The End of a Cruel Emperor
The blazing hues of autumn covered the entirety of Vergessene Freude Empire. Red maple leaves showered the ground, truly a calming scenery to behold.
In the Empire's main capital, Alegría, stood the Empress' and Emperor's residence, a magnificent castle filled with all sorts of luxury suited only for the highest noble. In its courtyard, lay a bench surrounded by maple trees and fallen flowers.
In the bench was two people, chatting with each other, one woman and one man. The former was Her Imperial Majesty, The Empress, Leticia Ascart. Leticia has a long scarlet hair, often let loose, and a beautiful dark eyes. She is wearing a majestic gown, reciprocating her grace and elegance. As an accessory, she always carried a folding fan which was gifted to ejr by Raphael in their youth.
While the latter was her childhood best friend, His Imperial and Royal Highness, the Archduke, Raphael Augustus.
Raphael has long flowing silver hair, a charming countenance, his eyes are deep blue with a hint of red at its tips. He wore his normal grandeur clothing accompanied by some accessories.
Despite his high ranking, being only second to the emperor himself, he was being all childish and spoiled towards Leticia. Sitting beside her, Raphael's hands were proped up at his cheeks. His eyes staring gently at Leticia and a lenient smile beamed towards her.
“Your Highness, I think it would be better if you don't leave the palace for the coming days" Raphael, with his smile faded, said worriedly. “I told you, quit calling me Your Highness, we are friends, calling me Leticia, like you always do, would be preferable” she stubbornly said.
“As you say” he said with a chuckle, but his joy did not last as he quickly returned to the topic, “But still, keep my word in mind, don't go out the palace for the meantime” he continued.
“Why so?” Leticia, seeing his genuine worry, asked. “ I suppose you haven't heard, the entire Walt Barony got wiped out just recently because of a plague.”
Leticia was shocked, but another question quickly took over, “How come I did not know this?”. She always read the newspaper, listened to all reports about the events in the empire daily, never had she missed a news, so how come she did not know this one?. “I only heard it from the knights, the results said it was a plague that caused their death, but many things just did not connect. How did the plague not spread outside the manor? And so sudden? Not even a symptom was reported. Some people even said that it was a planned masacre.” Raphael explained everything he knew currently.
“I understand, I shall keep your word in mind. Many thanks” Leticia replied, though not obvious, she was feeling really happy, after all the only one who cared for her genuinely was the Archduke. Raphael was about to say something when an announcement was made.
One of the knights guarding the gate shouted loudly, “His Imperial Majesty, The Emperor has returned”.
On the path, a man was heading towards Leticia and Raphael. His steps unfazed and firm, just like his presence. A man with a face both calm and mischievous. He has a loosed black hair complemented by a golden crown. His eyes are a pair of devious red with a cunning smile. He wore a golden accessory over his neck with a ruby at its center. For his garment, he is dressed elegantly in white clothing enhanced by hints of crimson and gold. He was Leticia's husband, the Emperor, Ian Stuart.
As Ian stopped by the bench, Leticia headed towards him and greeted, “Welcome back, my dear” though, Leticia was smiling and being all loving towards him, her eyes were devoid of any affection, or at least, all she had for him was friendly affection. This was because, as expected, it was an arranged marriage.
Ian held Leticia's hands and smiled gently, “I'm Back, love”. In contrast to Leticia, Ian was deeply in love with her. After the short reunion of the two, Rapahel, now standing, bowed and greeted, “This humble one greets His Imperial Majesty”.
“Many thanks to the Archduke” Ian replied indifferently. As if Rapahel himself wasn't there, Ian turned to Leticia and said joyfully “My dear, let's head in shall we?”. “Sure” Leticia replied. She then turned to Rapahel and bowed,“We shall now depart. Goodbye to the Archduke”.
The empress and emperor were now walking together, heading inside. “My dear, why are you in such a haste?” she asked. “It is because I will be again leaving tomorrow for the Imperial Selection” he replied. Leticia only hummed in acknowledgement and did not say anything.
I see, the Imperial Selection is made in order to select and raise children for the army in the future. That's why he is such in a hurry.
The rest of the day flew by quickly and by the next morning, Ian had set out once again. Today was busy and since Ian left, most of the big duties were given to Leticia.
She was in Ian's office looking for a handbook needed in a report. Leticia looked around everywhere in his bookshelf but it wasn't found, giving up, she decided to check Ian's desk instead. When she tried to search the upper art of the desk, she accidentally pressed a button and it opened a secret compartment on the table.
Inside it were numerous documents and files safely hidden. Leticia wasn't gonna read these and she planning on quickly closing it but one thing caught her attention. Above all the papers, there was one entitled “Walt Barony Masacre Plan”. She quickly took the file and when she was about to read it, when the door suddenly opened.
Leticia was so nervous that it might be Ian. However, all her worry was removed when she saw that it was Raphael. Both of them seemed to be shocked seeing one another here. Raphael, seeing the file Leticia was holding, sighed and said, “So you are also suspicious of Ian?”. Confused, Leticia asked, “What do you mean by that?”. Rapahel neared towards Leticia and whispered, “You would understand it better if you read that file you're holdi–”.
Before Raphael even finished his sentence, someone unexpectedly entered the room. Thankfully, Raphael reacted fastly, carried Leticia and jumped of the window after seeing that there was no where to hide.
The two of them, safely, landed on the bushes below, since Raphael was carrying Leticia, he was the one who took the most impact and was quickly sank into all of the bushes while Leticia was above, staring unblinkingly. “Pfft–” Raphael quickly resurfaced and spat all of the leaves that got into his mouth. Moments before, Leticia knew something bad is gonna happen when she read the file but now, she couldn't help but laugh seeing Raphael covered in leaves. “Hahaha” eventhough she was laughing, her elegance still wasn't removed. “Look who's laughing... Take a look at yourself” he said, pretending to be angry. “It reminds of our chilhood.. we often played together and eneded up all dirty” Leticia said as they stared at each other.
Nevertheless, the joy wasn't for long. Someone from Ian's office loudly announced, “Someone stole from His Imperial Majesty's office!”. Raphael and Leticia didn't stay for long and hid in a neardby room.
“I think now should be the time you read that” Raphael said, his smile was now gone and was replaced with a look of worry. Leticia opened the file and started reading. However, the more she read, the more she understood. Shivers ran down her spine and horror took over her face as she trembled nonstop. Raphael, seeing this, quickly rushed over to her side and supported her.
Everything she thought Ian did was normal and was done for kindness was all a facade. The Imperial Selection, it wasn't done to select candidates to become knights, it was done to select “offerings” for a sacrificial ritual.
It was a well made plan. Since the nation is always going on battles, loses of knights
were normal and Ian would have a reason upon why the selected “candidates” couldn't return, this way no one would question him. Nonetheless, the Walt Barony noticed something was off and nearly revealed Ian's doings so he silenced them all and used the plague as a cover.
“What shall we do? ” Leticia frantically asked. But, before Raphael can respond, he was knocked out and fell to the ground. Then Leticia's vision was covered as she was dragged by someone.
The moment she ragained her sight, she was not in the room anymore. It was outside the palace, in the courtyard and the person dragging her was none other that Ian himself. Though his handsomeness and charm was there, something wasn't normal. He was so cold and shaking. His eyes is filled with murderous intent and in his lips was a frantic smile, just like how a psycho would look.
He grabbed both of Leticia's hand and said, “I-I knew it! You wouldn't leave me... Right? Right?! The people here are trying to kill me now... But let's go somewhere else and escape. Okay? You love me right? Let's go together! ” he said in a rush, as if afraid of something that might catch him any moment.
“Why did you do all this? ” Leticia asked, a mix of emotions are now swirling inside her, she did not know how to react. Ian, on the other hand, seemed to be more paranoid as time goes by and started forcing Leticia to come with him.
“No! Let me go! IAN! ” she struggled as much as she could to no avail. Just when Ian tried to carry her instead of grabbing, someone suddenly punched Ian so hard it sent him meters away from Leticia. That person was Raphael, he was bloodied from the head, supposedly from the blow he took earlier. “Don't try touching Leticia with your dirty hands! ” Raphael shouted while drawing his sword and pointing it towards Ian.
Ian, slowly stood up, his clothes now in a mess, blood flowing from his forehead. He looked into the pair in front of him and laughed loudly like a madman, “So that's it! Hahahaha... Leticia, Leticia...Leticia... LETICIA! How dare you side with that man?! I thought you love me?! ”.
“Why did you do all this? ” Leticia once again aked Ian. “Why? To keep our people safe, to keep you safe... I am powerless, I can't defend you on my own. That's why I made a deal with that deity. In exchange for scacrifes, he would offer us absolute protection and give me endelss wealth” he paused. After looking at the look of disgust and horror in Leticia's face, he knew that she wouldn't accompany him no matter what. “Hehe... Leticia, my love... Since I can't have you while alive... Then let's go together in hell! ” drawing a sword, he charged towards Leticia.
Leticia closed her eyes and prepared for the incoming attack, but no pain came, in fact nothing touched her. When she opened her eyes, in front of her was Raphael, smiling so gently at her, as if saying that there's nothing to worry about, that she's safe. He was the one who got stabbed instead of her. Leticia was covered in cold sweat and was trembling so much, she didn't know what to do anymore.
Raphael pulled out the sword stabbed into him and started attacking Ian. It was a heated battle, each of them released deadly blows enough to send each other flying. However, Raphael used every single bit of power he had into his final attack and finally managed to kill the despicable Emperor.
—The finale awaits you—
The Autumn of an Emperor, The Spring of a New Empire
After Ian was defeated, Leticia managed to recover from mental shock and Raphael is now recovering from his stab wounds.
In the same castle and bench were it all began, two people were once again seen, this time their faces, distinct of joy and peace, devoid of any worry. Leticia sat at the chair, looking and caressing Raphael who was laying at her lap. Before , they sat here under the autumnal sky, now it was spring. New leaves grew and flowers stood tall once again.
“Leticia, now that Ian is gone. The Empire needs a new emperor. You too, will need a partner not only for duties but also someone to take care and love you thoroughly. Also the people would be complaining if you don't have an heir. ” Rapahel said. Confused by this sudden upbringing, Leticia inquired, “What is it that you're trying to tell me? ”. “ I have always fallen in love with you, ever since our youth... however, even with my power, I can't get you away from Ian...I have tried so hard to endure it, but you deserve someone better than Ian, someone like me.”
Raphael gently stood up and kneeled in front of Leticia, taking he hand, he said, “My Empress, the weight of the Empire rests on your shoulders. I offer you not just my hand in marriage, my support, my love and my pledge to share the burdens of life with you. You do not have to bear everything alone, your grief, joy, anger, will also be mine. ” he paused, then took out a small jewel box. Inside it was a diamond ring, adored with scarlet rubies and gems, truly a mesmerizing treasure. “Leticia Ascart, will you grace me the honor of becoming your Emperor, your husband?” Raphael said without hesitation.
Leticia somewhat felt that this was coming, but she was still surprised. Nevertheless, the answer is already clear. Ever since her chidlhood, he was the only one that cared for the real Leticia. Not because of power or influence, but because of her. “Yes” she replied, it was a short response but that was all Raphael needed. He did not need a long explanation, all he wanted was that short answer to believe that Leticia's heart was his, not for Ian, not for anyone else.
Hearing her answer, Raphael, grabbed Leticia's hand and made her stand up. In the presence of the blue sky, flowers dancing with butterflies and the breeze, in this serene garden, Raphael held her face, as he kissed Leticia tenderly, a show of their long, undying love.
[ That was the start of a new story, a tale history will remember. His Imperial Majesties, the Empress, Leticia Ascart, the Emperor, Raphael Augustus, are the people's light after the dark reign of Ian. The autumn was the fall of a sadistic Emperor and ruined land. But, the Spring, however, is the birth of a long awakened love and a magnificent Empire.]
—The End—
