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The Unofficial Empress - Chapter 8
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Marco went to his study after the morning meeting which he doesn’t usually attend. The guards greeted him before he entered the room only to find out a sleeping beauty. “Ha! It’s still morning yet you are already slacking. What if I didn’t send you here?” he asked as he removed his coat to shelter Alexandra. It’s in the middle of September and the weather is starting to get chilly. Even though the sun is high, if the room didn’t receive sunlight, it would remain cold.
Marco didn’t awaken his lousy wife as he sat down and began to review some documents the king sent him through a butler.
Fifty years of dispute between two families is hard to extinguish. As long as each party insists on its beliefs and tries to suppress the other, the cycle wouldn’t end. Now, it’s no longer the Hong family members who are fighting for themselves but the younger generations who weren’t part of the history or were never related to any past events. Most of them are scholars who were manipulated by the institution. Others are nobilities who only wanted fame and fortune.
—–/////—–
Katapangan was once a very organized empire with unified ideals and goals. But it was divided after the Hongs rose to power. Factions were formed among and between neighboring towns. This division made it easier for invading foreigners to occupy lands. Now they lost two small towns in the west and they could hardly be taken back again.
*The empire had been in the brink of bankruptcy due to excessive spending when Marie Hong took charge of the throne. Not anything worth the amount can be seen today.
During that time when Enrico and Jericho were exiled, they met a very wealthy traveling businessman. He took a liking to Jericho who was able to help his business bloom*.
That wealthy businessman had no family and he was diagnosed to have tuberculosis and he could not live long. He decided to make Jericho his one and only heir and drafted his last will and testament before he died.
Jericho became wealthier than the whole empire with those inheritances he received.
—–/////—–
Marco glanced at the history book on the shelf behind his desk. He can still remember an incident twelve years ago when he was sixteen. Jiro, the old man formerly the royal advisor to his grandfather and to Marie Hong, came knocking at their door. He sought private audience with their father, Jericho, and he could not help but eavesdrop pretending to be practicing arnis in the hallways. It was his daily routine so nobody suspected him.
At that time, Jiro was persuading Jericho to the point of kneeling on the floor. Marco could not see what was happening inside but he could tell just by the flow of the conversation he heard outside. If it was him, he wouldn’t want to return to the nation that drove them and treated his family a traitor. But his father loved Katapangan so much that he was willing to pay the debts left by Marie Hong.
They technically own the entire empire today but the Hongs have made their move making it look like his father was guilty of their grandfather’s crimes. And the money spent to pay off the empire’s debt was said to have been gained from corruption during their grandfather’s reign.
Marco pulled out the book and was about to tear the pages when Alexandra mumbled something. He shook his head and tossed the book somewhere in the room. He went to sit on the couch in front of Alexandra and watched her.
A delicate-looking young lady who has extraordinary physical qualities. Silky black hair cut into shoulder-length to fit a servants hairstyle, tied downwards and clamped with a uniform color of blue.
Yellowish complexion. Pale to pinkish lips. Small pointed nose. Finely shaped eyebrows. Plump cheeks that get rosy whenever shy or angry.
He rested his face at the back of his palm as he scanned a little lower.
He sighed when his eyes landed on her chest. “She’s not skinny but why is her bust… never mind,” he said shaking his head. He couldn’t remember much about what happened that night but this woman’s mild fragrance is attracting him so much that he wanted to sniff every trace of her scent. He couldn’t help but move to the single-seated couch beside her and his tingling hand caressed a few strands of her hair. He was about to inhale her scent when she opened her eyes.
He froze as they gazed into each other’s eyes. “Alexandra Hong, I’m afraid you must share the room with me starting tonight,” he said coolly and leaned back clasping his hand and crossing his legs.
“Oh! Did I doze of?” she asked, unaware of what he was about to do.
“Not for long,” he replied as he looked at the window.
Alexandra followed his gaze and realized that it was almost lunch break. “Oh no!” she hurried to leave but Marco restrained her arm. “Let me go!”
“It seems like you didn’t hear me.”
“I did. We’re going to share your room for the sake of the baby. Now please…”
“Do you know what it means?” he asked frowning and she shook her head. He smirked. “Then you must be naïve. It means that we are going to live as a couple. Rumors began to circulate and everyone knows that we are in love…”
“Which we are not.”
“Who knows?” he shrugged and gently guided her to his lap. “We are not in love today but we may be in the future.”
“That’s impossible…” she whispered as she tried to squirm on his lap.
“Stay still or I won’t stop with just touching you,” he warned so she shuddered and stiffened. “Good. At least relax,” he said as he fondled her fingers.
How can she relax when his touches make her excited? This man, handsome from head to toe, is almost perfect except for the fact that he lacks the ability to smile or to be friendly at least once. “What are we, Mr. Angenas?” she asked.
Marco took the liberty to carry her while she was on his lap. “If you don’t remember, then I shall remind you in the bedroom,” he said making her panic. She immediately got down and tried to grab something hard to hit him. She managed to snatch a vase on the stand near the door.
“Even if we did it once, I’m not an easy woman. Now please, before I lose respect to your highness, let me out right now!”
Instead of opening the door, Marco locked it and threw the key through the window. “The door can only be opened with a key from either side. No one will pass by the hallway until noon so we should take this time to talk…”
Marco thought she would curl up like a kitten.
Normally, Alexandra would back down once faced with a threat but she didn’t. She screamed and hit him on the chest. “Why are you doing this to me? Open the door!” she screamed and squirmed when he caught her. “Marco Angenas, you can’t confine me like this! You have no right to lock me up! Let me go!”
“I will!” he shouted back in frustration because he could not restrain her anymore. “On one condition,” he followed up calmly to appease her . They were both gasping for air and he took her silence as an agreement so he let her go. “Once the door opens, you can’t go back being a servant. You will go out with me to familiarize yourself with my chambers. You have to stay here and be trained to be a princess.”
“But I…” she paused when she saw his cold gaze. She couldn’t help but copy his expression. “Are you planning to go on with this pretense marriage? For the sake of what? Pride? Dignity? Honor? Fame? Tell me!”
“First of all,” he said as he marched towards his study table. She followed him without removing her gaze on his movements. “This marriage is not fake nor it is a pretense. And I’m not doing this for the sake of anything you mentioned.”
“Then…”
“I’m doing it for both of us. For modesty,” he said and took a key out of the drawer. She almost flared as she felt her cheeks grew hot upon seeing that stupid key. He smirked as if she read her mind but disregarded her as he went to open the door.
“Give me,” she groaned and turned the knob. As soon as she opened the door, she left him without saying goodbye. With a fast unsteady pace, she tried to leave the palace as soon as possible. But on the hallways, she stumbled upon the crown prince and the crown princess.
She was startled but then greeted them politely. “You don’t need to be so courteous, miss,” the crown prince spoke casually. “I feel more comfortable having an heir earlier than expected. Do you, my dear?” he asked his wife with a slight joke.
“I would have preferred to bear all girls even if that accident didn’t happen,” the crown princess replied with a giggle. Alexandra felt strange to hear two people living in the palace and who are about to ascend to the throne to be talking lightly about an heir that is not their own. She just frowned at them. “Oh! Was that offensive? I’m sorry,” the crown princess spoke gently.
“Well, you should get used to it,” the crown prince retorted as he looked around. “Marco, come here for a bit,” he said and called for the third prince who just came behind her.
“Would you excuse us, my dear?” the crown prince asked his princess. Marga smiled and turned to Alexandra as she playfully looked at Marco.
“Don’t worry because I have someone with me to accompany me in the garden,” Marga replied. “Would you mind?” she asked her. The crown princess is asking her and it would be rude to turn her down so she nodded.