Mother to the Love Interest

Chapter 11 - Dinner with the Emperor Part 1

Indio shook his head watching his master's behaviour. An amused look washed over his face "My Emperor, it's almost time for dinner. Why don't you and her Imperial Majesty head inside and have one together? I'll ask the servants to prepare it for the both of you."

Ophelia was ready to refuse a dinner together with this sicko of a man. Especially when she had no idea whether he was either sick in the brain or possessed by a horrible spirit. Either way, she did not want to take chances that could risk the life of her baby...

But, Indio had already left to inform the servants. It was a wonder how a man his age could professionally disappear in a matter of seconds.

"Then, we'll head to the dining room first", he said looking at her for confirmation.

Sighing to herself, she had no other choice than to nod at him with a smile on her face. The whole walk back towards their courtyard, Ophelia had only spent it by playing with the little burrito in her arms. She didn't have the guts in her to look at his direction. It was a hard thing to do with the Emperor walking beside her.

She had no idea whether she followed the Emperor's pace or walked on her own pace.

In the end, both of them walked in similar same strides together towards the dining room. No one made a sound all because the servants and knights made sure to maintain a distance in order to provide some quality time for their masters.

It was a long, awkward walk that felt like it took a millennium to get to the dining room but only ten minutes passed by. Just imagine how the dinner will be like...

Ophelia heart raced at the thought of eating with him. She could just envision his ridiculing and judgemental look observing her every minuscule movement. All the possibilities of her ruining the evening were endless and before she knew it, her butt had already settled onto the very cushion of the dining chair.

She hadn't even realized that her little burrito was taken away from her by Sandhya and was nestled comfortably inside a small crib placed in the middle of where the Emperor and she were sitting. Looking around the room, Ophelia noticed how the atmosphere of the large room was very similar to the dining room of her maternal home.

The numerous number of chairs were almost the same back at home. She remembered quite vividly how her servants would stand as close to the wall as possible, following the protocol. As a young girl, the large dining room would always, without failure, manage to remind herself of the loneliness and pitiful life she led...

Her mother had passed away from a terrible cold when she was three. Since then, her father had raised her as best as he could, even with his busy schedule. He was one of the previous Emperor's generals with a lot of influence inside and outside of court. The reason behind this was because of the Southerns lineage had given birth to generations of admirable generals and ministers.

Even now, tales and stories were woven of how heroic her ancestors were told throughout the empire. Her father, General Raymund Southerns, had remained a widower and was determined not to take any women after her mother's death much to her father's followers displeasure. They had wanted his bloodline to continue on but her father stood his ground.

When she was six, her father was sent to guard the borders of the Empire. The previous Emperor was afraid with the power he had, enough that he thought it was wise to send the man far away from the Capital where the politics of the kingdom was beyond his reach.

Her father, being a single parent, was saddened to be separated with his only child. She could have joined him living at the borders but she had a few more months before she had to attend the KARD Academy where the children of the nobility and certain selected children of commoners would attend from the age of seven to seventeen.

The Academy was located in the capital and a dorm system was customary for every student. They could only return back home on certain holidays and occasions. Other than that, their whole life would only consist of the Academy.

So for the remaining time, before she enrolled in the Academy, she spent her days with boredom. She really did take her life easily before her father left. The silence around her felt so new to her that she couldn't adapt to it. The dining table used to be packed and lively but since his leave, it was eerily quiet even though she was accompanied by her nanny and etiquette teacher.

She greatly missed her father and his companions. Seeing the seats unoccupied inside the palace's dining room somehow made her reminisce about her now-retired father who was currently travelling around the world.

That easy-going old man didn't seem to act his age with all his playing around. The last she spoke with him was three months ago when she was still pregnant. She wasn't expected to see him for at least a few more months. She knew the Emperor and her father was exchanging pieces of information with one another. She wouldn't even be surprised if he had slipped in the birth of their child.

She was brought back to the present by the smell of their dinner. She had spent her whole day inside the library and only had tea and cookies for lunch. Sandhya furrowed her eyebrows the whole time. It would be an understatement when she said she tried to remind her mistress of the time but nothing could come between women and gossiping.

The three women spend their whole day chatting and when they went separate ways did they realize how starving they were.

In between bites, Ophelia sneaked a glance at her small burrito that was drooling more than he usually would. He was staring intensely at her meal. And she wasn't the only one who saw it. The King even felt bad and was hesitating to chew his meal looking at Peter's dazed look.

This child...

His oval-shaped crimson eyes were slowly tearing up. Perhaps from jealousy? Frustration? Who knew what went through the mind of a month year old...

Heyo!!!

It's been a while... Lmao my fault ～(^з^)-♡ Here a kiss for all of your patience~~

I have a few announcements. Firstly, I won't be posting for quite a while cause my high school results will be out this month (SPM, if there are any Malaysian peeps here) and this result will determine whether I will get into college or nah so the anticipation is killing me and I won't be writing much. I'll be back after a month or two. 

Thank you for understanding~~~ Ｉ ￡ονё Υου.....φ┃*･ω･*┃

Ƭ ɧ ձ ƞ Ƙ ʂ❤ (◦˘ З(◦'ںˉ◦) Ȼ ɧ ư ♡

Secondly, my best girl @EmeraldStrawberry, writer to To Be A Beauty create a server of her novel in Discord. The link is at her announcement. And guess who will be there... ME!!! 

Go read her novel first before joining the server. It's amazing, I assure you. 

I won't be updating for quite some time but I will be hanging out at the server for fun and getting know all of you so JOIN US!!!  

I ALSO post this novel in Moonquill and ScribbleHub. Go over there and support me. LOL~~ Link in my announcement.