"You're here!"
Benjamin stretched his arms forward on the top of his desk. His happy demeanor put off Joseph.
"Did you collect the corpses? You guys can at least do that."
"Of course, my knights are inspecting them now and afterwards we will throw them back so the beasts can do whatever they want with them. I have my grudges too but they are already dead, what more can I do? You already butchered them. But i am happy to see you, now I can put down some matters in my head. It is giving me so much anxiety."
Joseph look back on Benjamin's complexion before settling down comfortably on the sofa.
"You look like you had a great night though. Your complexion is glowing."
"Stop, please not that topic."
"But it is so rare that I am the one that is on the teasing side."
"Are you sure you have time to spare for me?
"Now that you mention it."
Joseph act like he is going to get up and bid his farewell.
"Okay! You win! Happy?!"
"Hmm.." Joseph did not respond but deep in side he is quite content he is getting a different kind of revenge for what happened in the past.
"Should we talk here or somewhere else?"
"Should we go to your old man's space then?"
"Oh come on!"
"But I am serious, we need his uptake on this matter don't we? And both of us, does not know the Heart Country than the old man himself."
Benjamin is irked by the idea but Joseph have a point. The matter at hand that been bothering Benjamin, involves the Heart Country the most.
....
"Oh, this is as far as I can go." Said by Joseph who feels there is a strong force not letting him further.
"Ah, wait here, I'll let Dia know."
Joseph entered the Emperor's chamber.
For Joseph, this is the first time he felt the restriction of the diamond seal barrier even though his Castle currently have two right now. To ease the restriction, the permission should be from the Diamond seal bearer or someone who is inside the barrier. Once one of the permission been granted, that person can go in and out at will.
Experiencing the restriction first hand made Joseph feel relieved that his daughter is really well protected as long as the girl stay inside the barrier and no one knows about the qualifications to get in. Though, because of his and the butler's busy schedule, the girl is by herself for a short time in the morning before her lessons or the diamond bearer comes to visit. The queen, Kaleid and even Lunard is voicing out that the tiny human needs a companion or an exclusive attendant, however he could not put his trust to just anybody.
Joseph suddenly felt comfortable, it seems that he received the permission to go into the barrier. Joseph proceed and open the door to the Emperor's chamber. The unknown poison in the Emperor's body is eating away his life little by little and is unable to leave his chamber anymore. It is weird feeling to see someone who he used to see the most powerful being walking on this planet, reduced to this state.
When Joseph entered the room, the little version of the two men is bidding his farewell.
"When are you going to teach the boy to be a normal human being."
Joseph then dropped the comment after seeing the boy using the window as the exit. The boy is probably on the way to Spade to visit the millenial princess.
"That is his charm." The Emperor lovingly answered back.
Seeing the Emperor being more human than in the past is giving Joseph an awkward feeling. Joseph gave Benjamin a glance whose face is torn between smiling and disgust.
'His yet creepiest face.'
"All grace and glory shall fall upon my Emperor." Joseph greet the most influential person of the Empire.
"Be at ease King of Spade. How was your daughter? I hear all stories about her from my grandson."
'Ah, the grandfather look.' Joseph awkwardly smiled and answered, "She is doing great, thanks to your grandson."
Then the Emperor gave a loving smile in return.
'Ah, now I feel why Benjamin is in such a predicament. This is technically a blow after blow against his calculative personality.'
Benjamin clear his throat in an obvious manner.
"Let's get straight to the main topic here, most of us does not have the time."
.....
"I heard that Heart Country is in riot right now."
Lunard entered his own chamber in order to have a quick rest before heading back to the Heart Country to fullfil their request of finding the small heart seal bearer.
Lunard is not surprised to see Soliard sitting comfortably in his receiving area.
"It seems one of those men took the child as an assurance or it is that they are not immune to the seal's power and cannot help it but want the girl."
The heart seal is more like a curse than it's worth. As lot of women seeks to have it's power, gradually the bearers realize that it is actually just a plain curse of emotional suffering. The love and attention they received due to the seal make them feel shrouded with lies and deception.
Soliard stood up when Lunard sat down at the seat across him.
"Well, the seal's power is really quite a headache, though it is quite useful and will be perfect for our future plans."
Soliard stood behind Lunard and played with his hair. For Lunard, this is normal act from his supposedly twin brother.
"I heard there was a commotion yesterday."
Lunard did not specifically adhere which it is but Soliard who assumed which it is starts laughing.
"Oh my! I could never thought that books are that really influential!"
"Wait?! Did you have a hand on this?"
"Well I only suggested the kind of villain that person should draw."
"Huh?"
"You see at the academy, there were this person who is quite in an artist's block, I simply told him that giving the witch red eyes underneath her jet black hair, will be a lot more scarier and will be more villainous."
"And it happened to be a children's book?"
Soliard brush his fingers on Lunard's hair.
"What a coincidence."
He smiled with his eyes with a sight of content.
"Wait!" Lunard moved his head to face Soliard who is at his back, however Soliard grab Lunard's head and forcefully made him face straight upfront again. "Ow..." Lunard felt like his scalp could rip off from his scalp.
"Don't move!" Soliard then continued on brushing his fingers on Lunard's long silky black hair.
Lunard tried to continue the conversation.
"When father comes back and hear about this, he will interrogate those nobles and they will say it is because of that children story book that made the children think the princess is a witch. Knowing father, he will search for that author, what if that person mentioned your name!?"
"That is all taken cared of."
"W-what did you do?"
"Saved my ass by killing the person who wrote the book."
A cold chill run down from Lunard's back.
"You know, I actually cut his tounge first. I thought of giving that person to daddy so he can praise me, then again I realized that that person is capable of writing and reveal it that way so I cut his right hand, then I thought, ah... He might knows how to write with his left, so I cut it too... But then he stopped moving altogether, so I burned his house. It was crazy, that guy who is an earl's son runaway from the academy because he wants to be a writer and an artist, then he doesn't have much money and started living in a slum. When his house was burning, the whole trashy place burned down to ashes too. Trash burn so easily, getting rid of slums was so easy."
"Y-you killed a lot of-?"
"I only killed one, and the others died from the fire. The red blazing flame, reminds me of this."
Soliard kiss the heart seal on Lunard's neck. Lunard's throat feel like there is a big stone stuck in it. The person behind him is declaring he indifferently took hundreds of lives.
'The slums houses have no spaces between each other, and because they are poor, those people build their home with the cheapest materials they can get. Women, children.... '
"You should take note of it, once I becomes the supreme ruler, it will be one of your job, burning those trashes."
Lunard's heart pounded and he remembered the last tea party he had with the princess and lady Queenie. He remembered the two girl's gentle and innocent smile.
'Innocent smiles like that that are lost forever.'
"Oh! Blonde hair!" Soliard once again grabbed Lunard's hair and pulled it upward making Lunard look up to him from Lunard's seating.
"I am about to dye it.... And I use ... A spell...too"
"I told you so many times that I cannot tolerate mistakes."
Soliard push Lunard's against the couch.
"Now I am not in the mood! You useless B*tch! If I see another blonde hair on your head, I'll skin one of the maids in front of you again!"
Soliard rushed out of the room leaving Lunard shaking to her wits. When her silky hair start draping down to the side of her face, she saw a few strands of golden hair. Some strands of hair is not accepting the dye and that is why he always put spell to hide the remaining strands. However, spells uses mana and even if she has half of the heart seal, her mana is not omnipotent. Continous used of the spell drain her. She stepped into her personal space while undoing the spell in order to relax, and she did not anticipate of Soliard being in the room.
"Keeping this hair black and making everyone believe I am a man is getting harder by second."
Lunard felt her back and the bottom center of her abdomen hurting with a sharp pain.
"But it is a good thing he got turned off, it seems I am ovulating today."