DYNASTY ── the remarried empress

𝟎𝟐𝟕. the victimised empress.

                WHEN THE FESTIVITIES ENDED, navier and heinrey returned to the western kingdom and astrid was left all alone, and very bored. with almost nothing to entertain her, she spent her time painting and educating the northern kingdom's royals about the way of the east. astrid wasn't bothered about rashta being empress or anything like that, but what she was thinking about was the wedding of navier and heinrey that was coming up. she had received a personal invitation, and so did sovieshu, well, that was what his butler told her. and from what she heard from her ladies, odessa and verena, all of the noble ladies weren't planning on sending empress rashta a single gift, something that amused her greatly. 

she was in her study, reading when a loud noise came from the outside. "your majesty, you musn't! the imperial princess of the first rank is very busy at the moment!──eek!" the door slammed open, and rashta stood there, positively fuming. 

"you spitefully woman!" rashta shrieked, storming towards astrid before being stopped by her guards. 

astrid scowled, slowly rising from her desk, "that is no way to speak to me, rashta."

"you wish to take my child?" rashta sneered, "he has not even come out of the womb yet you wish to steal my child? who do you think you are?! i am his mother! i am the empress!"

astrid raised an eyebrow, "rashta, rashta, why so tense?" astrid said, bemused at the woman's antics, "i was merely advising my brother to our empire's traditions. don't you know that the children of the empress are quite often sent to princesses or royal dowagers? or, have you not been thoroughly educated in that department?"

rashta looked murderous. "perhaps you had good intentions with wishing to raise my child, but what of the gifts? there were none for me! this must've been your scheme!"

astrid smirked, "now, now, don't go play the victim just yet──"

"──I AM THE VICTIM!" rashta cried, on the verge of tears, "you... you've never accepted me, and i know you think i am a harlot and i don't care! but now you've made everyone think of me as an outsider... and now, even after everything you've done to me, you wish to take my child!" astrid felt bad for rashta──not in the sense she was guilty, but in the sense that rashta had indeed tricked herself into believing she the victim. 

"it's a cruel world, empress," astrid shrugged, sitting back down, "you're the empress now. stop being a victim and actually fight. you have the power to protect yourself and your child now. yet you stand here and complain about how hard it is for you when you have power──think of how many women who lose their children, how many women are outcasted in our world. you're fucking pathetic."

rashta looked stunned beyond belief, "i... i..."

astrid glanced at the guards, "escort the empress out."

the guards bowed, "yes, your imperial highness." Then, they followed rashta out of the study, slightly mystified at the interaction between the princess and the empress. 

           "she really did listen to my advice," astrid noted, staring out the window as she watched rashta sit at the head of the tea party, putting on the air of an empress. 

"it would be very stupid to not heed your wise advice, my princess." astrid whirled around, duke ergi stood at the door, smirking. 

astrid rolled her eyes and went back to observing the tea party, "i see rashta told you about our talk."

"indeed," ergi nodded, walking over to her and placing a hand on her shoulder. "i never took you for someone so generous, astrid."

"she needed someone to tell her the brutal truth," astrid shrugged, "and it's not very nice of you to be like that."

ergi grinned at her, leaning by the window, "what do you mean by that, princess?"

astrid moved forward into her seat, "you know what i mean, ergi. making her trust you? helping her out? what's your motive?"

ergi moved toward her, grabbing her chin softly, "it's all for you."

astrid raised an eyebrow, "oh? is it?"

ergi smirked, "you know it is, princess."

astrid grinned, "maybe i do. maybe i don't. who knows?"

ergi only grinned as he let go of her and walked off. astrid chuckled, bemused as her ladies-in-waiting returned, "your imperial majesty?"

astrid stood up, "come, let's go pay sovieshu a little visit." the ladies bowed and followed astrid out of the palace of pearls. 

when astrid arrived at sovieshu's study, she sat in front of him, and immediately noticed something was wrong with him "sovieshu, what is the matter?" she asked. 

"oh, it's nothing..." sovieshu paused before sighing, "i'm just worried that when rashta begins her duties..."

"she won't do a good job?"

sovieshu nodded as astrid laughed, "if you don't feel at ease leaving certain duties in rashta's hands, leave them to me," astrid shrugged, "i'll be heading to the western kingdom soon, for the wedding."

sovieshu glowered, "thank you, imperial sister──i shall leave managing the imperial family's budgeting to you and i'll let you know if there's anything else," he paused, "and as for the matter of the unborn child in rashta's womb, i believe it would be best if i left the child in your care."

astrid smiled, "i'm glad you feel that way. i'll prepare for the royal child's arrival," she paused, "thank you, sovieshu. for trusting me."

sovieshu and she shared a rare smile, "i trust you the most in this world, sister."

that evening, when she was preparing to rest for the long day ahead, lady odessa and lady verena told her about everything that happened, "that woman hosted a tea party, inviting all the nobles and saying that she wished to be on good terms with them," verena reported, "but then marquess falhan called her out on trying to be friendly with the nobles and trying to win the favour of the commoners."

odessa continued, "and then empress rashta came crying to duke ergi! and even worse news for her was when she wanted to manage her own assets and take on the royal family's budgeting. she found out the emperor had left all those duties to you. she was devastated, and her maids tell me she was crying for hours."

astrid frowned, "hm, did she learn about the emperor's decision yet?'

odessa and verena looked confused, "what decision?"

astrid shrugged, "oh, the decision to send the child to me to raise."

odessa and verena looked extremely startled, "WHAT?!"