The Princess was a beautiful twenty year old with silky long blonde hair and the brightest blue eyes. And to top it all off she, she had a perfect hourglass figure that could make any Prince follow her like a lost puppy.
"Aunty Lily, you came!", Saxena cheered happily as she let go of Lilian to stand in front of the Imperial family. She bowed and greeted, "Greetings to the Emperor and the entire Emperial family of Salthon".
The Imperial family smiled back in acknowledgement of her greeting. "Rosa, how have you been dear? Aunty missed you so much. I sent so many letters to you that my poor hands became so frail. My dear didn't you miss me. You never initiate letters, you only replied to them. Tell me", Lilian said stepping forward and trapping Saxena in a bear hug as she lamented on and on about how much she missed her, Saxena started finding it hard to breathe.
"Aunty, I'm... gonna... die if you don't... let me go ", Saxena said and Lilian instantly let her go. A maid brought out her inhaler and handed it to her, she took in some deep breaths before her smile returned to her face.
"Please pardon my playful sister, she just refuses to act her age ", Saheb said with a meek smile on his face. Saxena looked at him from the corner of her eyes and walked up to him, she hugged him and smiled at him.
"Why should I act grown up when I'm clearly not? And brother, I'm sure you you just want to marry me off and get rid of me. News flash brother, I'm not going anywhere anytime soon. We're stuck together. Lastly if I grow up, I who will treat me like a baby?", she said as she let him go with a childish pout.
Saheb placed his hands on her shoulders and smiled at her. "You know, growing up isn't a bad thing. And you'll always remain my little sister, my first baby", he said patting her head reassuringly and quickly turned to the Emperor before she would say more.
"Ha ha ha ha ha, oh my that was hilarious", Saxena heard the most beautiful voices she'd ever come across behind her. She turned around and saw Lilac and Luis behind her smiling at her.
"Pardon my manners, I'm Prince Luis Risus and this is my little brother the Crown Prince of the Salthon Empire Lilac Christian Salthon", Luis said in a teasing tone making Saxena giggle a little at his childish behaviour. But Lilac didn't seem very amused by his older brother's words.
"Had I had it my way, I'd force you on the throne and tie you to it", he said with an aloof expression much different from his previous cheerful look.
"It seems like he doesn't like it when the topic of him being the Crowned Prince is being brought up", Saxena thought to herself.
"Greetings, my name is Saxena but people close to me call me Saxy, so call me Saxy", Saxena said as she smiled teethily at them.
They were both shocked by her behaviour. Normally, a princess had to carry herself with lot of pride inorder not to be looked down upon, but Saxena seemed not to care what others though of her. This caught the Princes' attention.
"Okay Your Highnesses, please come inside. You've been standing for a while and I'm sure you're tired from the journey. Please have some rest, it'll soon be dinner and it'll be an honour to dine with the Imperial family", Tanisha finally spoke with a soft and friendly tone as she ushered the Imperial family further into the palace.
"Sister Tan may I help...", before she finished her statement, Tanisha glared at her making Saxena retreat.
Tanisha was a beautiful petite blonde who was a commoner before she got married to the Duke after the former Duke's demise. Of course it being a love marriage, they were blessed with twin sons a year into their marriage and have now spent eight years together as a married couple.
This happy home however, like any other home had little cracks. For some reason, Tanisha had a problem with Saxena no matter how much she tried to please her. Her sons Raymond Zane and Rayne Zach Ganesa adored Saxena to bits and Saxena obviously reciprocated their feelings.
Tanisha always felt small when she stood beside Saxena and when she was to speak with or to her. So it wasn't hatred, it was simply a harmless inferiority complex which is why she stayed away from Saxena.
"I'll be taking the Emperor to the throne room, we have some pressing matters to discuss. In the meantime, you can take them to their rooms", Saheb said to Tanisha with a smile who nodded and smiled back at him.
"See you later, love", Saheb said hurriedly and jogged to catch up with the Emperor and his Second Empress. After making sure that her husband and the Imperial couple were out of sight, she adhered to the instructions of her husband and ushered the remaining Imperial family members and of course the Imperial concubine to their respective rooms with the help of some maids.
"I'll be going now, I left the boys playing hide and seek when I heard Aunty Lily was here. Toodles!", Saxena said as she skipped out of the palace main entrance with the imperial Princes watching her in shock.
"She's one interesting girl, isn't she?", Luis said as he placed his hand on Lilac's shoulder.
"Indeed, she is", Lilac said still staring at her gracefully retreating figure.
"This is going to be one interesting trip. I get to enjoy the rest of my short life after all, brother", Luis said in his brother's head through telepathy.
In the continent of Haberium, only three types of people could withstand and control magic powers and they had to either be a direct descendant of the main welder, a Sulon borne or simply Moon borne.
Like Saxena, she was Moon borne but no one knows about it except for her brother and her late parents. But if a normal human with a tainted soul was blessed with powers, the power will slowly eat the person from within leading to the tragic death of the person. That's exactly what's happening to Luis and why he cannot be the future Emperor.
But surprisingly, death did not phase Luis for a second as he believed it was Lilac's destiny to be the next Emperor.
-- To be continued...