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The Unofficial Empress - Chapter 17
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“Your majesty, the woman’s identity is not verified,” the kitchen staff begged when the emperor visited the kitchen personally. He only intended to oversee how they work but they made sure to open up a topic to catch his attention. And they chose to speak about Marco’s woman so he gave them a chance to speak. He can see how vicious people can be due to greed and jealousy. They are willing to accuse others in exchange for self glory. He had been to such a situation once before when they were chased out of the palace.
“Your majesty,” Nina was about to defend her friend who was almost like a younger sister to her when the crown prince barged in. He looked around and saw the emperor standing tall while the servants are kneeling.
“Your majesty, if you were hungry, you could have told someone to relay it to the kitchen. No need to come personally,” Cielo said and observed everyone in the room. The air seems a bit off as he saw his father’s expression. That knowing gaze made him wonder what happened.
“Am I not allowed in the kitchen?” he asked. The emperor has all access to any part of the empire without restrictions, particularly in the palace where he resides. “Well, do you have any particular request for desert?” he asked with a smile. Cielo just sighed.
He can never ponder his father’s thoughts. Ah, if Marco was the first child.
“You could give it to your brother if you don’t want it but you are the crown prince,” his majesty spoke in the hallways when they were alone.
“Your majesty…”
“I understand your thoughts and dilemmas son,” the emperor tapped Cielo’s shoulder before he picked up his pace and headed towards the garden where his granddaughter is playing. “Sania, how are you?” the old man asked and the girl kissed her grandfather’s hand.
“I’m fine, your majesty. I missed you. Everyone is always busy and I’m alone,” she said pouting.
“You’ve been really busy lately. You should take a break,” Marga grabbed Cielo’s arm as they watched the two happily playing in the garden. Cielo turned to his wife and kissed her passionately as if no one is around. Then they heard a thunderous and venomous grunts nearby so Marga pushed her husband away as if they were caught and are not allowed to kiss.
Nico is standing by the bush with a man coughing in front of him. The other man is holding his throat before he finally stood up. “Vicente, you are not welcome in the palace if you were not summoned by the emperor or invited for an audience by anyone from the family,” Nico spoke. Cielo covered Marga’s mouth as they stepped back to hide behind the bushes.
They were taught not to purposely eavesdrop on someone else’s conversation but they need to know what is going on between the second prince and Vicente Hong. “You probably kept your secret very well,” Vicente said with a devilish grin making Nico more irritated but he continuously clenched his fists to avoid further hurting a weakling but provocative Hong bastard.
“I don’t mind if you exposed my secret. I will only be persuaded to bear an heir. But once the palace discovered you were using another identity and acting as a palace guard, you could be convicted and the Hong family will start to go down the drain faster than water,” Nico shot back and left the man in uniform.
“I won’t lose to you!” Vicente shouted but Nico just waved a hand as he turned to another route. Then he also started to march towards another direction.
Marga and Cielo looked at each other with astonished gazes. “Was that Nico the second prince? I almost mistook him for Marco,” Cielo spoke but Marga brushed her gaze on her husband.
“It was more like a combination of Marco and you,” she said.
“Oh? Then it was fine, as long as Nico is not as wimpy as everyone thinks,” Cielo said and crossed his arms with a smug expression plastered on his face. “Now, shall we continue where we left off?” he asked but without waiting for a reply, he cupped his wife’s face and brushed his lips against her.
“Cielo!” Marga scolded only to receive another peck. Then Cielo moved away with a wink. “Come back, your highness!” she called out but the man in question just waved a hand. She caught up with him even if it is prohibited to run in the hallways. Anyway, there are no guards around so she hurried. She didn’t notice her shoes got entangled with her dress when she was about to grab her husband’s hand. She squealed when she tripped her foot but Cielo was quick to grab her waist.
“Crown princess, you’re so proactive today. I have free time. Shall we go to bed now?”
“Crown prince,” the emperor spoke beside Sania. Cielo released Marga and they stood properly before the emperor. “It’s broad daylight and my granddaughter is here. Why don’t you spend more time together as a family rather than thinking of other stuffs?”
“Can I really play with them, your majesty?” Sania asked the emperor. Cielo smiled.
“Of course. Why not?”
Sania was happy to spend time with her parents and they bid farewell to the emperor before heading towards the crown prince’s study. Their usual bonding is making miniatures and the most recent they made is the palace garden.
In the county, the festival ended as usual while Marco’s and Alexandra’s identities remain hidden except to Count Esper. “I’ve been longing to ride a horse since coming back to the empire,” Alexandra told Agatha. She said it as she saw an equestrienne outfit in the luggage.
“I meant to ride with you,” Marco entered the room without knocking because the door is slightly open. Agatha excused herself as she usually does even if they are not talking about confidential matters. Alexandra crossed her arms as she remembered how disappointed she was upon hearing about her fake pregnancy. She was about to leave Marco alone but he grabbed her hand and dragged her towards the balcony. “Are you still angry with me?”
“Did you have to do that to make sure of my loyalty? Did you see me as a puppet?” she smirked as she saw his indifferent gaze. “Because of you, my movements were constrained! Now? You want to ride with me? Are you ridiculing the Hongs by doing that? If they heard about that pregnancy charade you conducted, what does that make me?”
She was already fuming in anger but Marco just grinned as he led her towards the edge of the balcony. Lino and Agatha are petting two identical Andalusian horses, brown with white socks. Surprisingly, what she was supposed to wear for that day is already worn by Agatha. And Marco is supposed to wear what Lino is wearing. “Only me, you, and Theresa knew about the fake pregnancy,” Marco said while holding the baluster.
“Theresa? Is that the first woman who was bestowed a duke’s title?”
“You’re well-informed.”
“As if that news is not big enough to cause an uproar even abroad. She was brave enough to expose her family’s misconduct even at the cost of being an outcast.”
“That’s the common story circulating huh,” Marco turned and leaned against the concrete, with both elbows on top.
“Is there something wrong with that?” she asked frowning to see how odd for Marco to show such pitying expression. “Did I offend you somehow?” she asked thinking Theresa was his lover.
“Somehow,” Marco sighed. Theresa was his best friend since childhood. Her family, the Mariposa family was a supporter of the Hongs. They despised the Angenases but Theresa didn’t judge him when they met in the Mariposa duchy where they were exiled before being sent to Karangyaan. Theresa became his friend. She was more than a sister to him. Even when he was abroad, they continued to write letters to each other.
Alexandra felt her heart was stung. She clenched her hands and boldly said, “I am in the way. Let’s divorce and you must go back to her.”
“It would be good to have her as a wife,” Marco stood straight and gazed into her eyes. Though her heart is hurting a bit, she didn’t flinch and met his gaze. “But I uphold the law and the law states that divorce is not allowed in the empire unless bestowed upon by the emperor, given that strong and enough evidences are presented,” he said and stepped closer, filling their gap with his fresh scent. The soap, lotion, perfume, and even his natural masculine scent entered her nostrils. “And besides, I have a lovely wife beside me,” he added and caressed her cheek.
“What the hell?”
He smirked and kissed her. “One more bad word and I’ll devour these lips,” he said wiping her lower lip with his thumb.
“I’m serious. Don’t drag the topic,” she said and brushed him off.
“I’m not dragging the topic. I’m only enforcing the deal. And you’re really lovely…” he said and she turned to him with a gloomy face making him stop. “Alright, I won’t compliment you if you find it repulsive.”
“I’m not against compliments. But you’re making it sound so offensive,” she said invalidating his statement.
“I don’t know how I sound offensive but truly, you are lovely,” Marco said and marched out. “We need to get moving if we want to catch the first boat.”