Zyczenia

Chapter 15: First Breath of Freedom

"....."

"The fact that you denied the seat of the crown princess has spread among the nobles and also among the envoys from the other countries. We decided to come up with one conclusion."

Aristia swallowed her breath, feeling anxious. 'Will the emperor punish me for that?' She hid her face, looking downwards.

"Aristia la Monique," Keirean called her name, her full name, and raised her chin with his hand. He smiled at her, and brought his daughter to the warmth of his arms. "You're finally free, my daughter."

Aristia's golden orbs widened. She couldn't understand what her father is talking about. "Pardon? What do you mean by that, daddy?"

Keirean widened his smile, and said, "His majesty will follow your wishes and break-off the engagement between you and the crown prince."

The silver-haired girl couldn't believe her ears. She was surprised, really surprised. Tears unconsciously poured down from her cheeks. But it was not tears of sadness, they were tears of happiness and relief.

Seeing his daughter cry of happiness, Keirean's eyes grew watery. He hugged her tight and said, "You're free now, you can do whatever you want to do, you can have whatever you want to have, like what other noble ladies are supposed to do."

"....Dad..."

"I'm sorry for letting you suffer the past 13 years, I'm really sorry, Tia."

Aristia shook her head, drawing a smile on her lips. "No, I'm happy daddy, I really am."

Then she took a deep breath, and let it out. The huge load on her chest is finally lifted. This is her first breath of freedom.

Aristia Pioneer la Monique. 'Pioneer' the one who carves her own path.

***

The next day, on the council meeting, Mirkan Lu Shana Castina, the 33rd Emperor of the Castina empire officially announced the breaking off of the engagement between prince Ruveliss and lady Aristia la Monique.

And of course, everyone was shocked.

The imperial faction broke into confusion since they lost their candidate for the next empress, while the aristocrat faction was overwhelmed with joy.

"Your majesty, please reconsider your decision!" An imperialist exclaimed.

"That's right, your majesty! Lady Aristia has been taking lessons in preparation to be the crown princess ever since she was very young! We can't lose such suitable candidate!" Another followed.

"This decision is final," The emperor announced. "or do you have any objections crown prince?"

".......No, father...." Ruveliss answered reluctantly.

Tok, tok, tok!

The hammer was hit three times, indicating that the decision was finalized, and approved. And in no time, the news of the crown prince and Aristia's breaking of engagement spread like wildfire among the empire, and to other countries as well.

***

"Hey, you okay, Aristia?"

After hearing the results of the council meeting, Carsein dashed towards the Monique Manor to find Aristia, checking if she's okay. A certain silver-haired girl was reading a book while having tea. Looking as if nothing particularly happened.

"What do you mean, Carsein?" Aristia asked as she didn't understand what he's talking about.

"I mean, the breaking-off engagement between you and the crown prince. You're the talk of the whole empire now, and probably the talk of other countries as well."

In truth, Carsein was worried that she'll feel sad because of the break-off. Aristia wanted it, but in the past, she loved Ruveliss so he was worried that she felt sad about it.

"Well, it feels a little awkward..." The silver-haired girl spoke out. "But it feels as if the load on my chest have fade away. I feel good about it."

Her lips curved, forming a relieved smile. Seeing that, Carsein couldn't help but feel happy. She's not sad about the break-off, and she's no longer the crown prince's fiancé. He can approach her freely now, unlike in the past.

"So, what's your plan?"

***

A/N:

Hi everyone! Thank you so much for your enthusiasm in reading this fanfiction! I really appreciate it. I'm sorry I haven't updated too often and went missing for a few months, but I'll try my best to update!

By the way, "Zyczenia" has finally reached 6K views! Oh my gosh, you know what? I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the number of views of this story. Thank you very much! I'm nothing without you readers.

Also, I received an information that "The Abandoned Empress" manhwa will be ending next week. To be honest, I'm kinda disappointed with the progress of the manhwa. I mean, it progresses too fast! I actually bought the novel in GMarket, and its just my opinion but I like the novel better compared to the manhwa because there are so many cute scenes of Carsein and Aristia that are written in the novel (Although in the end she ended up with Ruveliss, Carsein became a sed boi).

If you guys can read Korean, I suggest that you read the novel! You can purchase it in GMarket, or even purchase the E-book version (I found several websites that sells the E-book but forgot the name). I'm not recommending you guys to read illegal translations because, please, respect the author...

Or if you're too lazy to buy the E-book/Novel, you can read the novel for free in 카카오페이지 app. I think you can download the app in both android and iPhone, but it's not available in several countries like mine. So, if you have an android device, you can try to download the app by searching for a link to download on google. For iPhone users, sorry to say but I don't think you can download the app if it's not available in your Appstore.

Okay guys, that's all from me! Well then, see you in the next chapter!