Imperial entourage consisting of the Emperor and Empress along with young Duke Everdale, Princess Marianna, and General Helios embarked on the journey to Avesta.
Layla and Icarus were going to share a carriage and the emperor of Ardos was extremely pleased with the arrangements, he had asked maids to wrap up cheese sandwiches and different kinds of pastries along with some tea so that throughout the journey he could enjoy watching Layla as she stuffed her face like a chipmunk.
It was just that, maybe the chef was so touched when his majesty made a personal request that the edibles delivered were so much that it could not be carried by a single servant thus a train of people followed the emperor.
When they saw Icarus smile they smiled too for this eccentric person for once was pleased.
The carriage doors opened and the smile on Icarus's face soon turned to a scowl when he saw a wide-eyed Helios looking at him.
"You, get out!"
"N-No! I am asking sir Helios questions, you can take Marianna's carriage."
"I am the emperor, why shall I leave my position...you scoot over!" Icarus shooed the General to a side like he was referring to a chicken and Helios just looked at the empress as if begging her to leave.
Layla smiled widely at Helios making Icarus glare at the him and the male shuddered with both extreme emotions.
"Sir Helios, again what is your age?"
"Its twenty five your majesty." furious scribbling on a sheet of paper could be heard after that.
Icarus looked over and saw his wife drawing an entire chart of Commander Helios. She had asked him his date of birth, place of living, about his mother and father and wrote it beautifully. There were also details of his eye color, hair color, and height.
She never asked him that. If possible the atmosphere was colder by a notch the very next second.
"Any love interests that you had?"
"None your majesty."
"You are telling me that since you were born you did not like a female."
"I liked my nurse a lot if that counts."
"What is her age now?"
".....Ah your majesty...she must be over seventy years."
"Is there any possibility that you will marry her?"
"....." Helios turned his head and looked at Icarus, was this a new way of torture explicitly developed by the empress?
"Answer away General Helios." The male smiled at the emperor somewhat stiffly as a vein in his forehead twitched and then turned his head towards the empress whom he could not show such a scary expression thus he counted rice bags in his mind before answering.
"Never your highness."
"Then its settled." Helios did not know what was settled when he was kicked out of the carriage by Icarus and could only bear with these two people.
After the general was gone Layla proudly presented the chart to Icarus.
"Marianna told me she liked Helios, I think he is a good candidate for marriage."
"Marianna is a child, how can she get married so soon?"
"I am her twin."
"...."
"She is still young."
"I am young too."
"No, you are old little dove." Only when the words left his mouth did Icarus look over and see the female who looked so displeased that she must have cried a river or two.
"Did you just call me old?" Icarus tried to snatch her over in his lap and was going to embrace the woman when she opened the window of the carriage and put her head outside asking the soldiers who were following their carriage while pointing a finger at her face.
"Do I look old to you?" The face was beautiful, the voice was so soft yet the expression wasn't it a little...scary?
"Your majesty is like moon."
"Your majesty is so young and beautiful, it should be illegal to even mention her highness and 'old' in the same sentence."
"Her majesty by old, your soul must be old because your charisma surpasses time but you look like a fairy."
The generals never had the heart to flatter any woman as such, not even their wives but when the empress looked at them with an eerie look in her eye as if she would hang anyone who said otherwise there were so many praises that Icarus who was listening pulled the female back and closed the window with a bang.
"You are young! Very young! I must be in prison to have married you!" The pink-eyed female was crushed to the strong chest and could not break free.
So the seriousness begins in the next episode!
Thankyou so much for your comments in the previous chapters!