Empress consorts (Book two and three of Rebirth me.)

Chapter 17: Exposed

Next day.

Emma opened her eyes with a smile on her face, she glanced at the man lying beside her with a smile on her face. They almost had s*x last night, but her stomach started hurting and when she checked, she discovered her period had come earlier than usual.

In her previous life, she had never suffered from menstrual cramps before, but last night she almost cried due to the pain, but luckily, she slept peacefully because Winston was rubbing her stomach with worry.

She chuckled and her smile grew deeper, his hand was still lying on her stomach. She gently pushed his hand away and stood up from the bed, but she was pushed back, “Jesus Winston, I am still sick.’’

“Your stomach…. Still painful?’’ he glanced at her stomach and frowned, only God knows how startled he was when he discovered that she was bleeding.

“I am fine Winston, this always happens to females every month, mine will last for four to five days, after that….’’ She suddenly stopped talking and slightly kissed his lips, she then lay her head on his chest, “After that, let's make some babies.’’

Winston held her so tight while blushing, the empress is shameless.

. . . . . . .

Three days later, the consorts were so busy preparing for the upcoming exam, likewise the citizens… Emma was the only free person in the palace, she would go to the consorts' chamber one after the other and tease them.

Philip would always visit her and spend some time with her, Emma would always smile whenever she saw him, his company made her happy, the kingdom was peaceful, but Emma didn’t know that, that was the calm before a storm…. Three days later, Duke Joseph arrived in the capital.

. . . . . . .

The kingdom of Mercia was divided into three factions, the commoners faction, the nobles faction and the imperial faction… the commoners' factions were made up of people that did not care about the nobles and the imperial palace but only cared about the commoners. They recently started respecting the imperial faction when they read the notice the empress put up.

The noble faction were different, they only cared about themselves and no other person, they, of course, did things in secret, they only opposed any person that would threaten their noble title, and the current empress was doing that.

The reason they didn’t oppose when the empress wanted to claim the throne was that, they thought, as a young girl, she wouldn’t do anything that would threaten them, and they were right, but the empress suddenly changed.

Although the noble faction consists of only nobles, they still wear masks whenever they come together to hide their identity and they do not come with their carriage, they only come with their heirs, and no one can identify them.

“What do you think we should do?’’ A man wearing a green mask questioned loudly.

“What do you suggest we do? We can’t even see the empress anymore.’’ Another man who was wearing yellow yell, his voice containing anger.

“Hump! That brat is lucky that she has lots of people protecting her.’’

“Leader, what should we do?’’ an old man wearing a brown mask ignored the pot-belly man and turned to the man sitting in front of them. The man was putting on a black mask and his hair was hidden under the black cap, he smiled and drank the tea in front of him.

“Lay low.’’

Those two simple words caused the nobles to frown. They knew that their leader was a young man based on his voice, he was the founder of the noble faction, but he had never cared about them, he had never even shown his face.

A yellow masked man stood up. “Lay low? How do you expect us to lie low when our title and wealth are at stake?’’ he turned to the nobles, “do we really need to follow this man? He is just a boy!’’ he turned to the man putting on the black mask, “boy, don’t tell me you are a spy sent by the imperial faction?’’ the man was fuming while pointing at the black masked man.

He had already forgotten he was the founder of the faction.

The black masked man sighed, he sighed because he was going to lose another noble member, he stood up and touched the dagger on the table in front of him, “Well…’’ he didn’t finish speaking, but instead threw the dagger at the yellow masked man.

The dagger was not seen till it landed on the throat of the yellow masked man, “Lay low.’’ He turned and left the hall, the nobles who were holding in their breath suddenly breathed out when the black masked man left. They hadn’t forgotten how wicked their leader was, that was why they said nothing when the yellow masked man started yelling.

One by one they left the hall without removing the mask on the face of the dead noble. Nobody touched the body, they were relieved that they weren’t the one lying on the ground. The next morning, the kingdom discovered that Marquis William had passed away. Every noble’s thoughts were the same, ‘so it was Marquis William.’

. . . . . . . . .

Emma, who was walking around the garden the night that the noble faction held their secret meeting, paused when she saw William climbing the walls of the palace. The imperial knight didn’t notice him. Ella squatted down to hide herself. When William successfully climbed the window, something fell from his hand, but he ignored it and closed the window.

Emma counted from one to fifty before going towards the place where the staff fell, she bent down and picked it up, “A black mask?’’ She had already known he was likely the one that was the previous empress killer, but she wanted to sneakly act to expose him, “What the f**k is going on.’’ She frowned and turned towards the direction of her chamber.

Days turn into weeks, and weeks turn into months. At the end of the month, the citizens were agitated, but the previous ministers were more agitated…. The empress had changed everyone and had put her own people to monitor the exam, so it was impossible for them to bribe anyone to help their children to pass.

Duke Joseph was a man who rarely smiled and neither did he convict wealth, bribing him was the last thing on the minds of the ministers, so they did what their leader said, they lay low.

. . . . . . .

Emma was pacing inside her room. She was supposed to give a little speech for the people who would be taking the exam. She turned to Lilly, who was sitting on her bed. Ever since Lilly came back from her trip, she suddenly changed, she would follow Emma everywhere she goes, she usually pushed Emma to choose a consort to spend the night with, but she doesn’t do that anymore.

“Lilly, I have a very bad feeling about this exam.’’ Emma sat beside her and sighed.

‘Me too.’’ Lilly replied, she was frowning, which made Emma to be shocked, “You too, really?’’ Emma was surprised.

Lilly turned to Emma and held her hand, “Your highness, always take me or ten imperial knights with you wherever you are going, I have a feeling that you will be in danger.’’ Her hold on Emma’s hand tightened, “Never trust any of the consorts, not even the grand duke.’’

“Winston?’’ Emma trembled from fear, she wasn’t expecting Lilly to suspect Winston, her eyes widened when she remembered something, she removed her hand from Lilly’s. “you knew I was almost killed?’’ Emma stood up from the bed, her face showed fear, no one was there when the empress was pushed, but if Lilly was there, why didn’t she save her or why didn’t she identify the killer?

Lilly, who saw the fear in Emma’s eyes smiled, “I am the holy maiden that ran away from the temple, my magic is low because I am not within the temple, I know you were pushed by one of the consort, when I arrived at the lake, you were already inside, but I do not know who pushed your highness, I only saw the silhouette of the man, I suspect the five consorts, but I suspect two consorts more, Winston and William, and….’’

She stood up still smiling, “Your highness shouldn’t be scared of me, because I was the one that brought you from your world.’’