"So where are we going today?" Aditya asked as he sat inside the Royal Carriage.
"We are going to continue our little tour around Eldoria. Yesterday due to a certain someone I couldn't show you around." While saying the latter part Riya glared at Aditya.
Aditya innocently blinked his eyes and pretended as if he had done nothing wrong.
"You're not allowed to do any ecchi stuff while we are touring around Eldoria." Her face was slightly flushed red as she remembered the things that they did inside the carriage. Of course, Riya was still a virgin. But they did all things except take that final step.
"Alright!!! Alright!!!"Aditya gave up since he was also interested in knowing more about the Capital.
"What were you talking about with mom?" She curiously asked.
"Nothing too important. Just some political stuff." Hearing this Riya lost her interest and dropped the matter entirely. She wasn't that good at Politics.
"Riya, what do you think about the 10 elders?" The question made Riya feel strange as she wasn't expecting such a question from Aditya. But she still decided to be honest with Aditya and reply to his question.
"The 10 Elders are an essential part of this Empire. Without them, I probably would not have had any time with my mother. The 10 Elders are meant to reduce the burden on the empress. But personally speaking, I don't like them at all."
"Can I know why?" He asked as he looked outside through the window. Although Riya might have failed to notice it it seems Amelia has sent hidden guards with them. Just now he saw one of these hidden guards from the window.
'And the impressive thing is neither of us were able to sense their presence.' Aditya thought. No ordinary cultivator could hide their Aura from other cultivators but there are some special ones who could.
"Since I was young, the Elders always has been very strict towards me. Whenever I wished to go out of the Celestial Terrain, the elders always strongly opposed it. And even if I was allowed to go out, they would always send 100 guards with me to ensure my safety. I always felt that the elders were trying to use me for their own personal goals."
"There were even times when some of the elders would demand me to use my powers to heal people that they had brought along. I don't have any problem with using my gifted powers to heal people. But I hate it when some of these elders demand me to use my powers in a bossy tone. It's as if I owe them money. Honestly, mom should just replace some of these elders." In the end, Riya was frowning as she remembered all the bad things that the elders had done to her.
"Is that so...?" Riya didn't catch the slight, cold smile that flickered across Aditya's face for just a moment.
"Whenever I told Mom about the Elders, she did do something about it, but it was never enough. She wasn't really tough on them. Eventually, I just started avoiding the Elders. I didn't like being around them," Riya admitted. As she finished her sentence, she glanced over at Aditya, who was nodding slowly. It was as though he had made up his mind about something important.
"What would you think if all the Elders were, well, let's say, removed, and replaced with new ones?" Aditya posed the question, watching her closely.
Riya's eyes went wide for a split second before she regained her composure. "I wouldn't mind, really. But Mom would never let that happen." She understood the concept all too well. It was like a basket of apples; if one apple goes bad, it can ruin the whole basket. Sometimes, you have to remove the rotten apple to save the rest.
But her mom was too soft-hearted to see things that way. She would keep hoping that the bad apple would magically become good, not realizing it could spoil the others.
While Aditya and Riya were talking, the carriage came to a stop. Seeing this Riya and Aditya glanced outside to find the whole street was blocked by protestors.
"What is happening?" Aditya tried to understand the situation or the cause of this protest while looking outside. He instantly noticed that the people that were protesting were not elves. But rather it was humans and beast-folks that lived in Eldoria.
There were many humans and beast-folks to came to the Celestial Terrain to work since compared to their homelands, the pay here was often two or even three times higher. However, the problem was the discrimination that the humans and the Beast-folks received from the native Elves who treated them like slaves.
"They're protesting out against the way things are, against how the Empire treats them," Riya said, her eyes shifting to look outside the window.
Aditya understood right away, no further explanation was needed. The Elven community was pretty closed off. Elves tended to think very highly of themselves. To them, other beings like humans, Beast-folk, and dragons were less important. This mindset really hurt the humans and the Beast-folk living on this land.
The people in charge usually favored the elves. They got more chances to succeed and were treated better. For example, if an Elf and a human had a fight, even if the human was only trying to protect himself, he'd be the one going to jail. And some elves really took this unfair treatment to heart. They used it to get away with not paying the humans and Beast-folk who worked for them.
The people protesting were just tired of it all. They wanted an end to being treated like they were worth less, and for things to start being fair for everyone.
"I can't believe they've actually blocked the roads," Riya said, her voice tinged with surprise and a bit of shock.
"When I was last here, sure, people were protesting, but they never took it this far. They kept to the sidewalks and were peaceful about it," she added, recounting her previous experience with the local demonstrations.
"Maybe we should call it a day and head back home," Aditya suggested, noticing that the sun was beginning to set, signaling the end of the day.
Riya nodded in agreement. She then instructed her maid, "Please turn the Royal Carriage around. We're going back to the mansion." With that, they began the journey back, both contemplating the evolving situation in the city.
Scene change_____
"What's going on? I thought you both were planning to come back later," Amelia asked. She was in the kitchen, slowly putting together the ingredients for dinner.
"Mom, we had to come back early. The protestors have taken over the streets and blocked the roads," Riya explained, settling down on the living room couch.
Amelia's eyes widened a bit at the news. "They're blocking the roads? Really?" She felt both surprised and a little mad. As the ruler of the Celestial Terrain Empire, she should have been one of the first to know about something as serious as this. Instead, she was finding out from her own daughter, which made her question why the news hadn't reached her sooner.
Upon hearing what Riya had to say, Amelia didn't waste a second. She quickly washed her hands at the kitchen sink and took off the cooking apron she had on.
"Mom, where are you headed?" Riya asked, a bit puzzled by her mother's sudden change in behavior.
"I've got some important stuff to handle. Don't worry about dinner; the Royal Chef will take care of it. I might be back late, so go ahead and eat without waiting for me," Amelia told her as she started moving towards the door.
As the leader of the Celestial Terrain Empire, Amelia knew she had to do something right away to deal with the protestors blocking the streets. She was also pretty upset that this critical information hadn't come to her first through her own team of advisors and officers. It bothered her that if Riya hadn't mentioned it, she would have been completely in the dark about the whole situation.
That night, Amelia wasn't there for dinner. So, it was just Aditya and Riya sitting down to eat. As they tasted the food, both of them couldn't help but feel that it wasn't as good as what Amelia would have made. Her cooking had a special touch that made everything taste so much better.
With Amelia not around, the atmosphere became a bit more relaxed. Aditya and Riya decided to have some fun to pass the time. They pulled out a deck of cards and started playing some simple card games. As the evening progressed, the card games turned into a more personal and intimate time between the two of them. Hours flew by in this comfortable setting, and before they knew it, it was time to go to bed.
Amelia, on the other hand, didn't come back home until it was really late. She had been dealing with serious matters that needed her immediate attention.
But what no one knew was that something bad was brewing that very night. Something that was going to cause a lot of trouble and unrest among the people living in the Celestial Terrain Empire.
