With the commotion in the Royal Villa of Hot Springs, King Lawson had his concubine sealed in her chambers as he helped his men seek out the person who shot the arrow. He had already expected the presence of assassins but what he did not expect was that there were two of them that seemed to work under different masters. As this trip was kept a secret and was only known within the palace, he suspected that these two were connected with someone who worked under him. Somehow, he had a strong feeling that the maidservant who served them food that morning was the same person as the assassin involved in the house storage burning incident. He was not really sure about it since only their body stature was similar. Either way, he needed them captured. Meanwhile, Emery was able to escape from her pursuers. Without any hesitation, she made her way back to the villa but on her way, she bumped into someone clad in dark apparel. With the bow in his hand, she knew that he was the culprit who shot
Emery and Lila barely made it to the palace on time. Not knowing that the king and his concubine were also arriving, Emery did not bother changing into her royal robes because she was too tired to go through the ordeal of wearing extravagant dresses as well as arranging her hair longer than before. Lila left her alone in her chambers so she could go back to her work before everyone would suspect her of her absence. However, there was one thing that she had forgotten to tell about Emery when Jadeite was pretending to be her. And that was the fact that Jadeite caused a huge wreck in the Inner Palace, claiming that she was supposed to be with the king. When the sun had already set on the west, the king had arrived at the palace which was a surprise because they were supposed to be staying in the villa for three days. Just when he was about to escort Royal Concubine Hazel to the East Palace, he noticed the maidservants carrying wrecked chairs, tables, and ruined clothes. He, then, asked
Silence ruled over the king and queen as they stared into each other's eyes, still trying to comprehend the situation they brought themselves into. Now that she could see him up close, Emery saw how mesmerizing yet dangerous-looking his pair of amber eyes was. Somehow, its color reminded her of the afternoon when her mother passed away. However, without the veil, she felt like he could see right through her, and there she was, ignorant of what he had in mind. It was frustrating for her, of course. But Emery was not the type of person who could stare at someone's eyes for too long. So she was the first one to look away. She slowly reached out for her veil and spoke with a small, awkward smile, "Let's pretend that didn't happen." She got back on the bed with her back facing the king. She clutched at her veil as she covered her face back and she could not help but grit her teeth to suppress the scream she wanted to let out at that very moment. Her blush crept on her porcelain-like c
Hearing those words from the royal concubine convinced Emery that love was indeed scary for her. She believed that having such a feeling would make even the nicest person become the worst. And a question settled at the back of her mind; will Lady Hazel become the worst version of herself now that she sees her, the queen, as a rival? A small smile crept at the edges of the queen's lips as she turned on her heels and was about to leave the gazebo. She stopped by the stairs and turned her head a little. "I see no wrong in your love for His Majesty," she stated. "However, if that selfishness ever harms the king or his people, it would be better to stop now." After saying that, she left the royal concubine alone in the garden. She was not just in the mood to talk about things such as love or rivalry since such small talks were not appealing to her. On her way back to the Inner Palace, Emery saw General Kyan leaving the royal court. Thus, she decided to visit the king. Upon opening the d
Before Princess Garnet, King Lawson's elder sister, could enter the palace, Lady Hazel was appointed to accompany her all throughout her stay in the Silex Kingdom. The ministers were against that idea because such a role was supposed to be done by the queen and not by a mere concubine. However, with the insistence of King Lawson, the ministers could do nothing but mutter to themselves while the king had his back on them. "Won't Her Highness be enraged by this arrangement?" Lady Hazel asked. She was a bit worried that this would be seen as a taunt against the queen that might lead to a fight between them. The king was in her chambers having his break before heading back to the royal court. Hearing the words coming from his concubine made him smile because he could tell that she was still acting humble despite the big role she was assigned to. With his head resting on his concubine's lap and his eyes shut, he replied, "She does not have the right to be mad. I do not want to entrust su
The very next morning, Princess Garnet had arrived at the palace. Just as she expected, she was greeted by a lot of maidservants and a beautiful noble lady. Though, she was quite taken aback because the robes worn by the woman in front of her were not the royal robes of the queen. Though, she simply brushed that detail when she realized something. There was one missing person who was supposed to greet her as well... her brother. "Princess Garnet, welcome to the Silex Kingdom," Lady Hazel greeted as she curtsied. "Allow me to accompany and be of help to you during your stay." The princess smiled from ear to ear and curtsied as well. "To be with the queen is such an honor." Lady Hazel flinched upon hearing how she was addressed. Her body stiffened and her tongue froze. She did not know how to respond to that. She did not know if she needed to correct the princess but she thought that it might be rude of her to do so. Thus, she simply kept quiet about it. Meanwhile, Emery ran in the
"Perfect! I'd like all of you to join me in the pavilion," Princess Garnet stated. At first, Emery did not want to because it would be such a drag for her to put up an act of being a picture-perfect queen. However, looking into the eyes of the princess, she caught up with her idea of doing something devious so she went along. "It would be an honor," she stated. She glanced at General Kyan and smiled at him with a pair of puppy eyes. "I shall join you after I take care-" Emery did not let the general finish what he had to say. She went behind him and pushed him towards the exit. Unable to reject the queen's silent plea, he went along with them, and obviously, there was a thick atmosphere of awkwardness surrounding them. However, Emery and Princess Garnet were acting like everything was normal. Upon arrival at the pavilion, they all settled on a rectangular table. Just, as usual, the king wanted his royal concubine to sit beside him instead of the queen. With this, Princess Garnet c
When the sun had set, Emery was still in a sour mood because of what Jadeite did. She could ignore that because the words she stated were nothing but empty ones, however, she was dealing with the prime minister. Carelessly promising to him would be like making a pact with the demon. Biting on her nails, Emery was cracking her head on how to reason out with the prime minister. Blaming the king would cause her to self-destruct because her lack of charm and seduction would be blamed instead. She could not even bring herself to drag Royal Concubine Hazel in her problem. She did nothing wrong to her so she should also do the same. She turned and lay down on her back. With her eyes intently staring at the ceiling as her mind drifted to the clouds, she did not notice the king entering her chambers. He was surprised. It was because Emery did not yell at him or even look at him after their sarcastic argument a while back so he was expecting that she will bark at him the moment they see each o