Crimson and Gold

“I’m going to Sisica for a few days and I’m taking Saria with me,” Lysandra said upon storming her father’s office first thing in the morning.

Octavius didn’t even raise his eyes from the letter he was holding. “The daethri stays. You can take my carriage.”

Lysandra scoffed. “I wasn’t asking for your permission. I simply wanted to let you know out of respect.”

The Emperor wasn’t expecting to meet this kind of reaction. “I beg your pardon?”

“As far as I can tell, Saria is still my slave, and I have the right to use her as my bodyguard. Or perhaps you expect me to travel all the way to another city without proper protection?”

“The villa in Sisica has a full garrison of guards. One more daethri won’t change anything,” Octavius said and returned to the letter.

Lysandra had no intention of letting it go. “That one daethri can cut through an entire cohort without even breaking a sweat.”

The Emperor gritted his teeth and glared at his daughter. “Then take Doran if you’re so worried.”

Her persistence on the matter was unusual, but Octavius didn’t have time to dig deeper into the cause.

If that were any other day in the past, Lysandra would probably give up at this point and do as her father told her.

However, this wasn’t any other day.

“I didn’t come here to bargain. I came here to tell you that I’m leaving, and I did. Do with that information whatever you want.” Having said that, the Princess turned around and strode towards the exit.

Octavius couldn’t believe his eyes. And ears.

“What is the meaning of this attitude?!” he yelled, slamming the letter on the desk.

Lysandra stopped halfway through the door and turned around. Her eyes were blazing with anger, he had never seen before.

“After what Loukios did the other day, you don’t get to criticize me,” she said and slammed the door shut behind her.

“What’s with the sudden trip?” Saria asked.

They had just left the Palace in a carriage after Lysandra unexpectedly came to her and told her to pack for a few days.

The Princess gracefully brushed a strand of hair from her shoulder and leaned against the armrest. “It’s time for Calistillia. As a follower of Astesis, it is my obligation to celebrate,” she said, a proud smile slowly blooming on her face. “And what better way to celebrate the Festival of Love than by spending some time in private with my lover?”

Hearing the words ‘my lover,’ Saria grinned from ear to ear. She was about to give in to the yearning it awakened when a realization struck her. “Was your father fine with us going together?” she asked, worried.

“I didn’t leave him much choice,” Lysandra scoffed. “I’m done obediently following his every order. I’m not afraid of him anymore. I have someone I have to protect, after all,” she said, caressing Saria’s cheek lovingly.

Saria’s heart skipped a beat, but she forced herself to calm down.

“I don’t want you to put yourself at risk for me. If he comes after you for this, just leave it to me. I’ll take the fault,” she said.

“He won’t come after me. He’ll be too busy cleaning the mess Loukios caused,” Lysandra said. “If it were just my father, he wouldn’t bat an eye at what happened at the Arena. But Loukios got too full of himself. His self-importance is bad for business.

“Nobody can be certain that he won’t try to kill another daethri, since they don’t know it was all a setup to get you. Loukios may have the support of the nobility, but the Senate isn’t so fond of him.”

The Senate’s power in the Aelius Empire was very limited, and it merely played the role of an adviser to the Emperor and a representative of the people.

The Emperors were putting a lot of effort into keeping this status quo, as handing more power to the Senate meant weakening the position of the ruler.

For a while now, the Senate has been looking for ways to become a more significant player on the political scene. Their main focus was ending the hereditary rule and switching to an electoral rule.

With the way Loukios behaved, he was a walking example of why becoming the head of the Empire by the sheer virtue of being the Emperor’s eldest son was bad for the country.

It was obvious that the Senate was going to use the incident from the Arena as the main drive for their campaign.

Lysandra glanced at Saria and relaxed. “We should have these next few days just for ourselves,” she said, interlocking their fingers.

Because of Drusus’ kidnapping and then Loukios’ arrival, Saria and Lysandra didn’t really have time for each other.

Before, it wasn’t as difficult to bear, as their relationship was only just beginning. The feelings were only slowly budding, so the need for companionship wasn’t as strong.

However, since the day they confessed to one another, every moment spent apart was excruciating.

The punishment that Loukios gave Saria was also another reason for them to leave the Palace, even if just for a few days.

“So where are we going?” Saria asked.

“To Sisica. Our family has a villa there,” Lysandra answered. “We used to go there with my mother quite often when I was a child, but ever since she passed, the property had been mostly abandoned.”

Saria watched the Princess intently, worried that she might see traces of sadness in her eyes. Nevertheless, Lysandra seemed perfectly fine. One could say she even looked happy.

“You seem to be in a good mood,” Saria noted. “Is it because of my note?”

The smug expression on her face immediately brought the image of the stick figure before Lysandra’s eyes.

The resemblance was unbelievable.

“Of course,” Lysandra answered, barely holding back a giggle. “I was able to gaze upon my lover’s beauty right before falling asleep, so naturally I’m in a good mood today.”

“I… wanted to do something to lighten up the mood. I felt you might be worried, so I thought that if I did something silly, it would bring you peace of mind,” Saria explained, awkwardly scratching her cheek.

When she was drawing that stick figure, she was completely fine, but thinking about this now, she couldn’t help but feel somewhat… embarrassed.

Lysandra’s heart swelled seeing the blush blooming on Saria’s face. “Thank you,” she said while caressing her cheek. “I felt much calmer knowing that you are feeling better.”

The softness in her voice was overwhelming.

Being unable to find the right words to say, Saria leaned in and poured all of her feelings into the kiss.

“Today you won’t have to be satisfied with just a drawing,” she said, after a breathless moment.

Lysandra’s eyes light up with mischief. She inched towards Saria’s lips and lowered her voice to an alluring purr.

“And today, I won’t be just looking…”

The villa surprised Saria with how unassuming and average it looked.

Compared to the splendor of the Royal Palace, the property in Sisica might as well belong to a middle-class noble.

As she later learned, it was all on purpose.

The villa was built at the late Empress’s request, as she wanted a place she could retreat to when the city became too overwhelming.

Since traveling with a big group of guards and servants was too bothersome, Empress Arvatii wanted a place that could be taken care of by a small number of staff.

For that reason, Lysandra was also able to limit the number of people who would go with them.

Her intentions, however, were driven by a different kind of desire for privacy…

“The bath should be ready. We will freshen up after the trip, and the dinner will be served afterward,” Lysandra said, once all the luggage was carried to their bedroom.

She gestured at the maid standing in the corner to approach. “Take Saria to the washroom and make sure that she doesn’t get her wounds wet.”

The maid bowed politely, then asked Saria to follow her.

The villa wasn’t visited frequently, but there were always a few servants living on the property for maintenance. Given that the house wasn’t big in the first place, Lysandra decided to bring only the people who would fill the gaps in the staff.

That was why Saria wasn’t surprised to not be familiar with the maid that Lysandra assigned to her.

What raised her suspicion, however, was the way the girl kept glancing at Saria the whole way to the washroom. And once they finally reached their destination, the behavior became so apparent that it couldn’t be ignored anymore.

“Do I have something on my face?” Saria closed the door and folded her arms on her chest.

The girl’s face immediately turned bright red.

From the quick scan Saria gave her, she looked to be in her early twenties, maybe younger. There wasn’t much about her that stood out.

Her straight black hair was caught in a low ponytail, while a pair of dark brown eyes kept darting around the room in panic.

She was pretty, but given the bland servant clothes and the way she kept her head low, she was lacking a presence, making her rather unremarkable.

The girl covered her flushed face with her hands, then took a few deep breaths to calm herself.

“My deepest apologies, my lady,” she said after a moment. “I didn’t mean to be rude.”

“You didn’t answer my question,” Saria pressed. It was obvious that the maid was trying to weasel her way out of giving an answer, and that made her even more suspicious.

The girl clenched the hem of her tunic and cast her eyes down. “I-It’s… it’s because…”

“It’s because?” Saria repeated.

“It’s because… we don’t get many visitors here.” The girl stammered, then turned even redder as her voice grew quieter. “…especially good-looking visitors.”

The silence that fell in the room was painfully awkward.

Saria had no idea what to say. She was prepared for a confrontation and argument, even ready to fight the girl.

But being admired? How was she supposed to react to that!?

“I… um… well…” she mumbled, feeling that her own face was slowly turning into a tomato. “It’s… It’s fine. Just…” she scratched her cheek awkwardly. “Just don’t let Lysandra hear about it.

“I don’t want to be responsible for your premature death…” she groaned.