The General's Daughter

Chapter 17

It was a rare occasion for Emperor Julian to get a visit from both General Warfield and Duke Kari. It must be something important, thought the emperor as he waited for the eunuch to bring them in. "Good afternoon. I'm glad to see the two of you. What can I do for you?"

They both bowed to the emperor. General Warfield spoke up first, "Your Majesty, I wish to divorce my wife."

The emperor was confused. He looked from General Warfield to Duke Kari. Duke Kari nodded to let the emperor know that the general had his support. "You wish to divorce your wife? And you are ok with this Duke Kari?"

Duke Kari said, "Yes, Your Majesty. I do."

"This makes me curious. Why are you divorcing your wife?" This situation seemed very strange. He wanted to get to the bottom of it.

It was the duke that answered his question. "Nakita has been training at Kari Estate ever since Prince Zander put a guard on Nakita. He put a guard on her to keep her safe. This morning Nakita came over at the same time that she always does to train. What I didn't know was that Kalda, my daughter, had snuck onto my estate with anyone knowing and went and beat Nakita until she couldn't move. After getting her a doctor, Sunda explained that this was not the first time that this has happened. It has been happening all her life it sounds like. Apparently, Kalda even tried to starve Nakita when she was little. Once I learned of this, I informed General Warfield of everything."

"After checking on Nakita we came straight here." General Warfield told him, "I refused to be married to someone who can hurt their own child like this."

Emperor Julian couldn't believe what he heard. That wholesome and talented girl could be treated that way? He already saw her as his daughter-in-law. He couldn't believe someone dared to hurt her. "How is she doing now?"

General Warfield motioned for Ava to step forward. "Ava is her assistant and knows the best how she is."

"Your Majesty," Ava said as she bowed to him. "Pretty much every part of her is bruised except for her head. She said that the pain is bearable and if she wanted she would be able to get up and move around a bit."

"It's good that she will be ok." Emperor Julian paused for a minute, thinking. "What to do with her?" The emperor was thinking out loud a bit and the duke and the general both heard it.

"Your Majesty if I could. I am prepared to give her the estate in the country. Since you gifted us with the estate here, we plan to make that our main residence. I will be satisfied with whatever you deem necessary," said the general.

Emperor Julian nodded, still thinking. "Eunuch..." The eunuch that served him stepped forward. "Summon Kalda Kari. We will wait for her to show before we proceed."

It took about an hour for her to arrive with the eunuch that had gone to fetch her. "Your Majesty," Kalda Kari said as she bowed to the emperor.

"Kalda Kari, you are hereby divorced from General Warfield. From now on you have no children. You are stripped of all status. You are no longer a Kari of Kari Estate. The only thing that you shall have is your home in the countryside." Anger could be heard in the emperor's voice.

Kalda looked surprised. "Your Majesty, what have I done to anger you." She bowed down and stayed there.

"Do you really not know what you have done?" Emperor Julian didn't know if she was playing stupid or actually was stupid. She didn't reply so he asked her, "Ok, since you don't seem to know... Tell me what you did this morning."