"Huh? Wh-Who are y-"
Before Azure could shout, a hand covered her mouth. She noticed the emblem of her house on the black outfit the man wore and slowly took the hand off her mouth. The man didn't resist, he understood she wasn't going to cause a commotion.
"Why did my father send someone like this?"
"Sist- Your Highness, I have come here to bring you back to the Pevo territories."
"That voice... Aglei, is that you?"
"Yes, Your Highness."
Azure had a dissatisfied expression on her face.
"Did you forget who I am? I told you, you could call me sister. I basically am anyways."
Aglei was the butler of Azure before she got married and became the empress. He is a few years younger than him but was given the position because of his talent in vector magic. Azure helped him get close to the current head maid of the Pevo family who is from a commoner family distantly related to Pevo and serves them, and Azure treats them both like younger siblings.
"You are an empress now, Your Highness. And the blood relation between my wife and the Duke's family isn't that clos-"
"Ah, shut up!"
Azure reached for his ears and pulled them up.
"Ouch!"
"Just listen to your sister, okay? If I say your wife and you are my siblings, you are!.. How is she by the way?"
Aglei responded while rubbing his ear.
"She is fine, she is fine."
"It's been a while since I heard from her. Any kids on the way? Or, do you already have one?"
"N-No, not yet. We are really busy right now so..."
"What are you talking about? She is the head maid, isn't she? Can't she just tell one of the maids to look after her kids? You are nearing your thirties, you know. Don't waste your time like this."
"What about you then? Do you have any kids on the way sister?", he said with an annoyed voice.
Azure slowly sat down at the edge of the open window and stared at the sun that had already sunk below the horizon, leaving only a slight orange tint that faded into the darkness of the night sky behind. Tonight, there was only the moon Nanot visible on the sky and it was going to color everything with it's white and mint blue colors after the sunset.
Aglei waited for an answer but none came from Azure. She just looked towards the sunset with a melancholic face. Then Azure smirked while glancing at Aglei, though she still looked sad, and spoke.
"You just called me sister."
"Th-That was because... I was annoyed.", he answered in a voice that was getting lower and lower as he spoke because he understood how disrespectful what he was saying was as he said it.
Azure laughed and ruffled his hair. "You still say whatever you want when you are angry like a child huh? Maybe you did good not having kids yet."
"Whatever, you want me to speak like this anyways, right?"
She pulled her hand back and sat down on the windowsill again. She didn't need to answer, Aglei already knew the answer anyways.
"So, why is my father trying to get me back to his home sneakily like this?"
"Did you read the latest newspapers?"
"Not yet, why?"
"I see... I think you should read them on the way. You will understand it then."
"But, what if I don't want to return?"
"Sorry, sister. But, you have no choice. The orders are from the Duke himself."
"They will notice I am gone right away. You can't just abduct me."
Suddenly, dark clouds appeared beneath Azure's feet. She rose from the ground and started floating. It was Aglei's vector magic.
"Your clouds got darker, huh- wait it's not the time for that! HEY! Put me down, Aglei! The guards will be here in seconds when they hear me!"
"It doesn't matter. We will be gone already, and the Duke is already at conflict with the Altus. Nothing will change by me doing this."
"What are you talking about?"
"As I said, you will understand it when you read the newspapers."
Aglei jumped down the window and started to float away, Azure following him right behind. Her face was filled with surprise and concern.
'No way. If a civil war breaks out when Terry is cra... mentally unstable... They are going to make him... N-No. There is no way the man I love would do that.'
The guards poured into the room while shouting for Azure, but they were too late. Aglei had already disappeared and guards couldn't catch up to him even with magic. The Altarce Palace became even tenser and more disorder with the sudden disappearance of the Empress.
In a few days, they would arrive at the Pevo territory and Azure would return to her home.
*****
The next day
The wheels made out of wood and steel made loud noises as they turned and scratched the ground. However, the noise coming from the pebbles thrown away by the wheels was nothing compared to the noise coming from the engine at the front of the vehicle. Clair slowed the car down and stopped the engine.
"Ugh... That guy better make one without this much noise next... If I knew it was going to be this annoying, I would have used a carriage instead of this car.", she said as she brought a book out of her bag and started reading it while waiting for her ears to stop ringing.
After a few minutes of reading, she closed the book and got out of the car. She grabbed two pebbles at a size that could fit in her ear and used her magic to make them stop noise. She also made the pebbles softer while she was at it. She started the engine and got back on the car again, this time with the makeshift earplugs in her ears.
She continued to drive the slightly uncomfortable and shaky car according to the map she had. She was following a path that went near a small forest so she could keep track of where she was.
After a couple of hours, she noticed a few guards coming towards her on horses. She decided that she wasn't a criminal so she had nothing to do with the guards, so she decided to ignore them. That was until the horses became scared of the loud noise the engine made and the guards started to yell at Clair.
'Sigh~ Do I really have to deal with this now?', she thought as she slowed the car down.
At least the earplugs she made were good since she couldn't hear what the guards said until she took them off.