Chapter Fifty-Six: Love Can, So Often, Be Cruel
1554 Words
“What does it say? Have you opened it?”
“Fat chance.”
Kat replied, then threw herself on the living room couch.
“It was sent via a messenger, so they need you to actually sign for the package.”
“Oh…what time do you think the carrier will be back? Perhaps I can snag a few minutes of sleep?”
The general hotel room crystal buzzed as soon as the words were out of my mouth.
I sighed audibly, then approached the green crystal.
“Front desk.”
“I guess that’s them.”
Breca answered with a smile on her face as if to say, ‘serves you right!’
“I’ll send them up, go shower and get presentable.”
‘I should also send this cloak back.’
I walked to the bedroom area.
For some reason, I dipped my nose in its hem then breathed the relaxing scent of mint deeply.
It calmed my nerves and took me right back into the first prince’s room, where for some reason, my responsibilities lay suspended in a nebulous state.
Where he was the highest authority, and I did not have to deal with royals or Étienne.
‘That fucker..’
‘Yes…I need to send this back. Such a place does not exist, at least for me.’
As soon as I shut the door, I took the cloak off then tossed it aside, away from me so that the only traces of him would be the marks on my body, and even they, with time, would fade.
*
*
*
It was a summoning.
A poorly timed one, because one, it's summer, I cannot wear long sleeves without having to excuse myself of an illness; two, I had neither eaten nor slept since last night.
Well, I did score some bread and jam from the hotel, but what good was that in the face of meat?
‘Gods, but I am turning into Breca.’
I am not in my normal state. My body aches in places it isn’t supposed to, and though I had not a lick of alcohol in my system yesterday, I feel strangely ‘hangovered’. Still, I comforted myself by understanding there was no ideal state, as a countess, to meet the Empress.
I am part of the lower nobility now.
I crossed my legs, then uncrossed them, when a dull throb followed and instead leaned back on the beautiful crimson and gold embroidered couch to mimic a state of confidence I was not sure I held, at least for today.
Had she summoned me tomorrow, my heart would have steadied.
I love s*x; it’s fun. The problem is the vulnerability afterwards, which makes me feel nauseatingly homesick.
Well, at least that was the case in all my lives so far, even in my actual one.
Then, I missed the concept of parents, now a ridiculous waste of time, though I suppose you live and learn.
‘Gods, but I miss Aran.’
After sipping the delicious but heavily acidic coffee offered, I met the gaze of the beautiful crimson-eyed and blonde-haired Empress.
“Odd choice of garments to wear during summer.”
She began.
The only dress I had that had both long sleeves and a turtle neck was also black, so yay me?
“I understand your thoughts completely; had I not been running a fever a few days ago, then I might have opted for something more open?”
“Oh, were you sick? I had no idea.”
“Just a mild cold. My associates passed the message to the messenger you sent.”
“Yes, however, I indeed found myself sceptical of this message. I mean a cold in the summer?”
‘She doesn’t believe me…well, to be fair; I wouldn’t believe me either.’
“Yes, my…head was not in the right place. Perhaps that triggered something.”
“Ah, after the engagement party, you mean?”
“Yes, love can, so often, be cruel.”
“Hmmm, I thought you were the one to break things off with him?”
“I, well, my birth mother’s profession is too large for me to escape. I figured letting him go would be easier.”
“Hmmm…”
The Empress placed aside her chamomile tea, then stood and stalked to the wall where she pushed a candlestick ornament, and the walls turned to expose a hidden bar.
“There was a tea party a day ago. My initial invite was for then. Perhaps if you had accepted it, you would have heard all sorts of nasty truths on the fourth prince, and your fascination would have died.”
She mixed a cocktail with blue coloured gin then topped it off with blueberries.
“Would you like a glass?”
“No, thank you.”
‘If I drink right now, I will pass out.’
“Oh...I figured an adventurer like you wouldn’t mind alcohol before ten in the morning. Then again, you did spend some time with the first prince; tell me, did you drink there?”
‘Ah… an interrogation.’
“Funnily enough, I collapsed before him. He nursed me to health for a day; then, I recovered the rest at my hotel.”
“Oh? The first prince does not strike me as the ‘motherly type’.”
“That is because he is not. I was nursed by his maids. Honestly, I hardly saw him.”
“Do you know why he ‘nursed’ you?”
“Not in the slightest, perhaps to avoid blame. Can you imagine having a reputation like his, then leaving a collapsed body on the stairs?”
“Are you implying the prince wishes to get rid of his already accumulated reputation?”
“If the shoe fits.”
The Empress chuckled.
“You do not know that monster, do you?”
‘More than you.’
“Indeed, it is as you say.”
I responded, then cleared my throat to continue.
“May I ask why her imperial majesty has summoned me?”
“Requested your presence, I do not summon.”
‘Yet I am certain there would have been consequences to blowing you off.’
“Right. Why does her majesty ‘request’ my presence?”
The Empress smiled at my stress of the word ‘request’ but did not mention it. Rather, she moved the conversation forward.
“Alright, I shall get to the point. The land you were granted, Clay, is a neutral territory between North, West and Central. Without the support of an already established territory, say Central, you are subject to constant territorial attacks. Plus, the people are savages. You will need to establish trade routes and alliances to be able to get funds to exploit the natural resources available, all of which will be impossible without help from the royal family or their affiliates.”
“For most of those matters, as the Empress, I can help you navigate and turn Clay around, from a land of savages to a prosperous island.”
She was not wrong; Clay was infamous for its ways.
I would have much rather preferred Cerelle to Clay. Yes, it was corrupt, but it was a port city.
I can hold my own in hostile-
‘Wait, no, my power has been drastically reduced…. Perhaps the game sensed that, and…is this even still a game?’
No woman at top imperial positions, except Regina and Riette, a saintess, who marries Harrel in the game’s add-on, rely on their naivety to get others to do things.
Even now, in this conversation, I couldn’t help but see myself in the Empress.
“Hmm…but I haven’t seen Clay yet. Deciding this based on rumours does not sit right with me.”
“Is that so…”
Her Majesty sat back down gracefully on her chair then sipped her drink.
“The most I can give you is three months; anything more than that, and the offer will expire.”
“Am I to take that as goodwill, or is there a condition attached to your willingness to help me?”
The Empress threw her head back, then burst out laughing.
“Heavens…! How old are you?”
“Nineteen, your majesty, I turn twenty in the fall.”
“My, my, you grew up on guard, isn’t that right? So different from your sister…though I suppose she is but a stranger to you now.”
“I will recognise who you mean when you say, ‘your sister’, your majesty.”
“That’s good to know, and also worrying that you do not intend to get close to me. Do you think I was an only child, that I do not understand the injustices of family dynamics? Or have I already been rejected?”
“I am waiting for the other shoe to drop so that I can make a decision. I do not dare question her majesty's intelligence.”
“How astute.”
The Empress leaned forward then placed her glass on the flower-filled table between us.
“I want you to marry and fully support Harell in his campaign for the throne.”
“You want what?”
“You heard me. Marry my son, then support him fully in his campaign for the throne.”
- Writer
