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...
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Act 1 Chapter 76 JAYLAH
It was broken to the public that Jaylah was engaged to Adrik Morokov. Though it was all by Ermalai's design, she stood alone before the people in her palace as she told them. It would be better to appeal to them herself rather than with the Czar at her side, because nothing would make the situation look like a power maneuver more than him standing too close, making sure with a smile on his face that she spoke all the words they rehearsed.
It seemed his schemes paid off. When Jaylah told her people of the engagement, gushing to them of her longtime love for Adrik with a rare smile, they bought it. Granted, their acceptance of the news was not as fervent as the announcement of any normal wedding would be; they were not pleased at all with her choice of lovers. But because it would make Oceana more powerful, and since it was bound to be the biggest trove of gossip of the year, Jaylah watched as they feigned merriment. She suspected they were simply glad she had not chosen the worst option: a Kalingi Prince.
She knew the oldest courtiers remembered the time her father had announced his marriage to a daughter of a Southern Isles chieftain, her mother. It had not been for love, so it had never been framed as such. They grew to have a strange and unstable emotional bond over time, of course. Then again, the Southern Isles and Oceana were never locked in a rivalry. This made Jaylah sure that merely proclaiming her love for Navrika's Adrik Morokov would not hold as believable for long.
They would need to be seen together, the picture of premarital bliss.
That was why Ermalai left two days after the news broke. He was set for the City of Gold to take care of some matters, because he would have to rule from Oceana for as long as the engagement dragged on. And when he returned, he would be accompanied by an entire traveling party, including Adrik himself.
It was odd that Jaylah had not been in contact with him since the ball earlier in the year. Even then, it was one night. She knew he was a friendly boy when they were younger, if a bit impish. But she did not know him now. She prayed he would be a compromising husband.
Husband. The idea remained strange. Jaylah always expected to die a spinster, with the ability to get lovers but never keep them. It worked well; she never wished to be tied down to anyone incapable of understanding her. And no one seemed to care to.
The ninth day after the announcement, a letter from Ition arrived. Lorenzo Çenturion had been delivered the news of Jaylah's engagement sooner than she expected. And she had not expected him to have written at all.
Dearest Jaylah, he wrote in his messy scrawl. I am writing to congratulate you on your engagement to our good friend Adrik Morokov, though it seems you two were more than friends for some time, having kept it hidden from us all. Love is intricate, I know. I only wish I saw it sooner. Or that someone told me so I would not make a fool of myself openly fancying you both when we were children.
