Please Divorce Me, My Emperor

Chapter 5

By the following afternoon, the news of the foiled assassination attempt had sent Shockwaves through the Sun Palace. The entire capital was placed on high alert, heavy imperial guards were stationed at every corner, and tension hung thick in the marble corridors.

Yet, despite the chaotic security lockdown, Empress Aurelia sat at her writing desk, dipping a new quill into a pot of jet-black ink.

Her near-death experience in the library had brought one crystal-clear realization: the palace was dangerous, chaotic, and thoroughly terrible for her long-term survival. She needed out, and she needed out immediately.

She drafted her second formal petition. This time, she abandoned logic and finance. She cited extreme hazard to physical well-being, emotional stress, and severe workplace safety violations.

Holding the damp parchment, she marched straight to the Emperor’s private study, ignoring the nervous guards who tried to announce her.

She pushed open the heavy doors. Kaelen was seated behind his desk, reviewing torture reports from the captured assassins. His face was cold and ruthless, but the moment he saw her step into the room, his sharp features softened instantly, a subtle warmth entering his eyes.

"Aurelia," he said smoothly, setting his quill down. "You should be resting in your quarters after what happened last night."

"I will rest when I am living quietly in the countryside, Your Majesty," Aurelia said coolly. She walked straight up to his desk and slapped the new petition down over his interrogation maps. "Petition Number Two. I am requesting an immediate annulment on the grounds that your wife remaining carries an unreasonable risk of being impaled by rogue blades."

Kaelen looked down at the parchment. The soft warmth in his eyes slowly crystallized into something sharp, dark, and dangerous.

"You saved my life last night," Kaelen said, his voice dropping an octave into a low, rumbling register. "And your immediate reaction the following morning is to hand me another demand to abandon me?"

"I saved your life because I am a decent human being, Kaelen," Aurelia countered, leaning forward and looking him dead in the eye. "Not because I want to remain locked in this gilded cage while bloodthirsty nobles try to murder us."

Kaelen slowly leaned back in his leather chair, his long fingers interlacing. A cold, menacing smile touched his lips—the exact look that usually presaged a traitorous noble being dragged off to the dungeons.

"You think this palace is a cage?" Kaelen murmured softly. "You think you can simply demand an exit whenever the mood strikes you? Perhaps I have been far too lenient with you, Empress. Perhaps you have forgotten the absolute, terrifying power I wield."

"Is that an imperial threat, Sire?" Aurelia asked, raising a single eyebrow.

"It is an imperial reality," Kaelen said, standing up. He towered over her, his broad shoulders blocking out the light from the tall windows. "If an Empress repeatedly fails to perform her duties with joy, if she disrespects the crown by filing absurd divorce petitions... I have the full legal authority to banish her to the Cold Palace in the northern mountains."

He leaned down, his face stopping inches from hers, his violet eyes narrowing into dangerous slits.

"The Cold Palace, Aurelia. No galas. No silk dresses. No servants hovering over you. No ministers talking in your ear. Just a secluded, stone estate surrounded by wild pine forests, overgrown flower gardens, and absolute, unending quiet. Complete and total isolation from imperial politics."

Aurelia stared at him. Her eyes widened slowly.

A secluded stone estate? Surrounded by wild pine forests? Overgrown flower gardens? No ministers talking in my ear?! No galas?!

A slow, radiant, wildly ecstatic smile spread across Aurelia’s face. She looked like a starving beggar who had just been handed the keys to a royal banquet hall.

"Do you promise?!" Aurelia gasped, taking a passionate step forward and grabbing Kaelen’s hand in hers. "Can we leave today?" Should I pack my trunks now?! Kaelen, that sounds absolutely divine!"

Kaelen froze.

He stared down at his wife, who was currently beaming up at him with pure, unadulterated ecstasy at the prospect of being exiled to a desolate, freezing northern ruin.

His brilliant, terrifying threat of imperial punishment had completely, spectacularly crashed and burned.

"You... you want to be banished to the Cold Palace?" Kaelen asked, his legendary composure shattering completely as he stared at her in utter, flabbergasted bewilderment.

"It sounds like paradise!" Aurelia laughed, her blue eyes sparkling with joy. "No morning assemblies! No fake tea parties with your aunt! No treasury audits! Just me, my books, and peace! Please, Your Majesty, banish me! Banishing me is basically a divorce with free countryside housing!"

Kaelen snatched his hands back, blinking rapidly as his brain struggled to compute her reaction. He looked at her radiant face, then down at the petition on his desk, and then back at her.

A slow, frustrating, yet deeply intoxicating realization washed over him: Empress Aurelia was completely immune to intimidation, utterly unbothered by status, and entirely unlike any person he had ever met in his life.

Kaelen let out a sudden, breathless bark of laughter, shaking his head in disbelief.

"No," Kaelen said flatly. He reached out, grabbed her second divorce petition, ripped it cleanly in half, and tossed the pieces into the roaring marble fireplace beside his desk.

"Hey!" Aurelia cried, her joyful expression instantly vanishing. "That took me an hour to draft!"

"I am officially canceling the Cold Palace," Kaelen declared, stepping around his desk until he stood uncomfortably close to her, his shadow enveloping her entirely. A dark, intense promise burned in his eyes. "You want peace and quiet, Aurelia? You want to escape me? Then you will have to earn it."

"Earn it how?!" she demanded, crossing her arms stubbornly.

"You will stay by my side," Kaelen murmured, reaching out with long fingers to gently tuck a stray lock of golden hair behind her ear. His fingers lingered against her soft skin just long enough to send a sharp jolt of electricity straight to her heart. "You will attend the Autumn Harvest Festival with me next week as my dutiful wife. And if, after three months, you still look at me with nothing but the desire to flee... I will sign your divorce papers myself."

Aurelia narrowed her eyes, instantly detecting a trap. "Three months? A complete cessation of all divorce petitions for ninety days?"

"Three months," Kaelen confirmed, leaning down until his lips were barely an inch from hers, his deep voice turning into a dark, velvet whisper. "Ninety days for me to convince you that staying with me is far better than any cold, lonely estate."

Aurelia’s breath hitched. Looking into his intense, unyielding gaze, she realized two terrifying things: First, Kaelen was no longer treating her exit requests as an annoyance—he was treating them as a challenge he was determined to win. And second... her heart was beating far too fast for a woman who claimed to despise her husband.

"Deal," Aurelia whispered stubbornly, lifting her chin. "Prepare to lose, My Emperor."

Kaelen smiled—a slow, dangerous, breathtaking smirk. "We shall see, My Empress."