17

At the King's court a meeting was already taking place concerning the Empress. Everyone already took their seat waiting for the Emperor to join them.

Lady Sophia a returning member caught up with what she missed at the previous meetings.

Ever since her husband fell terribly ill she has been the mistress of the house. She wasn't able to attend because her husband situation had worsened.

"Lady Sophia how is your husband ?" Lady Talia another member of the court questioned knowing the cause of her absence.

"He's alright, we might consider going abroad for his condition. How are your children ?" Miss Sophia was glad there was another woman in the court. She used to be the only woman but after Lady Talia's husband passed away, she had to temporarily represent as the head for now.

"They are fine. During your absence one of them tried to sneak in my carriage. If we didn't catch him as soon as possible I'm sure he might have been terrified with what the duke displayed that day." Lady Sophia had heard the stories how he challenged an Imperial Knight, if not for the Emperor's intervention that knight might have died.

"I bet he didn't get punished for that as well. This is the same reason we are here, for the Empress case, is it not ?"

"It is we've been trying to convince the Emperor to reach a compromise to compensate the people's wishes." Lady Talia fanned herself out of boredom.

"I doubt he will easily give the people the Empress head." Everyone in the room went quiet and paid attention to the maidens.

"But why not, she just burnt the Inn to ashes as well as cause casualties. Is it weird she attack a group that was clearly dedicated to her ? What could even be her goal ?" Everyone went silent after that which was followed by indistinct chatter.

"Maybe..." Lord Basmus chipped in. "Just maybe she wanted to rid of something or like the rumors says. They betrayed her."

"My bet would be they had something she didn't want the world to see. That's the only logical reason." A little bit of rubbing mind and everyone was already on the same page. The silence that followed indicated the appearance of the Emperor.

There was barely any announcement to commemorate his presence. He looks tired as well like he's been up all night.

"Forgive my tardiness I had to meet with the Imperial judge. Due to the situation at hand the people are quite at my neck.

I know your concerns are similar but hear me out, I doubt the Empress was the woman the people claimed to see that night." Everyone went quiet at the Emperor's statement. "But the people.."

"The people are wrong, I'm sure it was an imposter. Why will the Empress disobey my orders to hide and come out to burn a mere Inn to ashes ?"

"It's all the plan of The duke to drive the Empress out of hiding. I'm sure of it." The Emperor claimed. Everyone present didn't know what to believe but it seemed like something the Duke would do but the people saw the Empress and not the Duke.

"Your highness how do we prove the Empress innocence ?"

The Emperor's eyes shut as he thought of his next plan. "I will ignore the people's cry and if we're lucky the Duke might not strike again."

"But what if he does ?"

"That's for you all to handle, I didn't select you all to act all wishy-washy. Find out who the imposter is and have handed to the people." The Emperor gets up already exhausted from the meeting as the Pillars mummur to themselves.

How they were going to find the Imposter was like running to a dead end.

_

The prince made sure his doors were shut. He walked close to the Mirror chanting a spell.

Behold the Mirror no longer reflected his image. It reflected the image of the Empress.

"Did your father send you to contact me ?" Eden shook his head at the Empress enquiry.

"Don't tell me you're unaware of the chaos your Imposter is plotting. A woman is going around putting fear in the people's hearts. They think you are instigating a war and want your head as soon as possible but don't worry father won't allow that if anything he's looking for the imposter too." With the current situation at hand the Prince found the time to be humorous.

"You seem calm." The prince instigated. "Knowing this was your doing. Telling the duke you were a transmigrator."

"Of course I'm calm because I'm setting a trap for the imposter. If she strikes again then this would not be a problem."

"What if she doesn't strike ?"

"She will. The Emperor will refuse to hand me over. Things will die down quickly with the Emperor's discord. With the information I handed to him and his next, I'm aware of her next stop."

"The next meeting will be two days from now, at an auctionhouse. I'll send you there just in case she drops by. Arm yourself and once you spot her, kill her."

"What if she's the female transmigrator you once spoke off ?"

"There is no other Transmigrator." The Empress revealed. "I killed her." The prince gazed at the Empress wide eyed. "You think I'll let that wench walk around while Duke Ezra is still alive. I trust no other Transmigrator but my self she was going to betray me anyway."

"What about the rumors of the Duke's fiance. They say she's a transmigrator as well." But this was only baseless rumors to Eden. But he couldn't help but to believe this was a truth. "Another transmigrator apart from Selina and I ? Interesting and she's the Duke's fiance as well." The Empress mummur in thought.

"How is she ?" The Empress enquired. "She is beautiful but I doubt beauty was the reason Ezra picked her to be his fiance. The Imperial family have been trying to rid of her so I understand why she courted him. I just don't understand why she chose him out of all the suitors presented to her."

"If you hadn't noticed every single one of those men have nothing to be accountable for. She was going to die either way if she picked anyone else so she was bound to..." A thought soon came to the Empress. "Die."

"I didn't pay attention but in my 14th life she did marry someone that wasn't Ezra. At first I thought it was due to me changing the story. It never occurred to me if she might have transmigrated that time as well..."

"It seems I'll come out of hiding soon but before I get back, Kill the Imposter." The Empress image no longer reflected on the mirror.

"If I do kill the Imposter however will you get to meet lady Anthonette ?"