Orchestrated

"All five rulers gathered on the territory of the representative. What happened in that room and what was discussed was not shared. However, a week passed before the rulers returned to their kingdoms. Upon return, the vines were retracted and the emperor of the human kingdom immediately declared that the general be placed under house arrest." Lotus continued.

"What happened?!" Kalim jumped in disbelief, "Isn't that too sudden?"

Ren looked to Lotus who shook her head, "Know one knew the truth of the matter. However, it was rumored that the general had done something to anger the emperor and empress. The two unanimously agreed that the general must be punished for it in the manner. Upon hearing this, the princess grew distraught and hurried to find her father. However, their talk soon grew into a full blown argument. The emperor grounded their daughter and she was not allowed to have visitors without his permission. Hearing this, the empress was striken was grief, but she could do nothing against the decision."

"Why not? Isn't the emperor her husband? She could always visit her daughter and discuss the matter with her." Kalim suggested.

"She could, but the emperor is the one with full authority. Not even the empress, his wife, has a say against his decision. In fact, she is one of the few lucky individuals who does not have to contend with other wives of her husband because he rejected all recommendations for one. He was a very devoted spouse, but it is law that no matter how powerful his spouses are, they are not allowed to interfere with any decisions he made. So, in the end, she could not say anything about his decision on their daughter."

With a sigh, Kalim shook his head in dismay, "It's a good thing that we don't have to worry about that in Scalding Sands of this era. There is so many difficult rules in the past. It's difficult to remember all the things that we can and can't do. Before she was the crown princess and now she's the empress. But, unlike before, she has to listen to what her husband says without disagreeing."

"In history, very few women in our history has political power. Even if the only child is a princess, they prefer to look elsewhere for a distant male relative instead. As for the empress, she rose to power because her husband and her defeated their competition and, as the next best choice, he became the next emperor. Political power, strength, intelligence and speech. There was nearly nothing he could do. With the crown princess as his spouse, they managed to rise to power together." Lotus frowned, "However, disaster struck during her confinement when a minister came rushing into the palace one night shouting how there was a riot in the capital due to the concerns of the bandits. With the general imprisoned, the bandits had taken the chance to attack the capital. During the riot, the bandits had snuck themselves into the palace using magic and poisoned the emperor who was wounded having taken the front lines to quell the riot. The princess went against the guards and broke out of confinement only to come across her father dying in her mother's arms. Overcome with grief and anger, she single handedly took down all of the bandits in search for an antidote alongside her mother. However, the emperor passed away the very morning once the riot was quelled. Shocked and horrified, the empress struggled as she took up the reigns alongside her daughter. Not long after, the general was released from his confinement and expressed his condolences for the emperor's passing as he even arrived in funeral clothing. Together with the princess, the two managed to capture all of the bandits and brought them back to the kingdom. However, upon their arrival, they discovered that the empress had already passed away from the pressure and grief the day they arrived. With the support of the people who was saved from the attacks of bandits, the princess rose to power and placed the young general as their new emperor. As for the matter with the foreign affairs, they decided to separate the kingdoms using magic so that there would be no further conflicts between their kingdoms again. Since then, she was hailed as a wise ruler and her husband as a powerful emperor."

"Hm..." Kalim hummed with a dissatisfied look across his face, "Even though it came to a good ending, I still think that the emperor should have had a talk with his daughter. This just doesn't sit well with me. They should talk things out and come to an understanding-"

"There was no understanding to arrive at to begin with." Ren frowned.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

With a serious expression, Ren took a deep breath and began, "From the beginning, everything was very smooth despite a couple hiccups along the way. The princess's mother and father were clearly very wise and noble rulers. However, it was unfortunate that their daughter did not come out the way they did. Perhaps, that was their only major mistake in life."

"Are you saying this was actually the crown princess's fault?!" Kalim jumped back in bewilderment, "But, didn't she clearly loved her parents."

"Well, you're both not wrong." Lotus chuckled with a sly smirk, "Very impressive, Ren. the truth is, starting from a young age, the princess masterminded everything."

"What do you mean?" Kalim looked to her in confusion.

"Do you remember the bandits that her grandfather had gone to destroy near the start of the princess's life?" Lotus pointed out, "The princess had been very intelligent and capable from a young age. Although she received the love and attention from those around her, she became greedy when all that attention began to shift upon the arrival of a new person."

"A new person?"

"So, there was another person." Ren frowned, "The one who created the vines separating the kingdoms and image from water was not the representative, but that person."

Lotus chuckled, "You're correct. It was my speculation, but there was evidence that there was a young dragon fae girl during that era. That person held great power and was so beautiful many claimed that she was a celestial from the beast kingdom, thus, earning her the title of 'the thorn fairy'. The thorn fairy was an orphaned outsider with magic foreign to their knowledge. However, she was bright and compassionate from a young age. Having no parents, she was taken in by the kingdom of plant faes and raised by the sole ruler of their kingdom, the Peony fairy empress. There she was introduced to the other two sworn sisters and immediately grew fond of each other. They sworn sisterhood with her and began to raise her into adult hood with much love and care. It didn't take long before the thorn fairy grew older and her child-like features turned into that of a fair adult fae. However, one thing remained the same, she is very much attached to the elder sworn sister who found her, the peony fairy empress. Though the peony fairy empress did not travel much, it was said that, whenever she did travel, people would always find the thorn fairy attached to her. They were no different from true siblings. However, during their trip to the human kingdom, they stumbled upon a bush shuddering in fear. Concerned, the fairy questioned the bush was the problem using her sister's magic and learnt the truth of the former emperor's death. It was revealed that the bush was a gift from the princess to her grandfather when she was young. Due to this, this bush became the favorite of the former emperor and was care for very carefully by his hand. They soon shared a close bond to which the bush was opened enough to reveal he was a plant fae. They would often confide in each other's trouble and watch out for one another. However, one day, the emperor came to the bush injured that, and, before the bush could question what had occurred, guards came after him and slaughtered their ruler. Shocked, the bush could say nothing as he watched the horror before him. The young princess emerged from behind the guards and demanded that the emperor write a will to make her mother and father the next rulers. Shocked by this, the emperor struggled to fight back against his granddaughter in rejection to the demand and was decapitated by his own beloved granddaughter."

"Oh my god!" Kalim jumped in shock upon hearing this, "How could such a child be so ruthless at such a young age?! What happened to her to do such a thing?"

Just as uncertain, Lotus shook her head, "Nobody who learnt of this knew the answer to that and just as they knew, they were also silenced by her. The thorn fairy and the Peony fairy empress then learnt the truth and could easily figure out all that happened in the back of each event. However, the Peony fairy empress also had a soft spot for young children and did not believe that such a young child would do such a cruel thing. Later, she attended the banquet alongside the peony empress and, after the princess failed to take the spotlight, the thorn fairy spun a beautiful dance creating nature with each step she took. Before everyone, she shone brightly with grace and exuded an air of festivity bringing everyone to their feet and applauding when the dance was finished. She was expected to match with young gerenal of the human kingdom, but all three sworn sisters disliked the idea of matching their youngest sister with anyone at all, regardless of race. Since then, many regarded the thorn fairy as an untouchable individual in both court and power. Nobody was sure is she could be suppressed at all. However, all the fame and fortune did not get to her head as the thorn fairy could not help but be concerned with the new crown princess back then. The thorn fairy disliked the crown princess very much, but she did not go against her in public as much as she is also concerned for the position of her third elder sister, the peony empress. She did not wish for her sister to become a political enemy for the two rulers as she had already deemed the two to be wise and kind pair of rulers. As the years passed, she learnt alot about the crown princess. First, the group of bandits and mysterious death was not the work of outsiders but the work of the princess. They were her own soldiers whom she went out and secretly gathered in an attempt to usurp her grandfather. Killing people was done so to create the unrest she needed to help raise her parents to a higher position of power through the achievements. However, that was not enough as her actions were noticed by her relatives. So, in an attempt to get rid of witnesses, she orchestrated the discovery of her grandfather to make it seem as though one of the royal family members had attempted to usurp the throne. Yet, to the relatives who sided with her mother and father, they knew that this was the princess's doing and failed to convince her parents that something is wrong with her. Instead, it prompted the two to believe they just wanted to get rid of their daughter whom they love so much."