"We will need this alliance Jennie and we are leaving tomorrow." The emperor told his wife in a firm voice. He and Jennie had been arguing whether they could trust the King of Baltrus or not. Obviously, the Empress was on the more cautious side, she had no desire to make new alliances as they could easily be betrayed and get themselves killed. She wondered what was wrong with her idiot husband to come up with such dumb ideas.
Lisa took notice of the displeased look of the empress, the married couple had been arguing a lot, but a voice was never raised, she was nearly impressed by that. She assumed it was how they were raised, royalty needed to act properly at all times.
Jennie glared at her husband before dismissing herself, Lisa followed after, but not before taking a quick glance at her brother. They hadn't spoken since before they entered the castle. She wanted to ask how he was doing and what working for emperor Jong-in was like.
The empress went to look for her maid Rosie. The maids had a schedule and having memorized their schedules she knew where Rosie was working, she was not supposed to interfere with their work but she really needed someone to talk to about her frustrations towards her husband. She found Rosie cleaning in a guest room.
The empress commanded her knight to guard the door and not let anyone in while she spoke with her friend. "Let me guess, this is about your husband isn't it?" Rosie chuckled, Jennie sighed and nodded. She told her friend all about what she and Jong-in argued about. "How he hasn't gotten himself killed yet is beyond me."
"Yes, well hopefully he will soon." The empress mumbled, but the maid heard it perfectly, she was worried for her master, sooner or later the woman was going to poison and kill her own husband, she understood why she hated him but wanting him dead? no that was not right and she hoped Jennie saw that too before the woman did anything rational, though doing anything rational was out of character for the empress, which is why the maid was sure the older woman wouldn't kill her own husband. "I will be there for a week or so, I would like for you to come with me, I am not comfortable being tended by another person's maid. I need to be cautious of who comes near me."
"Of course, I will come with." Jennie smiled, no one was as loyal as her maids, the secret was to treat them with human decency and bond with them. She made sure they could come to her for help. "We are leaving at 8." The empress left the room and was met with Lisa. "You need to pack too, you are coming with tomorrow."
"As you wish." Silence followed shortly after as they walked through the hallway.
"Lisa?"
"Yes miss?"
"Do you perhaps wish to speak to your brother?" Jennie asked, she knew what it was like to be so close to your sibling, she and her older sister were after all inseparable before her older sister was married off to some rich man and Jennie had to marry Jong-in. Yes the marriage was not by choice, it was arranged after Jong-in had taken an interest in her. She had to admit that marrying Jong-in was better than some other man, she was the empress for goodness sake, could she ask for a better position in society? She had it well, she was allowed to do so much and Jong-in had more progressive views than the conservative men he associated himself with. He didn't boss his wife or any woman around as the average man would, that is what made the man a little more tolerable to Jennie. He was clearly deeply in love with her too, she almost pitied him seeing how she could never return those feelings.
"Yes, I would like to speak with him." Lisa replied. The empress led the way to her brother. He was standing guard outside the door of Jong-in's office room. Jennie entered the room, she watched her husband sign some papers. "I have let our knights alone to talk, do you need help with anything?" She asked. he looked up from his papers and smiled. "Come here." The empress slowly and gracefully approached her husband, she sat down on his desk while looking down at him. He stood up from his chair and slowly leaned in to kiss his lovely wife. She was unsure of what was worse, his kisses or the sex. While they had sex she could at least close her eyes and think of something else, but when he kissed her she was disgusted, repulsed by him. He pulled away to look at her. "We have a lot of disagreements, but at the end of the day you are still my wife and I love you."
