1 The Innocent Princess

The fresh scent of roses flows through the window, greeting a young girl to wake up. A maid walks into the room and opens the curtains.

"Your highness, it's time to wake up," she calls out.

The young girl rubs her eyes and stands up, drowsily. Princess Violetta seats herself, as her maids style her stunning golden hair and dress her for her day. She is the sheltered innocent princess of Beria Kingdom. Everyday, for her, is without worry. The only thing that is the slightest bit interesting, and her favorite part of her mundane life, is whenever she gets to chat with her best friend, Princess Justine of Jeremia Kingdom. Today is one of those days.

Justine skips over to the tea table, her long red hair flowing in the wind. Violetta is already waiting, eagerly.

"Hey! What's up?" Justine earnestly greets, as she seats herself.

Justine's pristine clear purple eyes glance around at the delicious tea and nourishments.

Violetta giggles, "How was your meeting with Big Brother?"

"Oh, it was fine," Justine monotonously responds, "It's just the paperwork… ew…"

"You are going to become the Queen of this Kingdom so of course there's paperwork and everything," Violetta replies with a pure smile.

"Ugh, let's not talk about this. Have you heard of the legendary spice?"

"What spice?"

"So there's this legendary spice that literally b.u.r.n.s. your tongue. Apparently that taste is called 'spicy' or something like that. Even the Demigod Society has a hard time intaking it. Haha, I was able to sneak some here!"

She pulls out a small pouch, and Violetta asks, "The Demigod Society? Even the ones that study magic have a hard time?"

"Yeah, amazing right?"

She passes the pouch to Violetta, and Violetta puts her finger in and tastes it.

She started to cough, nonstop for a good ten seconds, "... feels weird…"

Justine laughs, "I know right? It's such a weird feeling!"

"It must be really expensive. How did you get it?"

"...The Auction."

"Wow, I want to go to one…" Violetta wishes.

"You'll get to one someday. Your father can't prevent you forever, oh also …" she lowers to a whisper, " Apparently, all the Demigods found out about this spice is that it numbs your senses sometimes and gives amazing beauty. Shh… don't tell anyone this is classified info..."

Innocent Violetta nods her head.

"Anyways, I was only able to get to a concentration of one teaspoon as my record."

"Wow, even for you?"

"Yup, this spice is very intense, but I actually got a bit of the effects. It was really cool!"

"Hmmm, can I have some?" Violetta asks curiously.

Justine looks at her, surprised, "Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'd try it."

"Wow… this is a surprise. You're such a mild and nonchalant person. No one would expect you to go for such an intense spice."

"True, but I want to experience more things before… I get married off," Violetta frowns.

This was the topic they discussed last time Justine came over, since Justine and Violetta found it quite a disgusting idea that they couldn't choose and 'princesses surely are given luxury and wealth and what not, but we're just tools for the royal families to make peace negotiations. We'll be married off in no time for the 'sake of our kingdom'.'

Justine's face darkens too, "Do you know who?"

"No, but it's almost my coming of age..." she replies.

"Literal incest," Justine whispers, disgusted.

Violetta nods in agreement. If one really thinks about it, it really is as if the royal family is one big family. Princesses always get married off to other kingdoms, to people that are literally their distant cousin or something.

"I wish you luck then~," Justine says, while standing up to leave.

"I guess it's time," Violetta stands up too.

"Oh!" Justine suddenly remembers something and hands a book and the bag of peppers to Violetta, "This is a rare copy of the research the Demigod Society made on the spice. It's mostly recipes though, so try it out."

"Thanks!"

Violets and her maids head back towards Princess Violetta's chambers.

"Wait," Violetta commands.

She turns around and heads towards the royal library instead. The maids behind her follow. It's not strange that she would go to the royal library. Because Violetta has never left the castle or royal family comfort, all she does is study. One could say that she's only seen the world through books, not knowing of how the world actually works.

She opens the door of the library, greeted by a familiar face.

"Big Brother," she curtsies.

"Mm," was all he responded to her.

To him, Violetta is just a boring young sister. He much preferred his fiancee, Princess Justine, who is much more wild… but Violetta wouldn't know these thoughts. She also has zero interest in appealing to her brother.

She immediately walks into the crowds of books, and her maids stand by the side. However, after a moment, they look at each other, confused. Why is the Princess going into the food section? She has never shown interest in cooking?

"Mmm… not this… not this… maybe it's not in this section…" Violetta mutters to herself.

Click, clack. She walks over to the herbs section this time. She picks three to four books and walks over to a chair. She seats herself and immerses into the hundred-paged books. It didn't take her quite long to find and gather information, as she's a bookworm.

"Peppers and chili… ok… numbing properties… short term fever like symptoms? but not harmful…"

She snaps the book shut and heads out the library.

"Your highness," one of them speaks up, "It's almost time for dinner."

Violetta, who's still thinking about the peppers, slowly zones out of her thought process and walks towards the dining hall instead. She enters with her 'entourage' and seats herself. Shortly after, her father, the king, enters.

"Ah! My beloved Violetta! How was your day today? I didn't see you for lunch today," he speaks, ecstatically.

Violetta internally frowns, suspicious of why her father is being so… abnormally nice.