From the moment Mais arrived in the city, and even when he began conducting séances to accelerate Maria's cultivation, he never once considered poisoning her. Maria wasn't wrong. They were friends. Even though Mais didn't seem particularly friendly or approachable, he considered Maria a friend. He acted hesitant and distant because of past experiences. Mais knew he shouldn't shape his future relationships based on past events. Mais had no reason to poison her. However, from the outside, it seemed that wasn't the case. Baro had fallen for his bluff, and Maria and Kasuur hadn't questioned the truth of the slander.
In any case, it didn't matter anymore. Mais did poison Maria. If it weren't for the mild doses Mais administered in short bursts, Maria wouldn't have survived.
Mais gave her the Hellfire Pill, invented by Zeruan Neruzai, a former King of the Eastern Kingdom and a formidable alchemist. Although it was a pill developed specifically for cultivators to survive in the Southern Desert, it was intended for the Ascended. It was a training pill that made even them feel pain and the bitter heat of the Southern Desert. Without the appropriate cooling agents, Maria would simply burn to ashes one day when the crisis hit.
Giving Maria such a poison clearly infuriated Baro. Yet all he did was look at her from somewhere Mais could sense him. Mais, however, felt no fear of him.
Mais hadn't learned Maria's reaction after she found out about the poison. The young girl might not have understood the purpose of the battle. But she should have understood what was happening now. Why weren't rumours of her anger circulating in the city?
Mais had thought Maria would unleash her anger. But now, it seemed that hadn't happened. This upset Mais more than he had expected.
Mais's house had been destroyed and most of his servants had died. Only Anika and Valeria remained. Although Anika had tried to protect her, Valeria was devastated by the deaths of the servants she had known for so long. Although she had no physical injuries, she was experiencing emotional distress. She discovered that the world contained colours other than the pink shades children saw. And even though no one said anything, she understood that Mais was the one who had killed them. Valeria began to distance herself from Mais. Mais could sense this.
'Oh, I'm suffocating.'
That loneliness was filling him again, and there was nothing Mais could do. He was now staying at Kasuur's house. The foreign servants were helpful in every way, but they were strangers and they were afraid. Mais felt once again that people were changing. Servants were resigning, and more fearless servants were taking jobs with higher salaries. Mais paid for all this extra income.
'Did I do the right thing?'
It was a question he kept asking himself. Even though the answer had never changed, he kept asking it. He hadn't hesitated at all at that moment. While he was killing the servants. Now, he felt sad about something he couldn't get back.
Yet those servants had been informing Baro about him behind his back. They were betraying him. If only they hadn't run in that direction...
Ifs. It had begun for Mais as well.
He had started having his house repaired. However, he continued to live with Kasuur during this period. He rarely left his room. He didn't like anyone entering his room except Anika. He could hear people complaining about how grumpy he was. They acted carelessly, not considering that he could hear everything that was going on in the house. Still, they were afraid. Mais could understand.
Following Pima's arrival, blood stained the tavern and the surrounding street. Many ordinary people could not withstand her wrath. Although she tried her best not to hurt anyone, ordinary people were far too fragile for her to handle. Thus, the death toll was high. No matter how hard Baro tried to suppress what had happened, he couldn't bring back the dead. People spoke with hatred in the streets, and the Meng family's reputation was ruined. Now, hardly anyone walked down that street. It was closed. The tavern was empty.
Mais's actions didn't attract much attention either. Nevertheless, the destruction to his home was clearly visible. The other merchants living in the Golden Grove neighbourhood were trying to find out what was happening. Mais had inevitably anticipated that his talents would be revealed. At the very least, it would turn out that he was a Sage, which would be quite remarkable given his age. Mais wouldn't have done this if he had another option. Still, there was nothing they could do now.
"Don't you need to cut your hair?"
Suddenly, a sound was heard in his room. It was a deep voice, though not that of an elderly person. The tone was proud and confident. Mais was sitting in front of the mirror, combing his hair, and he glanced around instinctively. But he could hear neither footsteps nor breathing. The person who had entered his room appeared to be a unique assassin. A lord? That would be far too unexpected. Mais smiled.
"Why would I need to cut my hair? Is this some kind of wordplay about cutting my neck?" he replied. He heard a mocking laugh from the owner of the slightly deep voice.
"Not at all. I just heard that princes are usually expected to cut their hair when they're exiled."
At that moment, Mais suddenly stood up in surprise. The room quickly grew cold, and Mais focused all his attention on identifying the person. He raised his staff in the air, ready to attack at any moment. He frowned.
"Who are you?"
The voice clicked. But Mais couldn't be sure where it came from.
"I don't know, you tell me."
KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!
The sound of knocking on the door could be heard. Mais waited for a moment, but the voice in the room didn't respond any further. At this point, Mais answered the door.
"Come in."
A plump figure, barely able to squeeze through the door, stepped into Mais's cold room. His first reaction was to shiver. He felt the same cold as before.
"Is something wrong?"
It was perfectly normal for Kasuur to have this question in mind the moment he entered the room. Mais was standing upright with a nervous expression, his cane in hand. The room was freezing, and Kasuur could sense an overwhelming urge to kill.
Yet his increasingly heightened senses, developed through his new technique, didn't detect anything unusual. Only Mais and the little cat on the bed.
Mais stood for a while before sitting back down.
"Nothing important. What did you come for?"
Kasuur still glanced around briefly. He walked over to the open window and closed it. Then he sat down on the chair next to the bed. It was actually a three-seater, but Kasuur could barely fit on it alone. There were similar chairs in many parts of the house for him to use. The room filled with the sound of the chair creaking as he sat down.
"I want you to explain what happened. You tell me to make a decision without giving me any information. So, how about you explain what happened?"
Mais smiled. Mais had to admit that he wasn't used to Kasuur seeking information of his own accord. It was more normal for him to flirt with young girls and enjoy himself in cafés and taverns. Kasuur was a show-off. Apparently, there were things that had prompted him to ask questions.
Mais tied his hair up in a bun; he sometimes did that, and he remembered his father often doing the same. When Mais was preparing to become emperor, he had asked his father why he did it. His father had told him that his mother, the first empress, had done it that way, and she had taught him to do it the same way. It was a tradition in the lands from which his grandmother came. His grandmother had simply wanted to keep the tradition alive.
He remembered his father always wearing a star-shaped hair clip. He told him that it wasn't the star Hades, but a star from another star system. It was a gift from his great-uncle to his mother, but it was intended for men. That's why the first empress had never worn it. His father had always suspected that his great-uncle had given it to his mother to give to him later.
Now, the clip was in Lameon's hand. Not Mais's.
"What do you want to know?" he finally asked. Kasuur stirred.
"You told me the City Lord was being chased by someone. Do you know who it was?"
"I have no idea."
Kasuur was confused.
"Then... why—"
At this point, Mais interrupted Kasuur to approach the subject from a different angle.
"Did Maria's Fire Body spring from nothing, Kasuur? You can investigate Baro's past. It's not that hard to find. He's the last living member of a low-ranking noble family. Yet this family doesn't have a record of an Ascendant, let alone a Transcendent. So where did such a powerful Fire Body come from? Who is Maria's mother?"
Mais shook his head. He knew there were many complex elements involved and that it would be very difficult to solve. Maria's own abilities alone made her reaching the Ascension Realm quite possible. Now, with the inheritance, the Fire Body, and Mais's reinforcements, perhaps even the Meridian Realm wouldn't be her limit.
"Do you know what the Flame Bird Incident is, Kasuur?"
Kasuur looked up in surprise. The Flame Bird Incident... he remembered hearing about such a thing. Mais continued.
"It was a terrible event, not just for the Forgotten Kingdom, but for the entire continent. A great catastrophe that occurred on the Blue Continent. The Inheritance of the Phoenix, where countless young people of limitless potential from countless noble houses perished. Princes, princesses, and incredible geniuses fell in this inheritance. It is said that very few survived the Flame Bird Incident, and it is not easy to obtain information about any of them. But do you know what the interesting part of this event is that concerns us?"
Kasuur looked up curiously, and Mais tapped his wand on the ground habitually.
"This event happened 16 years ago. Right when Maria was born."