In a bath of floating velora petals, a woman lay in the warm water as if she were sitting on a throne instead of in a bath.
The crimson petals drifted languidly across the surface like shards of silk as the steam curled softly around her figure. She remained motionless for a while.
When she did, it was leisurely and slow.
With the quiet elegance of someone who is completely used to luxury, she emerged from the bath, the petals opening around her as the water fell silently from her skin. Her eyes moved to the room's scarlet window. She just stared at it for a moment.
Then, without a single unnecessary step, she moved forward, grabbed a gown, and elegantly and calmly draped it over herself.
She found herself in a silent inner room beyond the bathing chamber.
A slender, graceful, and unnatural tree with branches covered in blossoming velora flowers stood in the middle of it all. Even in the dim lantern light, the crimson petals were vivid, clustering along the limbs like drops of frozen blood.
Without making a sound, the woman came in.
She approached the tree, draped in her gown, as one would approach a sacred object rather than a decorative one. She touched one of the petals with her fingers, then reached for a tiny porcelain container that was lying close by.
She started to carefully and slowly pour water at the tree's base, making sure that not a drop was wasted. As the moisture seeped into the soil, the petals trembled slightly, their carmine glow color slightly deepening as if in response to her tenderness.
There were footsteps coming from the hallway.
Esyn entered after the door slid open. Without hesitation, she bowed gracefully, her head lowered in complete recognition, her posture perfect.
"Here, I welcome the Princess of Insatiable Crimson. Lady Yserola.
The sound of the water pouring stopped. There was utter silence in the room for a moment. Yserola turned slowly after that.
She seemed at first to be merely a human woman of extraordinary beauty. Realistic, warm skin. Her long, raven-black hair cascaded down her back, with faint wine-dark strands tucked away like silk veins.
Her pupils thinned ever so slightly as the lantern light caught her eyes, giving the impression of vertical slits before returning to something more human. Her eyes were a deep, piercing red.
Her blood-red lips curved into a warm, inviting smile that was completely devoid of warmth.
"Esyn, you're late."
Esyn looks down and gives a polite apology for her late arrival, she then addresses what she had just accomplished. Yserolda does not say a word and just glares at Esyn. Slowly she started to approach Esyn and as she walked there only elegance followed her.
Yserolda arrives at Esyn and makes her lift her head. This made Esyn slightly confused but at the same time a little bit excited because she knows that the princess always gives out rewards in her own way. But what happened next was not what she had expected.
A velora flower started to bloom on her left eye and this made her wary. She wonders to herself with small amounts of sweat going down her face.What did she say wrong? Yserolda closes the gap between her and Esyn and looks directly into her eyes almost as if she was looking into her soul.
One might believe that she was about to kill her, well at least that was what Esyn told herself. But how could she die without ever receiving a single reward from Yserolda. That was something she had never wished for. But then Yserolda kissed the blooming flower that was growing on Esyn's eye and it withered away. She then walked back to her tree and continued to pour some water on it.
"I would be very furious at your actions.But you did use your charm to kill a high ranking human so I will let you off the hook for now." Yserolda said.
Esyn could not breath normally as she was scared at first but because of Yserolda's mercy to her she was thankful.
"It was just my service to you princess. I only do as foretold that is all."
Yserolda did not answer back and attended to her velora tree.
"Esyn,I have a question for you. Do you believe that my mother is proud of my actions?" Yserolda asked.
"Even in her resting place, I believe that her smile is wider than our lives."
"Is that so?"
Before gradually curling inward, Yserolda's fingers lingered against a velora bloom
"She rests beneath soil unworthy of her… sealed by those who praised her sovereignty yet trembled at her hunger."Yserolda whispered.
She lowered her red eyes a little.
"They referred to her as a catastrophe and a monster, and I have to agree with them because they were spot on." Yserolda muttered.
The petals surrounding her appeared to deepen in color as her gaze grew sharper.
"Esyn, we've been hiding long enough.We have been working quietly in the background for years. We always win by using our own bodies to gain the upper hand. We also fed ourselves, which was incredibly…delicate."
Yserolda took one of the flowers from the tree and squeezed it until blood began to slowly seep out of her hands. She then began to lick the blood while gasping for air. It appeared to be done for fun, as though she had completed the act and was completely satisfied, but that couldn't have been the problem.
"Humans would portray it as "selling our souls to the devil," not realizing that they were doing the same thing with us. Now is the moment to bring my mother, the Primordial Sanguara, back to life."
"Yes, princess."