The Loyatan armies were routed after the death of all the Grandmaster Assassins. They were their commanders and generals, so I had effectively wiped their chain of command. As we were only a handful of sultanzade – tired ones at that – on the battlefield, we did not chase them. Instead, I made my siblings carry the body of our dead mother. More than one felt the urge to spit on her corpse, but they managed to hold their disdain.

  "Commander!" Shouted the general that I had been talking to prior to the final engagement. "What has happened? Weeds are growing everywhere, and the enemy army is retreating. Should we engage?"

  I could understand the man's desperation and rapid spewing of words, it had been a weird day and the fact that grass was literally growing under our feet as we spoke did not help, but I maintained my composure.

  "Aaliyah-al-Ydaz is dead!" I announced with the bombastic power of the strength stance as it echoed through the valley.

  This proclamation sent gazes of confusion everywhere. But beyond that, bewilderment. No soldier could believe that the Sultanah was dead. Not any Heavenly Descendant, the Aaliyah-al-Ydaz. Only the soldiers on the first line who could see my siblings carry the corpse gasped at the sight. I continued speaking.

  "And I have killed her!" I clanked my swords together then raised my right arm, sword pointing to the heavens.

  You know what happened then?

  Indeed, they all bowed to their new Sultanah. One thing I love is seeing the reactions of people from what used to be the southern countries. They simply cannot wrap their heads around the fact that power is seized instead of inherited, that the blood we seek is not just of consanguinity but also power. The strongest.

  The soldiers that had previously been wielding bows now dropped those weapons and stood up from their bowing position and unsheathed their swords.

  "All hail the Heavenly Descendant!" They all chanted in awe and fervor. "All hail Naila-al-Ydaz!" It was but an intoxicating experience.

  I have told you how my first action after ascending had been to cull the assassins, but the first action after everyone accepted my position was to take a bath. Even for royalty, it was not common to take baths during war. There are many reasons for that, like logistics, but the most important one is discipline. It really motivates soldiers to know that their ruler is suffering the same muskiness, grime, and blood on their skin. Shared suffering and whatnot.

  But truth be told, this was no longer a war.

  We had lost our ruler, and even if it was not the best thing to have a succession during wartime, the enemies had taken heavy losses and lost their chain of command. Technically speaking, we had not even lost a commander as Aaliyah-al-Ydaz had been the ruler, and Rani and I were the actual heads of the army. And even if we had lost many fortifications, our main marching army had taken little losses.

  My reign was based on a shaky foundation, but I had a clear image of what to do to seize it.

  I wanted nor needed a war; I would have a conquest.

  That bath felt the best I had ever had in ages. Not only I had many maids to assist me, but I also brought Mirah and Aya with me. I told you that sultanzade follow the law, but they also keep their promises, and I had promised little Aya a position. And I cannot lie, but I was a bit infatuated with her. Yes, she was a child, but in a way so was I. And beyond that, she was the only person that had shown me warmth when I had never felt it before in my life. And it was a striking one at that, one carried out by someone who beheld no importance on my title and just saw me as a person.

  People say men are easy to charm, just whisper them sweet words and they are yours. But the truth is the same works for women. It is just that we can tell when those words are veritable. And when they are… they strike harder.

  As I was employing Mirah as a maid already, I made her wash my body. The housewife did not protest, even if her eyes showed the most arousing of disdain. This was the first time I had ordered to do something like that, but I was in an intoxicating high. I was the Sultanah. But at the same time as that woman looked at me with unhidden hate, I could also see a plead. "Do not do anything to my daughter, please. Anything to me, but not my daughter." They begged so powerfully that I was moved.

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  I raised my hand outside the wooden bathtub I was being washed on and caressed Mirah's cheek. I do not know what that woman had, but she was superb. She didn't look like she had given birth to a child more than a decade ago. But as Aya looked at me, I could not help but feel guilty. The girl was already blushing as she was standing in the same room where I was being washed and anointed by many maids whilst I was naked, but I was also toying with her mother.

  It was not hard to notice even for me, if I kept treading that path, I would corrupt that warmth that had touched me so deeply. And I could not allow that. Especially because that was the path my mother would have walked.

  I stopped my caress and let my arm fall back into the bathtub.

  "Aya," I softly called out for her.

  "Yes?" The girl jolted in surprise at being personally directed by her ruler. I could tell that was the reaction she was experiencing, but I still could not believe it myself. I was Sultanah. I was the Sultanah.

  But I could feel at the same time the fear in Mirah's hands as she washed my body. Was I about to do something to her daughter? Those thoughts were crystal clear even to me.

  "You have done well so far as my personal scribe and managing the logistics of the army."

  "T-thank you, my Sultanah," Aya responded with a bow. Everyone could hear the fear in her voice and mannerisms, but it was different from the one her mother portrayed. Her mother feared I might deflower her, whilst the innocent Aya simply feared that I might make her and her mother out now that my position had become far too important for them. A good girl she was, she just wanted to keep her family out of poverty.

  "Your efforts have been commendable, but…" Mother and daughter gulped saliva down as they waited for my proclamation. Fortunately for both of them, I was to betray their expectations. "Your talents could be put to greater use. You are hereby promoted to commander assistant of the army and are to support me and Rani-al-Sadina in the total conquest of Loyata."

  The family duo could not believe my words. They had both expected the worst outcome yet had been gifted with one beyond their imagination and yet, their surprise paled in comparison with that of the maids and the words. They had heard my order loud and clear.

  From a bathtub, I declared that Loyata was to stop existing.

  None dared to refute my proclamation, not even Aya herself, even as stupid as it could sound to give such responsibility to a young girl. For they knew I was the Sultanah.

  Now, I was careful with the management of information. Morale was already low from the fact that half of our elite force was dead and so was our former monarch, but as word spread that practically the whole enemy elite was decimated, that recovered the army from some of the brunt. And talking about spreading words, I kept information about Aaliyah-al-Ydaz's death under a lock. Everyone in the army knew of it, yes, but I could not afford just yet for the entirety of Ydaz to know.

  The following days were a series of carnages as I sent my fresh army to annihilate the enemy-routed one. It took only a handful of weeks before the presence of Loyatan forces was cast out of Ydaz as we also recovered the captured forts. Apparently, they did not have enough manpower to man them correctly and they just worked as supply depots.

  As I and my army waited on the Ydaz-Loyata border after the last fort was recaptured and properly manned, I was asked a very important question.

  "Do we push out?"

  Many people had asked me this question, not only the generals but also Rani and Aya. Perhaps a child, but the girl was pragmatic in warfare like the most ruthless of soldiers. Was she always like that?

  Huh. I guess that is what the death of one's parent usually does to someone.

  Do not gloom over it like that, in any case, I am snapping at myself. I wish I could feel that way over the death of mine, and instead, I was just brimming with confidence and happiness thinking that Aaliyah-al-Ydaz was dead.

  Oh, that? We carried her corpse with us. It is not unheard of; most rulers of Ydaz die in battle, so the war is treated as a funerary procession. Aaliyah-al-Ydaz was definitely the oldest of them all as most rulers didn't make it past fifty and she had been pushing seventy around her death. We would bury her in the imperial mausoleum when we reached Asina, but that was the least of our concerns.

  Going back to the important question, I had many choices before me. But I remembered a very important fact: Loyata was not a whole nation. It was a series of splintered tribes, chiefdoms, and city-states. A coalition of a culture instead of a nation.

  "No," I responded. "We will not be able to annex Loyata as a whole that way. Reinforce every frontier fortress. Restart the recruitment efforts. Leave standing armies on the border. We will swarm Loyata as a whole, and we can only do that once Ydaz itself is whole. We return to Asina, the people must know of her new ruler."

  Some doubted my decision, after all, the country's morale was high because they did not know that Aaliyah-al-Ydaz was dead. But I had other ideas.

  "The youth is brimming with bloodshed, as one myself, I know it," I spoke to the council of war. "Ydaz has been at peace for far too long and people long for the conquests of yore. They want to live in an epoch of glory. And we are going to give them that. Aaliyah-al-Ydaz's rule was one of oppressive peace. Mine will be one of liberating war."

  No, you are wrong, Aloe. When I marched into Asina and was crowned as the new Sultanah and made my proclamation of conquest, people looked at me with awe. You have been a diplomat all your life, so you have been disconnected from the fighting spirit of Ydaz. Aaliyah-al-Ydaz had tried to substitute it with scribes and spry intellectualism, but people ached for battle, for honor, and for the great tales of grand victories and conquest.

  And they were willing to die for it.