Across the palace from the emperor's cave was the empress' den. Lined up with a bunch of papers of her own, the empress' room was just as messy as her husbands. And just as the emperor had guests, so too did the empress.
"Empress? Is it alright to come in?"
"Come inside Lady Jenna."
As Jenna opens the door, she sees the golden locks of the empress buried in paperwork.
"Looks like you've had a rough time, Empress."
"Oh this? It's not as bad as it looks. Most of these are proposals of marriage for Aurelia again."
"How insensitive of them. Princess Aurelia is still not over Lord Isaac's passing."
"You know how they are Lady Jenna. A bunch of opportunists. Can't really blame them though. If I were them, I'd try to shoot my shot as well."
Suddenly a knock came from the door.
"Empress? May I come in?"
"Come inside Lady Emma."
The door slowly swings open to reveal a small maid looking inside. She wore a smile as she entered the room but seeing the bags under her eyes, it was clear to anyone that she was sleep deprived. Nevertheless she still tried to fix herself up a bit before bowing and greeting them both.
"Ahem. Emma of house Mythea greets Empress Jyllene and Jenna of house Perrea."
"Ever formal as always. Have a seat Lady Emma. I want to hear both of your reports."
"Thank you dear empress."
"Lovely to see you again Lady Emma."
"Huuhuu, the pleasure is all mine Lady Jenna."
"Alright, alright catch up later you two. I wanna hear about how my daughters have been as well as anything else pertaining to them."
"Of course Empress. Shall I go first, Lady Emma?"
"By all means Lady Jenna, feel free."
Jenna straightens her posture and clears her throat.
"As I've mentioned earlier, with the passing of Lord Isaac, Princess Aurelia is in a slightly depressed state. It's not enough to hinder her, but it's saddening to see nonetheless."
"Oh so it was true that Lord Isaac had succumbed to his illness. How unfortunate."
"If the rumors about his character were to be believed, he would've made a fine emperor alongside Aurelia."
"They really liked each other as well. Such a shame."
"I'm sure Aurelia will find someone else naturally. But I want her to come home to the main palace for a bit after hearing the news. I'm sure she'd like a change of scenery with the situation."
"I will inform the Princess immediately. I'm sure she would like that as well."
"Well enough about that for now, Lady Emma, how's Mira been doing?"
Emma lets out a nervous smile before responding.
"Honestly Empress, there's not much I can really tell. She's been making a bit more trouble recently for a lot of people but that's already been the case for a while, so we're used to it now."
"Mira's being more troublesome? How exactly?"
"The princess has merely been skipping out on her classes. Count Syrias has already started to adapt to the change in schedule so it's nothing to worry about. We'll adapt our schedules soon enough."
"Must be quite hard on you Lady Emma. Why has she been skipping out?"
"She's taken a liking to the sun lotus in the garden and has been trying to take care of it recently."
"Is she unaware that the sun lotus is basically a cactus? How is she even "taking care" of it?"
"Well…"
Emma scratches her cheeks and averts her eyes.
"W-we don't really know actually. She tends to disappear whenever she does and by the time we get to the garden she's already done. Well, we assume she's done anyways, again we don't see what she does to it."
Jyllene has a sudden realization and frowns.
"Wait a minute, how does she even get away from all of you?"
"I-I apologize Empress, we really don't know. In one minute she's right there and then the moment we turn our backs she vanishes."
Emma bowed her head down as she apologized.
"Hmm."
Jyllene sighs as she hears Emma's answers.
"Well, I suppose she's not doing too much harm to you all."
"Rather than not doing much, it's better to say that we've all just accepted that princess Mira is just like that. We've tried many times to convince her to stick to schedule but it merely gets pushed aside due to her whims, so we've sort of adapted to it now."
"Even still, I apologize in her stead."
Jyllene bowed her head towards Emma. The sight of the empress bowing her head, made Emma panic a little.
"Pl-please don't lower your head empress. It's not your fault."
"While that is true, she is my daughter and I am her parent. Her mistakes are essentially my own."
Emma looked distraught at the sight. The person with one of the highest positions in the world was bowing towards her. It was more than she could handle.
"But still empress, bowing down is… P-please lift your head."
Jyllene lifts up her head at Emma's request. Looking at her face, Emma seemed like she was about to cry.
"I'm aware that as a monarch, bowing down so easily is not a good thing. But as a parent, I won't hesitate to do so."
"If you share the blame for Princess Mira's mistakes, Empress, does that mean you should also be praised for Princess Aurelia's successes?"
"Of course. It's only natural."
Jyllene tucked her long golden hair behind ears and lets out a sigh.
"I wish Mira could be more like Aurelia sometimes."
It was a statement that was said without having a lot of thought put into it. Just something Jyllene said out of slight frustration and tiredness.
Unfortunately the girl was just outside the door with her eyes wide open.
"Mom…"
The girl collapsed onto her knees and rested her head against the door, unsure of what to do now. Originally, she had gone to her father and her mother to merely ask a question about her maid. Sadly the girl ended up hearing things that no child should hear from their parents.
"How so, empress?"
Inside the room, her maid asked her mother to elaborate. At the thought of hearing more things that would hurt her, the girl wanted to run away. However she had no strength in her legs and had no choice but to hear what her mother thought about her.
"I just wish she was more studious than she is. From both you and her teachers, me and my husband have only been hearing how she's disinterested with her studies. I suppose that's wishful thinking however."
"..."
The girl could not refute what her mother said. She was indeed not particularly fond of studying but even still she had tried to be.
And even if she did not try, was that so wrong for a child?
"I'd also like it if princess Mira was more like Princess Aurelia."
Hearing it again, the girl finally realizes where all of this is coming from. They were harsh towards her because there was someone to compare her to. As they saw how much her sister shined, they saw just how dim she was in comparison.
"Mom… Emma… That's not fair… sis is…"
The girl's sister was around three years older than her, so being compared to her felt incredibly unfair for the girl. Not to mention that her big sister was also naturally gifted. In the few memories that the girl had of her older sister before she had moved to her own palace, the girl had seen just how amazing her sister was.
"I want… to be like her too…"
Like everyone else, the girl admired her older sister's abilities. Her sister had awakened as a mage at the age of six and by the time that she was eight, she was already able to cast beginner class magics. The sight of flames coming from older sister's hands, made the girl quite jealous of her. She too wanted to be able to do that.
And she sincerely believed that she could become capable of it someday. Though it seemed that it was only her who had that belief.
Struggling to stand on her own, she propped herself up against a nearby table. Back on her feet, the girl began to walk away with a blank expression not wanting to hear anything else. She did not have a destination in mind. There was no other place she could go to, no other person to rely on. She merely went where her legs moved towards.
****
"Isn't that a bit unfair to Princess Mira, Empress? Princess Aurelia is three years older than her."
"I am aware, Lady Jenna."
Jyllene leaned back onto her chair.
"However I do know that Mira is quite jealous at the fact that Aurelia is already a mage."
"Well, most children awaken at a much later age compared to when Princess Aurelia awakened."
"True but I don't think that Mira knows that nor does it matter to her. All she knows is that she can awaken at a young age like Aurelia."
"Uhm… shouldn't princess Mira already awaken as a mage? She has Sol's blessing after all."
"She should have it. We went to the Cathedral of the gods on her third birthday, so it should have been given to her as usual."
Though that's what Jyllene said, she was also beginning to have her own doubts. People who were blessed by the gods tended to awaken at a younger age than normal. Though there were still some exceptions to that rule, the girl should have already awakened by now.
Jyllene has had such a thought before but she merely brushed it off with the reasoning that her daughter was too young. Now however, the girl was already nearing her tenth birthday and she had still yet to awaken.
"Well, I'm sure she'll awaken as a mage soon. Anyway, is there anything else you two want to talk about with me?"
"None that come to mind."
"N-no…"
"Alright, back to your duties then."
As their meeting was finished they all went back to do their own jobs. The maids bid the empress farewell and stepped outside her office.
"Let's catch up more on our day off Lady Emma."
"Of course Lady Jenna. I'll look forward to it."
The two gave each other a bow and went their separate ways as usual. Though to them everything was normal, to the little girl that they were taking care of, everything had changed.
"Hmm…"
Now all alone in her office, Jyllene had begun to have some strange thoughts about her youngest daughter.
She was supposed to have awakened by now, but the fact that she hadn't made Jyllene think about it a bit more. According to everything she knew, it should have happened by now, but it still had yet to happen.
She started to think about what the reason might be for it. None of them were particularly good however. Her thoughts ranged wide, from her daughter just not receiving the blessing to them losing Sol's favor.
"No. That's probably not it."
Jyllene shook her head to brush off the ridiculous thoughts that had come to her mind.
"..."
Though she tried to do her remaining work to keep her mind occupied, her mind kept going back to it. It was an unpleasant thought.
****
The girl had walked for quite some time without thinking about anything. A bit of snow fell on the girl's nose causing her to shiver and break out of her empty daze. Looking around she finds herself standing in the garden in front of her favorite flower.
The people often say that the golden shine of the sun lotus made it the favorite flower of the Goddess Sol. Perhaps due to that, the flower had its own flower bed all to itself. It was a show of reverence and to the Goddess, but the girl never knew that.
To the girl, the flower that she was staring at looked lonely. In the magnificent garden lined with flowers of all colors, the supposed favorite of the Goddess was left all by its lonesome.
As she stood in front of the flower with light snowfall around her. She looked at the lonely flower and only felt cold. Suddenly a faint light appeared out of the corner of her eye. She turns her head to see a small fireball floating beside her.
"You really should not be out here like this, Princess Mira."
The girl looked at the direction of the voice to see her main maid Emma acting as she normally would. There was a warm smile on her face like usual though she seemed a bit more tired.
"You just recovered from an illness, Princess. It is not wise for you to be out in the cold like this."
"Emma?"
Emma's words were said out of worry for the girl's well being. However, to the girl, her words of worry, the warm smile she was giving her, even the heat from the fireball she had cast. They all seemed fake to her.
'Are you real?'
No voice came out of the girl. Even if she had asked her maid, the girl already had an answer to her question.