The day was starting to darken as the sun was setting. Cassandra was at the infirmary as what she had been doing for the past few days, learning Rumasilian culture, tradition, and language from Andronika.

"Let's go over that again." Andronika said with a patient sigh at Cassandra who had been having trouble with a few terms for family in the Halak language.

"Alright!" Cassandra said as she took in a deep breath, filled with determination.

"What do you call the older brother of your father?"

"...Bapatua!"

"Correct! Or you could also say Amangtua... What about the younger brother?"

"Bapauda!...Okay. Let me try this on my own, ompung. The sister of my father I call namboru..."

"Be they younger or older."

"The husband of my paternal aunt I call amangboru... the wife of my bapatua is my inangtua or mamatua while the wife of my bapauda is my inanguda..."

"Splendid! You're getting the hang of it..."

"Yes!!" Cassandra said excitedly

"Though you still have to work on your pronunciations a little more, child. Though, I'm sure it won't be too hard."

"Si! The flow of the language isn't too different from the Latin languages, although the vocabulary is very alien sounding."

"The Halak people were originally from the Santaran archipelago but came here thousands of years ago and settled the land. Though they remained fiercely culturally independent, they do get affected here and there by the surrounding peoples."

"It's odd of you to say that, but aren't the Santaran peoples more inclined to be olive skinned and dark-haired? I've walked the streets and I see the people just as light as the Latinosi."

"Even among the lighter-skinned peoples, we Latinosi aren't exactly the palest. We don't compare to either the Germanics or the Slavs... but to address your point, yes, after thousands of years of living in this region, the Halak people have become just like their neighbours after generations of interbreeding with the local populace. They remain culturally distinct from the people in the area, but yet everywhere else, they blend in. It's quite an interesting phenomenon to anthropologists, you see ... But now that I think about it, you could still find the darker skinned Halaks near the coastal areas..."

"But, does that mean there's still the original Halak Culture in Santara?"

"Why yes, actually. They retain many similarities to the Halak culture but have grown a little apart ever since the Great War... I believe there's a major trade center with the original culture still intact... It was called... uh..."

"... Hutasian. Currently under the rule of Adipati Suryawarman Wulanwangsa." Valamar said as he stood in front of the entrance to the infirmary "Hutasian was a sovereign city under the authority of Rumasil until grandfather gave it to the Santarans."

"My lord!" Cassandra said with glee as she saw her fiance enter the room

"As we lost Hutasian, we lost our influence in that part of the world as well as a good deal of our trade income in the process..."

As Valamar said that he could see his grandmother looking at him a little sternly.

"At least that's how father usually puts it... My own opinions on it are irrelevant, ompung..."

"Your father has always been spiteful of that fact without truly understanding the causes of that decision." Andronika's tone became a little annoyed "Your father was only twelve when your grandfather signed the treaty with the Santarans. Those pompous lords in Hutasian were always more of a nuisance than an aid to our country with a good amount of the trade we get from there going straight back to those greedy pockets!... I'm sorry Cassandra. The topic gets me a little heated... anyways, I've kept you here long enough today. It looks as if my grandson here is longing for your company. Go now, child."

"Thank you again for the lesson, ompung!" Cassandra said as she got up and bowed to which Andronika drew her close to kiss her on the cheeks and forehead as was her habit towards the people of younger generations.

"Alright, ompung. We'll be going now." Valamar said as he took Cassandra with him out of the infirmary

"So where are we going today, my lord?"

"Like I promised, today we're going somewhere special... trust me, it's going to be wonderful."

As he said that, the two went through numerous halls and stairs in the palace passing by guardsmen and other nobles. The Palace of Rumasil was especially huge and ancient, and navigating through it could take a lifetime to master. On the walls, floors, and ceilings were countless carvings of things, events, and stories that took place in times long since past.

After a good amount of time walking, the two finally reached a hallway with a large closed doorway guarded by two living tigers. The tigers were rather large and fearsome and Cassandra grew a little tense and wary. However, Valamar smiled at her and motioned towards the tigers who began closing in on them.

"My lord, I trust you, but I don't think I like where this is going..." Cassandra said with a little worry as she put her hand on the hilt of a blade hidden in her dress

"Calm down Cassandra, look."

As Valamar said that, the oddest thing happened. The tigers lay down next to Valamar and started licking his hands. Valamar proceeded to jump down on them and began rubbing and hugging their fur furiously while laughing. To Cassandra's bewilderment, the tigers looked like they enjoyed the playful fun greatly. The scene looked like someone playing with their pets.

"These boys here are the friendliest of their litter. This one's called Balga, while the other one's called Raja."

"How nice..." Cassandra said, still visibly tense

"There's no need to fear these ones. They've already been fed. They won't attack you and eat you... probably."

"Probably?!" Cassandra exclaimed worriedly

"I'm kidding. C'mon, pet them! They're incredibly fluffy..."

At first Cassandra hesitated as she feared her hand being bit off, but she steeled her nerves and proceeded to slowly try and put her hands on one of the tigers' heads. At first it flinched at the scent of a stranger, but after some reassurance from Valamar they calmed down.

"You're right, they are surprisingly adorable!"

"What did I tell you? These tigers are one of the ones the Rumasilian Royal family breeds in this very palace. They are distinct from the ones we use for war or the ones in the wild. Those tigers you might think twice about before petting."

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

"What are they doing here?"

"They're in charge of guarding this area."

"Where are their handlers?"

"These ones don't need handlers." Valamar said while petting them both "But if you're talking about guards, they're on the other side of that doorway. The guards on this side are probably having a shift change..."

Valamar then bent down to the tigers so his voice could be heard clearly by them, "Mulak ma hamu tu posmi." and the two tigers immediately went back to their posts on opposite ends of the doorway.

"So, my lord..." Cassandra said as she looked to the doorway in front of her "What is this place? The style of the doors look positively ancient and the carvings on them are far different from the ones elsewhere... Are these writings ancient Aurosian?"

"Why yes... are you able to read them?"

"...mmmm, sorry no luck. My knowledge of modern Aurosian and Latin is only so good, but their older forms are a hard one for me... although... wait a moment. Is this place...?"

"The tomb of Her Imperial Majesty, the Empress Maia, Wife of the First Terran Emperor, Dreikos."

"Ah, I remember now. Rumasil was first built as a tomb to the Empress, no?"

"Correct! This part of the palace is the oldest place in all of the city of Rumasil. Before the city itself was founded, this was the only building in the area. Ordered to be built by Emperor Dreikos himself, in the very heartland of his wife's home."

"That sounds so romantic."

"That sounds tragic." Valamar replied quickly "The Empress died young and the Emperor was greatly grief-stricken. I would also be very hard-pressed to rule should anything happen to my wife."

"My lord is so cute when he's acting protective." Cassandra said as she hugged Valamar

"Alright. Let's come in, yes?"

"You sure it won't be dusty and decrepit?"

"Trust me, you'll love it."

As he said that, Valamar opened the doorway to the insides of the tomb. Just as the doors were opened, a group of ten guards were already in formation. When they noticed Valamar, they immediately bowed their heads with their hands at their sword hilts.

"Santabi." Valamar said as he came in and slightly bowed his head in return

Cassandra saw the guards and was astonished when she noticed they were all women. And beautiful ones at that. When she saw Valamar smiling at them, she couldn't help but pinch him slightly. To which he turned to her with a confused look and she only pouted.

"Your majesty wishes to pay your respects?" One of the guards asked. She looked to be the leader with her specialised armor.

"Yes. I'm about to show my betrothed here around, if you'll excuse me. And please drop the 'your majesty' thing. It's a bit annoying coming from you, your royal majesty."

As Valamar said that, the girl dismissed the other guards to their posts. Finally when they were at a distance, her form loosened as the tense faded away.

"Can’t you let me have a bit of fun pretending to be a respected guard? I prefer to call you Theo anyways."

"Goddamnit, kakak (older sister). No one I know calls me that! Not even mama!"

"Well I call you that." the girl said with a smile to which Valamar frowned "Always the sour sport, I see..."

The girl then turned her attention to Cassandra and bowed.

"You must be that Florentinian princess everyone's talking about. My, you are as beautiful as they say. I love the red hair you got going on here by the way."

"Why, thank you." Cassandra said with a smile as she curtsied "And you are...?"

"This girl is my older sis-...cousin. Well, one of them anyways." Valamar explained but he had changed his tone midway to which Vera raised her eyebrow as she started to frown a little when Valamar said ‘cousin’ "Vera Dinauli si Valamen..."

"Cousin?" Cassandra asked with a little wonder

"Well technically, our fathers were cousins. Which makes us second cousins. But in Rumasilian culture that makes us as good as siblings." Valamar continued with a slight smirk as he stepped back to wink and clasped his hands while mouthing to Vera ‘Please go along with it, I’ll treat you to dinner.’

"Ah, pleased to meet you. No wonder you two seemed close."

"Oh, that? Well, my mother died while giving birth to me and my father died when I was five." Vera said nonchalantly as she decided to go along with her brother’s whims

"Oh no! I'm terribly sorry to hear that."

"Don't be! Please, hahaha. It's not like you're the one who killed them."

Cassandra only looked at the girl with amazement and confusion

"I'm sorry, I have a morbid sense of humor. Pay it no heed. Anyways, I've been raised by mother and father ever since." Vera finally said to put an early end to whatever prank Valamar was planning

"But you said they died?" Cassandra asked

"She means the King and Queen. You know I love you, ito."

"I love my ito too!" Vera said as she immediately messed up Valamar's hair "But call me your cousin one more time and I will hurt you. Badly. But amyways, Cassandra, you're wasted on someone like him."

It finally dawned on Cassandra as to who the girl was as she immediately bowed again when she finally realised. “I am so sorry I didn’t recognise you right away, Your Royal Highness, Eldest Princess of Rumasil.”

“Oh my, you don’t need to be all that formal, hahaha… She's a keeper, Theo. Better treat her right."

"I will. Anyways, I'm expecting a tour guide here." Valamar said

"Of course. *clears throat* Welcome to the Garden of the Empress!"

As the name suggests, rather than a tomb the place looks more akin to a garden. A very pretty one at that. Cassandra noticed the beautiful green grass, the colorful flowers, the beautiful trees, fireflies, as well as a small creek running through the place which encircled a sort of mini-isle in the middle of the large room with the single largest tree in the middle of it, overarching what looked like clear glass.

There were stone pathways and benches as well as a bridge leading to the isle. The roof of the room was also open-air. The moon could be seen shining inside the room from the top.

Cassandra's jaw nearly dropped to the floor when she noticed the glowing aura in the room. She saw that some of the flowers were glowing, making the beautiful room look even more pretty.

"This place... this place is beautiful." Cassandra said "It's like something out of fairytales..."

"You think this is amazing? Take a look over here." Vera said as she walked towards the small isle through a small elegant looking bridge as she motioned for the two to follow her,

On the isle, the clear glass was completely visible and what looked like a tombstone could be seen in front of it. It was written in the common tongue of Terra and Cassandra could read it clearly. The plaque read, 'Here lies the Beloved Empress."

"Come and take a look at the glass." Vera said to Cassandra to which she obliged. What she saw there made her shocked even more.

"H-how can this be?" She gasped as she looked at vera who was just smiling

Through the glass coffin, Cassandra could see the body of the most beautiful woman she had ever seen as if she were just sleeping. The woman's beauty was just simply divine. Beautiful dark brown hair, flawless skin, and a beautiful but ancient looking dress.

"Is this... Is this really...?" Cassandra was in complete disbelief at what she had seen

"Yup." Vera nodded "What you're looking at here is the six thousand-year old corpse of a dead woman."

"This is the body of Empress Maia?" Cassandra asked again just to make sure to which Vera nodded again "But how could this be? She should be- with all my utmost respects -a rotting pile of skeletons. Not like this. She looks like she's just taking a nap."

"Beats me." Vera said nonchalantly as she raised her shoulders "It's been baffling physicians and academics for literally thousands of years. Funny story, actually, the Emperor Dreikos himself found out this phenomenon when on one of his yearly pilgrimages to the tomb, he smelt something very nice coming from the stone coffin. He thought someone had played a dirty prank and ordered for the tomb to be checked, but imagine his shock when he saw the body of his wife just as he first laid his eyes on him. He was understandably baffled. He thought it was some sort of trickery, but there was no mistake that it was his wife. And so he ordered for the entire tomb to be renovated and made into the beautiful garden you see here today. Amazing, isn't it?"

"Truly..." Cassandra said as she ate up the view "Aren't you worried someone might look to acquiesce the body illegally?"

"Have you noticed the guards? In fact, have you noticed me?"

"Only ten guards to protect such a priceless treasure?"

"Only?" Vera said with a slightly annoyed tone "We are 'The Daughters of Ruma' the most deadly order of female warriors on the face of Terra. Trust me, we can defend a fortress with only a hundred women. I think we got this covered."

"Oh so you are the famous warrior women of Rumasil... I see...." Cassandra said with a little smirk "Impressive..."

"Judging from your tone, I think you're less than impressed." Vera smirked back

"I don't like where this is going." Valamar said as he came towards the two girls "It's getting really late. I think we best head back."

"I agree. A delicate lady like this needs her beauty sleep." Vera said a little teasingly

"Is that a challenge?" Cassandra said with a stern tone.

“Oh, is it?” Vera continued to smirk