The Emperor's Concubine

Chapter Sixty-Nine

"Escape? You're certain?" Duke Oslo asks.
His gloved hand tightens into a fist, growing pained staring upon her tears.
Luna nods, her expression pained yet numbed as she quickly wipes her eyes with a napkin.
"I wish to live for myself, I want to become a consultant."
"I see..."
Duke Oslo grins slightly.
"You've decided what you want?" He asks.
"Yes. I don't want to be weak by my previous title. I wish to be known as a consultant... I have no clue on how to achieve that though."
"I see. It won't be easy... You may be going behind his highness's back for coming to me."
"I know. It's a risk I'm willing to take, but I've been careful about how to meet you."
"Luna... To become a consultant may be more difficult as a concubine."
"How so?"
"Well..." Duke Oslo sighs, "The marquess and marchioness haven't explained it properly that day, but you're title now is his highness's concubine. Your only job is to please his highness. Being his concubine, you could marry him to gain a new title but it could be used against the both of you, if you tried to marry his highness-"
"I don't want to marry him." Luna quickly cuts him off.
She stares at him with eyes of certainty.
"This may all be said through anger... Regardless, I can't allow something that will give officials and other kingdoms an upper hand on his highness. To become a consultant while being a concubine is impossible. It may seem disheartening, but given that you're a concubine because your kingdom was overtaken, it causes more issues compared to if you were sent here as a gift. You only live to be his highness's now."
"Is there nothing to be done to help me achieve what I wish?"
"Why now? Is there a reason you're this desperate?"
"Princesses are all arriving for the spring ball... I know it's because he has to choose a candidate, and I may not want to marry him, but it still hurts to watch this happen..."
Duke Oslo thinks to himself, before giving a reluctant sigh.
"I'll think of something. I'll give you a few days to think of your decision. I'll proceed once I'm sure this is the best for you."
"Thank you, your grace." Luna bows her head.
"I'll have my butler get a message from you in a few days. He'll bring it back to me through another maid. I'll keep quiet until I know a plan."
Luna nods agreeing.

Duke Oslo bows to Marchioness Adara and Luna as he leaves.
"I agreed before I could fully think about it... I can't bear to see your heart like this." Duke Oslo whispers, leaning back in his carriage.
The image of Luna numbly crying in pain, plays in his mind.
He grips his shirt, distressed by her expression.
"Be patient, my lady. I want you to leave his side too..."

Luna returns to the palace, sighing as she gets off the carriage.
Lance stands with an umbrella, protecting her from getting drenched.
"My lady, his highness is having a banquet dinner with the guests that arrived. Would you like to join them?"
Luna scoffs, turning to Lance.
"Did his highness specifically invite me?"
"No, my lady..."
"Then I refuse. There's no need for me to interrupt his dinner. I ask you to refrain from checking up on me now."
"But, my lady..."
"I don't wish to have my every move being needlessly watched. If he cared, he would come find me himself."
"My lady... May I speak with you about something?" Lance looks back at her pained, "Will you spare some of your time for me?"
Luna reluctantly agrees.

She follows Lance through the hallways, leading to the hallway with statues and artwork. The hallway she's grown afraid of.
"What are we doing here?" Luna clenches her jaw, reminded of her brother.
"Please bear with me. I know this place reminds you of that horrible memory, but I promise on my life, I will protect you if anything happens." Lance earnestly speaks.
Luna nods, continuing to follow him.
Lance holds his hand out to Luna. She hesitates before placing her hand upon his.
Lance unlocks the room she was in before. He lights the candles, bringing her to the large portrait in the room.
He rips off the sheet, revealing the portrait of the previous king and queen, and three black haired children.
"I've known his highness for a while... He was abused and every time he was, I was there for him. I remember bandaging his wounds as a child. A boy who didn't know of the world yet, but could only have the help of a boy who was younger than him..."
Luna stares at Lance as he speaks.
"His highness was raised to be perfect, to be the previous king and queen's soldier, and a fountain of youth if you will. Eventually his blood wasn't giving his parents immortality... They decided to kill him and devour his heart. I knew it was wrong... The day they tried to take his heart, the palace was set on fire."
Luna remembers the memory transfer from Emperor Cabel.
The hallways roaring with smoke and flames.
"It's been kept a secret but his highness had a younger brother..." Lance wipes the portrait with his gloved hand, staring back at the youngest child, "His brother helped him that night. His powers were strong, and he knew how to control them at such a young age. He was a fire wielder, and set everything ablaze to free his highness. His brother had powers that could even exceed his highness's at the time, but the queen and king couldn't detect it through all of their lives. They abandoned the youngest prince at birth to focus on the crown prince and his highness... His highness had a troublesome childhood... Eventually he acted out in a way the king and queen didn't approve of, and they used it as a reason to 'put him down', in a final attempt to retain their youth. The night they were meant to take his heart, the fire broke out. The youngest prince sacrificed all of his powers, all of his aura, and soul to save his brother. The youngest prince should have died... But something pitied him, and he ended up surviving but powerless. His highness's powers multiplied in strength as it fully awoke, and he left to get his revenge but saved his younger brother first."
"Lance?..." Luna calls out.
Lance glances at Luna, smiling.
"Mother and father always hated how weak I appeared... The youngest prince, abandoned and forgotten. I admit, I hated Cabel for getting the attention I wished I could receive, until I realized what kind of attention it was..." Lance's eyes begin dripping with tears, "I pitied my older brother who was neglected and abused, but I didn't have the power to help him. Still, I wanted to help in any way I could. I risked my life to save him, in return he spared me and gave me a new name. This was a secret we've kept forever, but it's my story to tell now. I'm not worried about you because of Cabel, I care about you from my own feelings... You remind me of his highness... The numbed cold gaze, the heart wrenching pain behind it, it's the same look I've seen him have growing up, and it's the same look you have too..."
"Lance... What do you want me to say?"
"Nothing needs to be said. I'm telling you this because we've kept this a secret or else there could be a rebellion to have me crowned instead. All I am is just his highness's butler, not a prince. I was raised in these halls, but I'm no prince or ruler. We spoke about if I took the throne so he could be happy with you. We've thought of other methods to allow him to be with you, but nothing will work. To have his highness reveal our secret, could end with his execution. To marry you to be the queen would place you in constant danger, and to marry you to be an empress could start an uprising. Others look down upon it, and it could cause a war if a concubine from a fallen kingdom became the empress... To have you stay by his side seems to be enough for him. Please understand, we've thought of every plan for you and his highness to be together, also keeping in mind how to keep you safe, but no route will have a happy ending..."
Luna's eyes fill with tears.
She clenches her fist, growing overwhelmed with emotions.
"It's not enough for me..." Luna whispers through her broken voice, "His highness will have to marry someone to be the empress, and even bring a queen in too... I don't want to picture him holding another lady. I don't want to think about the fact that he's relying on another lady, or treating her as kind as he treats me... It's not good enough for me..."
"My lady, he's thought of many methods to be with you, this was the only one that would keep you close to him, but out of harms way."
"He's never asked me about my thoughts! It's about the both of us but he's doing things on his own! I'm the one who gets hurt from his actions, I'm left in the dark, and he thinks I'll be okay with anything?" Luna's eyes sharpen as she looks back at Lance, her hand clenching the fabric over her heart.
"My lady-"
"Does he know how painful it is to be treated with love, but then suddenly treated coldly like a stray? Does he know the pain of an aching chest when you're so painfully aware of the distance between someone you want to monopolize? Does he know how it feels to desperately wish to tear out your heart to stop the pain, or how it feels to cry alone every night?" Luna grits her teeth.
Tears stream down her cheeks as she grips her chest, scratching her skin from how immense the unsettling feeling in her pained heart grows.
"Does he know the pain he caused, keeping me in the dark?... He might have done everything to figure out ways to stay with me, and if he had thought about my feelings, I would have been able to endure just staying by his side... But it's no longer enough... I don't want to know his reasons for not being able to marry me, I don't want to hear that he just wants to keep me by his side, that's not enough for me... It's no longer enough, when he didn't have the decency to consider my feelings."
Lance opens his mouth, stunned, yet unable to speak.
"I was trapped my entire life... I was unable to have my own opinions without being beat, starved, or locked away. Now, how mocking is it, that the emperor who claims he loves me, is trapping me for his own desires? That he plans to disregard my opinions and feelings, just the same as that vile father and mother of mine."
Lance's eyes widen.
"I won't tell a soul of your secret, but never approach me again after today. I have no interest anymore in any affairs regarding his highness or yourself." Luna walks past Lance, leaving him behind in the room.
Lance looks down at the portrait, his eyes filled with frustration and sorrow.
"We never thought about how you'd feel..." Lance whispers in realization, holding his head.