Malik opened his eyes and turned to look at the night sky. Seeing the stars above, he slowly got up from his bed and stretched his body wide. Shoving the mountains of manuscripts and documents to the side with his feet, Malik walked towards the terrace as a woman in maid outfit started forming on his shadow behind him.
The woman's entire head was covered in a gas mask as she knelt down behind him, in her hands was a tray with a cup of coffee on top of it.
Malik grabbed the coffee without looking back as he focused on the night sky.
The maid swiftly stood up and went back to his shadow silently, with no intentions of disturbing her master from his thoughts.
Malik let out a soft sigh as he blew on the coffee, letting the small steam rise up in the air as he sat down.
Be a guide my son.
Malik softly closed his eyes and leaned back.
A guide. In whatever crossroads you encounter.
Remembering his late father's words, The Former Emperor's final words to him when Malik was insistently refusing to shoulder the Golden Throne.
His father didn't want him to choose a path, nor create one for himself. But be a guide.
A guide to what exactly? Guiding people to their paths? Become a teacher or something?
That thought had plagued his mind since his father died. His words would occasionally echo inside his head, reminding him of his father.
He didn't understand why his father would tell him to be a guide all of a sudden, much so when the old man croaked just before he had the chance to make him explain.
Maybe that's why he told me that late. He must've known that if he didn't speak what he wanted to say on the last minute, he would be stuck telling Malik what he wanted him to be and what he meant by it.
Stupid old man. Malik chuckled while clicking his tongue.
Letting out another sigh, Malik slowly stood up and looked at the night sky, the stars shining up above.
"That's that." Malik muttered underneath his breath.
***
Aijira walked across the halls of the palace, seeking to familiarize herself in this new environment. Therese was walking behind her, her back straight as she followed after Aijira, who was taking the entire palace in.
This was the first thought she had when she woke up this morning. Exploring the palace. She ought to familiarize her new home when she would wed the Emperor, becoming the Consort.
Looking at the large garden behind the windows, Aijira couldn't help buy admire how the palace was built.
Most of the mansions and villa's she encountered were made with a specific way of building in mind. Others were surrounded by walls, by mazes of plants, or even large fields spanning the entire territory.
But this was the first time she had ever seen someone design the layout of the palace. It was a breath of fresh air for her, who was used to the same styled building back in the Falkncast territory.
The palace was divided into three layers. The outer layer consisted of this massive lake that encircled the entire thing. Beyond the lake was a massive wall with thirteen towers between the walls to serve as protection and surveillance.
And because the palace was built on top of a solid hill, that also meant that defenses was kept in mind when building it.
In the middle was a large maze like forest, home to many, and she means many wild animals and beasts. There were some animals that were presumed to be extinct too.
Finally, the final stretch of land was a large plain with the palace at the center. The palace itself was not that of a square shaped castle. But more like three interlocking circles.
Beneath the palace was where the knights train, servants find tools and many such. It felt like a mini town inside the palace walls.
It seems the water from the lake comes from underground caves connected to more underground oceans. Going through the palace, it would be purified and safe to drink or use because of the density of Ari within this domain.
Aijira thought to herself as she felt the increasing volume of Ari in the air around her, encompassing the entire Palace area.
Aijira continued walking before finding herself in a hall with a crowd of servants pacing back and forth in a door.
Therese turned to look at them before turning back to see Aijira's interest was grabbed by whatever shenanigans the servants were doing.
Shaking her head with a silent sigh, she followed after Aijira, who spoke.
"What is the problem?"
The servants turned to the voice and found Aijira standing infront of them, her arms crossed. Her hair was tied into a ponytail, a hairstyle that they really wanted to change but in respect of the Consort, they stopped themselves.
One of the servants, a butler coughed and bowed down to Aijira.
Aijira stared at the rest of the servants who had not bowed and noted their reaction.
It's a given. They were trained to not bow down to anyone unless it was royalty. Only the royalty was most eligible to bow to.
Remembering how different the trainings of servant was compared to the Falkncast, she let their actions be.
After all, it was deeply ingrained in their bones that they would only bow to royalty, and she wasn't royal, yet.
The butler that bowed to her spoke, "It is 9 in the morning, dear consort. His majesty, the Emperor would usually wake up a few hours ago and leave the room to go eat breakfast with the Princess."
Aijira's eyebrows raised.
"That's it? That's what all of you is worried about?"
The servant laughed awkwardly, "Y-yes, dear consort. The Emperor must have his daily meals, three times a day, one each morning, noon and evening. This was an order passed down by the late Emperor and the current Emperor's mother."
Aijira stared at them for a moment, then turned to the door and noted that it was a different room. She then turned around and saw that she was in a different hallway.
It was bigger, grander, much extravagant than the others.
She also took note of the countless amounts glass ceiling in the hall overlooking the skies above.
She turned to the servant and asked, "Why wouldn't you enter and wake his majesty, the Emperor?"
The servant flinched from her words and chuckled worriedly, "T-that is the problem, dear Consort. The Emperor doesn't like anyone waking him up...."
Aijira just stared at them.