Last Chance [Extra #2]

Part 37

The Emperor stared at Celosia in pure horror, unable to believe that the woman was in fact the very same princess his ancestor had decapitated on the Temple's order. This was something that was mentioned only once in the first Emperor's private diaries, so it was hard to believe it to be true. As the man suffered from an unknown disease that caused him unbearable pain, he became nearly delirious, according to the written testimonies of the servants around him. The pain became so severe the first Emperor could hardly get out of his bed, which was why he spent a lot of time writing.

In his journal, or a diary, he described in great detail the war with the Mάgos Kingdom. It was by no means a short battle. The war lasted for fifteen years, and was almost lost by the Leeuw Kingdom, which later became the Forbandelse Empire.

The first Emperor only managed to kill the Mάgos royal family thanks to the support from the followers of the Temple, led by his brother at the time. The Templar knights got into the Royal Palace and killed everyone in it while the Leeuw army fought with the Mάgos army.

As they 'cleansed' the royal palace, they discovered a young woman chained up in the dungeons. Unlike other royals, she had brightly golden eyes, a sure telltale of her pure royal blood, which was why the Pope decided it would have be extremely helpful for King Leeuw if he had made a big show out of the last princess's execution. Show her people that it was now him who had the power.

So, the King did that. He had the princess decapitated, then he defiled her headless body, put her head on a spike for the crows to feed on and then threw her body into the sea, refusing to even give her a proper funeral or burn her like he did to all the other royals he killed during his conquest. The unfortunate princess, who was accidentally found in the palace's dungeon, chained up to the ceiling by her arms with a blindfold on her eyes, whose only fault was being of Mάgos royal blood, was treated worse than an animal by the first emperor, solely because the Pope wanted to turn her death into a warning.

Which didn't work. The people of Mάgos rebelled against the Leeuw Kingdom, refusing to acknowledge the Leeuw King as their own. The cause of the rebellion was the death of the princess, as she was the only one who possessed magic in the royal family, thus being the only rightful heir to the throne. The King of Mάgos was not in fact the princess's father, but instead her uncle from her mother's side. Upon reviewing the documents and books in the Royal Palace, the King of Leeuw discovered the truth about the Mάgos royals. The King was the previous queen's brother, which meant he was not of the royal bloodline. In order to ascend the throne, he had annihilated the entire royal family, his sister included, leaving only his niece alive, intending to make her his wife once she entered adulthood solely for the sake of gaining her power that would pass from her to her children.

Hence, he imprisoned the five-year-old princess in the dungeon and patiently waited for her to grow up. Before he could marry her, however, he was killed by the Templar Knights sent by the Pope and the King of Leeuw, whose ambition was even greater than his own.

And now, the very same tragic princess of the Mάgos royal family was standing in front of the descendant of the man who killed her in a truly inhumane way.

The realization hit him hard. It was difficult to breathe. The air in the room seemed to disappear the longer he looked into those cursed golden eyes that promised him a fate worse than death.

The fear he felt, mixed with greed for her power, was a dangerous combination. The Emperor wanted her yet feared her at the same time.

"Don't worry, child, I am not going to kill you yet. You're not my top priority. Keep you life for now, but do not forget. 'Forbandelse skal du møde ved min genfødsel'."