One who had no such opportunity to escape the Empress’ grasp was the High Prince. Despite having witnessed his little brother skittering on the verge of death, he had been in the same position of kneeling the entire time.

“Now to deal with you,” the Empress’ voice echoed from her throne. “Let's hear your perspective, too.”

The High Prince rolled his eyes nimbly.

The Empress sighed. “He was made an example of, no? Why are you still keen on acting all rebellious?”

“I couldn't care less about that brat,” he refuted with an extinguished fire in his eyes. It wasn't mere ash yet.

“He is your brother.”

“So what? I didn't ask him to be my brother.”

“As I had thought, despite all the antics you pull off to ridicule yourself to everyone around you, you are strangely resilient against mind games,” The Empress spoke with admiration as she descended the stairs. She stopped in front of him. “I would say it is admirable, but you are of my blood, after all.”

“What is your point?”

“Go,” she said, zeal not hidden in her voice, “go sit on the throne. I have a story to tell you.”

The High Prince got back up on his feet. He was sceptical of his mother's intention. Alas, he had sat on the throne in a jiffy.

“How does it feel?”

“It's… more comfortable than I thought, I guess? Doesn't mean anything without the crown, though.”

“Very funny, Jim. Why don't you try to be grateful for once?”

“Why don't you—”

“Never mind, don't answer that,” she gave up in disbelief. “This story is about a time long before my mother died.”

The then-capital of the Demon Kingdom, Lyfingeswe.

Mylene de la Rosa, a young lass once upon a time, had awakened from her slumber by an impudent one knocking on her door.

“What?” she shouted from her bed chamber as she straightened herself in her bed. “What could be important enough to disturb my beauty sleep?”

“My condolences,” the man on the other side spoke in a malapmalapermalapmalapert 

“My mother?” she mumbled as she rubbed her eyes. Her lavender-coloured eyes shined brightly from the ajarred window across the room. Her hair whiter than snow was cut short for convenience, barely covering her forehead. The faint morning breeze from the open window had hit her directly when she lifted her blanket. For a moment she uncontrollably refuted ignoring the letter for the sake of comfort, characterised by her split-second hesitation to get up.

As a young princess, she was uncontrollably brazen. She answered the door despite her pyjamas consisting of her underwear. He ignored the man's pejorative gaze and grabbed the letter. She promptly shut the door on the messenger before he could salute her. The man stared at the door with a faint blush. He shook himself quickly so as not to be spotted in that state, pushed his strange, cubic glasses akin to the specific one most elderly use up to fit his nose perfectly, coughed and went on his way.

Mylene climbed on her bed and sat up. She put her pillow behind her to support her posture and sat cross-legged.

The letter was labelled “From: The Empress”, and directly below this statement, “To: Mylene de la Rosa”. It was stated with a red stamp in the down rightmost corner, “To be delivered immediately.” In the Middle was the Empress’ seal for legitimacy. In the upper leftmost corner were the addresses for both the sender and the recipient. Heaven, and Lyfingeswe, respectively.

Mylene skipped the formalities of diligence when unsealing an envelope sent by someone of higher standing. She ripped the envelope above the seal, then tore it downward. Unable to break the seal by brute force, she slid his hand and pulled the letter out with a slapdash attitude.

The ink on the letter was not neat. There were droplets of ink erratically placed on the thick sheet of paper. The shambolic handwriting on the paper was to inform that Mylene was to be sent on a voyage around Khevreg, effective the next daybreak from when she had read the letter. 

This is the last bit of your education mandatory as heir to Lucifer's throne, her mother had written in the letter, (...) after all, your life thus far was set in comfort in the palace for you to focus on your education. But in these troubled times, I need to make sure you are fit to be the next sovereign. I cannot guarantee when you might have to take up my place to prevent chaos and power struggles, even if you are too young to rule a Kingdom therefrom.

With your sagaciousness and mastery, the only piece remaining is to make sure you will not end up as a ruler who never gets out of her palace and grows out of touch with her people.

(...)

The letter ends with the following dramatic apology: 

Please forgive me, my darling girl, but this is the only way for me to make sure of that.

Don't think of this as banishment or some sort of punishment. I had long acknowledged your skill and your willingness to aid me end this once and for all. 

But that same willingness is the reason why this is necessary. To be neither fish nor fowl is perilous for those of de la Rosa blood. As the potential next monarch, the next Empress, cunning should be second nature to you.

I understand how you may think as a young girl but brute force will only take you so far. Please keep that in mind during your journey.

I expect you to bring me souvenirs from all across as proof of your journey. Of course, it is unavoidable that I shall question their significance and why you have chosen them.

Alas, you know where to find me. The way things are going, I may not be able to return to Khevreg for aeons to come.

For now, make sure this journey is a welcome to the family and not a goodbye. I am counting on you.

As peculiar as it is for a formal letter, from the Empress, no less, it had no signature. It was almost as if it had been prepared with haste and necessary bureaucratic work was skipped to deliver it immediately, just like the messenger had mentioned. 

That would mean no one reviewed the letter prior to Mylene reading it. 

She thereafter started her morning forthwith. She made sure she was perfectly awake. She chose a dress easy to move around in and suitable for the work she had ahead of her. She had done minimal makeup just enough to hide the features that came as a package with teenagehood. She did not make any effort to look presentable besides the one aforementioned.

First thing in the morning, she visited the Communication Commission. She made them check the legitimacy of the seal, which was then proved actual. Afterwards, the Queen's handwriting was to be checked. However, the sloppy handwriting did not match the Empress’.

She commanded them to send a messenger to Heaven urgently. By the time she had breakfast and returned, they received an answer from the Heaven counterpart of the Communication Commission. They confirmed the letter was from the Empress herself.

She then spent the rest of his day finding the messenger that delivered the message to her. Strangely enough, she was told he had never left Heaven.

She tried every possible way to get an audience or to deliver a message at the very least. However, she was still banned from going there personally. She had run out of options. She returned to her chamber to prepare to find the servants had prepared her what she should take with her at the bare minimum such as clothes, bandages, some medicine, some herbs to craft new ones if necessary, some additional ingredients for concoctions, a map of Khevreg, a guide to surviving in the wilderness, food recipes easy to make along with a physical map of the continent of Suverän for her to prepare against the harsh and mountainous lands.

The servants, after explaining to her what they had prepared, advised her to rest as she would be kicked out of the palace if she did not leave by daybreak. They left her alone for her to sleep then after.

She made her own preparations before heading to bed. As much as she wanted to deny it, it seemed her mother's orders were absolute to the point she had no choice but to accept them.

At dayspring, knights from the military barged into her chamber. They woke her up and stated that as per the Empress’ orders, they were obligated to kick her out of the palace if she did not leave by herself by the time the sun was fully visible. She tried to tell them off for their impudence but the knights simply repeated their declaration in response.

Mylene subpoenaed servants to the Princess’ Chamber immediately and ordered them to prepare supplies for her journey. They were also tasked with delivering the message to the kitchen for the cooks to make their breakfast. She stated she would eat in the dining room if she had the time.

When the servants left, she ran around her room for several minutes. With a sense of urgency she had never before experienced in her life, she dressed up. She wore a loose shirt and trousers intended to make it easy to survive the wildlife. When she saw herself in the mirror, a gasp of surprise escaped her lips. Although she rarely dressed the part of a princess, this time, it was impossible to tell she was born of loyal blood. She saw a plebe in the mirror and got ashamed. 

She did not have time to dwell on her thoughts, however; there was a dearth of time. She stuffed some personal belongings into her bag and hurried to the Kitchen.

She was served leftover oyster stew in a clay pot the size of a plate from the previous day, some porridge with milk and a flask full of water.

The cook apologised for the meal not being perfectly balanced in terms of nutrition and explained that it was the best they could do in such a short amount of time. Before she could finish her extensive speech, Mylene shooed her away without explanation.

As much as she went hell for leather, she was a princess who received etiquette training. A must of loyalty seemed not to work well during a race against time.

Just as they said, knights searched the palace for her. They found her and dragged her all the way to the outer walls of the castle. 

At least they were understanding enough to bring Mylene her backpack and supplies before she set off.

She looked back once or twice as she walked in the opposite direction of the palace. 

That was the day she first cursed at her mother.