The Imperial Food Taster - Chapter 1

The Heavenly Moon shone brightly in the pitch darkness of the night, due to the lunar stone used to construct the building. It was a restaurant that was established 250 years before the city it resided in, Arion became the capitol of Alamantia. It was a high-class restaurant visited by nobles, rich merchants, and the Emperor himself. But tonight it’s reputation was going to be tainted, a shadow sneaked into the restaurant pavilion and knocked the wine goblet out of the Emperor’s hand. The guards of the Emperor instantly raised their spears towards the beggar that rushed in, surrounding him. The staff of the restaurant rushed towards the pavilion, causing a commotion among the surrounding nobles who were also patrons.

The Emperor looked towards the beggar and raised his hand; motioning for the guards to cease. The restaurant staff immediately started to clean up the mess and withdrew the dishes, preparing to replace them; but the beggar spoke up, ” Your Imperial Majesty, Your food was poisoned!”. Without any hesitation he took out a mouse from within his stained sackcloth and fed it some of the remaining wine in the goblet, and let it scamper around on the dining table. The Emperor watched it expectantly as it approached the food on the dishes, it climbed onto one of the ornate plates and nibbled on the pink dragonfruit, and after a few seconds fell dead onto the plate. The beggar then explained, “The poison only becomes active when the substance in the wine is taken with the one in the food, so that other party will remain unharmed”.

“Is that why you offered me wine, but refused to drink any yourself, General Kublar? “, the Emperor addressed the man sitting opposite to him in the pavilion. The General’s eyes reddened, then he jumped up, pointed at the Emperor and shouted, “That’s right, I poisoned the food; a wom-. Before he could finish his sentence, the Emperor waved his hands and a magical black substance appeared out of nowhere and completely bound the General, so that only his feet was the only part visible. The Emperor was not just known for his governing and management capabilities, but his tremendous magical prowess.

Two soldiers from the Emperor’s retinue immediately went forward and picked the general up with ease and held him between them. The Emperor pointed towards the beggar, “You, enter one of the secondary carriages; I will talk with you while I have proper dinner at the palace”. He then glared at the owner of the restaurant standing by in apprehension, “Millard, your restaurant will be under investigation, regarding any collaboration with General Kublar’s attempt to assassinate me”. “Of course, your majesty” He replied, his usual elegant appearance was diminished by the sweat dripping off his brow, and the terrified expression on his face as he lowered his head to avoid the fierce gaze. The Emperor and his retinue entered the carriages and the qilins roared as they took off, thundering through the sky to the Heavenly Palace.

The Emperor sat across from the beggar on the Varied Table, a legendary dining table made with galderone crystal said to be harvested from another world. Endless platters containing local and exotic foods kept sliding around the table, as the emperor picked at them one by one. The beggar looked on as the surface of the crystalline table showed ever-changing scenes of forests, cities, and mountains, and rising from the table were transparent displays showing information, that only the emperor seemed to understand as he scanned them with vague interest. He then looked at the beggar, “So tell me, why did you decide to stop me from consuming the complementing substance to the poison that was in the wine”. “I wanted your Majesty to remember how I prevented you from killing yourself, you would not have felt the danger, nor would you have valued my interference if I had warned you long before the dinner that your food would be poisoned. The General and Millard would become suspicious and flee before you could root them out”. Then the beggar reached out and took a roasted pegasus wing off one of the platters sliding by, and chewed on it as he continued, “I am sure you realized that this was not a poison that your sorcery could have saved you from, the poison was made from devil’s gift, a fruit that can kill Immortals.”

“And how would you know this unless you were a part of this plot”

“I observed them from a safe distance as General Kublar and Millard schemed to poison your food. General Kublar was angry that you dishonored the Imperial dynasty by parading as a male in order to claim the throne, but it was Millard who instigated him to assassinate you instead of informing the people.”

“And of course they have no need of you, so unless you were spying on them there is no way you could know that information.”

“Where is the true Emperor?”

“He went missing long ago; when he was but 12, there was an attempt on his life and his caretaker Arch-mage Shilorem took him and fled, promising to return when the time came for him to claim the throne. But they had not returned even when the time had come, so I held the throne for my husband to protect the Gorchellian Dynasty.”

“Your husband?”

“The common people are not aware of this, but there are two imperial bloodlines, The Gorchellian dynasty sit on the throne and rule the people, and the Celians were their companions and their Empresses, tracing their bloodlines back to the first Gorchellyess and Celia.”

“But aren’t the Empresses chosen in The Meeting Ceremony and then given the title Celia by the Emperor!?”

“You are well-informed for a beggar, but you are right, that is how everything is staged to deceive the people, and the noble families. In essence, it is pointless because the Gorchellian and the Celian know and love each other instinctually, even if they have never met; it is the bond of their bloodlines. But the people have to be made to believe that every woman in the empire has a chance to sit on the throne next to the Emperor and rule the empire. The ceremony is an important part of the Imperial machine, to ensure that the people are not dissatisfied with the dynasty and that the empire is united. That is why the ceremony is so popular that even a beggar like you knows of it. But enough of my rant, what about Millard; why is he involved in all this?”

“The Railon family that established the Heavenly Moon traces it’s lineage to loyal cupbearers and chefs of the Kings of Radaen.”

“It appears that their exile 250 years ago was but a pretext to plant agents in Alamantia”

The Empress then turned to address a servant standing beside her, ” Go and arrest Millard and imprison the Railon family for treason, espionage and conspiracy to assassinate the Emperor. They shall be publicly executed a month later, so that internal and external forces are made aware to never threaten the Gorchellian Dynasty and the Empire”

“Yes, your majesty”, The servant responded in affirmation and headed off to accomplish his task.

The Empress then turned back to face him, “Tell me, what is your name?”

“Arion”

“Well Arion, I like your wit, you are clearly ambitious, and you have definitely proven your worth.

I am sure you are looking for some kind of reward, so here it is; you shall be my advisor and you will be well paid for your work. But Emperors have never taken advisors before, and the nobles might deem it unfair, so no one else shall know of it. In the eyes of others you will be my food taster, naturally I do not wish for you to risk your life, so you may continue to use your mice to test the food. Now Estelle will take your quarters so that you may settle yourself, so clean up and wear some proper clothes.”, saying this the Empress got up and left. An elegant lady in a Samian servant suit came in front of him and clapped in order to get his attention, “Follow me, I will lead you to your quarters”.

Arion snuck a few more delicacies into his sackcloth and proceeded to follow Estelle. ‘ ‘ , ; , ?, he grumbled in his mind as he walked along the starlit halls to his chambers.