The Empress Returns

Chapter 23 – Her True Identity

Kyle was no longer listening, his face twisted in concentration as he applied the salve made from the ground seeds of the Judith flower over the cut. “It never fails to amaze me,” he said as the wound began to shrink as soon as he took his fingers off the Prince’s face. Within seconds, it was gone. ‘It was a curious thing,’ he thought. The salve worked only on those with Imperial blood. It could heal just about anything, but would leave scars in place of anything but the smallest injuries.

As if hearing his thoughts, Lustian said, “Oh stop being such a worry-wart. We have a Healing Stone on hand, right?”

Healing Stones comprised one of the advantages of the Arpen Empire, its Blood Army in particular, over its rivals and neighbours during war. In possession of dozens of times more than other kingdoms, these were well-distributed among the ranks of knights, ensuring the limited loss of such essential warriors. Even the imperial family itself had several.

“True, but neither flower nor Healing Stone can take cure of most scars and I’d rather not mar that beautiful face of yours,” responded Kyle.

“Being beautiful can only get me so far,” snorted Lustian dismissively. To change the direction of the discussion, he quickly asked, “What about the matter that I asked you to investigate? What did you find out?”

“I expect the message to arrive via hawk soon enough.”

‘Good,’ the Prince said to himself. Was the woman sent by the King of Koronis, this Viola, a princess-impostor in place of a member of his family? After all, the most polite thing one could say about her was that she looked more like a female knight than a princess.

Yet, Lustian alone among all of his companions was quite certain that it was only ugly make-up. In addition, and this was when they would hoot at him in disbelief, he suspected that Viola did this deliberately to hide her actual beauty.

“Why are you trying to hide your face,” he murmured half to himself, half to the image of Viola in his mind. Are you deliberately making me abandon you?

He blushed, remembering what had happened before. ‘The kiss,’ he thought, ‘I did not count on that happening. But it did,’ and the memory sprung into the centre of his consciousness from some corner of Lustian’s mind where he tried to suppress it. Along with it was a desire that was almost boiling in its heat. He wanted to possess her fully, even before the six-month apprenticeship was finished. As the Prince’s thoughts took a lewd turn, he unconsciously made a leery grin.

Lustian then realized that Kyle was staring at him as if he had seen a ghost. His smile disappeared in an instant in embarrassment. Glad of the excuse to pretend he saw nothing, his companion turned and looked out to the window and squinted his eyes.

“Look. A messenger hawk is approaching. Could it be our spy from Koronis?”

He strode out into the terrace adjoining their room and gave a distinct whistle. Kyle grinned as the bird responded, subtly changing direction in mid-flight and landing perfectly on his forearm. He gently removed the tiny roll of parchment tied to one of the hawk’s legs and immediately offered it to the Prince.

Lustian’s face screwed up in concentration as he tried to decipher the tiny writing on the paper.

“Edward’s little sister? Princess Viola is the little sister of that knight?” he whispered in shock, remembering the final battle with Koronis. A lot of men had died. More from the other side, of course, but it was still a bloodbath nonetheless. He was told that their leader, an Edward, was a mercenary. Wrong information, apparently.

Lustian marvelled at the information. So, the man was not just a half-blood member of their Royal Family, he was also the sole prince of the kingdom, and hence, the heir apparent. Yet he fought under a false identity, as an ordinary knight. A highly-ranked knight, but still one of many. The Prince shuddered at the thought, thankful that he was not given command of the Blood Army’s vanguard. By tradition, the Crown Prince led the whole Army, and the vanguard along with it. Yet he had defied his father and directed the war from the rear guard.

It wasn’t out of cowardice, as envious lips loved to whisper, but because he couldn’t stray too far from the Judith River. Another part of the Imperial family’s strange connection with Judith was that remaining within its vicinity kept the burning pain at bay. Thus, he made it a point to camp beside the river.

He grimaced in disgust, remembering what the soldiers had done to Edward’s corpse after the battle. Had Lustian known, he would have prevented it. Viola would never forgive him, if truth reached her.

“Why hide who he was, though? What was he ashamed of?” He mused.

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“Perhaps it was their king who was ashamed. After all, he’s known for having many concubines. But if he went to such lengths, perhaps the mother must have quite a lowly status,” replied Kyle, who was now reading the parchment himself.

“A slave,” said Lustian, mentioning the word that was in the minds of both but his companion avoided it as if it was filthy.

“No one can know this, Kyle. Not the Emperor, not the Empress. It does not leave this room.”

“But your Highness, my orders are…”

“Your orders are to serve me. Father is the Emperor, but I am your commander. That’s an order.”