When Emery returned to the West Palace, she was immediately greeted by Lila who apologized countless times for not being able to help her. It was not much big of a deal since she did not want her to get involved too much that others would also target her. To have a private conversation with her, the two of them went into the king’s exclusive bathroom for Emery to be able to wash up. “I really am sorry, Your Highness. I was locked up just until a moment ago so I was not able to visit you or even bring you out of prison,” Lila stated as she knelt on both knees across Emery. “Stand,” she replied. “It is not your fault since that king prevented you from seeing me. But is it really true that he made an investigation regarding the royal seal incident?” Lila nodded. “It seemed like Vasmir did almost all of the work for His Majesty. But the real culprit who sent the assassins to abduct the royal concubine still remains a mystery.” Emery simply nodded. She was thinking that she could proba
After Vasmir reported to the king, King Lawson headed to the Eastern Palace to make sure that the royal concubine was not hurt in any way. Upon his entrance, Royal Concubine Hazel curtsied before him. “Your Majesty, I am not informed ahead that you will be spending the night here so I am not able to prepare any food,” she stated. “Do not bother yourself with such trivial matter. You are not hurt, aren’t you?” “I am doing perfectly fine, Your Majesty. Is Queen Emery alright? She seems to be seriously ill when I saw her.” Flashing an assuring smile at her, King Lawson kissed the back of her hand and replied, “She is faring well.” “Your Majesty, I am simply worried. Will she hate me if she comes to know that I interfered this morning in order to get her cooperation?” That question reminded the king of what he already told Royal Concubine Hazel regarding the position of queen. Tightening her hold on her hand, he looked her in the eyes. “I think not. Just show her who you really are
The king never replied anymore because if he did, their conversation would drag on until dawn. Thinking that Emery was already back to sleep, he put his arm on her shoulder. However, only a few seconds later, he felt a sharp slap on his arm. Still, he placed his arm around the queen again but this time, he pulled her close to his chest—his arm snaked around her back. “Just so you know, doing this won’t make me forget what you did this morning. I am not so forgiving to pardon you after you instructed Lady Hazel to come and beg for my life without even telling me ahead of time,” Emery mumbled. Hearing those words coming right out of the queen’s mouth made the king open his eyes. Not only her words were striking but the tone of her voice sounded like a mixture of disappointment, anger, and sulkiness. Then, a realization hit him. “Is that the reason why you have been so grumpy lately?” he snickered since it was his first time to actually witness her being like that. It was rather surpr
Emery simply shook away her worries and thought that her gut feeling was probably wrong that time. She handed the scroll back to the king and did not show any complaints since she would be able to accompany him outside the kingdom without having to hide. That being said, she could perform her mission easier than before. “By the way, your daggers…” The king paused as he took one of the daggers out from his sleeve. “You can have them back.” Emery waited for King Lawson to hand it over to her but he did not so she open her palm towards him. But when their gazes locked, she saw the glimpse of hesitation in his eyes. “Hand it over, Your Majesty,” she stated. “Are you not going to tell me who made this?” he asked. Emery rolled her eyes. “Your Majesty, I have been telling you that I do not know. And even if I do know, what will you do if you know the blacksmith?” “I will ask him to make more.” “Ha! Then, it is such a good thing that I do not know or else, these precious daggers will be
The very next day, Emery stood in front of the palace gates with her eyes reflecting the disappointed look on Lila’s face. She did not actually want to let her leave because she would be all alone in the palace but she was given no choice. And since it involved the previous queen, she also wanted to know what the Arcana was speculating against her. Lila curtsied. “Thank you, Your Highness, for seeing me off. If you shall permit it, I will gladly send you a letter if I wish to provide my service again in the future.” Emery simply nodded but did not say a word, giving Lila the thought that she was being a bit rebellious against Arcana’s decision. She could only give her an encouraging smile before turning her back on her and just left. The queen just stood on the same spot with her hands clasped together and her eyes still focused on the back of her colleague leaving her. She wanted to make sure that Lila would leave the palace unscathed so she could only watch her back. Meanwhile, t
Emery clenched her fists, giving her the strength to speak before anything else awkward could happen. “Y-Your Majesty,” she stuttered in a low tone of voice, “we should c-continue with the inspection.” Seeing her burning red cheeks was rather satisfying for the king so he stopped and flashed a smile. He thought that she was a person who could not react like a normal lady in situations like that but he was glad he was wrong. “Yes, we should.” Saying that, he retreated and turned his back on her while wearing a victorious grin. At that moment, he thought that he succeeded in making the queen show him another side of her. On the other hand, Emery managed to catch her breath which she thought was running away from her. She lightly banged her chest with her fist as if it was some sort of ritual that would bring back the old her. What she did not like was the fact that she almost let herself be in a too vulnerable state in front of him. That was a total embarrassment! That was what she
Emery ignored the king’s cold stare and turned her attention toward the general. She immediately noticed that General Kyan seemed a bit confused about what to do at that moment because he simply stood and lowered his head toward the king. “General Kyan, you may take your leave,” she stated before receiving a bow from him. When he left the room with only the queen and king in there, Emery started to tidy up. She could tell that King Lawson was somehow giving her the cold shoulders but it did not really matter since she knew that she did nothing wrong at all. “How is Royal Concubine Hazel doing? Is she seriously sick?” she asked, initiating the conversation. “She just needs some rest. Why ask about her? Are you somehow involved?” “Why are you suddenly suspecting me when I was with you the whole time it happened?” This time, the king faced Emery after getting some of the medicines prescribed to her. “As far as I am concerned, you once invited her for some tea just the other day. Yo
It, then, dawned on Emery. The royal concubine’s words made her realize that this was staged by Lady Hazel herself. She purposely did all of these for the king to get mad at her. She scoffed because it was only then that she finally came to see the real intention of the royal concubine. The queen, then, started to question all her previous actions of showing mercy toward her were just in vain. Had she been played by the royal concubine ever since then? What a fool she was. Nevertheless, she was being cornered, making her feel that there was no single person in that place who would take her side, especially since Lila left the palace. Should she just scare them away? But doing such would mean breaking one of the rules of the Arcana—using one’s skills against people of no ability to fight back is prohibited unless it threatens one’s life. If she ever breaks one rule, the Arcana would cut her off from the organization and that was something Emery never considered doing. She thought that