14. Everything (Patreon)

Aloe recomposed herself before talking again. Not only her posture wasn’t the best, but her body was starting to ache again as she wasn’t donning ‘toughness’. Nor could she afford to change her current internal infusion. 

“Princess Fatima, as much as I would like to talk about business, you may have noticed my physical incapabilities.” To begin with, she prodded the sultanzade.

The scribe was the most conscious person in the gardens about her own physical condition, and whilst it may irate her to no limit, she knew it was a good dealing card in conversation.

“I… of course.” The sultanzade replied in an almost apologetic tone.

Even if Fatima Asina hadn’t apologized herself, the weakness of her voice felt like the sweetest of nectars to Aloe’s enhanced senses. Oh~ It was almost hard to contain her extasy. She’s desperate for more aphrodisiacs, otherwise she wouldn’t act like this. But why? The scribe pondered with confusion. The Grace’s Exaltation nectar shouldn’t be addictive, and even if it was, I fear I have consumed more of it than her. Not only during the experimentation but also… then.

She had almost drunk half a bottle of the diluted nectar during that fateful night. If someone were to develop cravings for the glowing and spicy substance, it would be her.

Aloe noticed the uneasiness in the princess’ expression and realized that something had to be done. “Soldiers, may you leave me alone with princess Fatima for a moment?”

One of the soldiers, the closest to her and the one who tended to speak nicely looked at Aloe with a bit of doubt, but they didn’t protest and soon made their way out. Their orders came only from a servant of the imperial family, and right now there was a very member of that family seeking conversation with her. For once, they had to obey one of her orders without protesting.

Fatima instantly calmed once they were left alone, but the scribe didn’t. Unlike her mother or Naila Asina, this imperial wouldn’t kill her. She needed her. But she would be a fool to trust a sultanzade. Aloe examined carefully, ready to shift her infusion to ‘toughness’ at the minimal movement, even if that would only delay her death; for if the sultanzade wanted her dead, the soldiers wouldn’t save her.

“What is it that bothers you, princess?” Aloe spoke with a sweet tone and a calm expression. Her body may be limited in movements, but her visage wasn’t.

“I require more of your aphrodisiac, scribe.” Fatima didn’t beat around the bush and went straight for the throat.

“I gave you all my bottles.” The bedridden woman answered calmly.

“Surely?” Her enhanced senses caught a twitch in the princess’ eyelids. She’s truly desperate. Aloe almost bit her lip in a mixture of angst and fear. Why?

“I know it must have taken you much self-control to make those two bottles last for a month…”

“Wait.” Fatima cut her. “How do you know I only had two? You sold me three.” Even though the toned woman didn’t raise her voice, her posture became confrontational, and her tone hid a hint of anger.

“I thought you would already know what happened with the first bottle I gifted you.” The nonchalance of Aloe shook Fatima, making her step back from the whiplash as if she had been slapped. Of course, she knows. She had that bottle less than a day before her mother snatched it. “It is the very reason I am in my current form. As it would seem, the very sultanah enjoyed my product. A bit too much.”

Aloe didn’t know if that was the true reason why the whore queen of Ydaz had been that violent with her, but she used that unknown factor against the woman’s daughter. Discarding useful weapons was moronic.

It would have been easy for Aloe to state that Aaliyah shouldn’t have had that product in the first place, that she had gifted it to Fatima alone, but the sultanzade knew it. She knew it well. It was both her incompetence and fault that led Aloe to her current state.

Of course, she knew better than to blame the stupid whore.

There was only one culprit.

“I may have overstepped there.” Fatima acknowledged once more her wronging. Not a true apology, but the best Aloe could get from a plague like her. It almost calmed her anger. “My mother certainly inquired about your product after I failed my… duties for a day. I should not have asked about the bottle’s location when I myself knew where it ended.”

You are so desperate… Aloe’s body itched in joy upon seeing a sultanzade this weak. If she could stand up, she almost felt like she could switch to ‘strength’ and embrace her tightly.

Recompose, Aloe. Recompose. The scribe breathed slowly so as to not alert the sultanzade, her mask didn’t falter during her lapse.

“I can understand you want to buy more aphrodisiac, but as you can see, I am indisposed.” Aloe raised her arms with her palms open.

“I could give you all the resources to produce your aphrodisiac if that is the problem.”

“I appreciate the offer, but the are other issues at hand.” Besides that, I won’t show you my Grace’s Exaltation. “I am simply not capable of producing it right now, and even if I could, I highly doubt you may be able to obtain the plants needed for it.”

“You underestimate my resources, scribe. I can obtain everything I want with the sway of my hand.” Fatima placed her hand on her bountiful chest, yet a bead of sweat didn’t evade Aloe’s detection. “And if the plants were as difficult to obtain as you sway I could send some people to your place to get–“  

“Do not.”

Fatima jumped out of her posture and backpedaled, she lowered her body and readied in what seemed to be a combat stance. It took Aloe a few heartbeats to notice what had just happened. The scribe coughed thrice to defuse the situation.

“I am very privy of my plants,” the petite woman’s voice was as sweet as the nectar she sold, “not only because of trade secrets but also because most are very sensitive. I would rather avoid losing my garden because someone did not know how to correctly harvest them.” Aloe’s smile was as bright as the sun scorching above them, she had one hand placed on her chest like the sultanzade whilst another lingered in the air still in its nonthreatening gesture.

That was, of course, a lie.

A lie so false that it turned around in its head and became an empirical truth. The easiness that her words carried such falsehood surprised her. Not even Father could lie this well. Is it because of ‘acuity’? It didn’t matter to Aloe, what was of the essence was the fact that Fatima believed her, she could see it in her face.

“I… see.” Slight fear populated the princess’ face, but Aloe knew better than to think it was induced by her outburst. That woman had more vitality than her and was in her prime. And besides, she had military training. She didn’t have any reason to fear the scribe.

No, what the sultanzade feared was much simpler.

To lose her dear aphrodisiacs.

“May I inquire why are you so scorched on getting your hands in these aphrodisiacs?” Aloe asked with a diplomatic tone. “The moment I get to Sadina I could go and make them. There is no need for haste.”

“H-haste, right.” Fatima looked at Aloe and avoided her gaze. She’s doubting if to answer or not. Her training in diplomacy and as a future banker taught her how to read people’s emotions, but ‘acuity’ brought that to a new level. “Scribe, how much do you know?”

This question is too open… I need to divert it first. “What are you referring to, princess Fatima?” Aloe responded with obviously fake confusion. So plainly acted that even a distressed and moronic person like the braindead sultanzade could comprehend it.

“About cultivators.” And that gave her enough confidence to speak more freely. After all, if she didn’t know about the imperial’s magic, why would she act like that?

Aloe didn’t consider herself a great fighter, a given on the battlefield, but in the stage of subterfuge. She would lie and cheat yes, but she wasn’t a strong person. She knew she would buckle under pressure. Diplomacy was her way to go, a resolution where all parties won. There was nothing better than a win-win scenario, after all.

But that didn’t mean some people could win more than others.

“Everything,” Aloe smiled, her lips threatening to tear with her exaggerated expression. Yet exaggeration was the way to go, to get in the sultanzade’s mind. There would not be another chance to get in the mind of an imperial, after this, Fatima would probably never show weakness to her away. And the weak get culled. “I know everything, princess Fatima.”