ALL NOVEL Book 3: 63. Forced
"Hmm…" The sultanzade hummed deep in thought. "Your vitality has diminished, so you have done something. But at the same time, I have not seen anything. Flowing effects tend to be rather noticeable."
Aloe bit the walls of her mouth as she meditated her next step. I've… succeeded. I don't know how, but I've done it. There was nothing telling her that she had managed to use the flowing stance, but at the same time, she was fully convinced of her triumph.
Her flow of vitality, which had the cool and refreshing properties of regeneration, had reverted to default as she expelled her vitality. And then that vitality had disappeared from her reserves.
There was no heavenly answer that confirmed the act, but all clues suggest that she had managed to activate the flowing stance.
And even if all those clues weren't present…
She just knew.
Since she was little, she had been nurtured to be a person of logic, but now her nature ran supreme.
There was no need for logic, for she knew her success to be true.
Okay… okay… She calmly said to herself. Fatima highly suspects that I have, indeed, used the flowing stance. But should I tell her? The magic performed by her flowing stance overwhelmed the scribe's mind.
It's not flashy, but it has a lot of uses… The true weight of the situation dawned on her. Oh, no. OH, NO.
Aloe almost grabbed her head in panic, but her subconscious acted more responsibly than herself, fully knowing that such a reaction would have sent the princess into alert.
Why… The petite cultivator almost cried at her realization. It was just a theory, a flimsy one at that, but the connotations were many, and they disgusted her all. Forced Growth… she put more strength on her bite as she pondered on the name she had given to her flowing skill. A magic that makes things grow faster… Nurture… Flowing stance…
The pieces of the puzzle assembled by themselves, nearly leading Aloe into a panic attack.
I-isn't that… Aloe took a deep breath; this wasn't an action that could no longer be hidden from Fatima's gaze. Isn't this basically… the Blood of the Sultanah?
Everyone in Ydaz, from nomads to nobles, knew that the country subsisted because of the powerful and life-giving properties of the blood of the sultanah. A single drop of blood was told to turn a desertic wasteland into a comely farmland.
I… there's some difference, but Fatima has said that there are many different abilities that one can use from the flowing stance. Knowing that the first one she had unlocked was closely related to that woman didn't fare well with Aloe.
"You have realized something." Fatima voiced out in a neutral tone. That was, perhaps, worse than the sultanzade using her serious one.
"I…" Aloe started but the words died in her throat.
I can't hide this. What happens when she looks at herself in the mirror and sees her hair is a free edge of a fingernail longer? No, the scribe realized, I need to be sincere. To take another route.
"Fatima, please," the commoner announced weakly, her voice exhausted. "Whatever I tell you next, please do not share with anyone. Please." She reiterated.
The abuse of the word merited a raised brow from the princess. "I cannot comprehend for the life of me why you are so defeated by a successful flowing stance, but sure, I will not share whatever unique ability you have discovered. I swear it by the name of Fatima Asina."
Commoners tended to swear by their parents' names instead of themselves, but considering who was her mother, promising by her own name inspired more trust.
"I have…" Aloe breathed out her words more than uttering them. "…made your body grow."
"What do you mean by that?" Fatima frowned. "Are you saying that you made me taller? Made my breasts bigger?" A hint of dread appeared in her visage. "Or have you made me older?"
"No, no." The scribe hastily responded thrashing her hands around in negation. "I have, well, made your hair and nails grow…"
Fatima looked at Aloe in pregnant silence, then her fingers to the middle point of her brows and massaged it.
"You are telling me," the princess sighed, "that all of this fanfare is because you accelerated the growth of my hair and nails?"
The commoner bowed down crestfallen. "Yes."
"Oh heavens, woman!" Fatima raised her voice. "I was expecting something really bad, and you come out with this! Do not give me such a scare!"
"B-but Fatima," Aloe stuttered, though internally she had relaxed at the calm reaction of the princess, "I have soiled your image. The liking of a sultanzade."
"Soiled?" She heartily laughed. "You should become a dramaturge, Aloe. In any case, every sultanzade – especially female ones – would be rejoiced in being able to grow their hair this fast. But," her tone suddenly darkened, "are you sure you only affected the growth of my body and have not aged me?"
Even someone as mentally obfuscated as her could notice the dangers of such a possibility.
No. That was her real opinion, but she didn't answer directly. With that single word, she perhaps could instantly lose all her favor with the cultivator.
"I-I cannot say for certain." Aloe shrunk as she talked. The gesture wasn't faked. "But from the feeling I got whilst I was performing the flowing stance, I strongly believed it acts mostly as some sort of modified regeneration stance, where I am only making your body produce more things faster, rather than accelerating the flow of time itself."
She doubted such arcane and terrifying magic existed, to begin with.
At least with Nurture.
"If you want to bolster secrecy around such triviality, feel free to do so." Fatima unlatched herself from the scribe and walked to the other side of the desk. "I have fulfilled the part of our deal," she continued, "I have taught you how to wield all of the nine Nurture stances, now it is your turn to fulfill your own part."
"The aphrodisiacs are ready to be delivered at a moment's notice, princess." Aloe talked with the diplomatic tone of a scribe instead of a pupil.
"Nine more bottles, right?" The commoner nodded at the princess' words. "I will send you the payment one of these days. It has been hard to procure silver without raising my sisters' suspicion as the lightest metal I carry with myself is electrum."
"I would not expect less." The scribe answered truthfully, sultanzade were filthy rich. Disgustingly so. "Paying for two drupnarun in silver is quite the number of coins."
Two hundred or forty, for drupnari or fajati respectively.
Considering the weight of five drupnari was the same as a single fajati, the only difference came in volume. Both manners of payments were led to be overwhelmingly heavy. I mean… not really. By law, a drupnari weighs fifteen grams, so two-hundred times amounts to… three kilos. Not much weight in the grand scheme of things, but hells, that's a heavy coin purse.
I mean, three sounds like a small number, but. I wouldn't like to carry that heavy of a purse. Aloe had heard of the curious units of measurement the assassins used that tended to bring bigger numbers to 'better' display the weight, but the weird factors and multiplicators the shadow people used made no sense to her. Only a drugged man would use a unit that converts into sums of sixteen instead of ten.
"I do not expect myself to remain at Sadina for much longer, so I will give you some advice before I leave" Fatima walked behind the armchair in front of Aloe's desk and placed her chin on the top of its back.
In a rather salacious manner.
"First," the sultanzade cocked her head to the side, "I will require more aphrodisiacs in the future. I want you quick on your feet, for the moment I send a missive for a resupply, I expect it to not take more than a couple of weeks."
"Of course, Fatima." Aloe bowed dutifully before hitting her with the reality of her petition. "But the trading route between Asina and Sadina is already a week-long, a fortnight for the round trip. The timing for such expectations may be… a tad bit unrealistic."
"Fret not," she waved her hand. "The courtier will take the short route. That should give you between three to four days to work around. You will surely find a way to make it work out."
"By all means." The scribe smiled at her. Whore. Bitch. Fuck you. I hope you die. Drown in a septic pool. Though she didn't have such reservations on her mind. "Though my supply is limited. I only managed to produce such outrageous amounts because it was harvesting season." Aloe tried to soften her future fall with veiled lies.
"Harvesting season? Is that not in Autumn?"
"Not all crops are harvested in Autumn." The commoner calmly explained. "Depending on the crop some are down in Spring. Potatoes, for example, are planted in Winter."
"I see…" Disappointment was written all over the princess' visage. "Then the current batch is an outlier? Does this mean that I will only get aphrodisiacs in Summer?"
"Not at all." Aloe smiled at her, satisfied that the many lies went unnoticed. "We are dealing with a certain variety of flowers here, so there they will be year-round. Only that you should maybe expect five bottles instead of ten. But, depending on the rate of your consumption, that may not even be a problem if the crops are not taxed."
"Hmm…" Fatima unlatched herself from the armchair and strolled around the office. "I will require of a more detailed report once I have sent a courier back to you."
"Naturally." The scribe slightly bowed down.
"I will take my leave then. I would prefer to be on my way to Asina for tomorrow morning if I can get the coins by then." The sultanzade's normally dull eyes shone as she spoke.
But as she made her way to the door, she turned back and reached for the scribe's desk in a mad dash. Aloe, alerted by the sudden moves, shifted into toughness. Yet no hit came to her, but something way fouler.
Jumping over the desk with feline grace, Fatima placed before Aloe and forced herself into her lips. The gesture took the commoner by surprise as the princess ravaged her mouth with her tongue.
Yet as soon as the kiss was started, it ended as the sultanzade removed herself. Fatima let out a giggle, enjoying Aloe's petrified expression as she licked her own lips.
"Be careful to not get eaten whilst I am gone." And with those words, Fatima marched out.
Aloe herself remained still in stasis, unable to process what had happened. Then she puked.
I never understood how these "dark" romance stories idolized the villain. They are called "the villain" for a reason, so getting your lips stolen by one isn't exactly pleasurable.
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