Prologue (1)

Chapter 2

Walking through the corridors of a huge palace was he and with him was the young female girl who always stood by his side.

They were both heading to the throne room. Where the emperor sat, where no one was above him.

"Tell me, Aurora, how old are you this year?" He initiated the conversation between them.

"I am sixty-seven this year, Your Majesty." She replied in a monotone voice, adorned in golden armor with seven stars, her golden hair fluttering with every step.

Her golden eyes were just the same as her hair, holding immense respect for the man walking ahead of him.

She was a beauty that would intoxicate men who never had a drop of drink in their whole lives.

"And what have you thought about marriage?" He asked next.

"I have no such intentions, Your Majesty." She replied in her usual monotone voice.

"Have you no desire to have children?" He asked next.

"None, Your Majesty." She replied.

"Haha. Young blood." He laughed and said, then continued, "You know at your age, I had a great desire for children."

"Then why don't you have any, Your Majesty?" She inquired as the emperor had no children.

"She died. Taking my child with her." He replied, and then said, "And I never remarried."

"Why didn't you, Your Majesty?" She asked again. In the whole Golden-wing Empire, only she could ask something from the emperor. No one else had the permission or the courage.

It was weird as rulers were supposed to have many wives for the perfect successor. Some only had concubines or playthings whom they killed once they had given birth to the ruler's child.

"My master used to say. Children born from love are the correct way of life. Never have children with women you don't love." He recounted his master's saying and then said, "Since her, my heart never fluttered. My master used to say when you fall in love, your heart will flutter, it will race, it will shriek to you, that your love has appeared. Win her heart."

He recounted another saying from his master to Aurora. He often used to do that. Always recounting the teaching of his master.

Aurora had no doubt that her emperor had lived most of his life based on his master's teachings.

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Sitting on his throne, he looked at the people gathered in the throne room. Aurora still standing by his side. He was looking at them, but his thoughts were elsewhere.

'Am I free?' He asked himself for the umpteenth time.

He looked at his people again. They didn't say anything. They were not permitted to.

Aurora stayed silent.

Today her king was not the same as usual. There was something on his mind. Eating away at it.

She waited for him to speak.

He stood up.

The whole throne room knelt.

He took off his crown. Turned to Aurora and said, "Come here, child."

Aurora did so without asking anything.

He grabbed her by her shoulders, and gently pushed her into the emperor's seat.

She was stunned. Frozen. Couldn't speak.

The whole throne room was in the same state.

Sitting on the emperor's throne was a blasphemy. Even death wasn't enough for them. But it was different right now.

The emperor was putting the crown on someone else's head.

He placed the crown on Aurora's head, who was still frozen. Still processing what was happening.

He turned to the rest of the people in the throne room and said in a booming voice.

"I, the seventh king of the Golden-wing Kingdom and first emperor of the Golden-wing Empire, hereby dethrone myself and present to you, the eighth queen of the Golden-wing Kingdom and the second empress of the Golden-wing Empire, Aurora Grant Desiville."

"Kneel before your new empress. Hail to the queen." He finished in the same booming voice he had begun, which no doubt the whole palace had heard if not the whole capital outside the palace walls.

The people in the throne room came out of their reverie, Aurora came back to herself.

"Your Maje----" she said while standing up only to be interrupted by him.

"You are the queen now. I am your subject. Address me as so, Your Majesty." He said while kneeling before her on one knee like a loyal knight.

Seeing their emperor doing so, the people in the throne room followed. They were not there only out of fear but also out of respect. The word of this man was before the word of God for them.

Their god had declared someone to be their ruler. They only had to comply.

Aurora again froze. Her emperor was kneeling before him. She felt no accomplishment.

"Then stand. Please." She hurriedly said to him.

"Haha. As you wish, Your Majesty." He stood up with a light chuckle.

He then continued, in a serious voice, as if a father to his child, "Rule well Aurora. Remember. This is a blessing as well as the shackle. Do not make the same mistake I did. Break the shackle when it starts to become tight. Break it off and pass it on before it is too late."

He said in a serious voice. But to her, it felt like the words of a man who regretted his past. Someone who had bided his time. Someone who can only lament his actions.

"Rule well child." He said again, "And do not become like me."

"Fall in love. Have children. Be happy." He advised her one last time before turning around and heading for the exit of the throne room.

Everyone in the room saw the expression of their god. A pang of pain in their heart.

Same with Aurora. She wanted to stop him.

His words sounded as if he was saying farewell.

As if those were the last words, she would ever hear from him.

She wanted to stop him. But she didn't. She couldn't. She could only let him walk out of that throne room. Remember his broad back and the pained expression on his face.

That was the end of her king.

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