Another day arrives, the sun is shining, the sky is clean, and the royal family is having their early breakfast together. This breakfast happens once on Mondays, when all of them wake up 2 hours before the workers and servant of the palace— to have a "pre-breakfast" in the Emperor and Empress room for a family reunion and discuss together some matters.
In that time, only 3 of the Empress' ladies-in-waiting will wake to prepare the meal for them and go back to their rooms— to not listen to what the Royals will talk about in their personal reunion.
***
The Empress Noel took a sip of her cup of tea, starting. "The babies death percentage dropped drastically, my son, you did a great job resolving the problem in no time." She praised, with a gentle smile.
"It was not me, mama." Saganu replied with waving hands, correcting his mother. "Actually, who solved it was a kitchen worker named Amethyst, she had sent a message about what was the cause of the deaths without anyone knowing. All in secret and anonymously— And as a reward, I promoted her as my advisor, and other positions.
"But now, we need to focus on healing Dunishia."
"Talking about mystery and secrets." Bara chimes in, the first princess of the palace, known for her love towards red flowers. The roses embroidery in her red kimono representing her elegance, beauty, and prickliness. "Miss of the Flowers had disappeared for a long time now. The last time she had shown her presence was in the Esmeralda Castle doing a delivery, then she was no longer seen." She takes a bite of her strawberry before adding. "I mean, she rarely shows her presence, but she's not answering her telephone calls anymore. I loved her scented oils and the Orchids clan's products she sold."
Daia, the third princess who has the habit of staying silent, known for her love towards diamonds, her light blue kimono embroidery being diamonds, representing her quietness, coldness and elegance, enters in the conversation— her posture and face neat as ever. "I love her teas and perfumes, they are very well produced. It's a shame, and sadness, that she disappeared without a sight."
"For a seller, she is pretty anonymous, only a very few people would have the opportunity to see her face... And happily i was one of them." Says the Empress, which makes the others on the table surprised. "I, one time, went to her house to order a special and personalized tea, but i had also discovered that she haves contacts with the Orchids clan, which made me ponder for a moment. How did she got contact with them if they are barely contactable?"
Emperor Ryota chuckles a bit at the last thing his wife said, and decides to answer. "They are barely contactable, but not shut in, wife of mine. Some of the clan members commonly make appearances in the kingdom. She must had acquaintances with one of the members to be able to sell their products. But that is quite rare to happen since the invasion incident of the clan." He then adds. "Besides the stores owned by the Orchids, they are the only way to contact them is by talking with the OwlHearts, the other clan next to them."
"But how the OwlHeart clan, a clan of owls and warriors, specialize in martial arts, weapons, philosophy, machinery and dealing with money have bonds with the Orchids clan, a clan of peacocks and witches, specialized in science, beauty cosmetics, magic books and objects, and psychology? Wouldn't they have, a little bit of rivalries?" Asks Himawari, the second princess, known for her love towards yellow flowers— Her kimono embroidery being a sunflower, representing her positivity, enthusiasm, and optimism. "Shouldn't they be rivals or something similar?"
"I will explain why such a thing, my daughter."
The Empress then, raises her hand. The air gets thicker, windy, and the atmosphere slightly chills. A book of a golden cover, with glyphs and symbols engraved in red. The book opens in her hands, flipping through the pages until reaching a certain chapter.
"Since the appearance of the high noble clans, Orchids and OwlHeart never got along well with each other. Always avoiding each other but never end up in fights. But, one day, a little girl from the Orchids and a little boy from the OwlHeart met each other in a small booth of flowers. The girl was selling mainly flowers, but she also offeredcard reading and tea for the customers. They started to pass time more often together, eat together, and teach each other what they know. Years passed by, and they started to develop feelings towards each other, but something was certain, their love was forbidden.
One time or another, they were discovered, and yet, the clans didn't stop them from being together, but rather had seen as an opening for making contracts and deals.
On December 31st, the widowed matriarch of the Orchids clan and the patriarch of the OwlHearts founded themselves in the exact booth where the kids met, starting a deal and a contract. The contract consisted of forming an alliance between the clans, love relationships, the knowledge sharing and teachings, the contract would only be undone if the marriage doesn't go well and both sides get divorced. Nowadays, the couple has four children:
the first child, a male, representing the golden paper used for the writing; The second, a female, representing the first paragraphs of the contract about the alliance and love relationships; The third one, a female as well, representing the last paragraphs of the contract about the knowledge sharing and teachings; And the last one, a male, representing the signature and the stamp of both clans, sealing the contract and immortalizing the deal."
The book closes once the Empress finishes reading, flying back towards the bookshelf out of the Empress' control. She sighs, not protesting, since the books about the clans history of the kingdom are always like this, only opening and appearing when necessary.
"Their children must be very important for the clans then." Says princess Bara, before princess Himawari chimes in.
"Does the book, in some way or another, show the faces of the children? Or at least describe their appearances? Now I'm super curious to know how they look like!"
"Sadly, the book only puts important information, physical descriptions only appear when very relevant to the book." Empress Akino answers, adding. "But I had heard from a birdy or two that the third one, is a peacock and owl mix, different from their siblings that are peacocks and owls purely. I also heard that the third child is the smallest of the family, only having 175cm of height, carries both clans marks each side of her neck, has very long dark-blue hair and blue-purple eyes like sapphire."
Prince Mamoru stops eating for a moment as he starts to ponder, as if navigating through his memories.
"Dark blue hair, and blue-purple eyes...?" He looks up at the Empress "Mama, the once kitchen worker Amethyst also has dark-blue hair, sapphire-like eyes, and 175cm of height."
Everyone on the table look at him in surprise.
"But I guess it's just a coincidence."
"Son." Says the Emperor. "It's better you do an investigation over this worker. If she is truly the third child, the one of the contract representatives, then it would be much easier to contact the Orchids without any obstacles in between and also reform an alliance with them."
"I agree." The Emperor nod. The three princesses on the table also nod in agreement.
Saganu thinks for a moment before sighing. "Okay, I will."
The princesses get happy by the acceptance, already talking about what they should start buying directly from them.
"As a start, I will summon a reunion between my advisors and physicians to solve the cure for Dunishia's I'll health, and I will evaluate her behavior and performance at the meeting. Then, in private I will start the questioning." Says the prince, which all agreed.
***
"Oh...?"
In the far, away from the royal family vision, stands a very tall figure, with a circus-like blue, yellow, red, black and white clothes fashion, using a black cylinder hat and a pelerine ruby red cloak that covers all his figure, holding a burrowing owl walking staff. He has light blonde hair that reaches his shoulders and blue-purple eyes like sapphires. A full image of a Jester.
"So they are discovering my daughter's identity? I thought they were a bit dumb to not question that much like the last reckless Emperor." He mutters to himself, looking in a A of hearts card in his hands. "I guess I should warn her, but I must confess, they were fast and smart..."
He says his last words before transforming into a barn owl and flying away.
***
Now, the mysterious man knowing about the prince's plan and the Royal's such discovery, how will be Amethyst's first day of work?