Please Divorce Me, My Emperor

CHAPTER 16

Two weeks had passed since the purge of the High Council.

The capital had returned to absolute peace. Duke Valerius, Minister Sorel, and their co-conspirators had been stripped of their titles and banished to the far southern work camps for life. The court was cleansed, the military was fiercely loyal, and the empire was more stable than it had been in a century.

It was the ninetieth day of their agreement.

The afternoon sun shone brightly through the vaulted glass windows of the Empress's private solar. Aurelia sat at her writing desk, wearing a simple, elegant gown of soft lavender silk.

The oak door opened quietly, and Kaelen walked in.

He was dressed not in dark armor or formal state velvet, but in a simple white linen shirt and trousers, looking relaxed and strikingly handsome. In his hand, he carried a single leather-bound folder.

He walked over to her desk and set the folder down gently before her.

Aurelia looked at it, her heart skipping a beat.

She opened the folder. Inside lay a clean, official document: A Formal Decree of Absolute Imperial Dissolution and Divorce.

It was completely filled out, granting her full ownership of her mother's estate in the Valen Countryside, a lifetime stipend of fifty thousand gold dragons annually, and complete immunity from all future state duties.

At the bottom of the parchment, signed in sweeping gold ink, was Kaelen's signature and the Imperial Dragon Seal.

Aurelia stared at the document. Her fingers trembled slightly as she touched the dried gold ink. This was everything she had fought for since the day she entered this palace. Her freedom. Her peace. Her Hydrangeas.

"The ninety days are over, Aurelia," Kaelen said softly, his deep voice devoid of anger or command—only a quiet, profound tenderness. "I promised you that if you still wanted to leave, I would sign the papers myself. I have kept my word."

Aurelia looked up, meeting his violet eyes. Kaelen was standing straight, but his hands were clenched tightly at his sides, his jaw set as if bracing for a fatal strike.

"You signed it..." Aurelia whispered.

"I signed it because I love you," Kaelen said, his voice thick with raw emotion. "And love means I cannot keep you in a cage, even if that cage is my entire heart. If your happiness lies in the countryside, away from this blood and crown... then go. You are free."

Silence filled the sunny room.

Aurelia looked down at the divorce decree, then back at the Emperor who had jumped in front of a poisoned blade for her, who had stormed a fortress for her, and who was willing to shatter his own heart just to give her peace.

Slowly, Aurelia reached out. She picked up the divorce decree with both hands.

And, looking Kaelen dead in the eye, she tore the document cleany in half.

Kaelen froze, his eyes widening in complete shock. "Aurelia... what are you doing?"

Aurelia tore the paper again, tossing the fluttering white pieces into the wastebasket beside her desk. She stood up, walking around the desk until she was standing inches away from him.

"I spent months thinking this palace was a cage, Kaelen," Aurelia said softly, reaching up to lay her hands against his warm, handsome face. "I thought freedom meant living alone in a quiet garden."

She smiled—a radiant, breathtaking smile that lit up her blue eyes.

"But I was wrong," she whispered, leaning up on her tiptoes. "Freedom isn't a place. Freedom is being with the only man who sees me as his equal, who fights by my side, and who loves me enough to let me go."

Kaelen stared at her, his breath catching in his throat. "Aurelia..."

"I am not going anywhere, My Emperor," she murmured against his lips. "Unless you plan on banishing me again?"

Kaelen let out a breathless, triumphant laugh, wrapping his strong arms around her waist, lifting her completely off her feet as he pulled her into a deep, wild, passionate kiss that sealed their fate forever.