The Solitude of an Emperor [TO BE UNPUBLISHED]

48 : The Fourth Consort?

Zale had no choice but to take Darya at his home, along with the two men with her. He felt like he needed to talk it out so he would be safe from being discovered by many. And at this moment, he feels like he cannot run away with this woman. This is why he is nervous.

"Please understand that I mean no harm to you, sir." Darya knows that the young man is wary of her.

Zale bit his lips to encourage himself to be brave. He is now certain that he cannot live without Mister Hamana as his guide but now that he is alone, he needs to build himself and be independent for the sake of Mister Hamana.

"Please tell me what you want to know about the gods," Zale spoke, "but I need you to not tell anyone about me." He looked at the man sitting beside the door and then to the tall man who is guarding outside his house. He can clearly tell that he was being watched by the two. They are even well prepared to attack once he does something. So he needs to be careful.

"Let me introduce myself first. I am Sage and you are?"

He hesitated a bit before telling his name. "I am Zale."

"Are you from the east?"

"Yes."

"Are you from what Empire?"

Zale flinched there. His whole body trembled with the memory of the people in his Empire tossing garbage and wishing and cursing him to be burned.

Darya got worried upon seeing Zale's expression. "I... I am sorry to have asked such situation. Are you alright?" She panicked as she looked for a glass of water to give him but as soon as she stood up, Zale unconsciously grabbed her hand, making him regret his action right away.

His face paled upon seeing the memory of the future. His hands went cold.

"Mister Zale?" Darya shook him and he is still unable to speak. He looked so terrified.

"Are you alright?" She cupped his face to check if he was alright.

He nodded, convincing himself to act natural after everything he had seen. He breathed in and out to calm down, trying to be solemn.

"Thank you for your concern, my lady. Please sit down."

Darya just looked at Zale with worry in her eyes. She sat down across from him and made eye contact with him. Zale was hesitant to speak again but after a few seconds of silence, he finally had the courage to speak.

"A-Are you the Emperor?"

Darya's eyes went wide in surprise and suddenly felt enthralled to how Zale found out about it.

"Yes and they are my consorts," she introduced her consorts at the back. Zale specifically looked at General Theobarlt who's guarding the door before looking back at her.

"Are they the first and third consort?"

"Yes."

He paused and looked at her for a few seconds. "Please be careful with your second and fourth consort."

Darya got confused there. "Fourth consort?"

At night, Darya was thinking about what Zale said. He mentioned about her having a fourth consort but she is not planning on taking another one. Who could it be?

Meanwhile, beside her in the bed was Duke Esteban, he was just looking up to the ceiling while holding her hand as a habit. He is thinking about what he heard about Darya taking a fourth consort. However, he knows that Darya does not want to take another because she had already refused marriage proposals from foreign men. Would she ever change her mind and take another one? Or... there will be a situation where she could not decline that future marriage proposal?

And the next morning, there, they encountered a situation that they did not expect.

"What did you say, Count Marshall?" Duke Esteban was raging with what he just heard. This is the first time he had lost his temper in a noble meeting.

"You are right about what you heard, Duke Esteban. I am offering my utmost loyalty to the Imperial Family with my son to become the fourth consort of Her Majesty. I believe that my son is greatly capable and deserves to be part of the Imperial family with his excellent achievements. I hope that Her Majesty would not hesitate to make such proposal."

Darya did not speak, thinking that what Zale said must really be happening. With Count Marshall's proposal about her having to take Lorenzo as her fourth consort, she knows that in the end, she will be going to accept it. It is due to the fact that the Marshall Family's trade businesses were needed by the Empire. She could not just decline such request that will give her an opportunity to take them under her palms.

"Let me think about it, Count Marshall." She replied and then looked at Duke Esteban who seemed terrified.

Is he perhaps terrified that Count Marshall will tell her the truth about his paternal relationship with Lorenzo? But she is not thinking about torturing Duke Esteban with this but she is thinking about figuring out what could be Count Marshall's plan.

On the other hand, Lorenzo was watching his mother crawl to the doorway where she could not go out because of the bars that serve as its door. She looked so thin and old, like her lifespan had been reduced to half because of malnutrition and emotional instability. In Lorenzo's view, she looked so weak, looking like a crawling bug. In fact, he does not know how to feel with the sight of his mother suffering. He could not blame anyone because of how she is treated. It is her fault to have met such despair in the first place.

"My son..." Kathika was so happy to see her son. She almost did not recognize him because he had grown up like a fine man. She crawled to reach the feet of her son but before she could touch his shoes, he stepped backward to avoid her dirty hand.

He bent down to be heard by his mother before speaking. "Mother, do you resent my father?"

Hearing him say that, Kathika started crying in both rage and despair, "Esteban... how could he throw me away... after everything I have done to get him...!"

Lorenzo did not speak. His eyes became lifeless.

"I... raised you to be like him... I raised you because he... would marry me..."

He clicked his tongue. "In the end, you are still selfish, mother." Lorenzo chuckled as he watched the despair in Kathika's eyes. He does not feel any remorse at all nor does he look sad with his mother's current state.

"You still think about how to save yourself, alone. You are still worried about how you should become a woman worthy of attention. You," He looked down on his mother. Disgust is drawn to his face. "You like to become what the Emperor has."

"...what?" Kathika could not believe the look in her son's eyes. She could not recognize if he was her son who used to look at her with loving eyes. Since when did he change and for what instance?

"Mother, do you know that I will become the Emperor's consort as well?" He started removing his mother's hair to see her full face.

"You said that I should be like my father," his lips curved, "If I marry the Emperor, would it seem like I have the same position as him?"

Kathika's eyes widened. "...w-what insolence..." Kathika lost her voice and trembled with the news. After her lover, now her son as well?

"Mother, you should just rest here and not interfere in my life, ah, right, you will be imprisoned here until your death." He smiled. "Thanks to your stupidity, your luxurious life has ended."

So then he stood up and wiped his hands. He then started to leave.

"Wait- Lorenzo!"

But her son never turned back to see her once again.

***
END OF CHAPTER 48
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