𝙄𝙢𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙡 𝙈𝙖𝙟𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙮

ＸＶ

˜”*°• Imperial Majesty •°*”˜

"..."

"—!"

"...what were you...?"

(Y/n) jolted up and stared at Piere with a bright flushed face.

"How long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough to see everything."

She paused and averted her eyes from him, as if she suddenly turned shy.

Then she cleared her throat and stood up properly, dusting the invisible dirt on her night gown.

"Has everyone retired to their chambers?"

Piere rose a brow. Well, he surely did expected that.

Her secretary wanted to question her sudden change of behaviour but decided against it. He nodded and walked towards the desk with her half emptied plate on it.

"Yes, all of the guests have been secured to their rightful rooms."

"I see..."

Piere motioned her loyal maid to come in and to clean up her desk, to which the said maid obediently did so.

Quickly, the maid cleaned her desk up and giving a respectful curtsy, before leaving the Empress' chamber.

"Did anything happened while I was gone?"

"No, your majesty. The Imperial Knights had reported that there were no suspicious actions detected."

"That's good."

(Y/n) sighed in relief, walking towards her open window. The nightly chilling breeze touched her skin.

Slightly shivering at its touch, her shiny (h/c) hair flowed as the breeze danced through it.

"It's cold, your majesty. It's not in best choice to leave that window open."

She hummed, her (e/c) eyes gaze the bright burning stars in the night sky. Reaching a hand out, she closed one of the windows.

But as soon as she reached out to close the other window—

"Coo!"

"—?!"

"—!"

A sound of what sound like a screeching creature, caught both Piere and the Empress' attention.

Instantly, they both raised their guards up and both saw a creature like figure coming towards the sovereign.

"Your majesty!"

Hastily thinking, Piere rushed and prioritize the now Empress (Y/n)'s safety, with her moving to the side and him quickly closing the window.

As both awaited for the 'creature' to come in contact and expectantly shatter the fragile glass window, due to the creature moving at fast speed.

Nothing seemed to happen.

"Wha—"

"Coo!"

"—?!"

Thinking of a threat, Piere summoned up his magic, aiming it directly at the anonymous 'creature' that had intruded inside the Imperial sovereign's chamber.

"Cah—!"

The intruded creature screeched and it revealed itself to be—

"A bird...?"

The bird was huge, it was nothing like both (Y/n) and her secretary had ever seen.

A bird or not, Piere still haven't dismissed his magical ability, if anything were to happen he'd be ready to strike first.

Meanwhile, (Y/n) stared at the bird with great interest, she had several questions swirling inside her mind.

Like: Why was this bird huge unlike the others? Was it a foreign one? Why was it flying directly at her? Where did it come from?

And most importantly, how did it get in? Surely Piere had closed that window shut, hastily, before it could even enter.

So, how?

Focusing back at the image of the trembling large bird in front of her, she calmly dismissed the Duke's protective nature.

"Stand down, Duke Caldwell."

The said Duke was taken aback, did she seriously told him to stand down when the creature in front of them could be a potential threat to her majesty?

As if knowing what he was thinking, she stared at him and gave him a listless look, indicating that it wasn't as serious as he thinks it.

Reluctantly, Piere did what he was told. But he didn't dare to lower his guard. He shook of his magic, its presence slowly but surely disappearing.

.

.

.

"Thank you, Piere."