The Empress (Princess Aurelia)

Outside of my mother's bedroom stood two guards. They were both at the peak of the first realm, rank S+. Unfortunately for them, they would likely never be able to climb higher.

"Move aside. I am here to the see my mother," I demanded instantly. Before, would not have dared interrupt my mother in her brooding. But with the information I had now it was a different story.

"The empress is not accepting visitors today. However, we can leave her a message from Your Highness."

"The information I have is much too important. My mother would wish to know immediately." I shook my head. "If she learns that you blocked me at the door…" The guards froze, now a little uncertain.

I smiled. Even an S-rank could not do much against my [Persuasion] skill. It was my highest level skill, maxed at level twenty. And these were guards. Most of their skills were combat-based. None of their social skills compare to mine despite their rank being higher.

I patted one of the guards shoulders. "Don't worry. If I'm wrong, it will be me who takes the blame, not you."

"Fine, enter. But we were not involved," The guard finally declared after some thought.

"Of course." I smiled as I push through the massive wooden doors.

Saying the bedroom was large would be an understatement. It was four or five times larger than my own. And my room was already quite large to begin with. It could hardly be called a room in the first place.

The moment I opened the door I heard a thud as an arrow hit its target. Was my mother practising archery in her bedroom? I know the place was large, but couldn't she just go outside? The room was only so big.

I looked towards the source of the arrow. Two woman stood side by side, one tall and one short.

The tall one I immediately recognized as my mother. My mother's appearance was actually quite similar to my own. In fact, if you didn't know any better you might consider us as sisters.

The empress was a red fox beastkin like me. She had bright red hair, sharp fox ears at the top of her head and a bushy tail. She was dressed in a skimpy red and gold dress that was more suitable for a prostitute than an empress. My mother had always dressed…oddly, but she had stopped the habit after she married my step-father. It seemed with the death of Adrian that it had returned.

Beside her stood my younger sister, Adriel. I was a little surprised to see her as well. After getting another look at her, I realized the similarities between her and Kitty were even greater than I thought. In fact, besides her hairstyle and clothing, they were practically identical.

Princess Adriel was dressed in tight leather armour and had her hair tied behind her. In her hands was a bow. So she was the one practising archery?

"Mother. Sister. Good Afternoon." I greeted the two, ignoring the oddity of using a bow indoors.

"How did you get in here?" The empress asked. Adriel just looked at me, remaining silent as always. I had barely heard her speak a word since her brother died.

I shrugged. "Through the door."

"What do you want? Don't you have an empire to be running?" She asked.

"You mean your empire?"

"You can have it if you want. Consider it an early birthday gift."

"My birthday was two months ago." You were even there at the banquet…

"A late gift than." My mother didn't even have the decency to seem embarrassed.

I let out a sigh. My mother had always been like this. She had always been willing to give her children anything they wanted, except her love. The only two children she truly loved were the the twins. The children of the man she had lost her heart too.

My other siblings had despised her for it. When the twins were born, they had been doted on constantly by both their mother and father while the rest of us had had neither parent.

Jealousy turned to resentment, and my other siblings had taken out their hatred on the two pink-haired siblings. However, they couldn't hide their bullying for long from the empress and the ones who were caught were promptly kicked out of the palace. The rest moved out on their own.

Only I and the twins remained. I had never resented my mother much for her lack of affection. Nor had I ever been jealous of the twins either. My dream had always been to rule the empire and neither of the twins wished to rule. Even my mother only ruled out of duty.

One day, I would become empress. That was what my mother had promised me.

But right now it was still too early. I was still a full rank away from my promotion. My progress was far too slow. While I might be better than the average person, I was still far away from the true geniuses. I was already twenty-seven and still hadn't reached my first promotion.

I glanced at Adriel who was staying silent. She was almost a decade younger than me and had already reached S-rank. She would likely become an Adept before thirty, even quicker than mother. That was true talent. It was hard not to be jealous. Even her brother, Adrian had always felt inferior to his sister.

She was a once in a century genius. Perhaps even once in a millennium. Only the heroes progressed faster than her. But theyt were hardly a fair comparison.

I pointed to Adriel. "Why is she here anyway? And why are you teaching her archery?"

"She wanted me to help her get stronger. We still have a year until the crusade begins after all," the empress said nonchalantly.

"Ah, yes. The crusade that you started when you decided to go ahead and summon the heroes ahead of time for your own personal agenda. And now everyone is blaming our empire when three of the heroes did not even show up."

"Who cares about them? As long as I can get my baby boy back, I'd be willing to sacrifice the entire summoning if I had to."

"Oh? You'd be willing to sacrifice so much? What if I say I can get your child back myself?"

Both my mother's and Adriel's heads perked up at my words. The empress grabbed my shoulders, her iron grip digging painfully into my shoulders.

"Tell me how." The empress stared at me, her eyes full of hope.

"Okay, okay. I'll tell you. As long as you take back your position as empress." I couldn't run this empire by myself after all. Only a month of my mother's absence and hints of rebellion are already sprouting all over the empire.

My mother waved her hand. "That's fine. Now tell me. How can we get him back?"

"You don't need to. I already brought your child into the palace."

"What? How?" The empress stared at me with shock. I found the reaction quite amusing.

"Unlike you, I haven't cooped myself in my room waiting for a bloody crusade." I sighed. "Over a week ago, I heard a rumour about a slave that escaped from the Demon Lord of Lust and was currently being hunted through the north. The slave was described as a beastkin with pink hair so I immediately thought of Adrian."

"Oh? I knew Adrian would be able to escape," the empress said, her chest puffing with pride from her son.

I looked at her with doubt. When did you ever believe he would escape? You started an entire crusade just to get him back.

"Anyway, I decided to send a contingent of royal knights to the border in case they were able to find this slave. Despite my uncertainty, they were still able to find the person and bring them back here. I interrogated the slave as soon as they arrived, just an hour ago, and am now almost certain that the slave is Adrian."

"Almost certain? How can you not be sure that he is my son?" The empress asked.

"Well, the Demon Lord of Lust took away the person's memory. They don't remember anything before they became a slave."

"That bitch! She actually dared to take away my son's memories." I felt an oppressive aura envelop the room as I struggled to stay standing. My sister was not doing much better. After a few seconds, the empress relaxed as she calmed herself down.

After recollecting myself, I opened my mouth. "So, is it possible? The girl wasn't lying according to my truth ring but removing a person's entire memory seems like it would be quite difficult."

"I don't know. I'm not a mage. But it is probably possible, especially if it was a demon lord. I've heard of spells that could do a lot more than just take away memories."

"I have another question for you, mother. Would it be possible to change someone's gender as well?" I asked.

"Hmm...its not impossible. The nymphs had a spell that turned men into women back in the day. It was one of the punishments they had for any man who got on their bad side. But they were near immortal and almost as good as the high elves at magic."

"Would this spell happen to be called the Blessing of the Nymphs?" I remembered the spell mainly because it had to do with the nymphs. While the nymphs were likely extinct, my two siblings both carried nymph blood in them. It was the reason my mother had become infatuated with my step-father.

The empress shook her head. "I'm not sure. Everything I know about the nymphs was taught to me by my darling. But why are you asking this?"

"Well, instead of a son, you now have a daughter," I said, trying to keep my voice calm. Hopefully, they wouldn't react too badly.

""What?!""

I jerked back from the two reactions. My mother's reaction wasn't surprising, she was completely shocked. What confused me was Adriel's reaction. Why did she look so…horrified?

"Impossible. There is no way my son was turned into a girl." The empress immediately rejected me.

"But its true! I'm absolutely positive that that girl is Prince Adr—"

"Sister, to think you would bring in someone to impersonate Prince Adrian. Was the only similar person you could find a girl?" Adriel spoke for the first time, her eyes glaring daggers at me. Why was she so angry?

"Why would I be lying?" And why are you getting so caught up about this?

"Hmph, I think it would be best if I had a look at this girl myself. The audacity she must have to believe I would ever accept some random hussy as my daughter. I would like to see if this girl would dare claim that she was my son to my face," my mother immediately declared.

Before I could react, the empress disappeared in a flash. Where she was once standing, only air remained.

"I forgot she could do that…" I murmured as I stared at the spot where my mother used to be.

Couldn't she have let me explain a little before storming off? She didn't even know where the girl was being kept. Although I doubted it would take her long to find out.

It seemed like this plan was a failure. I didn't expect that reaction. Even my sister was acting weird. Did it really matter that much if Adrian was a girl?

Well, hopefully the girl would be fine. I wouldn't want to see her dead, especially by her own mother.

At least, the empress wouldn't kill her. Probably.