card. This way, no one will bother you. In the best-case scenario, you will just be killed."
"…"
Maize warmly hugs Zeraya, and like a mother consoling her child, she comforts Zeraya. "It is fine… Everything will be fine. No one is going to hurt you while I am here…"
Zeraya uncontrollably shudders to find herself in a weirdly warm atmosphere tempting her to hug back and receive Maize's embrace. "Yes, your highness…"
"But…" Zeraya bites her lips in regret as she cannot put herself to good use for the princess. "I really cannot remember anything…"
"Is that so?" Maize realizing that Zeraya will not be able to give her anything finally gives up and decides to take a different approach. "Then I will tell you who you are…"
Maize with a subdued smile brings Zeraya to a soft carpet and as if they are on a picnic, the two of them share half a sandwich each. Besides them is a basket full of snacks.
"I don't mean any ill-will," Starting with an easy tone, Maize endears herself to Zeraya. "I wish for the prosperity of the demi-humans as much as the empire's own prosperity. Miss Zeraya, let me tell you about yourself…
In a plain manner neither with any embellishment nor omission, Maize tells Zeraya everything she knows about her of how she is the so-called lover of the Elf King, his guardian, and friend. And flavoring on top of all of this is the several stories that again and again are written on the records of which are the results of the interrogation.
After speaking for so long, Maize finds herself parched because of all the talking, she drinks a cup of water from the little bamboo container. Drinking from the little hole in the bamboo, Maize wets her throat.
The sight of her drinking is like a peasant too thirsty for water. And Maize knows too how crass it might look from a highborn's perspective as she remarks on it casually. "I like the taste of freshwater from the bamboo… Do you know this simple drinking container is thought up by a commoner about a couple of centuries ago? And from there, this kind of drinking bottle has become a norm for soldiers to carry outpacing the more common leather pouches that should be more convenient to carry."
"What are you getting on, your Highness?"
Maize with a beautiful smile grips the bamboo container and with a single swing, she attacks Zeraya. The bamboo hits Zeraya's head causing her to bleed. "You see, Zeraya, there is something that we call a trend…"
Standing up from the soft carpet, Maize coldly looks down at Zeraya. "Know this. You are alive, because of me. When the Imperial Agency is planning to dispose of you, I am planning to make a more proper use of you."
"Y-your… imperial highness, what do you mean?" Zeraya trembles in fear as she looks at Maize's imposing figure.
"The Elf King's appearance is causing a trend. Just by his mere presence alone, I fear that this trend will just continue to rise. More elves will rebel, and more demi-humans will follow. I don't really care if you do not remember anything. You have more importance as a hostage. While the Empire is an unchallengeable existence, I am not arrogant enough to belittle others. Having you as my contingency is necessary for the empire's future. Moreover, it is not like I do not have other use for you…"
Turning her back from her, Maize leaves the fearful Zeraya.
Exiting through the carved stone door, she feels that she is missing something. While in her mind, she is confident that the empire is invincible, she cannot help but have her hunch warning her of the dangers that the appearance of the elves may signify.
"Do you really have to hit her hard like that?" A middle-aged man with blue hair casually asks her. As the princess's Secret Defender, he should not be so casual with her.
"Sigh… You should watch out for your etiquette. You are no longer a barbarian of the northern brigands, but my Secret Defender, a knight, and a quasi-noble…" Maize reprimands her Secret Defender, Blu, a fearsome barbarian of the north.
Blu is a handsome middle-aged man with a clean face, and if not for his accent, people might even mistake him for an empire nobleman. "Yes, I understand. But I dare ask, why did you do that? If he is really the Elf King's lover, shouldn't you treat her preferentially?"
"There is this theory in the Tower of Fire that if you hit someone strong enough, they will recover from their amnesia. I am just trying my luck." Maize says in a jesting manner, however, her acts of violence are not utterly groundless. She is hoping that if it is an act, the half-elf will end up breaking her act.
If Maize gives permission to her personal interrogators, they might learn whether she is acting or not, but Maize would rather not, because the value of the half-elf as a hostage will suffer if she ends up broken.
"Listen, Blu, the battle for the throne will be excessively brutal in the future. This has become a tradition, so I will not be able to escape this. If I have her, I will be able to have an escape route from the possibility of my defeat in the fight for the throne."
To this, Blu is in disbelief. "Why are you lacking so much confidence? And moreover, escape to the Elf King's side if you lost? Will he accept you? Moreover, aren't you the one who keeps on disparaging the elves' abilities of how they are a dying race? Aren't they a bunch of primitive ignoramuses who are inferior to the northern barbarians?"
Maize just shakes her shoulder as if what Blu is saying doesn't even matter to her anymore. "I would like to tell you that my hunch is telling me to do this. But no… Currently, the elves have at least two technologies unique to their own— which are the Crossbows and the Berserker Potions. Considering the existence of 'Potions' among them, I can confidently say that they must have competent alchemists, so we can conclude that the stolen research about the Life Potions should be as good as theirs. Currently, even with our alchemy department's and the Tower of Fire's combined effort, it will take a long time for us to reverse engineer the Life Potion. While we might be able to create our own Crossbows someday, I believe it will be close to impossible for us to replicate the Berserker Potions. In summary, the elves are in possession of incredibly superior technology. Do you know what this means?"
"…I don't know, don't ask me…" Blu sarcastically replies.
"The elves have three impressive revolutionary technologies which individually to even its own possess immense war potential that can allow an uprising noble to raise a Kingdom. The Elves have three of these. If these three technologies end up on a single Kingdom with at least 700 years on their history, they will be able to exhibit war potential comparable to the empire."
"You must be fucking kidding me…" Blu widens his eyes in surprise at hearing this directly from Maize.
Maize then sighs in relief, and in almost a pleased whisper, she comments. "So we are lucky that it ended in the primitive elves' possession. With their great lack of numbers, they are not a threat to the empire."
As such, the genius 2nd imperial princess concludes. What she doesn't know though is that the elves are not in possession of three revolutionary technologies, but four…
…
At this very moment, research on the 'Aphrodisiac' is going into a frenzy.
Deep in the Dark Forest, at the cove of a fortified Redwood tree, Allenwood is busy researching and experimenting on the prior formula of the Aphrodisiac.
…
Maize after getting on the hoist, casually concludes. "The elves are not a threat to us…"