(2) Ezra Limolle IV: His Love Will Never Fade

[Past]

"What are you saying? I am not going to do that with you. What about our children? Have you thought about them? Argos? Mikhail? Our newborn, Catherine? Have you thought about them?" I'm flabbergasted. To think that my wife, my Empress would wish something like that from me.

I know that in the eyes of many people that I am a tyrant, however, that is only the image that I created for myself for the sake of making my enemies wary of me. What people don't know about me is that I have so much love for my family. Love toward the people that I care for.

"Ezra. I know. I know that this is too much for me to ask of you, but you are the only one who can do it. If no one else, then who could stop me from becoming one with the darkness? Only you, the person who can wield the Holy Sword, can stop me." From the looks of it, it seems that my wife has already decided. She has decided to break my heart and break the hearts of everyone who loves her.

How can she easily decide that? How can she easily decide to leave her family and the people who care for her behind?

"No. I will not do it." I turned my back on her. I cannot stand looking at her right now. She is forcing a decision she decided on her own on me. I will not allow her to put me in a position that kills his wife.

No.

"Then you are giving me no choice." All of the sudden, my body cannot move. This is magic, and she, my wife, is the only one I know who can do this kind of thing. I am powerless against her. Her magic is stronger than mine.

She really is going to force this on me. How could she do this to me?

"I'm sorry, my love. But for the sake of the empire and our children, I need to be out of the way. I need to be put down." With that, my hand reached out to the sword at my waist. The holy sword. An artifact that can eliminate any darkness that is in the way. Ever since I came into this room, I can feel my sword urging me to remove the darkness, and that darkness would be my wife.

"Layla, I'm begging you to not do this to me." My tears started to fall out. Out of all the people around me, the only person who can make me cry is her. She holds the entirety of my heart. Right now, she is breaking it.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I hope one day you will forgive me for this." With her controlling my body, the sword in my hand pierces through her.

As she fell to the floor, the magic that she had on me disappeared. I have now full control of my body, but it's too late now. She is dying in front of me, and there is nothing I can do about it.

"Why? Layla, why? We could have found another way to save you." I kneeled on the floor. I hold her hand as I sob next to her.

"Ezra, you know that there is no other way. I'm sorry I made you go through this." Her voice weakening, and her eyes are slowly closing. She is not part of my life anymore. She is not standing next to me anymore. She is gone. My wife and the mother of my children are gone and there is nothing I can do about it.

I stayed in the room, holding her hands as I cried. I never once thought that losing someone like this could hurt this much. I don't even know how to tell my children about this.

Sensing that someone is approaching, I stood up and held my sword. I must not let them know that Layla is the one who did this. I cannot let the people who love her see her in a different light. If I must, then I will be the person who killed his wife, with the reason of eliminating the darkness that threatens the whole empire.

"Your Highness! Is there anything—" That voice, it must be Hes. She is one of Layla's closest handmaidens. With me holding a sword and with Layla laying on the floor with blood, it's only natural that Hes would think that I killed Layla and that is what I am aiming for.

"Your Majesty, why? Her Highness... on the floor." Her voice trembled, I can feel the pain she bears, and I know too well what that pain is, but at the same time, there is anger in her voice. An anger that is for me. "Why did you kill her?!"

"Why?" Hiding my grieving voice, I continued, "Isn't natural for an emperor to eliminate any darkness that can harm the whole empire? The empress was carrying the darkness in her and death by my hands is her only end, and she knew that."

I turned around and faced Hes. I can see the hatred in her eyes. I could not blame her. I portrayed myself as the killer of the Empress, I killed the lady that she serves.

"Leon, call someone to clean this mess up," I said to the man who is standing outside. from the start, I knew Leon was outside, listening to everything that happened in this room, he must have known what my intention was for this and has not said anything. I thank him for that.

"Yes, Your Majesty." He said, then I walked out of the room. I need a place where I can be alone. A place where I can be vulnerable only for this day.

Months and many things had happened. Since the funeral of the empress, many people have asked me why I did what I did, and the priest kept on bothering me about my newborn.

"Your Majesty, please heed my word. During the Empress' pregnancy with the princess, the Empress is already infected with the darkness, of course, during that time, the princess has always been the reason why the Empress is affected by the darkness. After all, the devil has chosen your daughter to the gate to enter our world." Once again, this High Priest is pestering me about what to do with my daughter. I keep asking myself why I haven't killed this man yet when all he does is make me angry.

"Black hair? High Priest, what proof can you even give to me that my daughter is possessed by the devil? She is only but a newborn baby and will do such thing like a disaster to the whole empire." Because of the High Priest's standing in the Holy Ground, I can't do anything to him as I please. If it weren't for the people who are backing him, then he would have been dead a long time ago.

"Your Majesty, I know you care about your children, however, the princess is someone you shouldn't be approaching or even caring for. All the record in the Holy Ground has stated that the people who are born into any royal family with black hair is a disaster to all. They are evidence of the misdeed of those people with black hair. I am sure you have heard of it."

I have read about those records, and I don't believe a single word about them. From what I have gathered so far, every year, all around the world, a prince or princess is born with black hair. It is said in the records that the devil is trying to walk on this world for its evil plot every year.

It is all a bunch of nonsense that doesn't make any sense. If that is the case, won't the Holy Ground would have found a way to prevent the devil to possessed someone? Why is still this going on? And on top of that, my daughter is now possessed by the so-called devil. I don't believe it.

Knowing the Holy Ground, I know that they will try to find a way to eliminate my daughter, and I can assure them that I will not let them do as they please. My daughter, Catherine, will live her life to the fullest regardless of what she will become. She is the last thing that Layla has given me.

Catherine and my other children are my only treasure in this world.

"Nonsense. I will not do anything that can harm my daughter, High Priest. You should stop now."

Frustrated by my words, the High Priest is trying to calm himself down. He knows that once I have decided on something, there is no chance of changing it. Yes, I am called a tyrant and do not hesitate to kill, but that does not mean that I will kill my child, especially a newborn child.

For a High Priest who believes that the Deities love everyone, he sure can easily say to kill a child who is possessed by the devil.

"Then you are putting the whole empire in danger because you will not do anything about the devil."

I stood up and that startled him. Slowly walked towards him and as I did that, I said, "Don't test my patience with you any further, High Priest. I'm only holding myself back from killing because of the people backing you, the Holy Ground. however, but if you test me any further, I will kill you and I don't care about the consequences."

Standing right in front of him, intimidatingly, he loses his balance and fell on the floor. He was acting so arrogant a little while ago, now he is trembling in fear that I might kill him right now. How funny.

The High Priest stood up immediately and fixed himself. "T-this will be not the last time I will talk about this, Your Majesty. Please heed my words and stay away from the princess as much as possible, and that also includes the princes." And with that, the High Priest made his way out.