We walked for a while after being called by a servant. Eventually we reached a couple of large wooden doors. I recognized them. They led to the royal throne room. However, we ignored them as we kept walking elsewhere.

“Where are we going? Isn’t that the Royal Throne room?” I asked, pointing back at the doors that we ignored.

“His Majesty isn’t in the Royal Throne. At the moment, there’s only nobles there, and you’re not meeting with them,” the servant said with a serious tone. “We’ll be with him shortly.”

Sure enough, it didn’t take more than a couple of minutes to open another wooden door. This one wasn’t quite as grand as the throne room’s one, and it could be confused with any of the random doors that this palace had, which was unexpected, since the last emperor preferred to do things on a grand scale as much as he could.

The servant knocked on the door a couple of times, and waited. The door opened shortly after with a Holy Knight standing inside. He wasn’t wearing a helmet, so I could see the serious face of the man. He turned to look at the servants, and then at us.

“His Majesty’s guests are here,” the servant said, gesturing to us.

The knight just looked at us for a moment, and then stepped to the side, allowing us to see inside the room.

It was a rather small office, not too different from Bo'guth's, with walls full of books and a few decorations. Not at all what I expected from this Emperor, especially from the image had in my mind of him.

Inside, there were a couple of couches, which were set apart one from the other by a small table that carried fruits and drinks. At the back of the office was a large wooden desk, full of intricate designs, some of which were carved out of gold, and to my great surprise, on top of that desk was a computer—something I hadn’t seen since stepping outside of the airport.

And behind it all, illuminated by the light coming from the tall windows was the Emperor. A young man with pale white skin, blue eyes that carried a hint of gold, and a head full of flowing golden hair that was tied up in a ponytail, similar to the one that the Knight-Commander had, just shorter. On top of his nose, he was wearing glasses, and beyond them, his sharp eyes were focused on me.

I was momentarily stunned by the visage of the Emperor. There was no way that this young man with such a serious aura and such a penetrating gaze was the same boy I remembered from the past. But… he was indeed the same man that I’ve seen in the pictures that Nicole would fawn over.

“What are you standing around for?” Asteora asked. She was leisurely sitting on one of the couches, looking at us with a raised eyebrow. “Get in here already.”

“Right,” I replied, and while keeping my eyes on the Emperor, I made my way over to her.

Nicole followed after me. She was completely flushed, and had her head slightly down as she stole glances at the Emperor, who was focused solely on me. It was still strange… seeing that young boy with that apparent mature aura that didn’t quite fit the image I’ve had of him after so many years. But, it was yet to be seen if he just looked mature and nothing else.

Without wanting to waste my time, I took a seat and decided to go straight to the point. “So, what is the reason for me to be here?”

“Do not speak to His Majesty like—”

“At ease, Captain,” the Emperor said, stopping the man who just looked surprised back at him. “She’s not someone that needs to follow the ridiculous royal etiquette.”

“But… your Majesty…” the knight replied, trailing off with an uncertain look.

However, Lodrick simply waved his hand, gesturing him in a dismissive manner to leave. The knight quickly understood what the Emperor meant, causing the man to do a salute by placing his fist across his chest as he bowed and quickly turned to leave, closing the door behind him as he did.

Now, in the room were only me, Nicole, Asteora, Oliver, Helena, and the Emperor. There was a moment of silence as he continued to consider me. Under any other circumstance, I would feel rather annoyed by someone looking at me like that, but right now, I was just simply waiting for the man to think for a moment. I wasn’t going to repeat myself.

“What are you looking at her like that for? I thought that you were already over childish crushes and immature desires,” Asteora said, shaking her head as she shrugged.

The Emperor chuckled, nodding as he did. “Right. But I just couldn’t help myself to look at her…” his eyes focused on me once more. “You’re the living image of the woman I remembered from all those years ago…”

“That is because I am,” I replied with one eyebrow raised.

“Amazing…” he continued. “It’s like you went back in time… Tell me, do you remember everything that happened? Or is your memory the same as the young girl you used to be back then?”

“I remember everything. Besides my young looks and a few other things, nothing else has changed,” I said, but I still didn’t feel like chatting with the man, so I turned to look at Asteora. “Is this what I was called here for, Asteora? Just to talk about my past with a man I’m not interested in?”

Lodrick chuckled once more. “As straight to the point as always.” He reached for a glass that was resting on his desk. It was a transparent yellowish drink, and he just took a mouthful from it, before he continued, “I still remember the powerful scowl that you threw at me the first time I said I was going to marry you. Even back then you looked at me like I was the scum of the earth.”

“Are you?” I asked back, not missing a beat.

“I don’t know,” he replied, catching me by surprise, since I expected him to be offended. “But I can’t say either way. Your idea of what was good and what was bad was terribly warped.”

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

I frowned. “What do you mean?”

He smirked and tapped the desk a couple of times. “I know from those times that you dismissed me as someone useless simply for the poor first impression that I gave you, and also because I was never interested in the war that you, my siblings, and my father were waging in the name of the Holy Gods.”

With a scoff, I nodded in response. “Yes. I clearly remember you following after women and spending your time at parties. I didn’t know what was of you once I left the capital. And I didn’t care.”

The Emperor didn’t get angry at me, he just softly smiled. “Yes, I won’t deny that I did those things in my youth. But, from my point of view, you were the foolish ones.”

“Why? Is it because we chose to fight in the name of…” I began, but trailed off once I realized I was falling back into my old way of thinking regarding the Holy Gods.

He didn’t seem to notice what happened with me, but he still nodded. “Sure. Regardless of what your opinion of me was, I was still a prince, and I still received the proper education for a prince. It didn’t take long for me to realize that we were the aggressors of that ‘Holy War’ of yours.”

“What do you mean?” I asked with a frown on my face.

“It was obvious just by looking at the historical records that the people of Tenebreius never attacked beyond their borders. They were always fighting back the invasions of the Faith, and the only times they started pushing back was when you made your dangerous presence known to them,” the Emperor said with a shrug. “Once I realized that we were just wasting time and resources in that war, I chose to just enjoy my life and either wait until you were defeated or they were defeated. Either way, I wasn’t going to waste my time with that.”

“Wouldn’t you be in danger if I was defeated?” I asked, since I still remember how fierce Salrak’s forces were, and how much damage I had caused to them. There was no way that they wouldn’t want to retaliate against the Empire.

“Not at all. Like I said, it was clear that the Tenebreians had no desire for war, so once you were defeated, they were likely just going to keep the Empire at bay and nothing more,” he replied, after which his expression changed to one of regret. “What I didn’t expect was that everything would be lost once they were defeated.”

A desire to argue back and tell him that I was doing what was best kept rising inside me, but just by looking at the laptop resting on his desk reminded me that because of my actions; ones that led us to another world. What’s more, everything he was saying was right. From the intentions of my enemies, to the result of my victory. All I could do was bite my lips in frustration and accept that this boy was right…

“Never mind,” he said once he noticed that I had nothing to say about it. “I didn’t accept to meet you simply to talk about things of the past that cannot be changed. What matters now is what we have.”

“Accept to meet me? I thought that you called for me,” I replied, tilting my head to the side.

He shook his head and gestured to Asteora. “She’s the one that informed me that you were alive, and that you might be of use yet.”

I turned a questioning look to Asteora. She nodded. “That is so. I figured that if you wanted to fix the things of the past, that it would be best to do it with what you left behind: The Faith.”

Having that name used here caused me to raise my eyebrow. The Faith was the religion of the Empire and its people. It was—as one would expect—centered around the Holy Gods and their seven figures. The person in charge of the religion was the Pope, who could be anyone that had the greatest affinity to Holy magic. In my time as the Hero of the Holy Gods, it was an old man with a lush white beard and a friendly smile, but before him, it was a woman with golden hair, not too different to the one I used to have.

However… I don’t know if he was still around, or who the Pope might be right now. So I turned my eyes on the Emperor. “Then… should I go meet with the Pope? Who is it this time?”

“Nobody,” the Emperor said, and I couldn’t help but raise my eyebrows in surprise.

“How can that be? Shouldn’t one be quickly selected? Who’s in charge of the Holy Knight Order and the Faith?” I asked, since every knight here should’ve been under the Pope.

“I had him executed shortly after coming to this world,” Emperor Lodrick said with a calm expression on his face.

I was frozen in place, stunned and amazed at both the honesty of this man, and the fact that he managed to do that to someone so powerful. He also noticed my extreme surprise, and nodded with the same calm expression from before.

“It was the best time to get rid of that nonsense. There was no need to start yet another destructive war in another world, so while things were scattered, I had people from my personal army dispose of him. Same with my older brothers, a couple of my sisters, and finally my father,” he confessed, not a shred of regret, sadness, or even joy in his tone of voice or expression. It was as if it was nothing more than an everyday thing for him.

Nicole swallowed hard when she heard that, and the blush she carried when she entered here was replaced by a pale look of horrified astonishment. Asteora, Oliver, and the Knight-Commander on the other hand were just as calm as the Emperor was, as if what he just confessed to doing wasn't important.

“Don’t you—don’t you feel anything for what you did? You’re a kinslayer! And you committed regicide on top of that!” I accused, standing from the couch as I looked down at the man. “Even His Holiness, such a kind man…!”

“Althea, please,” he replied, as if my accusations were nothing more than annoyances to him. “It was for the best. Like I said, we don’t need any more zealots creating a mess of things.”

“Then… how come you didn’t have me executed as well, especially now that you hold all the power?” I asked, since it was obvious that if he wanted to prevent the same thing from before, I was the primary target to go after.

“You were nowhere to be found, so I assumed you were dead,” he said, shrugging once more. “But Asteora made a great case about you once you were found… she said that you’re no longer working under the Holy Gods? That you’re just living your life like a common mage?”

I paused a moment to look at the man, wondering if I should answer or not, but I quickly calmed down and answered, “That’s right…”

“And that you’ve got the powers of darkness with you now?” he continued.

With an uncertain nod, I answered his question. There was a feeling of wariness within me to answer what this man said. My image of who he was supposed to be was completely shattered, and what remained now was that of a cold, calculating man, so I wasn’t feeling comfortable talking to him anymore—or rather, looking down on him.

He smirked, resting his head on his fist. “Good. Then, I have a task for you.”

I frowned and clutched my hands a couple of times. There was no way I was going to work under such a man. At first I had no plans of doing anything for someone I thought was nothing more than a lazy, willful man, but now… There was no way that whatever he wanted me to do for him could be good at all.

“And if I refuse to work for you?” I asked back.

He raised his eyebrows slightly, apparently not expecting me to even question his order, but after a second his serious expression returned. “Then you’d be of no use to me, and you’ll go on with your life.”

“Just like that?”

“Just like that,” he said, but a smirk appeared on his face once more. “Keep in mind that the resources from the Empire and the aid from Asteora wouldn’t be guaranteed. So the efforts put in place to keep your identity blurred to the population wouldn’t be there anymore. You’ll have to deal with it yourself.”

“I see,” I replied with a frown.

The threat was obvious. Simply put, he wasn’t going to kill me like he did everyone else, but he wasn’t going to help me with anything, regardless of what it was. And… there was also the possibility that ‘accidents’ could happen to me…

I think it was better to not work under him, but as I was about to shake my head and tell him that I wouldn’t work for him, he raised his hand in a stopping gesture. “Before you reject me, at least listen to the task I have for you.”

With an uncertain feeling, I threw a glare at him. If it was just listening, then it shouldn’t be a problem. “…Fine.”