"Did you hear your Majesty? The emperor brought a woman of low birth with him when he came back from the hunting grounds!?" Laura, Navier's lady in waiting exclaimed in disbelief when she informed her.
Navier didn't respond in return and pretended as if she has heard nothing.
"Your majesty, did you hear what I just said?" Laura persistently asked her again.
"That's enough Laura! Learn to read the room, will you?" Countess Eliza said after clearing her throat with a reproaching tone and a serious expression. She was one of the more sensible ladies in waiting.
"But his Majesty...!" Laura whined at her, but she stopped quickly after she saw Countess Eliza gritting her teeth silently looking at her.
"I know you two are worried for my sake, and I appreciate it." Navier finally spoke.
"Your Majesty..." Laura looked at her with pity in her eyes.
"I wish I could lie to you with the words I'm fine, but I don't feel like keeping up appearances in front of you, my closest confidantes."
"We are here for your Majesty, and if you feel better by venting your anger on us then please do so." Countess Eliza added.
"Yes! I will endure anything for your Majesty, bad words, hitting, humiliation, you name it. If that makes you feel better!" Laura confidently exclaimed.
"The only one I wish to hit right now is Sovieshu and that woman..."
"You really should!" Laura shouted with anger.
"Laura..." Countess Eliza murmured with a warning tone while closing her eyes out of incredulity from her audacity. After all, she was supporting the emperor to get hit, and not some random noble. If someone heard that and told that to his Majesty, she would be in danger.
"But it was her Majesty's idea..." Laura tried to explain herself to Eliza.
"Even so..." She looked at Laura with angry eyes again and added, "Know your place lady Laura, this is not someone you can talk so carelessly about."
"I'm sorry..." said the guilty Laura.
"Countess Eliza, Laura... I feel embarrassed to have shown myself so vulnerable with my honest thoughts... but I feel angry now. So angry..."
"There is nothing you should feel embarrassed for feeling jealous about your husband bringing another woman," Eliza replied and Laura nodded to her words.
"But I was taught to not show that to the public by the former empress." Said Navier.
"But it's ok if it's just in front of me and Laura, right your majesty?" Eliza showed a warm smile as a way to encourage her.
"Heh, you are right. " Navier smiled a sad smile back at her.
In Sovieshu's study room, he was looking at some documents when he suddenly asked.
"Any news?"
"What particular news are you interested in knowing about, your majesty?" His secretary asked.
"Any news related to my personal affairs. Did you hear something?" Sovieshu asked again without lifting his head even once and continued working.
"If you are curious about Lady Rashta..."
"Not that." Sovieshu suddenly cut him off.
"Then you must be asking about the empress..." The secretary continued. "She asked me some questions about her current projects related to helping the elderly population financially, and took some documents with her to study in her room."
"That's all?" Sovieshu raised his head and locked eyes with his secretary. "Nothing else?"
"I'm afraid so your Majesty."
"I see." Sovieshu got up quickly from his chair and with furious strides, he was headed to Navier's room.
He didn't bother knocking on the doors, he opened both of them. The ladies in waiting flinched from the unexpected sound and arrival of the emperor without announcement. Sovieshu just looked at them and they immediately understood that he wanted to be alone with Navier. They excused themselves and got out of their way.
"Do you have nothing to say to me?" He asked her.
"Yes, what kind of way is this showing up in my room without the servants announcing you first?"
"Navier!" Sovieshu shouted at her which caught her by surprise.
"What? What is this?" She was in disbelief by his emotional state. He looked angry but a little bit emotionally distressed at the same time.
"What's the matter?" She looked at him with a baffled face.
"What is this? What's the matter?" He repeated her words with an incredulous irritated voice. He walked towards her and grabbed her hand pulling her to his chest. Their bodies were close next to each other while he still got her hand seized by his own.
"Do you have any idea what's happening in the palace? Do you even take any interest in me?"
Navier silently kept looking into his eyes and studied his expressions.
"Did you not hear the news that I've taken a woman with me on my return? Are you not curious why? Don't you wanna know what I plan to do with her in the future? Answer me!" He shouted again.
"Alright, since you are already here tell me then. Who is she and why is she here?"
"Now that I came you got curious huh?" He was frustrated with her entitled behavior and didn't bother hiding it.
"I don't understand what you want from me Sovieshu?"
"You never do Navier, never even bothering to try. But if you want to know who is she and what she means to me you better come and find me on your own after I finish my work."
"What?" She got angry.
"I'm busy. I have an empire to run after all." He let go of her hand seethingly, and just as he was about to exit the door he turned around and said to her.
"The future of this marriage is entirely in your hands now, let's see what you decide for us." And he left.
"What just happened now?" Navier was slightly shocked and still under the influence of the situation. She had never seen him so emotional like this before.
Countess Eliza and Laura were curious about what happened after they left them alone so they tried to ask Navier about it, without being too intrusive.
"The weather is so nice today. Would you like to take a stroll in the garden, your majesty?" Asked Eliza.
"I can't... I mean I'm not in the mood to go out right now while I'm feeling like this. I need time to collect my thoughts and figure out some matters I need to resolve."
"Why?" Asked Laura. "Did you hear something bad? Perhaps... his Majesty offended you in some way when he was here not a long ago?" Hesitation could be felt in her voice when she brought up the Sovieshu subject.
"I don't know..." Navier answered her by gathering her legs up on the sofa as she was seated, and hugged them. "I'm not sure what he was thinking..."
"Maybe we can help you?" Said Laura.
"You know how they say, two heads are better than one." Eliza showed a kind smile to Navier.
"But if they are three, then it's even better your majesty!" Laura added proudly. Navier chuckled at her.
"Which words do you find hard to understand that his Majesty said to you?" Eliza asked.
"Which words...? When he came he wanted me to ask him about his affairs, but when I did he got angry at me instead. And said that he's busy and then he left."
"He got angry and left?" Eliza felt curious.
"I think we need more information before we decipher his Majesty's intentions," Laura added.
"He was curious whether I've heard about him coming back from his hunting trip with a woman, of course I did. This is the palace it's impossible not to hear about it. Why is he asking me something so obvious?"
"I think he wanted to see your reaction, your majesty." Eliza said.
"That's right. It's definitely because of that!" Laura jumped to the same conclusion right away.
"My reaction?" It made Navier ponder about it for a while.
"Anything else he said to your majesty?" Laura asked her.
"When I told him that I don't know what he was trying to achieve with me, he said that's exactly what my problem was, that I never do nor I bother trying... but now that I've heard your opinions about it I think he was after any reaction on my part."
"I think the same, your majesty." Eliza added.
"He also told me that I should be the one to reach out to him first about the Rashta issue again later, and that our marriage is in my hands."
"I knew it! I knew it I knew it!" Shouted the excited Laura.
"Calm that voice down!" Countess Eliza upbraided her.
"Hear me out, your majesty!" This time Laura didn't bother to excuse her behavior to Eliza because she felt like she have just found the solution to make all problems disappear.
"It is now very obvious to me after I've heard what he said to your majesty." Laura continued.
"He said that the marriage, or its future it's entirely in your hands. Meaning that it's you who decide how things will play out later for that horrible woman he took from the trash with himself to the palace."
"What are you trying to say?" Eliza asked.
"Isn't it obvious? What his Majesty is after is the attention and love from his wife. He wants to turn all of her majesty's attention to himself and for that reason he came up with the idea the best way to do it is by bringing another woman, someone who would raise suspicions, someone to make her majesty's jealousy rise through the roof."
"He wants to see me jealous?" Navier asked.
"That's right." Laura grinned at her.
"I don't understand him. Did he forget the rigorous training I went through that taught me how to be in check of my emotions? Sometimes he's not acting like an Emperor, but as a mere subject of the empire that couldn't care less about rules and does things that gives him a momentary satisfaction."
"But even the Emperor is man of flesh and bones..." Said Laura.
"I know your majesty is streaming towards perfection, but perhaps what his Majesty needs is not the perfect empress, but a loving wife and a companion." Eliza added.
Navier didn't respond to that last observation by Countess Eliza, but instead it made her pensive.
In the emperor's study room.
Sovieshu was trying hard to focus on the paperwork in front of him, but he was constantly tormented by flashbacks of his last conversation with Navier hours ago.
What if she doesn't come to find him like he told her to... he was thinking about it. What if she's not interested at all about what happens with him and Rashta... another intrusive thought bothered him. Maybe she doesn't love him anymore like before, she maybe even feels relief there's another woman to attend to him in her place. He sighed heavily as he was signing some of the documents.
And then he heard a knock on the door.
"Come in." Sovieshu answered to the knock confidently while having some expectations in his heart.
The person who knocked entered the door and he saw that it was indeed his wife, Navier.
"Am I interrupting your work?" She asked him.
"What do you think? After we had that conversation earlier I was obviously expecting you to come... or not." He chuckled.
"Right..." Navier's voice felt nervous to his ears.
"So, why are you here? Why did you come to me?" He asked with a serious voice.
"I thought you'd told me to come if I had questions about the...situation."
"Situation? What are you referring to?" He played a fool on purpose to instigate her to speak about it on her own. He brought his palm closer to his lips covering them.
"Rashta. I wanna know... what she means to you." This time her anxiousness showed slightly on her face for a second, which Sovieshu clearly caught a glimpse of it and he grinned under his fingers.
"I see. You want to know my feelings about the pitiful girl whom I helped to escape death..." He stood up from his seat and walked slowly closer to her.
"Do you love her?" Navier bluntly asked him.
"Is love something that simple? Can you love someone just because they look pretty?"
"So you do think she's pretty."
Sovieshu sighed.
"Is that the only conclusion you got from my answer? You are really... exhausting sometimes you know that?"
Navier scoffed at him.
"Is that right? Looks like she's refreshing like a spring's breeze to you then."
"What would you do if I say yes? Hmm?"
"I think it's time for me to leave." Annoyed she turned around to go back to her room but Sovieshu caught her hand and pulled her to him.
"What are you doing?" She asked angry.
"This won't do Navier! You can't leave everytime the minute you feel threatened and leave me behind at a half way... just because you don't want to deal with it."
"Then what do you want me to do? You want me to stay here and listen to you blabbering about how much you like the slave girl?" She asked furiously.
"What I want is for you to open your eyes, your ears and your heart. Don't see and listen ostensively to the truth. Learn to dig around it with your curiosity to find out the real truth."
"I prefer when people tell me directly to my face without going in circles. That's the only way for me to understand someone's feelings."
"If that's what you want then that's what you'll get, but are you sure you can handle it?" Sovieshu's eyes glinted, while she was confused.
He pushed her to his desk, bended her back down with his hand while looming over her.
"What are you going to do to me Sovieshu?" She had never seen this side of him before and she felt intimidated by his presence, especially in such a fragile position.
"Are you ready?" He asked.
"For what!?" She shouted angrily.
"To know my feelings for you and Rashta."
"Ugh! I hate you! I hate you so much my heart hurts!" She kept hitting him on the chest with her hands repeatedly.
He then suddenly grabbed her hands aside to take control over her, and glued tightly his lips onto hers. As if wanting to spread the adhesive all over her lips, he didn't stop kissing them over and over.
"Now you tell me Navier! Is this how a husband kisses his wife whom he doesn't love anymore?"
"What?" She asked with a soft voice bewildered.
"I'm saying I love you! damn it!" He shouted.
"So what they said it was true?" She mumbled to herself.
"Who said what?" Sovieshu asked.
"My ladies in waiting... they mentioned the possibility of you feeling neglected..."
"They were right!" He replied firmly.
"Really!?" She widened her eyes surprised.
"How come everyone else can tell but you? Perhaps my intelligent wife is not so intelligent after all? Hmm?" He teased her.
"Now that, I won't forgive Sovieshu!" She hit him again on the chest with her hands, only this time with less power than before. He laughed. And when she heard that she stopped. He was being the man she loved again. That heartfelt laugh reminded her of that fact.
"You know if you keep staring at me like that I'm gonna think you just fell for me again." He kept teasing.
"Hah! What a joke!" She scoffed at him.
"I guess it's just my imagination then..."
"I wonder..." She grinned.
She caught him by the collar of his shirt, his eyes widened. She pulled his upper body down to her, now both hands on his face leading it closer to hers, joining their lips together again. He shut his eyes tightly, surrendering completely to the feeling.
"What does this mean?" Sovieshu asked.
"It means... don't stop kissing me. Never ever... until the rest of your life."
"Deal!" He chuckled and he pushed his lips on hers again.
The End.