The emperor never heard a single word from Emery, but her deadly glare said a lot so he just raised both of his hands in surrender.
“M-My apologies–”
“Do you think this is funny?!”
Seeing her suddenly bursting out in a cry sent the emperor in a state of panic. He kept on apologizing to her while wiping away her tears despite not knowing what exactly to say to calm her. Plus, he had never seen her act like this before.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” he mumbled. “A-Are you hurt somewhere? D-Do you need anything?”
Emery shook her head and said, “I was just thinking… I only ate a piec
“”H-How long is it going to take for her to give birth?” the emperor asked the physician, clearly in panic.“Most first time mothers undergo 4 to 19 hours–”“19 hours?! Are you telling me that Emery will have to endure that pain in hours?”The physician nodded, explaining to him that the labor could last in a few hours. But since it varies from woman to woman, he could not tell him a specific number of hours. Seeing the emperor seemingly losing all his rational thoughts, he could only smile since it reminded him of the time that he also had become a father. The physician then patted him on the shoulder.“Emery is a strong woman so she will get through this,&rdquo
Ronan smiled and said, “She is okay now. She just needs to rest for the next few weeks and if no complications occur, she will regain her strength in no time.” Delighted, the emperor was about to rush inside Emery’s room, however, the head maidservant stopped him. “You are not the baby here, Your Imperial Highness. The twins get to her first.” With that being said, the twins, who looked the exact opposite of each other, were brought back to Emery for their first skin-to-skin contact and, of course, breastfeeding. Only then, the emperor dragged Ronan into the next empty room. “The other one with the black hair…” he said, but could not seem to finish what he wanted to ask.
“With the army?” the emperor questioned.Castor nodded.Emperor Claus knew that the empress was smart enough to make proper decisions, however, this decision of hers was a mistake or probably something she miscalculated. Whatever she was planning, he won’t let her get what she wanted. He showed no sign of panic as he turned to Evander.“Get Castor treated inside. I will deal with the empress myself,” he claimed. “And make sure that this won’t reach Emery. It might hinder her recovery so keep the trouble out of her radar.”After saying such, he summoned Ronan to tighten the security around the vicinity, most especially the surroundings of Emery’s room. Only
Raphael, Lila, and even Emery looked away from the direction of Jadeite as she acted upon her words. A pool of blood surrounded the body of the Shadow Assassin’s leader right after Jadeite beheaded him and carved his heart out. She covered them with several cloths before keeping them in a wooden box, which she seemed to have prepared beforehand.After doing all of that, she wiped off the remaining blood that splattered on her before facing the three.“Now… Shall we get going?” she mused, only to notice the flushed look on Raphael’s face.However, her eyes lit up upon seeing Lila and Emery tearing up while staring back at her. She spread out her arms and threw herself on them, hugging them tight since it has been so long since they l
That threat seemed to have done nothing to Emery. She thought she would feel alarmed, scared, or even be in a sort of panic, however, she felt none of those.“Then, just kill me,” she said without much thought. “That’s what I wanted anyway.”Pearce gritted his teeth and tightened his hold on the rein. He wanted to instill fear in her just as how he felt when the emperor burned Colsier and its remaining people because of her. Hence, sensing no fear in her agitated him.He then shifted his gaze behind him, where a pair of Shadow Assassins sat to keep a close eye on Emery. He signaled them to take the twins away from their mother with the hope of pushing Emery to the edge of her wits. Stopping the horse in the middle of nowhere, the two
Two days passed after the emperor was able to stop the group from leaving the empire without his knowledge, hence, he brought them back to the capital. Raphael, Lila, and Jadeite were under heavy surveillance that even three of the emperor’s knights looked after them along with the other soldiers. Besides, after seeing how Jadeite took out Pearce in a matter of minutes told them that she was no easy woman to rein.The twins were also kept in the Euthoria Mansion to assure their safety before their official recognition. Emery, on the other hand, remained unconscious for two straight days because of too much blood loss. With her current condition, he could not bear to be away from her so bringing her back to the Wingston Mansion was already out of the question.Plus, after what the empress had done, there were a lot of thin
In the Levans Court, all the ministers of Emperor Claus’ court as well as his advisers were all present after Duke Hagan called forth an emergency meeting. Of course, he would not let his daughter be dethroned for the sake of a lowly woman like Emery, hence, he would use the court to tie down the emperor from ever deciding to remove Serena’s title.Meanwhile, Prince Cornelius and Emperor Claus managed to reach the court hall just in time. Upon their entrance, there was a total silence, but it was hard for the prince to distinguish if it was a silence of fear or disappointment. Either way, they did not expect this matter to happen, however, they were more than prepared to protect Emery and not let her get accused of something she had done not for the second time.As the brothers took their respective seat with the emperor
During the emergency assembly at the Levans Court, Emery finally regained consciousness. Aside from the wound on her back, her entire body almost hurt because she had been lying on her stomach for the past few days. Either way, she paid no heed to the pain since she could tolerate it at the moment. She looked around and immediately realized that she was back in the palace. Her room still looked the same way as she left it months ago.Clutching at the blanket, she hated herself for failing to escape from the clutch of the emperor. She may be thankful that he saved her back then, but still… Being in the palace was being back to square one in planning for another escape.Meanwhile, Marianne came running towards her with relief and delight that her lady had finally woken up. She had been too worried, but now, she could finally bre
Fate just had its way of playing with the lives of people, especially Emery who seemed to be its favorite to play with. Emery gave birth to twins, one boy and one girl. She thought that having them would finally mend her relationship with King Lawson that was on the verge of being broken once more, however, she was wrong. Rather than having a stable relationship, it became more chaotic when King Lawson came back from a three-week trip to another kingdom for a diplomatic meeting. Her heart broke as she watched him return with another woman. It was not just an ordinary woman, but the younger sister and seemingly exact replica of Royal Concubine Hazel. She received the king’s utmost attention with the reason that King Lawson felt guilty of letting Lady Hazel be killed. Hence, his only way to redeem himself was to treat her younger sister better. Emery let it slide, thinking that her twins needed more attention from her since their father barely spent time with them. However, even in he
The people along the main street of Elescaster City halted whatever they were doing upon hearing clops of horses’ hooves getting louder and seeing a group of men passing by at a rather fast speed towards the direction of the palace. They had to clear the streets in order to avoid getting stomped. Several of the men were clearly foreign soldiers judging by the unfamiliar armor they wore. However, they only grew curious of the other two leading them since they wore a hooded cape that hid their faces from anyone. It took them several minutes to reach the main gates of the palace, halting their horses to get their identities checked. The two people at the front removed their hoods, revealing a young boy and an older woman. With only one look at the younger one, the guards could tell that it was none other than the twin of the empire’s Crown Prince. His hair was as dark as the night, which was contrary to his pair of eyes that resembled the golden sun. The guard bowed their heads in his
In the midst of the wide gladiator stadium filled with spectators both from the noble and ordinary families, two women faced off against each other, their swords at the ready. Right at the side where a large throne stood was Emperor Claus overlooking the open ground with Castor right next to him. The other knights stood at different posts around the stadium to make sure that no outsiders would dare interfere with the duel.The rows of seats right below him were occupied by the ministers, including the emperor’s three advisors—Sir Tarkin, Sir Vlachos, and Sir Louvel. As much as these three men were against the said duel as it could put the empire into a state of instability because of Emery’s non-Varmorian blood and lack of influence and wealth, this was also by far the safest option they have to keep the Hagans’ reputation unstained. They were already aware of th
On the day before the duel between Emery and the empress, the former just finished her daily training with Jadeite in the barracks of the knights. She did not want to exhaust herself too much so right after their morning drill, she decided to go back to Euthoria Mansion and have some rest. Jadeite, on the other hand, stayed behind and had sparrings against the other knights. Before she could leave the barracks, Castor walked up to her. “You still have some time to back out,” he said even though he already knew that Emery would do no such thing. “Backing out is not one of my options, Sir Castor,” she replied. Just as she was about to leave, she stopped for a moment and hesitantly asked, “H-His Imperial Highness… H-How is he? He never visited for the past few days so…” “If you are worried, then it is better to go and check up on him yourself,” the knight replied, giving her a pat on the shoulder before heading back inside the barracks. Emery let out a sigh. She did receive a report f
Upon Emery’s return to Euthoria Mansion, she clenched her fist in annoyance upon seeing that the emperor had returned first. He was waiting for her right at the entrance, but even after stepping out of the carriage, she still gave him the cold shoulders. However, even before she could take another step away from him, he held her wrist, stopping her from running away from him again.“Just five minutes of your time, please let me explain myself,” he pleaded.Emery took her hand away from him and the very next second, her hand landed on his cheek with a sharp slap. Those who witnessed it froze in place, not knowing what to do at all because intervening in such a heated yet cold war between the two seemed to be enough to make one pass out.“You shou
The consecutive clashing of blades filled the open ground of the knights’ barracks as Emery and Jadeite continued to fight each other. It had been more than five minutes already and yet the latter showed little sign of exhaustion despite the fact that she had been all over the place like an agile and skilled monkey. Meanwhile, Emery seemed to be so close to falling on her knees as beads of sweat ran down the side of her face. Her heavy breathing pretty much showed that her endurance was not that good.“You have gone rusted, Emery!” Jadeite claimed, wearing her infamous grin.She tightened her hold onto her pair of short swords and sprinted towards Emery. She had tired her out so a head-on and full attack would most likely end the first round of their sparring. Slashing diagonally with her right hand first, Eme
It was early in the morning when Emery finally regained consciousness. She slowly opened her eyes and the very first thing that came into sight was the familiar intricate drawings of her room’s high ceiling. The back of her neck still ached and the wound on her back that was still healing felt like several needles were piercing her skin all at the same time. Groaning, she shifted her gaze to the side and saw the emperor looking at her with a worried look.Only then, she was reminded of what had occurred even before she lost consciousness. That was enough to make her sit up and leave the bed.“Milady!” the emperor called out, rising from his seat and going after her.Emery opened the door of her twins’ room and rushed to the crib. She felt her he
“Different,” Jadeite hissed. “He is definitely different because he will hurt you in another way. First, he just watched his empress trample over you during their wedding reception. What’s next? Watch you die? Is that considered love, Emery? Is that how you define it?”Emery was unable to say a word, hence, Lila stepped between them and pushed Jadeite out of the room to help her cool down her head. Raphael, on the other hand, simply gave Emery a small pat on the shoulder.“Jadeite has a point,” he said. “However, if you truly want to stay here, then I support you for that. I know you are thinking about the kids’ future so you are not to be blamed.”She managed a small smile.
Emperor Claus strode towards her and dropped his sword before grabbing Emery behind the neck. He pulled her close and sealed her lips with his, making the knights turn their backs on them to give them privacy.His kisses were harsh, torrid, and rushed that Emery had a hard time keeping up with him. She had her hands lean against his chest to gain control, however, even if she tried to make him slow down, she failed to do so.His hand slipped around her waist as he deepened the kiss while hearing the almost inaudible moan of the woman he could not have enough of. After several more seconds, he seemed to have snapped back to his senses upon tasting something metallic—blood. He slowed down before breaking away, leaning his forehead against Emery’s and looking her directly in the eyes as they both tried to catch their breath.