How To Tame An Empress (BOOK I)

Chapter 46- The World Beyond

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Her cold body trembled under my fingertips as I cried into the crook of her neck, hugging her to me and praying that she will be in a better place where I can never hurt her again. I pray that she ends up somewhere where no winter will be strong enough to put out her flame, I pray that she goes somewhere she can be free and happy. And I prayed for her to be safe, away from any hands or eyes that wish to cause her harm.

Staring into those ethereal, hazel eyes of hers, I watched, tongue-tide, as her iris's relaxed and then her pupil's dilated, I took in as much of her beauty as I could for the last time until all the sparkling life in those beautiful eyes had dimmed into nothingness.

And with her death, I felt my own life becoming meaningless.

She fell limp in my arms but I didn't let her fall, I clutched onto her tightly, sobbing broken tears and holding her so tight that it may have killed her twice.

"I love you, I love you... I will always love you..." I echoed.

The quiet thud of something falling was faintly heard at the back of my mind and I paused with my tears. The snow cushioning me as I fell to my knees with Ria's body in my arms. And slowly, I looked up, shakily turning to look behind me.

Bodies shaking in anger. Faces filled with rage. I numbly stared at my two kids as reality came crashing down on them, Evander almost falling to the ground when he saw his mother's dead body lying in my arms.

"W-What-"

"She is dead... I killed her..." I smiled at them, answering something that was already so obvious but even after hearing my words, the disbelief on their faces was still as clear as day.

"Y-You... You... How could you even-" Evan cut himself off, jaw ticking as he worked to keep his anger at bay and slowly, I watched as he picked up his fallen sword, taking slow and unsteady steps towards me.

Ambrogio didn't do anything, he was still stood there with a bemused look on his face, unable to comprehend anything with his eyes unmoving from his mother until eventually, he too, followed in his older brother's footsteps.

But unlike his brother who walked, Ambrogio ran; He ran right past his brother and towards his mother, skidding through the snow and falling onto his knees beside us and without a second thought, he snatched her out of my arms.

And I watched for the first time ever, as Ambrogio cried for the lost life of his mother.

Placing a shaky hand on her cheek, he swept the fallen snow off of her face and leaned down, placing a light kiss on her forehead before berrying his face in the crook of her neck, looking as though he were seeking her warmth. This being the very last time.

"At least... Let her go in peace," He whispered to himself, placing a hand over her eyes and shutting her eyelids before placing another light kiss there.

"...Why did you kill her?" The hollow voice of Evan asked from behind me but I didn't even have the energy to turn my head and look at him. "Mama never did anything to deserve this fate... Is this your idea of giving her freedom? How-How could you be so..." His words faded away.

"I did what I had to do," I numbly replied.

"What you had to do?... How does that make any damn sense!? You killed my mother, the woman you were always so damn obsessed with and you tell me that you killed her because you did what you had to do!?"

"Ria wasn't happy anymore and this is the only conclusion I could come to... How many people have I killed in her name?... If I were to let her go, those lives that I took would always be looming over her shoulder. In this life, death is the only thing that could separate us... and therefore, I killed her... My love,"

"You were a terrible father. I never understood what mother saw in you and I spent years trying to find something loveable about you. Maybe at first, when I was younger and ignorant, I held a special place in my heart for you but that all disappeared... My detest for you would only grow by the day and it grew tenfold with every wrong action you took against mother... My mother- Mama... She deserved so much better," He began to sob by the end of his speech.

"I will never forgive you for taking her beautiful life..." I heard the unsheathing of his sword.

"And I will never allow for myself to obsess over a woman in the way that you did with mother. Unlike you, I will put my people and my Empire over my own desire and my feelings will never burden another..."

Ambrogio looked surprised as he stared at the boy- No... the man behind me, but he made not a single attempt to stop anything. Instead, his hold on his mother only visibly tightened.

"But enough is enough... Mother would have said the same if she were alive right now..."

And I realise now, too late, as always with me, that my children have grown up... Gone are the naive, young boys, Evander more than Ambrogio, whom I would tirelessly train for hours on end. The same boys that would cry, saying they are tired and would seek comfort in the warmth of their mother's embrace, but that is something that hasn't changed.

A crack of a smile appeared on my face and my head fell forward and before I allowed myself to shut my eyes, I took a last glimpse at the dead woman in front of me.

You were right, Ria... I could never have tamed you... My Empress.

And then, in the next moment, I watched the scared little boy who could barely hold a sword properly, wield a sword in his hands and plunge it through his father's chest.

And with the intense pain that racked through my mind, body and soul for the next few, long moments... I felt the life leave my body, my eyes rolling to the back of my head as I fell forward to the snow-covered ground, staining the area around me with a pool of my blood.

And so, on this day... I, Anastacius, an obsessive man in love, left the world at the hands of my first son, Evander Gaius Aurelius Caesar.

So, what was the question?... How do you tame an Empress?... It took some time, but I found the answer. Quite a simple answer, in fact... You can't. 

Especially if that woman is none other than my beloved Ria.

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THE END.

THANK YOU FOR READING HOW TO TAME AN EMPRESS.