A TALE OF FIRE AND ICE

Battle of Wits

[ Neither the picture nor the content belongs to me. All the rights belong to the respective author. It is only used for entertainment purposes not to offend anyone.]

***

Lisa was waiting at the entrance of the emperor's palace for Blake.

The vice-captain didn't have an ID that would give him access to the premise of the emperor's palace so he had to pick him up. He had only been standing there (with two other royal guards) for five minutes but he was already restless.

To be honest, he didn't want to leave Irene alone with the emperor. Not that he didn't trust His Majesty. But Emperor Taeyeon loved teasing other people.

[I hope the emperor doesn't tease my wife too much.]

"Captain Lisa."

Lisa turned to see Captain Denver. He nodded politely as a greeting. "Captain Denver."

"I heard you and Lady Prescott were summoned by His Majesty," Captain Denver said when he stood in front of him. "Where's your wife?"

He didn't like that the other captain asked for his wife.

"It's none of your business, Captain Denver."

"Hey, no need to be hostile," Captain Denver said. "I'm just making a small talk."

" Irene is having tea with His Majesty right now."

"What?"

"My wife is having tea with His Majesty," he repeated. "What's with that reaction?"

"You left Lady Prescott alone with His Majesty?"

His forehead knotted in confusion. "And what's wrong with it? The safest place in the empire is beside His Majesty."

"Of course," Captain Denver said dryly. "It's just that knowing how protective and possessive you are when it comes to Lady Prescott, I didn't expect that you'd be okay to leave her alone with another man."

"I don't consider His Majesty as a potential rival though," he said without missing a beat. "Everyone in the empire knows that his heart belongs to Her Royal Highness alone."

In the history of Moonchester Empire, only Emperor Taeyeon was the emperor who didn't take a concubine. Emperors were allowed to have one empress and three concubines that would be crowned as queens.

The first queen was expected to take the empress's place in case the empress died or wasn't able to fulfill her duty properly.

But Emperor Taeyeon was firm on his decision to only marry Her Royal Highness.

[I respect His Majesty for that.]

In the past, the emperor killed all the women sent to his chamber to seduce him. Even though those ladies came from affluent families, they didn't attempt to take revenge because the emperor compensated them with either territories or a high positions in the palace.

"Ah, is that so?" Captain Denver said, obviously uninterested in what he said. " Lisa, be careful whom you trust. Lady Prescott is a special lady."

"Captain Denver, you're not interested in my wife... are you?"

He shrugged casually. "What if I am?"

Lisa tried to attack the other captain with ice daggers.

But Captain Denver just raised his arm with a red and gold armband. The fire produced from his weapon melted his ice daggers.

That was only because he created the ice without the intention to kill Captain Denver. If he did, the other captain wouldn't and couldn't easily melt his ice. Unfortunately, he had to restrict his Mana because fighting in the emperor's palace was forbidden.