"Your Highness!"
A silly man in a large hat with an even larger feather protruding from the side dashed across the lengthy room.
He was a one of the royal couriers, and he was currently disrupting an unexciting eting between the emperor and the empire's council mbers.
The rows of arguing n lining either side of the room fell silent in curiosity as the courier fell to his knees before the emperor.
"I have urgent news!" the man exclaid, slamming his head into the ground in a much too exaggerated bow.
"Very well," Calix sighed, pressing his fingers into his forehead. "Tell what the news is."
For so reason, etings with the council felt even more frustrating than usual lately. In the beginning of his reign, everyone had bent willingly to his every whim. Now that the shock of a terrifying new emperor had worn off, however, leech-like counciln had brought his plans to a screeching halt with their irritating political stalemate.
"There's a ssenger from vani here to see you!" the courier declared, imdiately sending intrigued whispers through the council mbers.
Calix grinned, tossing the useless eting itinerary to the ground. "That sounds like a nice change of pace. Send them in."
At the courier's ascent, the audience hall doors swung open, revealing the ssenger in question.
"vani sent.. a child?" Calix scoffed to himself as the vanian boy confidently strode toward the throne.
"Need I remind you, Sire," Ira, who was currently busy gathering the emperor's discarded docunts, hissed, "you were around that age when you took over an entire empire."
"Hmph," Calix shrugged, turning his attention back to the boy.
He looked to be around eighteen or nineteen years old with shoulder-length brown hair and fierce green eyes. His broad shoulders and thick arms made it clear he was no ordinary ssenger. Whichever weapon the boy was used to welding, there was no doubt he was highly skilled with it.
"Your Majesty," the boy bowed politely in front of Calix.
"Speak," Calix ordered sternly.
"My na is Dashien from vani, and I've co to make a deal," the boy cut to the chase, boldly raising his head.
"I only make deals with those who have sothing to offer ," Calix replied coldly, shooing the boy away. "You may leave the way you ca."
"If I may be so bold, Sire," Dashien continued, unfazed by the emperor's icy words, "I believe I can offer you sothing of value, after all."
"Tell what it is you have to offer," Calix conceded disinterestedly. "I'll be the one to decide."
Dashien smiled irksoly. "A golden-haired beauty and bargaining chip against the king of vani."
Calix's ears pricked.
"A golden-haired beauty, you say?"
"That's correct," Dashien nodded. "Princess Adriell is known across the continent for her magnificent hair and unparalleled looks."
"... Princess Adriell." Calix suddenly beca disappointed. "Why is it that you think I'd want her in the first place?"
"She will be your key to vani," Dashien responded imdiately. "And Pandreia and Vitocia will fall soon afterward."
Calix sighed. vani would have done much better to send a decent actor. The boy in front of him might as well be reading directly from his script. Just what was the old king playing at?
"Well, let's say I do want her," Calix mused. "How can I be sure this isn't just so trick?"
"You will be able to verify for yourself when you see the princess," Dashien recited. "She is the only woman on the continent with golden hair."
"The only one?" Calix growled.
No. She wasn't the only one.
Shortly after taking the throne, Calix had probed Itzae about the supposed heir he'd found in vani and, in doing so, discovered there were two golden-haired girls there.
Princess Adriell, beautiful, well-spoken and most definitely not Halrad's heir.
Then another, an orphan that had been picked up by Itzae just as Calix had been.
'Seeing as she isn't the princess, what is stopping you from bringing her to ?' Calix had questioned his teacher.
'Ha! You think I'd let my beautiful Keliyah be raised by the likes of you and your two friends?' Itzae retorted.
'You are aware you're speaking to the emperor right now, correct?' Calix rolled his eyes.
'Emperor or not, you're still a wolf, and I won't send that adorable girl to be eaten by you!' Itzae insisted.
Calix had been dumbfounded at the man's sharp words. He sounded like an overprotective father warding off a troublemaker trying to woo his daughter.
'Teacher,' the young emperor sighed, 'Sotis I have to wonder what you actually think of .'
Eventually, left with only a na and instructions to retrieve the girl when he could prove himself (whatever that ant), Calix was left to his own devices. Itzae disappeared, giving his pupil nothing more than an old leather book with the tiniest bit of information about the heir he'd found in vani.
Itzae had never told Calix, but the reason he refused so adamantly to tear Keliyah away from her ho, the reason he, himself, spent so much ti in vani, was because of another child.
When he'd discovered the golden-haired girl on the streets, she wasn't alone. The young boy who fiercely defended her and took care of her moved the old man's heart so much that he couldn't bear to leave the boy behind.
So, he ended up posing as the boy's uncle and using his hard-earned reputation in the vani palace to secure stable positions for both children.
The boy he'd rescued alongside the girl was nothing special. He was strong and skilled, but was related in no way to dragons or the continent's destiny.
Still, Itzae loved him as his own and joyfully watched him grow as the perfect protector for Halrad's heir, the wild blonde girl with fiery eyes.
Strangely enough, the only two n left on the continent who knew the wild blonde girl's identity were facing each other now, completely unaware of the other's knowledge.
"The only one?" Calix repeated angrily.. "I know for fact there is another. The princess's body double also has golden hair, correct?"
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