Wicked Reign

Dowager Empress Aurina Eckrett

Two weeks later...

Servants were lined up next to the emperor's chamber's cream-colored wall. The drapes of the emperor's bed were pulled up to show the unmoving form of Emperor Corean Shuia Eckrett. A thick blanket covered his body from the tips of his cold toes to his chest.

His lips were purplish – a telltale sign of being poisoned. A wavy brown hair sprawled against the silky pillow where his head was laid onto. Thick lashes framed his closed eyes, giving him the aura as if he was only sleeping. In a sense, Emperor Corean Shuia Eckrett was indeed sleeping but the reality of his situation was far from being fine.

The moment the Royal Honeymoon was about to end, an accident happened, stopping the supposed happy occasion abruptly.

Sitting on the edge of his bed while holding his cold limp right hand, Dowager Empress Aurina Eckrett gazed above the imperial physician who was now standing in front of the frantic and hysterical dowager empress. "W-What? Tell me! Tell me what is the case why my son is not waking up, imperial physician? Tell me!"

Gone was the usual meek empress who used to stay low profile in her own palace. Even when her husband and stepson died from the hands of his son, she did not uter a single word of protest. When her son was crowned as emperor and when Tori and Cory got married, she only stayed for awhile before leaving.

It was as if, Dowager Empress Aurina Eckrett stopped caring about the mundane things and shut herself out from the world. Too bad, she had son who was destined for big things.

But now, Dowager Empress Aurina Eckrett showed the highest level of agitation she had ever shown to people. Indeed, she was a mother who cared for her son in her own way.

Tori, who was standing nearest to the bed, though not as near like the dowager empress, was shedding tears silently. Her translucent tears fell continuously onto the carpeted floor.

The imperial physician, whose eyes kept on darting to the Dowager Empress Aurina and the Queen Victoria, cleared his throat. With sweats trickling down from his nape to his spine, he spoke. His voice was wavering and his eyes were unfocused. Yet he was still able to pull through.

Focusing his gaze onto the higher power within the room, the wrinkled imperial physician transfixed his gaze towards the dowager empress. "The poison came from the knife used to stab the emperor. The fever developed as soon as the poison entered His Majesty's veins, dropping his temperature and numbing his senses including the function that affects his consciousness, Your Majesty."

"Eherm. It is also a good thing that His Majesty is a master swordsman. His physically fit body managed to contain the poison, giving us time to conduct our medication."

"Then do something! You are here to do so and not to make some excuses!" Dowager Empress Aurina did not care what the servants would view her.

On instinct, her gaze fell down to her son who was sleeping like a dead person. Her gaze sharpened for a fraction of a second before she averted her sharpened gaze towards the imperial physician who visibly flinched upon receiving the dowager queen's gaze.