How To Tame An Empress (BOOK I)

Chapter 34- Welcome Home

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She didn't say a single thing on the journey back to the palace and neither did I, but I didn't miss the worried glances that a few people were sending her and for some reason, that angered me.

"Mama!" The excited sound of my son calling for his mother was heard and I spotted him running towards us with open arms outstretched for the woman in my arms. Ria noticed instantly too, and she moved to jump out of my arms.

"Let me go," She whispered.

"No," Was my simple reply as I walked past my son whose height didn't even reach my waist. He stared after us, a betrayed look on his face.

"...Mama?" He mumbled, confused.

"Let me go, Stacius." She punched my chest and I moved my head down to catch her gaze, narrowing my eyes into a dark glare for her and that was enough to shut her up. She turned to look behind me to where Evan was stood, watching after us.

"Evan, go find your uncle. Mama will come to you in a bit, okay?" From the corner of my eye, I watched as she worked hard to tilt her lips up into a smile and Evan, being the child that he was, nodded his head, satisfied with her reply.

Leading us into the throne room with Claud, Linus, Tiberius and a few other guard's whose names I don't bother remembering, but then again, I don't think I ever knew them in the beginning, to even forget about them.

I finally let her go and she stood in front of me, looking up at me and waiting for me to do something. Whether it be slapping her, choking her or even plunging a knife through her chest, I smirked at her imagination.

Little did she know...

Pulling my sword out, I sidestepped her and headed straight for the man that didn't stand very far from me and before anyone could process what was happening, I thrust the metal forward and without so much as a hint of hesitation, I had slit his throat.

"No! Linus!"

Linus spent a few seconds, staring at me with wide eyes as he drowned in his own blood until he collapsed on the ground, his lifeless eyes still staring daggers at me.

And I stared at the blood splatters that were on my hand, his disgusting blood, and I breathed out a quiet, satisfied laugh. Finally, this bastard's been getting on my nerves for years and he's finally dead.

"No! Linus... How could you!?" Ria fell in front of his dead body as she wept and screamed at the same time, cradling his head in her arms and I watched as her tears fell on his face. Never mind, even after death he's still getting on my nerves.

"Ria, move. Get away from him," I mumbled out in as clear a voice as I could muster at this moment, trying to ignore the blood that was boiling through my veins right now.

I expected all this to happen. For her to seize her opportunity of freedom but I wished she wouldn't. I wished she would simply stay inside the palace walls and wait for me to return home. I wished she would be here to welcome me home with open arms and a beautiful smile.

But no, all of those wishes were meaningless now.

"Don't you dare tell me what to do! You kill one of my only friends in this hellish palace and you expect me to live like an obedient doll!... Why is it so hard for you to just let me be happy!?"

"You are the one that agreed to marry me... You must bear the consequences for that, you started all this, Ria. If you didn't make me love you so much then Linus would still be alive right now," I mumbled and she blinked, her anger boiling over.

Standing up, she stormed towards me, raising a hand and slapping me hard enough to have my head tilting to the side. But I saw this coming. I just didn't do anything about it.

"Don't you dare blame me for your unhealthy obsession, you bastard!" She punched my chest with both arms but I felt nothing thanks to the armour that protected me.

"Linus is only going to be the first,"

That was enough to have her freezing over and slowly, she raised her head to meet my gaze, eyes trembling with unfathomable anger. "I realised that you will continue to defy me if you are the only one that gets punished. But you are a nice person, Ria. You cannot live with the fact that others will die because of you,"

"You... You..." She was unable to even think of what to say.

"So, from now on. Every time you even think of going against me, someone close to you will perish. That annoying friend of yours, your brother, your father and so on... So, what will you choose to do? Hm?" I smirked.

"If you hurt them... If you touch even a strand of any of their hair..." Her lips, her eyes and her body shook with every breath she took, her eyes gleaming with enough hate to light me on fire.

"Then I will kill myself,"

I froze at those words.... She knew how to get to me.

"You wouldn't dare," I quietly whispered out.

"You can test me. Go ahead... But it won't just be me... I'll take my child with me too," And that's when I knew she was lying. No matter how much she hated me, Ria will never allow any pain to come onto Evan.

"Darling, you can be funny sometimes," I chuckled, outstretching a hand and holding her chin and she didn't do anything against that, she didn't shift after hearing my words... as if I'm reacting in the exact way she thought I would.

Now, I'm starting to wonder what she's thinking.

"You wouldn't hurt Evan," I said as if I'm trying to assure myself more than anything else, the humour disappearing from my voice... She wouldn't dare to hurt Evan, she would never...

"Who said I'm talking about Evan?"

My hand fell slack beside me.

There was an odd ringing in my ear. I think it was the sound of her words, her beautiful voice which I loved, telling me that Evan wasn't the only child she had.

"What are you..." I breathed.

There was no way that she could have another child, we only had Evan and she didn't have any other children before him. Unless... The child she speaks of hasn't even been born yet.

"I'm pregnant... With our second child,"

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