Dark clouds swirled above the majestic imperial capital, shrouding the ethereal beauty of the aquiline city in its gray cloak. The aquine stone walls stood tall, stretching into the sky as they sheltered the residents dwelling within from the harsh rain and rough wind. The citizens of the empire busily bustled about as they carried on with their everyday work.
More than a week had passed since the Empirial wedding and the disappearance of the Crown Princess Consort, the incident slowly cooling down as the days went by without any further disturbance.
The visiting envoys and ambassadors from the neighboring kingdoms and realms indignantly streamed back to their homelands, disappointment and displeasure at the sudden turn of events clear in their vexed expressions.
At this moment in the Everlasting Mansion of the west inner city of the imperial capital, a troop of gray armored guards were stationed in front of a guest room. The guards wore heavy armor and wide swords that were native to the Ahankar realm. Their harsh, cold eyes alertly swept around the area, their frigid auras intimidating the scurrying servants.
Inside the guest room, there was a gray-haired girl around 18 years of age with gentle gray eyes and slightly thin lips. Although she was pretty, the haughty aura emitting from her figure kept others at a distance. Elegantly sitting before a glass mirror, her charming eyes moved about the room in inspection as her maid assisted her in getting dressed.
This gray hair and gray eyes girl was the beloved Princess Sera of the Ahankar realm who had entered the Amayan Empire with the excuse of attending the Empirial wedding. It has been quite a while now since the rest of the envoys returned.
However, the Ahankar Princess Sera personally expressed her desire to explore the bountiful Amayan Empire to the Regent Prince.
The Regent Prince, considering her a curious little girl attracted by the beauty of the empire, instantly granted her request, allowing the princess to stay behind under the protection of the Amayan royal family.
However, the girl whom he considered as 'curious' and 'little' had stayed behind with other agendas in mind.
"Did you find out anything about the person that I asked you to search for?" Princess Sera calmly asked as she directly looked at the figure reflected in the mirror with her.
"No, I could not find out much about the person, your highness. However, there is one thing that I did find. According to the expert I consulted, the person we are looking for should be a member of the royal family." The maid quietly whispered as she finished helping her princess get ready.
"A member of the royal family? Yes. That would actually make sense because the Amayan Empire's royal family originally originated from a formidable magical lineage. It is not strange for their descendants to possess magic.
If the information we received is true then whoever that royal member is, their magical bloodline would be much more powerful and stronger than mine. But who is the royal member?" Princess Sera seriously replied with furrowed brows.
"Magic stronger and more powerful than even yours? But Princess, you are one of the most powerful magic wielders in our empire! If that person is truly stronger than you, then does that not mean that not only were the lands and rulers of the Amayan Empire exceptional, but even their magic wielders were unmatchable?" The personal maid of the princess shrieked with widened eyes, shocked beyond belief at the absurd luck of the people of this land.
Their homeland, the Ahankar realm was under the constant beating and plundering of the harsh Devouring Winds all year round, making farming, planting, trading, and exploring the natural resources of the land an arduous task. As such, even after the passage of so many years, the landscape of the Ahankar Empire did not change much, still in its primitive state.
However, the Amayan Empire was a utopia with abundant trees and vegetation, streams and rivers, providing its citizens with peaceful and prosperous lives.
This was also one of the many reasons the Ahankar Empire constantly stirred up trouble at the borders. The prosperity and wealth of the Amayan Empire pricked their eyes, filling their hearts with envy and greed.
"Of course. Why else would the other realms be silently jealous when they could just attack and snatch. They were wary of the hidden might and impenetrable walls of the Amayan Imperial Capital designed by their Emperor Emeritus. Our empire is the only one in history that openly dared to attack the Amayan Empire.
In part, we were forced by our desperate situation that was more dire than the other realms." Princess Sera wistfully said, looking through the glass windows at the gorgeous blue-green foliage decorating the courtyard, their beauty blinding even with the overcast sky.
In fact, after arriving in the Amayan Empire, she had been having second thoughts about returning back to the Ahankar realm. As a princess of an empire, she felt that she deserved to get only the best of everything.
Unfortunately, the barren and bereft windswept lands of the Ahankar Empire made such a desire impossible. Instead of getting the best of everything, she had to labor about every day wandering through the rough lands.
Using her magical abilities, she spent her days preventing stray windblasts and windstorms from destroying the crops and fields of the farmers.
However, a lifestyle of luxury, comfort, and wealth was possible in the Amayan Empire. Because here, even the ordinary civilians were already living a much better life than her, the princess of the Ahankar empire.
As such, when the oracle in their empire spoke of their dying land and told them about a native of the Amayan Empire possessing the ability to prevent their realm's collapse, she had immediately jumped at the opportunity to escape from the dull realm.
At first, when she had decided to accompany the Ahankar envoys to the Amayan Empire, she had only been thinking about getting a change of scenery, exploring new lands, and seeing interesting new things.
However, the instant she entered the Amayan Empire, she had a change of heart.
Her mind changed, and instead of returning, she was thinking of ways she could rightfully stay back in the Amayan realm forever.
The first thought that popped into her mind was marriage. Sadly, the two princes of the Amayan Empire were already betrothed to two country bumpkins from the backwater kingdom, so who was she going to marry?
Days passed as she debated on this until the day of the Empirial wedding. It was then that she saw a glimmer of light in the darkness that was shrouding her beautiful dream. The Crown Prince's bride disappeared right in front of the guests of the seven realms, clearing her path to becoming the Crown Princess Consort and future empress of the Amayan Empire.
Of course, she knew that the Crown Princess Consort was not a dark magic wielder, because the radiance of the magic power pouring out from her body was too bright and pure to be evil. In fact, she might have been a light attributed magician.
However, what did it matter what magical ability she had? This was the perfect chance that she had been waiting for and she planned to make the best of it.
Using the excuse of covertly searching for the person who could prevent their land from dying, she detached herself from the group of envoys returning back to the Ahankar realm, and got permission from the Regent Prince to remain in the Everlasting Mansion during the duration of her visit.
Satisfied, she cheerfully went on to plan about how she was going to trap the Crown Prince in her snare.
However, before she could even get started on her plan, Crown Prince Lail had completely disappeared from the Amayan Empire.