This day, Isdis didn’t have to work; she didn’t have to go to the royal office, and all of the work she had piled up would be handled by Arad and her father. She would’ve left Arad to handle the work alone, but she still doesn’t fully trust his skill. Well, with Arad, he doesn’t lack skill; he has a lot of it, to the point that it is a problem.

She could remember one time they needed a shipment of spices from the east, and instead of trying to assign a caravan to take care of it, Arad thought it was better to just fly and pick it up. It was true that he would’ve gotten the shipment in seconds that way, but the infrastructure wouldn’t be built. No matter how slow caravans are, with a few of them, even moving goods from the other side of the world was possible.

Walking through the hallway, having just left Arad with the others and the maid in the bedroom, she had to get washed first, and then prepare. Isabella was already working on her dress, and she still needed to figure out what to say in her speech. Unlike the others, she was a princess before, and the people of the empire are expecting a decent ceremony.

"Lady Isdis!?" One of the maid rushed in as she saw Isdis walking in her nightgown. "What are..."

"I was heading to the bath. Arad and the others are still in the bedroom." She walked to the maid’s side. "Or what? I can’t walk like this around?"

The maid quickly shook her head. "No, you can. I was just surprised to see you alone." She looked around, making sure Isdis was really alone. "Is this okay?"

Isdis smiled. "Of course. Arad wanted to come with me, but he’s busy. Besides, I’m just going to take a quick shower, cool down a bit, and then head to Merida’s workshop; Isabelle should be waiting for me there." She started walking again, and the maid followed her.

As they moved through the hallways, they went past several windows and they could see the cloudy sky, feel the cold wind, and even see a few flakes of snow falling from the sky like tiny gems. The maid looked a bit worried.

"Winter is coming, and it’s a bit early this year." As she spoke, Isdis looked toward her. "It isn’t coming early; this is because of Eris."

Isdis stopped by the window and looked outside, casting her gaze across the entire capital, and then shifting to look toward the clouds, as if trying to see the two suns hiding behind them. "Amaterasu said she’ll handle it and fix the years and seasons starting from next year, but this year was already thrown out of balance."

"Which means..." The maid didn’t understand anything, so Isdis had to explain it plainly.

"This autumn was shortened drastically by Eris’s ascension, and to balance that, Amaterasu would do something, which would result in the next spring getting shorter as well." She pointed at the sky. "Autumn ended quickly; now we’ll go through winter, barely enjoy spring, and then go right into the summer. The seasons should be fine starting from next autumn."

As Isdis kept walking, the maid followed her with an amazed face. "Really? So Amaterasu handles the seasons as well? She is that powerful?"

Isdis looked away, "No, it’s more like Arad is sleeping on the Four Seasons’ portfolio like a chicken guarding its eggs. Amaterasu is just patching things."

The maid stopped walking and gasped. "Huh? His Majesty has it? And... are you saying that even if Amaterasu doesn’t have the power over the seasons, she can... just influence them?"

"Amaterasu is that powerful. Eris one time asked her if there is anything she can’t do, and she told her that she can pretty much influence everything." She looked back at the maid, "Think of anything and I bet the sun has something to do with it."

"Farming." The maid gasped with a smile and Isdis looked exhausted. "Yeah, you’re not growing anything without the sun."

"Life." She looked confident, "We all make babies at night."

"Life won’t exist without the sun, so that also falls under her." Isdis kept walking and the maid rushed after her. "Wait for me... What about smithing?"

"All metals are made by the sun." Isdis replied and looked at the bath’s door. "We arrived."

"Hold a second, what about... Murder! Lady Eris’s murder. Of course, no sun powers." This time, the maid looked like she could bet her life savings on that.

"She’ll burn them the same way she burns vampires." Isdis reached toward the door and grabbed the knob, but the maid put her fists on her waist. "That’s why you murder people at night!"

"The moonlight would burn them." Isdis replied, and the maid blinked. "What? That’s the moon?"

"The moonlight is sunlight. The moon doesn’t produce light; it reflects sunlight. That light can burn vampires if Amaterasu wanted."

As Isdis walked in, the maid followed her with a defeated face. "Fine... Let’s leave it at that." She then grabbed Isdis’s nightgown and took it off. "Do you want me to help you wash?"

Isdis looked at the maid with a smile. "Ice water?"

The maid looked surprised as if she just remembered. "Ah... that might be a bit much for me."

"That’s why I’m here." A voice spoke behind them, and when the maid turned, she found herself staring directly at Kory’s face. "I’ll handle things from here; you can leave."

"Yes! As you order, Lady Kory." The maid bowed and then rushed out of the bath.

"You scared her." Isdis smiled and Kory gave her a strange look. "Did I? I don’t think I said anything that could scare her?"

"It’s your face, and the fact you showed up behind her like that." She approached and patted Kory on the shoulder. "You were following us?"

"Arad asked me to find you. He said you’re going to take a shower and that I should find you." Kory smiled, "By the way, Mom went to him to have some fun."

"Gamond? Did she just spend a few days with him in the bath?" Isdis sighed as Kory started stripping down.

"Yeah, she was complaining about how hard it was to keep the blindingly bright Luminous away from him. In the end, she only got suck him off a bit. Mom was proud of being able to keep her away." Kory took off her maid outfit, threw it aside, and then turned around so Isdis could unlock her bra. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

As Isdis’s hands touched her, she flinched. "Ah! You’re cold..." She quickly turned around and gave Isdis a stare. "For me to feel it... how cold did you get?"

"Want to find out?" Isdis smiled, and Kory grabbed her hands. "By Isbert’s storms... You really are of her blood." She looked at Isdis’s eyes, and she could see that they had crystallized like gems.

"Your eyes, fingers... you’ve far surpassed the cold of white dragons." She sighed. "Are you really okay? In my entire life, I only knew of two people who could handle this level of cold."

"Empress Isbert and the goddess of snow. You’ve told me about them before." Isdis pulled her hands and then started walking toward the shower. "But don’t worry, I won’t freeze you. I got quite a decent control over my power."

"Wait for me!" Kory stumbled as she took her underwear off and threw them aside.