"You need to explain yourself," Rani stated authoritatively as she crossed her legs, looking at Naila over her shoulder from her seat.

"There is not much to be explained, truth be told," Naila nonchalantly added.

"It would seem that actually performing your duties has made you less suited for your position," the emir scowled. "Why have you given that child that surname?"

"Law states that if a knighted family were to be without heirs and their inheritance muddled, a sultanzade can preside over the case and designate another heir so the accolade does not perish alongside its last member." The imperial scribe informed with graceful eloquence.

"I do not know how to react," Rani sighed. "Should I be impressed by your knowledge and application of laws, or should I be irate at your independent decision-making without informing me?"

"Neither are exclusive," Naila grinned.

The emir sighed again. "You are becoming more eloquent with each day that passes, and I do not like it." Rani stood from her pillowed chair and grabbed a cup of wine as she strolled around her room. "If you had only begun taking your duties seriously since the beginning, maybe the outcome would have been different…"

That part was no more than a whisper, especially as she talked with her lips on the goblet, but she should know better than to whisper in the presence of a sultanzade. Changing to the sense stance was no more than a reflex to Naila, after all. And it wasn't hard to discern which 'outcomes' she was talking about.

"You should not dwell on the past, sister," the word never meant anything to them. "Nor on the bottom of a wine glass."

"You do not give me orders, Naila," the emir's eyes shone with a powerful, royal purple.

"Mere advice they were," the young sultanzade deflected with a half-bow.

But she couldn't deny her half-sister was right with her better grasp of diplomacy and deception. After finally having to do her own work, Naila had acquired a knack for it, even if her true passion was bashing skulls open. There was a big difference between knowing how to do something because the imperial tutors had taught her so and applying said wisdom to real life.

Doing so had awakened a sleeping part of her brain.

Diplomacy wasn't her calling, but Naila couldn't refuse there was some usage to it; especially if it let her see those ugly expressions on Rani's visage.

"Will you tell me then why you have given this Aya girl the surname of Ayad?" The emir said as she rubbed her temples.

"Well, Aya Ayad sounds funny…" Upon seeing Rani's frown, Naila acknowledged she was courting death if she continued this path. For better or worse, the emir's Nurture was stronger than hers, even if she had little to no martial prowess; so she relented with her teasing. "You were partially right, it does not bode well for our reputation to have a knighted lineage extinguish, so I extended Aloe's knighthood to the girl."

"That is what I wanted to hear," Rani nodded. "Now spew out what I should hear."

There was no lying to this woman, especially if she flaunted her charm so indecently, prompting Naila's body to reflexively respond.

"If the word of the continued existence of Ayad's name reaches our fugitive's ears, there is a chance that she will come back."

"Why would she do so?" The emir squinted her eyes.

"If we are protecting her family name, this means we are willing to protect the whole family. Whose head she was for a time," Naila gestured with her hands to give more eloquence to her words. Cheap tricks to enhance one's speech.

"Sound logic, indeed." Rani peered at her with a hint of…

Was that fear?

Naila wasn't the best person at reading emotions, but she knew how to read an opponent's movements, and how to counter their blade. And she knew how fear smelled. Perhaps not abject horror, but there was a degree of intimidation.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"But that raises another question, why would you like to have Aloe back with us? I do not recall you being exactly friendly with her."

"When have I been friendly with someone?" That got a snicker out of the emir. "Only after we lost her, I noticed how competent our scribe was…"

"My scribe." Rani corrected.

Naila rolled her eyes. "How competent your scribe was, so it would not only benefit Sadina to have her back but also me."

"Well, at least it soothes me to hear your interests are purely selfish," the emir said as if she didn't have any other intentions. "So I must assume you haven't reserved a spot for this girl as the future scribe of commoners so you could just groom her?"

"How audacious of you talking about grooming, sister," the imperial scribe put extra emphasis on the word now.

"It is mostly out of logistics and semantics," the older sultanzade downed her wine in one go and poured herself another glass. "Grooming is one of the many activities we must perform to polish our servants, but you will never catch me doing so to minors. Now, I know your response will be that you are both 'minors' but be honest with me, how old will that girl be when you are of age? Eleven? Twelve?"

"It seems there has been a misconception," Naila didn't let her half-sister's words affect her. "The verb groom has many connotations, but perhaps someone as lewd-minded as yourself may not understand that." That got a twitch from Rani, and she rejoiced at it. "I simply want to prepare our future scribe; I have already talked with Nuha to provide her with the best education in Sadina."

"Yeah, I have heard of it," the emir responded with a sulk. "So you truly have no intentions with the daughter of the late captain guard?"

"Not yet at least," she was planning very ahead of time, something she had never done before, so she may have to discard the plans. That much was true in warfare. "And I cannot say I am at a lack of reaping targets. However it may be, I prefer my targets to be older." And to feel the regret of their actions. But she left that unspoken. There was no need to talk of her fetishes with her half-sister. "In any case, I would target the mother rather than the daughter."

Rani slightly opened her eyes upon hearing those words, a hint of amusement and horror in her gaze. "You are truly the daughter of your mother, now I understand many things."

"Says the spitting image of her," Naila spat the venom back.

No sultanzade wanted to be compared to Aaliyah-al-Ydaz. Perhaps the best ruler Ydaz had ever had, but also the worst mother in all of Khaffat. Progress and stability didn't justify being a bitch.

As she had only been summoned to talk about the recently comically named Aya Ayad, Naila took this schism as an opportunity to stand up and leave.

"Leaving already?" She could hear the intoxication in Rani's words. In the half a second she had turned her head, the woman had poured herself another glass.

"So much wine will affect your figure, sister." Instead of emphasizing the effect on the mind as it was typically done, Naila attacked the emir's image. A façade she cared more about.

"I will take your advice into account," she lazily mumbled. "I pray to the heavens your little machinations bear fruit and give me back what is mine."

Rani-al-Sadina's delusions were too many to be counted, but Naila almost laughed upon hearing the starting statement of her sentence. Sultanzade didn't pray to the heavens, they seized what they wanted. And her half-sister seemed to have forgotten that, too used to her courtly life.

As Naila opened the door of the bedchamber, she encountered a guard with an envelope in his hand.

"Ah, honorable sultanzade," the man avoided her gaze as he had been one of her many targets and still felt the regret. It was poorly seen amongst the imperials to reap guards and soldiers as they had to use their vitality for the country, but it wasn't as if it was prohibited.

"What do you bring there?" She commanded authoritatively.

"A letter for the emir, honorable sultanzade."

"I see…" Naila snatched the letter from his hands and before the man could protest, she went inside the room again and slammed the door in front of him.

"I heard it all," Rani interrupted before she could speak. "Give me the envelope."

With much technical prowess, the cultivator switched to the speed stance and threw the paper to the emir. She caught it midair without difficulty, but her feat went unnoticed. Many people didn't notice how parchment couldn't fly in a straight line without bending, and neither did Rani.

"Hmm~" The emir hummed as she read the letter. "How curious…"

She threw the letter in the air, which Naila took as an invitation to read it, so in a blink, she went over the whole room and picked up the paper before it even started to fall.

"Why are they relaxing the embargo?" Naila questioned as she read the letter about the Loyatan embargo. "Didn't they want war?"

"Oh dear, it seems you are still lacking some training in warfare."

"Pardon?" The younger sultanzade's muscles tensed and she snickered. "If I trust something it is my education in warfare."

"No," Rani instantly shut her down. "Your education is on martial aspects. The battles, not the whole war. This," she pointed at the letter, "is about the politics of war."

"War and politics don't mix." She refuted.

"You are still green if you think that is the case," her eyes shone purple as she chuckled. Naila couldn't understand why the woman bothered to hide her lips behind her hand if everyone could hear how nasty she was being. "If one doesn't want war, they lift the embargo. They don't just 'reduce' it."

"Then what does this mean if you are so sure of warfare?" Naila crossed her burly arms.

"Oh, easy. Escalation." The emir murmured a scary word with extreme nonchalance. "We had only expected war before, now we are certain of it."

A normal person would be taken aback by such news. War was a dreadful matter after all, but after hearing those words, Naila felt the stress she had accumulated in court leave her body. The image of death and violence made her excited, made her… aroused.