26 Chapter 23 - First Stop

Nakada Ryota was ready to leave but Kasumi stopped him, "Wait! Where are you going, I can come with you!"

Ryota turned around to look at Kasumi with piercing eyes, "You think you can handle where I'm going?"

Kasumi nodded her head quickly, "As long as I'm by your side, I'm not afraid of anything!"

Ryota grinned, which made Kasumi's heart stop. What Kasumi didn't know is that the grin had a hidden meaning behind it, 'You're going to regret saying that.'

Ryota gestured with his hands to let her follow him, which she gladly does. She skips behind him, her shoes clacking against the ground. He walks gracefully, giving off an aura of royalty. Kasumi feels honored to be walking by her side, and when Ryota wasn't looking she looked at the servants and guards lined up against the wall the hallways with arrogance. The servants already began to hate her and the guards already began to dispise her.

Ryota walks towards the throne room and opens the two heavy doors without much power. He walks in front of his father who was alone in the room, like usual, and bows. Kasumi bows right next to him, nearing him every second. He felt uncomfortable and he didn't show that, but his father noticed.

"Who is this, Ryota?"

Ryota clears his throat and says, "This is Fujimura Kasumi, father."

He nods his head and stares Kasumi down. The cold glare makes Kasumi visibly shiver, ready giving the emperor a bad impression if her.

"What is she doing here?" The emperor says with his booming voice.

"She wanted to come along," Ryota says calmly.

The Emperor raises his eyebrows at this, but doesn't retort, "Then why are you here, son?"

"I'm here to talk about my fiance, father, " Ryota says, making Kasumi stiffen. Jealous spread from her heart to her lungs to her entire body.

The emperor grunts, "What about her?"

"Do you like her, " Ryota asks simply, but tell question isn't that simple.

The Emperor takes a while to respond, maybe around a few minutes, before saying, "Yes."

It was one word, but it made Ryota's day. Not caring about his mask, he grins. His face seems like the sun, beautiful and shinning. Kasumi was shocked, she's never seen him smile like that. Along with that shock was hatred, hatred for the woman who made him smile like that. While Kasumi was angry, the emperor was astonished. He's never seen his son smile like that either, and it made him happy and sad. He's happy that his son has met someone that makes Ryota like this, but sad that Ryota react like this to him. It's true that the emperor was cruel during Ryota's childhood, but it was because he cared. He wanted Ryota to grow up safe and understand the meanings of war and betrayal, like the emperor has. But at the moment, the Emperor was happy for his son to get a woman that makes him smile like a thousand stars.

Ryota quickly closed his mouth and gave off an aura of indifference, "Thank you for your opinion, father. I'm sure she'll be happy to hear that."

The emperor nods and dismisses them. Ryota leaves hurriedly with Kasumi chasing him.

When Kasumi catches up, she says, "That wasn't so bad, why were you worried about me?"

Ryota turns around with an evil glint, "That was the first stop, now let's go to the second."