Amara of Xeris

Chapter 28

Amara stared at the letter in her hand for some time. The fact that Victor took the time to answer her letter. He didn't seem bothered by the letter, but what could Amara know? It's hard to realise sarcasm when it's written in a letter. With an even worse mood, Amara folded up the letter. There was some writing on the back of the page. There was a message on the back and it said-

"Drip some ink on the note."

A secret message! Amara had never heard of this way of disguising messages. She had heard about invisible ink and secret cyphers but never this. She wondered what could Victor possibly have to say with this message and dripped some ink on the letter. The first layer of the paper tore to reveal another page and another message.

Dear Amara Xerina,

Queen of the Xerin Dominion of State of Kelasar,

Due to my previous instructions, you might be wondering what I am going to say. I do have a solution to your problem, however, it can be considered very unethical which is why I have decided to send you this message the way I sent it. Just in case, you follow my plans, which I have a feeling you will not.

I understand that due to your limitations as Sovereign of a Dominion State, you cannot pass new laws fast enough for the crackdown, nor can you veto any opposition. This is why I suggest this, delay the crackdowns. Talk to Queen Iridessa and the Council and use charm speak to convince her to delay the crackdowns. You could also place a crackdown on Ephedian businesses. I wouldn't recommend this one as it would spread more fire.

These are the only possible solutions I could think of, and I am sorry that I was not able to think of any ethical solutions. You may use these and please be sure to burn this letter if you do. If not, then anything the royals do is not your fault.

Yours Sincerely,

Victor Aradis

Emperor of Othrera

Amara looked at the letter carefully and weighed the two ideas in her head. She could choose to be a good person and risk civil unrest in her country, or she could retaliate and put a crackdown on Ephedian businesses and risk the wrath of her fellow royals, or she could peacefully delay the crackdown with charm speak. She wouldn't even need to worry about getting caught, Ephedians can't tell the difference between normal charisma and charm-speak. All she needed was a way to get her father out of the meeting for it all to work smoothly, or she could convince him to join her. No, her father would definitely disapprove. Better to get him out of the meeting altogether.

A part of Amara's conscience spoke to her, don't do it. But Amara wouldn't listen. It was for the greater good. Peace in her realm, what harm could charm speak even do? Nothing much.

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"I am not feeling well today. I don't I would be able to make it to the Council Meeting today.", her father said in his bed. He had gotten a high fever out of nowhere. Surely, his daughter had nothing to do about it. "I am sorry that you have to do this alone."

"It's alright, Dad. You'll get better soon.", Amara said. She felt guilty for mixing a fever potion in his drink, but he would recover completely by tomorrow morning maximum. Nothing to worry about, besides it was for Kelasar. "Don't worry, I can handle it by myself."

Aluxio found it odd for his daughter to be so calm but chose not to say anything. Maybe she was hiding her inner panic or maybe she grew some self-confidence. It didn't matter, one was just happy to see his daughter handle this emergency so well. He just wondered how did he catch a fever so suddenly, he was completely fine yesterday.

Amara had reasoned that it was due to him walking in the rain yesterday. It had happened many times before but this time, it felt unusual and unnatural for some reason. Maybe, Aluxio was just overthinking it.

"Get plenty of rest, Dad.", Amara said leaving the room, "I will handle this on my own." With that she left the room.