Chapter 7

“Did you not take a nap last night?” Pi asked me who just entered my office while carrying a tray that had a mug of hot chocolate.

I yawned, then looked at the window as Pi put the mug of hot chocolate on my table.

“Can’t do… I still have quite a few things to finish and I should finish this before I meet the Grand Duke,” I said, then got back to work.

“Please do not neglect your health, master,” he worriedly said. I nodded, then gestured for him to leave.

I stopped for a moment, then drank the hot choco. I stood up, then stood by the window to appreciate another sunrise as I drank my hot choco.

As I appreciated the view, someone knocked.

“Come in,” I said without turning my back.

“The Marchioness is here to meet you,” Pi said.

“Escort the Marchioness here, and serve us tea,” I ordered him ,then sat on my chair and used my magic to cover the upper half of my face.

“The Marchioness is here, empress,” Pi said.

“Enter,” I replied, then the door opened.

“Greetings to you, Marchioness of Cleve, may the Northern Guardians guide you,” I greeted the Marchioness while curtsying. She also did the same thing, then I invited her to sit.

We are now both sitting on the couch and our tea is also served.

“How can you find her?” The Marchioness started, breaking the short silence.

“Find who, My Lady?” I asked her.

“You sent me a letter saying that you can find the precious thing that I’ve always wanted to find! Now, you’re asking me that?” she shouted.

“I did send a letter that I know how to locate that precious thing of yours, but I never mentioned that it is a person,” I said.

“I don’t care about other things, those are not as valuable as that person that I’m looking for,” she said. I can still feel an ominous aura surrounding her, but she’s calming a little now.

“Marchioness Gloria de Cleve” I said, then leaned back as I looked her in the eyes.

“Everything comes with a price… I may have been able to help you to find your mana stone for free, which was too powerful that it cannot be possess by the wrong person, but if you ask to find something else, then that will cost you, your wealth or maybe your life, depending on what you’re looking for,” I continued.

“What’s the price for finding that person?” she asked.

“Are you sure that you will do anything to find that person you are looking for?” I asked her.

“I will do everything just to find her before someone does,” she replied.

“All you have to do, for me to find that person, is to take good care of the children in the orphanage and be the foster parents of the Baron and Baroness of Blair’s childrens… if I ever got the news that you break my condition, you will not only pay for all your wealth, but also you will pay with your life, so… are you still willing to find whoever might that person you’re looking for?” I asked her.

“I will never treat orphans badly… rest assured on that one, but I don’t know if my husband will be able to accept the Blair Family’s survivors,” she replied.

“You will be able to do it… you have a good heart for childrens and so does your husband… so? What do you say? Will you accept my conditions in exchange for the person you’re looking for?” I asked her again.

“I will do everything to find my elder sister-in-law’s daughter,” she replied with a confident eyes. I smirked, then called for Pi. When Pi entered my office, I asked him to bring me the crystal ball.

“Now, place your hand on that crystal ball and think of that person that you’re looking for,” I instructed. She nodded, then the crystal ball glowed. I saw the Princes enter my office with their masks on, then stood behind me.

After a few seconds, the crystal ball stopped glowing, but we did not see anything.

“That’s unusual,” Lucas said.

“That never happened before,” Leo said.

“What happened?” the Marchioness asked. That’s exactly what I would like to ask myself! I’ve never made a mistake before and this did not malfunction! If I will not be able to help the Marchioness, my friends in the orphanage might experience the same beatings and tortures that we experienced when Baroness Blaire took care of us.

“Empress!” I heard Lucas’ voice that made my mind come back to reality.

Wait, I need to calm down and think about how this tracking works again. I created this and I know that there’s some drawbacks if you can’t find someone or something.

That’s right! I remember now!

“The person that you’re looking for is either dead or her aura and power are sealed, that’s why I can’t locate her,” I said.

“No… she’s alive, I remember my sister-in-law’s maid told me that her daughter’s alive,” the Marchioness said.

“But I can help you in another way… that crystal ball only uses a small amount of my power to locate what you wanted to find, and if you really wanted to find your niece, I can try my newly discovered tracking power,” I said.

“Please do,” she immediately replied.

I stretched both of my hands in front of her, then looked at the Marchioness.

“Please put one of your hands on my left hand,” I said, then she placed her right hand on my left hand.

“There will be light that will come out of my right hand and that light will transport you to your niece’s location… once you were in her location, the light will guide you towards her, then if it enters the body of someone, then that would be your niece… kindly remember that I cannot guarantee that your niece is alive or not since there are two options that I could think of because the crystal ball cannot locate your niece and show us who is your niece… shall I start?” I continued.

“Yes,” she replied.

“Kindly think of your niece again,” I instructed, then she nodded. I closed my eyes for a few seconds to concentrate, then I opened my eyes again. I know that my eyes are glowing and so do our bodies because there’s a light breeze of wind in this room.

It’s already been a minute since we started.

“Are you okay?” the Marchioness asked.

“Keep on thinking about your niece! Do not lose your focus on who you want to find,” I said.

“Empress! Your nose is bleeding, you should stop!” I heard Leo’s voice.

“Nevermind that, it’s almost time that the light will come out,” I said, then in a few seconds, the light did come out of my right hand, but it suddenly flew back towards me and that made me cough some blood.

“Empress!” the three Princes shouted. Lucas handed me a handkerchief and I used it to wipe the blood.

“Don’t worry about me,” I said.

“What happened? Does that mean that you are my niece?” the Marchioness asked.

“I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I am not… the light came back to me because there is a strong barrier or seal that prevents me from locating her,” I said. By the looks of it, she looks devastated and lost hope.

“Do not lose hope, because I felt that your niece is alive,” I said to cheer her up a little.

“Are you sure about that?” she asked.

“No doubt, Madam… that’s why, kindly wait for a year and a half or much longer than that because we will definitely bring back your niece,” I said.

“Thank you so much!” she said with teary eyes.

“And here’s the lost magic stone,” I said, then gave her the magic stone. She was shocked because of that.

“How can I repay you? Uhm… What may be your name, lady?” she said.

“You can just call me the way my subordinates address me,” I said.

“Then, please tell me how can I repay you, empress?” she asked me.

“Just take good care of the children from the orphanage and adopt the children of the Baron and Baroness Blair,” I said.

“May I ask, why should I adopt them?” she asked,

“Because they will inherit their family’s properties and businesses… another thing, kindly send them to my guild when they turn 11 years of age for they will be beneficial to our guild,” I told her.

“Then I will arrange the adoption,” she said.

“No need to do that… my assistant already took care of that,” I said, then rang the small bell to call Pi.

“You called for me, Empress?” Pi asked.

“Kindly escort the Marchioness to her mansion and hand her the adoption paper… also, escort those children to her residence,” I said.

“Yes, I will follow your orders, Empress,” Pi said, then escorted the Marchioness to her mansion.

“Drink this,” Leo said as he handed me a test tube.

“Don’t want to… the potions that you’re making taste disgusting,” I said.

“Give it to me, then get out, enter when I say so,” Lucas said, then Leo handed the potion to Lucas, then he dragged Prince Jude outside.

“Don’t make me drink that,” I warned him, but he just smiled at me, then started to walk towards me.

“You deserve to drink this after what you did yesterday,” he said.

“Nooo!” I shouted.

—

“Is she okay?” Jude asked.

“Oh, she will be okay… after what she did to us yesterday? She deserves to drink that… another thing, I purposefully made that potion bitter,” I replied as we stood guard.

“Are you not afraid of what might happen after you force her to drink that potion?” he asked again.

“Don’t worry, we’ve been friends since we were kids, that’s why she will not be that mad to us,” I said.

“Where were you yesterday?” he asked me.

“She sent us back to our palaces, and she sealed our teleportation power… knowing Lucas, who’s head-over-heels for her, he doesn't like it when she is doing that,” I replied. It seems like they’re done that’s why I told Jude that we should enter.

When we enter. We saw Clementine sitting on the couch and looking like she lost her soul, while Lucas was happily smirking.

“Don’t worry about her, she will be fine now,” Lucas said.

“Fine my ass! You’re making me drink that potion with force! Huhu, I’ll tell this to your parents, Lucas,” Clementine said, then she disappeared.

“Are you not going to follow her?” Jude asked.

“If she’s heading towards our kingdom, then she’ll be fine,” Lucas told him.

“Anyway, we should still follow her,” I butted in, then we teleported to Lucas’ kingdom.

When we arrived, we walked straight to his parents.

“Greetings to the Kingdom’s Flame, King and Queen of the Aidan Empire,” Jude and I greeted Lucas’ parents.

“Father, mother… Did Clementine meet you?” Lucas asked.

“No, why?” her majesty said.

“She told us that she’s going here, your majesty,” I said.

“Prince Leo… no need to address us your majesties… you should call us uncle and auntie since my 3rd cousin is your mother, and same goes for you, Prince Jude since my elder sister married your father,” her majesty said.

“Yes, aunt,” I replied.

“What is it about Clementine again?” uncle asked.

“Oh, we made her drink potion that Leo deliberately made it taste like mud… she was down when I forced her to drink it, then she told us that she will go here and tell your imperial father and mother of what happened to her,” Lucas explained.

Auntie went near Lucas, then smacked the back of his head.

“What was that for, mom?” Lucas asked.

“You forced the one that’s precious to you to do something that she doesn’t want to do?! Who wouldn’t be so down about that? You and your father really do match,” Auntie scolded Lucas.

“Hey, don’t make me involved in that,” Uncle butted in as he raised both of his hands.

“Why? You did the same thing to me, right? You don’t remember it? Do you want me to make you remember what you have done?” Aunt said as she emitted a dark aura and made the room surrounded by a cold breeze of snow.

“Mom, Dad, do you perhaps know where she might have gone?” Lucas asked his parents so that they would stop the supposed to be starting argument.

“I don’t have any idea as to where she might have gone, but you can ask his majesty, the late elder, to locate her,” Aunt replied.

“But, you know that he’s a little bit reluctant to meet outsiders,” I butted in.

“Don’t worry, just mention her name, and then he will help you… we already talked to him about what happened to Clementine, that’s why there’s no reason for him to ignore your presence,” aunt said.

“Then we will go to his palace now,” Lucas said, then we bowed down a little, then we teleported.