10 The Meeting with the Emperor

After she was discovered that the Magus had forged their loyalty to the Crown Princess, the Emperor was shocked. Even the Magus has not acknowledged his presence nor his rule. But he couldn't possibly wage war with the Magus for such a simple matter, instead, he called the Crown Princess for a meeting.

Edward bumped into her as she was heading for the Emperor's study room.

"Love?" as Edward said this, Elizabeth couldn't control her cheeks from blushing.

"I have an urgent meeting with your father," she said.

"Oh, well, meet me in the stables after, okay?" he said as he left before she could even respond.

She continued walking to the Emperor's study. When she entered the room, she noticed that the whole Congress of Vetrai was present.

"Greetings, Your Highness," they greeted.

"Greetings, Your Majesty, and dear noblemen," she said as she bowed.

"I am impressed on how you had gained a Mage on your side," the Emperor said.

"They had pledged to my mother but they did not have the chance to fulfill that pledge to her because she died while giving birth to me, so to make up for that, they want to pledge their loyalty to me," Elizabeth explained.

"This is good. We can now defeat the Ifrits. If you ask for their help, your Highness, we could easily take over the Ifrit's country," one of the noblemen suggested.

Elizabeth remained quiet after the nobleman spoke.

"Yes, the Ifrit's country has one of the richest diamond mines in the world. If we have an access to that kind of wealth, our kingdom will be indestructible," another nobleman suggested.

The Emperor had noticed his future daughter-in-law's worried face.

"Shut your mouths, you imbeciles. Do you think the Magus will agree to her? They won't. All of you know that the Magus' are very righteous people and they only pledge to people who are also righteous. If only greed comes out of your mouth, then shut it," the Emperor roared.

"The Ifrit's have tried to take over our kingdom for several centuries now, I can only ask them to guard the borders but I cannot ask them to take over their country for the sake of gaining wealth," Elizabeth firmly said.

The Emperor was impressed with how Elizabeth managed to stay calm in front of the noblemen. His son has made a very good decision.

"Your grandmother, she's the Queen of Taskia, am I right?" an old nobleman asked.

"Yes, sir," Elizabeth replied.

"Then, we can ask your grandmother for dragons to fight alongside us. We can win over the Ifrit's if we have their dragons," the old nobleman said.

Elizabeth was shocked to hear what the nobleman said. So, she decided to speak up.

"Pardon me, Your Majesty and your Excellencies, dragons are not for waging war. My grandmother had told me once, dragons are your only companions in this life and the afterlife. They are born to protect those who are willing to protect them. I'm afraid, I will have to disagree with dragons against the Ifrits," Elizabeth said.

She will not permit them to use dragons to get what they want.

Many more arguments were made inside the room but after she spoke, she only kept quiet until the meeting was adjourned. The Emperor approached her after the meeting.

"I must say, my son, did a good job in choosing his bride. You are smart, outspoken and straightforward, well, dangerously straightforward. Those men that you had opposed were the among the powerful families in the kingdom, and I must thank you for saving me from a heated argument in there," the Emperor laughed.

"It is my duty to help the Emperor with these matters," Elizabeth said.

The Emperor looked at Elizabeth in awe of her.

"You will be the greatest Empress this kingdom has ever seen. My wife wouldn't even get into politics because it is too dirty, she said she'd rather do charity works. This is why I admire you, you are not afraid to speak your own mind. My son will need all the help he can get from you when both of you rule this kingdom," the Emperor said as he left.

Elizabeth smiled. The meeting is over now. She can meet her very own Emperor in the stables.

Accompanied by her two ladies-in-waiting, she arrived in the stables. The ladies-in-waiting were secretly giving the Prince flirtatious gazes in which the prince disregarded.

Elizabeth was the only woman in his eyes. He loved her and cherished her.

"How did the meeting with my father go?" he asked as he sat down in the haystack.

"Well, it was fine. Until one of the old geezers there blurted out about getting a dragon to fight against the Ifrits," she said as she sat down beside Edward.

"What? How dare they include dragons," Edward said.

"It's fine now, though. I already gave them my opinion and it somehow changed their perspective in getting dragons. I'm sure my grandmother will not allow it," Elizabeth said.

Elizabeth leaned on his shoulders for support.

"Are you okay?" Edward asked, worried that Elizabeth might be sick.

"No, I'm just a little tired after all those heated arguments earlier. Let me take a short nap here, okay?" Elizabeth said as she closed her eyes.

Edward really didn't mind, after all, it was Elizabeth who leaning against him. He looked at her lovingly which made the 2 other girls very jealous. Seeing her kissable lips, he imagined himself kissing Cordelia until they gasped for air to breathe. His imagination had made him smile.

"I planned us to go into town today, but I guess you're tired. Let's just postpone it to tomorrow, okay?" he asked the half-asleep Elizabeth

Elizabeth only nodded in response. She was really tired since she couldn't get enough sleep last night because she was thinking of Edward.