Along with the appearance of the emperor was the disappearance of Lady Serena’s bitter expression. She smiled at him and said, “We are just having some casual conversation, Your Imperial Highness. Isn’t that right, Miss Sapphire?” “Yes, Your Ladyship,” Emery replied, who was also putting up a front so as to cover up what actually happened. The last thing she wanted was gaining an enemy in the palace. At the moment, she was a mere attendant, a person who bears no authority or power so she had to fool Lady Serena into thinking that she was on her side. Emperor Claus did not believe them, knowing that Lady Serena was not the type of person who would get herself involved with a person she does not deem necessary. Without saying anything, he grabbed Emery by the shoulder and pulled her back into her room before shutting the door right before Lady Serena. “Tell me,” he said to her. “What did she do to you? What did she say?” “She did nothing but greet me, Your Imperial Highness. Belie
Sitting across from her was the emperor’s attendant, whose face was still a mystery to all. Even her background and where she came from, Lady Serena had no complete information about this Sapphire. But no matter who she was and where she came from, those matters were of no importance to her since all she had to do was get rid of the woman whom the emperor was obsessing over.Sipping from her cup of tea, Lady Serena could only smile bitterly while pretending that everything was okay and she had them under control. And just when she thought that she would be able to get ahold of Emery since she had Jadeite and stop her from meeting Emperor Claus, she also had to deal with this lowly attendant. She did not want to stoop so low and be jealous of someone clearly lower than her, however, she could not completely ignore the threats that could possibly stop her from being the empress.“So… Have you already commenced our plan?” she asked.“I already requested His Imperial Highness about you te
That alone was enough to fully awaken Emery. Sitting up on her bed, the maidservant handed her the letter before leaving immediately to give her some time alone. Two months had passed after she sent two letters to Raphael and yet there was only one envelope delivered to her. The rough touch of the envelope made Emery nervous as she opened it and saw two pages of paper.The first one she opened was a divorce paper with her fake name on it and Raphael's real name. The document looked too real, and not to mention, the red seal on the bottom left made it all the more convincing that it was a legal document. She gulped as she took out the second page. It was blank but its scent was of lemon so she knew that there was an actual message from him. With her heart beating faster than usual, she left the bed in a hurry. Taking a candle and a match with her, she went into the bathroom and lit the candle before letting the fire reveal the secret message. “I received your message, but unfortunate
The lump in her throat and the numbness of her tongue prevented Emery from ever speaking a word. She thought she was simply imagining things but as she gazed back at the jar, her mind went black for a few seconds. She was more than sure now that the head belonged to none other than their beheaded headmaster, Amirah. She shifted her attention back to Jadeite, who looked away from her and pretended like she knew nothing. A mixture of confusion, disbelief, surprise, and anger were visible in Emery's eyes. Jadeite could not bring herself to look at her as she clutched on the side of her dress. “Jadeite, you indeed took your time in the eastern continent,” Lady Serena said, bringing Emery back to her senses. “So… Did you bring Emery Trigon with you?”“Who's Emery Trigon?” Emery intervened, acting ignorant so as to get a gist of what was actually going on since Jadeite seemed to have kept something from her. Jadeite shook her head, giving Lady Serena a signal to not speak of her, however
When Emery fell on the cliff that night, the panther assassins did not bother retrieving her body, thinking that she would not survive such a bad fall. They dragged Jadeite away and brought her back to the Whitmore mansion, where Lady Serena was waiting. She was then forced to kneel on both knees in front of her new master as the other assassins reported what had just occurred.“So… Sapphire is also an assassin from your organization?” Lady Serena asked, looking Jadeite in the eyes. For a while, Jadeite was quiet so one of the panther assassins kicked her right on the back in order to force her to speak.“Jadeite, when we made an agreement to help each other, that includes spilling every drop of truth. So about Sapphire's real identity… Is she an assassin under the Arcana?”“Yes.”“By any chance, is she closely associated with Emery?”Jadeite shook her head.“No.”Lady Serena did not fully believe her since Jadeite’s sudden action of running after the concubine-in-training was someth
That midnight, Emperor Claus returned to the palace with the unconscious body of Emery. The supposedly dead night awakened the maidservants and even the royal physician as the emperor demanded immediate treatment towards the woman he spent months searching for. And, of course, the news had reached the Whitmore mansion, where the emperor's fiancee was spending the night in her office.“What do you mean they have found Emery Trigon?” Lady Serena asked as she was getting changed so she could go to the mansion of the emperor to confirm the news herself.“I… I have no idea, Your Ladyship. All I heard was that His Imperial Highness went on a midnight hunt with his knights and they found her wounded in the forest,” one of the maidservants replied.After getting changed, there was a knock on her door. She had the feeling that it was the Shadow Assassins she sent to look for Sapphire so she immediately let them in.“Did you find Lady Sapphire’s body?” she asked with gritted teeth.All of the a
“Is there something wrong?” Emperor Claus asked as he approached Castor, who was with Emery alone in the room.The knight stood straight and faced the emperor.“Nothing, Your Imperial Highness,” he replied. “What did the physician say about her condition?”“Some of her injuries are serious so it is still unknown when she will wake up. Other than that, she is alright.”The emperor sat on the chair right next to the bed and could not keep his eyes off of Emery. The portrait given to him before was not as accurate as the way she truly looked like. Still, he was more than content to have found her in the most unexpected time. On the other hand, Castor remained quiet about what he just noticed. Until he confirmed if Sapphire was indeed Emery, he would not speak of it to the emperor. He did not want to add another thing for him to think about so he just excused himself and left the Euthoria mansion. On his way, he saw Lady Serena walking towards the Whitmore mansion seemingly in a daze. He
This time, it was Duke Hagan who spoke for the others since they looked like cowards unable to stand for what they thought was right.“Your Imperial Highness,” he said, “the kingdom she ruled over a short period of time is completely different from our empire. Besides, as we are all informed about, queens in the eastern continent are not meant to take on political responsibilities. They are simply there to give birth to heirs. The empress in our empire, however, is not only for breeding.”Some of the ministers agreed while the others remained quiet as if they were still observing and weighing their options, whether to support the emperor or Duke Hagan.Sir Vlachos then added, “Plus, Emery Trigon is only known for her victory in the battlefield once. As we all are aware of the situation, Varmore does not need that kind of empress. We need someone who can fulfill her duties as a wife and as the mother of the empire.”Emperor Claus got their point and if he insisted on what he wanted, it
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.