Le Chantier Palace, where the royal family resided and where politics were conducted, was the gem of the Archaites Empire. It consisted of a number of magnificent buildings grouped together on a large plot of land. It was an estate of luxury and splendor as far as the eye could see—a result of skilled craftsmanship and the Orencias’ fat pocketbooks.
Once again, the pair of empress candidates had been summoned to the palace’s audience chamber. It had only been a few weeks since the two had spoken with the emperor, with each candidate proposing a solution to end hunger among the poor. Afterward, they had both been informed that the selection process would be delayed for another six months.
Emperor Augusto sat at the highest point in the audience chamber and looked down at the pair of women. His presence was so majestic that he was almost overwhelming to look upon.
“Are the two of you prepared?”
One of the two women, Elizabeth Reyn, lifted the skirt of her bright-pink dress slightly and curtsied. The other, Westalia Lejainne, gave a beautiful bow.
“Yes, of course I am.”
“Of course.”
Their voices overlapped as they answered in sync.
Today we’ll be presented with the selection process’s final challenge. I wonder what it will be, Westalia thought. The selection for the next empress of the Archaites Empire was now well underway. All the women in the country had been eligible to participate, and to be the single one chosen from out of so many would make that woman the object of admiration and envy. The empire’s citizens eagerly awaited the results of this contest.
The two women had been summoned here today to learn of the new challenge they would face in the final selection. Both Westalia herself and the greater populace had been perplexed by the unprecedented extension of the empress selection. Everyone was waiting with bated breath to see who would be chosen as empress: the daughter of a powerful and well-known family or the former villainess who had caused an uproar in a foreign country.
Regardless of how they handled this challenge, this would be their final confrontation, and only one of them would be named empress in six months’ time.
The emperor stroked his beard as he took the scroll proffered by one of his aides and unfurled it.
“The final challenge for the empress selection is flower gathering,” he said.
Westalia and Elizabeth looked at each other involuntarily, having no idea what “flower gathering” could possibly mean. However, the emperor immediately launched into an explanation. Each of the prospective empresses would be given a storehouse, both the same size, within Le Chantier Palace. The one who collected more flowers within it by the end of the six months would be the victor.
There were also several conditions for this test. The first was that the flowers had to be artificial, not fresh. Fresh flowers were not suitable for preservation and would probably be wilted by the time they were counted six months later. Second, the two women couldn’t ask someone else to give them the flowers; they had to come up with their own tactics and gather them all on their own.
They were each given a budget of the same amount, and the cost of any necessary resources would be paid for with that allocation. Naturally, the same rules would apply if they chose to purchase their artificial flowers. However, with the limited budget, it would be impossible to fill the warehouse with artificial flowers, no matter how inexpensive they were. And even if they were to employ people to make the artificial flowers, the labor cost and materials must be taken from the budget. Furthermore, they were prohibited from increasing their funds by making investments. Westalia’s tactic of going to the casino to raise funds to buy a dress would be in violation of the rules this time around.
This kind of activity clearly favors Elizabeth. Maybe I should just poison the emperor... she thought, biting her lip at the unexpected challenge and severe restrictions. She was intensely conscious of the poison needle hidden in her pocket, but she kept that idea to herself as she looked sharply up at the emperor.
Elizabeth’s family, the Reyns, were the most powerful family in the country and had many businesses. They particularly focused on the fashion industry and had factories throughout the country that manufactured the cloth needed for artificial flowers. In addition to being able to produce artificial flowers cheaply and in large quantities, Westalia could imagine that Elizabeth would cunningly wade through loopholes in the rules and do some dubious things.
The selection for empress was a prestigious tradition in the Archaites Empire. Unlike other countries, which placed importance on bloodlines, Archaites had always placed the highest value on merit, in order to bring more excellent women into the imperial family. Members of the royal family who had inherited the blood of these women had led the empire to prosperity. The empresses, despite their position as spouse to the emperor, had used their intelligence and abilities to move pieces on the political playing board from the shadows. It was said that it was this bold and innovative method for selecting empresses that made Archaites the most powerful country on the continent.
“I have always believed in the steady management of the country for the good of the people. I devised this challenge with the aim of contributing to the people’s interests, not merely to choose an empress. I can think of nothing more suitable for the final challenge,” the emperor said. He was speaking confidently, but the content of the challenge felt like nothing more than a children’s game.
How are the citizens benefiting from this? I’d like to know what the point is in wasting money to collect artificial flowers, Westalia thought. Moreover, she felt an open bias toward the Reyn family. Westalia clenched her fists.
“Understood, you two? It may seem like a simple task, but if you engage with it simply you won’t be able to beat your opponent. Sometimes, simple things are more difficult than complex things. It is important to consider from what angle you will approach this problem. I look forward to your creativity,” the emperor continued. It was hard to tell whether this was a warning to Elizabeth—who was in an advantageous position—not to let her guard down, or a word of encouragement to Westalia, who was about to face adversity once again.
Then the emperor spoke to Westalia as he was leaving the audience chamber, a large group of knights and aides following him. “If you want to defeat your rival, you must consider the true reason I chose this challenge.”
He spoke so quietly that only Westalia could hear him. He glanced at Westalia with a penetrating gaze, as if he had seen through her anxiety, and then passed by as if nothing had happened.
Does he mean to say that this challenge has some sort of secret meaning to it? Westalia thought. However, she wasn’t able to instantly ascertain the emperor’s intentions and found herself just standing there as she ruminated on his remarks.
After leaving the audience hall, Elizabeth looked at Westalia with a triumphant expression on her face. “That throne is as good as mine,” she said. “Between you, the foreigner without any local backing, and me, the Reyn family’s daughter, it’s obvious who has the upper hand here!”
Westalia remained silent. As Elizabeth said, the Reyn family had power and connections and would be able to provide any number of means to obtain artificial flowers.
Do I even have a chance of winning? Westalia wondered. The emperor had gone to the trouble of extending the challenge by half a year, and all she had to do was collect flowers. How could she possibly show that she was good enough to defeat the Reyn family and those who supported them?
Westalia was honestly not confident that she could win. She briefly imagined Elizabeth smiling at the people of Archaites with her arms intertwined with Crown Prince Leonardo’s, which would happen if she was defeated in the empress selection. That was the position she had been aiming for, and she didn’t want to give it up.
I’d hate to have come this far only to lose, Westalia thought.
Paige, Westalia’s knight, could sense her lady’s uneasiness, which caused her to worry as well.
Westalia gathered what little confidence she had and stared fixedly at Elizabeth. “I will do whatever I can, no matter the odds. I won’t give up until the very end.”
“Oh my, you just don’t know when to quit, do you? I can always lend you a carriage so you can go back to where you came from,” Elizabeth replied.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Hmm, I think that will be the carriage you end up taking to church,” Westalia said.
“Church?” Elizabeth asked.
“Yes, when you go to console yourself after losing to me.”
“What?!” Elizabeth’s face turned bright red. As usual, she was easy for Westalia to read because her emotions were always immediately apparent on her face. Elizabeth clenched her fists and glared at Westalia. “Do you really think you’ll be speaking like that in six months?! I look forward to seeing you cry!”
“Right back at you,” Westalia responded with a sardonic smile before turning on her heel and leaving.
Elizabeth was left standing there, watching the other woman walk away.