“Fine, yes, whatever you want. Would you move back to the Palace now, please?” asked the Emperor, visibly annoyed.
“Move back to this nest of snakes? Among all those two-faced whores? The little sluts that skulk around here?”
“You…you’re being a bit too much, darling.”
“Over my dead body!” yelled Kareen. “And know that if anything happens to my children or grandchildren, this will be the last time you’ll see me!”
And with that, she turned on her heels and left the room, not hiding her anger.
“Kareen! Ka… Oh, that woman!” sighed the Emperor.
He sat back on his throne looking sullen. Behind him, Glahad looked a bit disappointed too, laying down with a long face. Kairen walked up the first few stairs towards the throne.
“Father, my request.”
“Your request? What request? Your mother didn’t even listen!”
“You only asked that she would come here,” growled Kairen.
“Come and listen to me! All she did was yell at me! Did I deserve that? I feel so pathetic! She won’t even look at me anymore! What good is it being the Emperor if you can’t even control your own women?!”
“Father!”
“Ah, enough! I’ve had enough yelling for one day! We’ll talk about it later. Just go to your rooms, and… Won’t you and your concubine please attend the New Year Celebrations?”
Kairen’s fists tightened. This stubborn father of his was really getting on his last nerve, but before he could add anything, Cassandra grabbed his hand gently.
“Let’s go,” she whispered to him.
He didn’t say anything further, listening to her instead and stepping down, before leaving the room altogether. All that time, Cassandra hadn’t glanced at the Emperor once. For some reason, she felt very awkward just being in the same room as him…
They kept walking in silence through the corridors, passing by several rooms.
“My Lord, what did you ask of your father? In exchange for all this…”
“To be taken out…”
“Taken out?”
“Of his possible successors.”
“What?”
Cassandra stopped, speechless. He had asked for what? As she had stopped walking, Kairen had no choice but to stop and turn back to her.
“You asked for what?”
“For my father not to consider me as one of his successors. To be taken out of the running for future Emperor.”
“W...why would you do that?” Cassandra asked, still in shock.
“To protect you,” Kairen shrugged.
“That is not a valid reason!”
He didn’t even respond to that. Cassandra couldn’t understand what was going on. Was it because of what she had said? How scared she was for their child’s safety? Did he think everything would be solved if he was ruled out as a potential successor?
Cassandra’s mind was working at full speed. This was too much, even if it was for her sake!
