The Real Story

"I heard from Enoch you got lost and talked to a suspicious person," Elliot said with his casual low voice. Emelia didn't answer him for a while and watched the man leaning by the window while he placed his long fingers under his chin. "And so if I did? Is there a problem talking with someone?" Emelia asked instead of answering. There's nothing wrong with talking with a person unless he would want to make her into an unsociable person.

"I didn't say you're not allowed to talk. Rather…I would love to hear your voice all more," Elliot said, letting a soft chuckle out, as he took his seat. There was one word she wanted to say out loud, which was disgusting. This man sure has a problem. "So will you now answer me? Who was that suspicious person?"

Why does this man ask so many questions? Can't he just leave her alone and let her do whatever she wanted to? But right, Emelia forgot that this man isn't normal but weird. He would not stop asking unless she answered him.

"Just someone who knew my mother. Are you now satisfied?" Emelia asked as her eyes kept looking at the door, wanting to get out of his office soon. Elliot raised his brow with his head slightly titled he muttered, "Mother?" then the expression on his face turned darker. How could he forget about it?

Emelia read Elliot's face like a book. Defiantly, there is something he was hiding. Something only a few knew about this. This man knew Emelia's mother, and he is someone from the Vivan Empire. It isn't wrong with others knowing her mother but then remember her mother entered the palace at a young age.

Making a relationship with someone with a high position in just a few years would almost be impossible. That is why something. They are hiding something from Emelia.

"Then let me ask you something," Emelia said while Elliot looked back at her with a smirk and said, "Sure, ask me anything." The slyness of his face annoyed Emelia, but he looked confident to the point she wanted to crush his ego. This question may be random, but it might help her open a weakness of his.

"What happened to your parents?"

Silence. The silence was the answer he gave, and not just that, but his expression turned dark again. Not just that, but there was a hint of sadness in his eyes. As if he didn't want to remember about them. Just like a bad dream. But at least for Emelia, this is where it would start. The start of finding his weakness.

"You don't need to know," Elliot tried dodging the question, but then Emelia asked again, "What happened to them?" The more Emelia pushed she didn't know what was going to happen to her. Death or punishment, she wondered which of the two the man will choose.

The rumor of how Elliot became the emperor was known to other empires. The boy climbed the stairs by killing his parents. This topic isn't as sensitive to Elliot, but the way Emelia said it, he didn't like it at all. It felt unpleasing, as if he was the only man alive in the world.

Elliot is an intelligent man who was able to achieve many things at a young age. He used to be bright, loved by the servants, and loved by the late emperor and empress. But what many didn't know was the massacre that happened that night.

A black-haired boy standing in a pool of blood and his golden eyes filled with bloodlust. That was what they described him. In one hand, he was holding a sword with half of his face covered with his parent's blood. But the truth was he didn't kill his parents. He just wanted to save them, and until now, the real murder has still not been caught.

The blame pointed at Elliot built in himself, and that is why he never went against those who said he was a murder. If only there was someone who could tell him it wasn't his fault. The weight that shoulders him would be lifted.

"I killed them. Are you satisfied too?" Elliot asked, but Emelia didn't take his answer into heart. It obviously was a lie. Every action has a reason, and that is what Emelia had believed in. "Good enough," Emelia lied as she averted her attention somewhere else.

But as she thought deeper about it, this gives her a reason to continue living. She wanted to find the truth about her mother. But where will she start?

"So, have you finally fallen for me?" Elliot asked.