𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐈𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐀 𝐒𝐔𝐂𝐂𝐄𝐒𝐒 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘. 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐈𝐒 𝐀 𝐑𝐔𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍.
It's the beginning of a new age when Jaylah Imperatrix seemingly returns from the dead to reclaim her throne. And in perfect timing.
In her absence, evil has be...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Act 3 Chapter 109 JAYLAH
Jaylah expected the whispers and glances thrown at her turned back would eventually cease. They did not. If anything, they became more voracious. The story was flipped on its head and twisted again and again; she had been adulterous with more than ten men and women, she was secretly pregnant with the child of one of her own servants. Each was more ridiculous than the last. It was clear the courtiers had been seeking to put her down for some time, Ermalai only gave them the best opening they could have hoped for. Every time they happened to cross paths, she saw the glitter of victory in his beady eyes.
Their next foreign relations meeting was three days away. She had to hold in every ounce of frustration, push aside the disrespect that she received every second she ventured outside her quarters until then. Then she woke up the third morning ready to do something about it.
She felt oddly light walking to the meeting, which was her first of the day. The courtiers may have been more slippery and difficult to punish as a group, but Ermalai was one man.
The moment Jaylah sat down, there was an odd tenseness among her advisors. She shot them a sidelong glance, prompting them to speak. "We are...slightly concerned about the rumors that have been circulating the palace, Your Majesty," said one, apologetic. "Unless they contain a grain of truth—"
"The rumors that I am a whore?" she interrupted, placing her hands on the table. "They do not. As Czarevich Adrik knows, I have been and will continue to be loyal only to him." At his father's side, Adrik gave a small nod of acknowledgment. "This makes the situation even more interesting, for it brings up the question of who would go to such great lengths to invent and spread such obscene rumors."
After making a false show of racking her brain, she said, "I heard fear of my infidelity first from Czar Ermalai." Pursing her lips, she shook her head. "I do not know through whom this false idea was allowed to spread, but I believe we will find our answer with him."
All the accusing eyes at the table turned to the Czar, who appeared to have not predicted this. He was so used to being able to walk all over her. She fixed him with a regal stare, knowing she had convinced her advisors of his guilt just as he had done to her a few weeks prior.
"Ah," he managed to get out. "I was blindsided by this accusation..."
"Oh, it was not entirely an accusation. It was worry that my father-to-be would be intimidated into lying about me. But I take it that you deny this?" He nodded with uncertainty. "Which means someone else shared your concerns."
"A section of our respective subjects does not approve of this marriage. It is not difficult to imagine that they spread rumors to destabilize it," Ermalai's favorite advisor put in.
"I agree. It could have been anyone." Jaylah locked eyes with Ermalai. "Perhaps someone whose failing marriage makes them jealous of my blossoming one." No one caught her second-long glance to him before she looked innocently away.
