THEY WERE AT THE COURTHOUSE. astrid and her ladies in waiting huddled in a group together, watching as the empress entered. the high priest, vimirey began to speak, "empress navier of the eastern empire, your husband emperor sovieshu has requested a divorce. if you accept his request, you will no longer be empress. you will lose all rights as empress and as a member of the imperial family. you will no longer be able to use the imperial family name,"
"the ties that bound you two as husband and wife will be severed and emperor sovieshu will offically be single. if this is not what you want, you have the right to contest this divorce. do you agree to this divorce?"
navier stayed silent, everyone watched with anticipation, "i... accept this divorce," the courthouse was in chaos. people were murmuring and protesting but then navier continued, "and i request the approval of my remarriage,"
the courthouse broke into murmurs, the high priest stuttered, "a-a remarriage?"
"you seek a remarriage? with whom?"
there was a small sound and everyone turned to see a tall blonde man, covered in a black veil. "is it time for grand enterance?" he asked, taking it off and showing his true identity. it was king heinrey of the western kingdom.
"navier, you couldn't possibly mean!-"
"he is the one i wish to remarry," navier deadpanned
"is... is that really true empress navier? do you really want to remarry prince heinrey... i mean king heinrey?"
"yes," navier nodded
"i want to make navier my queen," heinrey added
sovieshu banged the table and stood up, "what do you think you're doing? don't you realize you're in my empire?!" he asked
"what do you think i'm doing? i'm obviously here to propose," heinrey deadpanned
the high priest cut in, "king heinrey,"
"i'll do things formally later, but i rushed over here because i thought it might be too late if i missed this opportunity," heinrey shrugged, "i know this must seem quite sudden, but i beg you to consider the circumstances and approve of this marriage,"
the emperor spoke, "high priest vimirey, it is illegal for king heinrey to attend this court meeting without obtaining without prior consent,"
the high priest stayed silent but turned to navier, as if asking what she wanted. navier nodded and the high priest stayed silent before announcing to the room, "i accept empress navier's request to marry king heinrey!"
astrid beamed and could feel tears forming the corners of her eyes, duchess kalliste as if having a sixth sense, handed astrid her peony embroidered hankerchief as astrid dabbed the corners of her eyes.
"the trial has now concluded," the high priest announced, "king heinrey and navier, please stand before me," the high priest ordered the couple kneeled in front of him and he declared, "i now pronounce you king and queen,"
heinrey rose and helped navier up, "thank you, high priest vimirey. i will send you a formal invitation to our ceremony later,"
the high priest sighed and wiped the sweat from his forehead, "you don't need to do that. this was me attending your wedding. i don't think i can take time off my schedule a second time," he turned to navier, "empress... i mean queen navier, i granted this marriage because i've watched you grow from a young ager and i trust you but i don't think this path will be an easy one to take,"
astrid smiled, "thank you, high priest,"
"be sure to throw a grand wedding and invite plenty of people. you must hold your head up high no matter what other people say,"
"i will. i hope to see you there," heinrey said cheerfully
"i told you that i am busy," the high priest said before exiting.
"empress... i mean, navier. what kind of treachery is this?" sovieshu asked, approaching the couple as reyna and her ladies-in-waiting began to make a beeline towards them. "and don't say something like you're going along with it because you were proposed to. you know that's not the answer i want,"
navier sighed, "yes, i know what you want me to say. but i'm not going to answer you, because it's not something that an ex-husband needs to know,"
"ex-husband?!" sovieshu fumed, "fine, i'm your ex husband, that i am. but i'm still the emperor of the empire you belong to," he said, "and i have no intention of granting my ex-wife the right to remarry,"
"that is up to me, emperor sovieshu," the high priest cut in.
astrid stiffled a laugh while covering her mouth with her hankerchief before she stepped forward, "sovieshu, please. maintain your dignity and honour while you can," she remarked, sovieshu glared at her and he realized astrid must've played some sort of role in this.
"astrid vict, you bitch," he grumbled walking out of the courthouse. astrid heard it and grinned smugly, of course she was a bitch. had sovieshu not known that all along she was the queen bitch of them all?
YOU ARE READING
DYNASTY ── the remarried empress
Fanfiction❛ ── a dynasty is nothing but the successful orchestration of treachery. ❪ fem!oc 𝔁 the remarried empress ❫
