Knight And Love

38: Madison's True Nature

"Based on your performance, you'll likely be the next Empress, Madison" Yukio Wisteria Lucille also known as the Empress stood elegant and proud before her.

"I'm not quite so sure about that your majesty but whatever happens I'm still grateful to her Majesty for teaching me and correcting my mistakes"

Stroking their egos, is what Madison is good at, her sly words that are poisonous as a snake's venom and smooth like liquid, unlike Ellie who likes to throw her fist first, Madison can make anyone with a weak heart and are naive to do things for biddings for her.

A skill she learned from her mother and other noble ladies she's connected with in the social circle.

"Your flattery are getting quite good too" of course the Empress who knew of such trick like this as it was commonly used among noble ladies, but still she can't ignore that fact that Madison even manage to....scare her sometimes with her gentle smile that can deceive any mans heart and her sharp knife like purple eyes, Madison is like a living breathing honey trap....a deadly honey trap at that.

Madison only chuckled at the empress words before sipping from her tea again, the two enjoyed the silence in the rose garden, the red roses which shined beautifully under the sunlight, small dewdrop made them more beautiful and captivating.

"Your roses looks wonderful, Your Majesty" she complimented the roses, remembering hers back at the Amrita Mansion, the roses that she took care of so deeply as it reminded her of someone very special to her, someone close to her almost frozen heart.

"Thank you, I took pride on those roses as I took care of them myself, the key is patience and just the right amount of water and sunshine" The Empress proudly said, it was true that she indeed took care of these roses ever since she arrived at this courtyard but unlike her, Madison had her own way of taking care of her roses..... it's a rather unheard of way of... gardening.

"They reminded me so much of....Empress Ririka...." Like Madison the empress also have someone close to her heart but just a little different from Madison's.

"Former Empress Ririka von Adel?, His highness Prince Niko and Prince Benjiro's mother?" Madison asked innocently, she already knew of the story but she likes to use those information to get the Empress to tell her more things about herself and for Madison to grasp those feelings and use them to her advantages, call it sinister as much as you like.

"Yes....those boys--Especially Niko looked so much like her, they were still too young when Empress Ririka passed away and didn't get to feel their mother's love for them" The Empress reminisce her best friend, she was just a royal consort like Windy thymes before the Emperor brought her up to the position of Empress, her family may be overjoyed by it and yes maybe she did like it too but...the pain of a friend leaving you was painful...even for her.

"We arrived at the palace and became the Emperor's woman at the same time, she treated me like a friend and a little sister, and I saw her as my big sister" she added, it was rare for both harem women to befriend each other but Ririka and Yukio was not like any other.

"Yes, I heard of her kindness and beauty from my mother, she was quite a lovely woman" Madison agreed in which the Empress nodded at multiple times, she looked longingly at the roses, remembering how precious these roses were to Ririka, part of the reason why she decided to continue taking care of them, because other than Niko and Benjiro these roses were her connection to her, it made her feel like she's still here.

"When....when you find someone you truly cherish Madison, you should hold them dear to your heart and protect them while you still can....before it's too late" she blurted out without restrain, seemingly speaking from the heart.