"Don't you think that you brought them to see me at the wrong time, I have no time to spare for them right now, I have a security issue to take care of and a spy to torture." The Emperor huffed as he turned to look at the Arch Mage before he stood up and made his way to a rack that held his golden cape.
The Arch Mage helped him to put it on and then smiled when the Emperor turned to face him "I know and that's why I brought them, we could use this as a learning experience." The Emperor scowled at him and shook his head before slipping his sword into it's sheet and picking up his crown to put on his head.
"Oh so you think it's all fund and dandy to use an assassination attempt on my wife and child as a learning experience for your two apprentices." he shook his head "you've got a few screws loose old man. And I don't care what you see but all I see are two small children who shouldn't be exposed to things like this, especially the girl, she might be a year older than my child but she still shouldn't be exposed to it so no."
The Arch Mage let out a sigh before shrugging "aside from that I need you with me, I need the bastard to talk and tell me if anyone else was involved. Because as much as I'd enjoy torturing the shit out of him I need to be able to tell my wife the palace is safe and she has nothing to be afraid of, so put them somewhere and come along."
With that the Emperor turned and walked out the door leaving Rime to stare at his back before turning his head to the Mage. "Okay well it seems our little plan has been stopped and I can't take you back to the training room to train because I can't leave you on supervised so I guess you'll be staying here until I get back. Feel free to read anything and also have something to eat."
Rime looked at the table where a mug of berry juice, two glasses, three different plates filled with mandu, dragon beard and gimbap appeared. They looked around back just as the door closed in and decided to just take a seat and eat. Cyra went straight for the dragon's beard as Rime poured both of them a glass of juice.
When they were full and Cyra was just snacking on some roasted nuts, Rime decided to go to the wall opposite the doors that lead into the balcony. From bottom to top the wall was covered in books. Rime went to one of the shelves he could reach and pulled out a gold covered book. All the books were covered in gold.
When he flipped it to the front he saw black writing on it and mumbled the name to himself "Master's." He went back to where Cyra was pouring another glass of juice before and sat down, she handed him a chocolate and took one for herself before climbing up in the chair with her drink in hand.
A few hours passed and Rime was on his third book and Cyra had cleaned out all the nuts and chocolate and was working on her pudding. The glass doors opened and Rime looked up to see the head of the Royal Guard who walked in the room and pulled out his sword as soon as he spotted Rime and Cyra, pointing it at them.
Rime stood up and pulled Cyra behind him the man rushed over to them and placed the sword at Rime's neck "state your names and reason for being here or I'll take your head off." the man hissed and Rime just stared at him, before answering. When the man heard that they were here with the Arch Mage he sighed and put away his blade.
He didn't say sorry to them as he went to the door and spoke to someone, a girl that looked maybe a year older than Rime walked in the room. She wasn't tall, she stood shorter than Rime and her long wavy raven hair was left to run down her back hanging just above her knees. Her chocolate eyes seemed to take him in and her thick lips that were painted red quirked up in a smile.
"Hello and who might you be?" she asked in an innocent voice and tilted her head in question, Rime was surprised that the golden crown she was wearing on her head didn't fall off. Rime stated his and Cyra's name and the girls smile seemed to widen "Greetings, I am Empress Elmira, you may return to whatever it is you were doing."
Rime nodded and took a seat, Pulling Cyra with him and making her take a seat as an older woman walked in the room carrying a small child. The woman set her down and the child ran over to the girl that was apparently the Empress. "This is Princess Jenirus, Jenirus say high to Rime and Cyra." the little girl mumbled a hello in her baby voice.
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The Empress moved to the wall with all the books and pointed to a book on a shelf that even the Arch Mage couldn't reach and the book just floated from the shelf and landed on the table. The Empress moved and took a seat opposite them and opened the book half way and began reading to the princess.
Cyra was very interested in what she was reading and before Rime could stop her she had moved and was sitting in the chair next to the older girl who smiled at her before reading on. The head of Guard stepped forward but was stopped with a simple wave of the Empress's hand "it's okay Jisel, I will read to her."
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By the time the Emperor and Arch Mage came into the room both Cyra and the princess were fast asleep and Rime and the Empress were drinking juice as they talked about his and Cyra's training. The Emperor looked over at the two causing the Arch Mage who had not yet seen them together to look also but his only reaction to the sight was to arch a brow.
Rime looked to where Cyra was laying, her cloak had been removed and was thrown over a large chair where she and the princess slept cuddled up to each other. He then looked towards the Arch Mage who looked at him and then turned to face the Emperor who was removing his cloak, the Empress quickly made her way over to help him.
"What are you doing here my love?" the Emperor asked as he turned around to face his wife.
"Jenirus had been asking for you, so I brought her over but you weren't here so I deiced it was best to wait in the company of the two young Mages." The Emperor nodded and placed a kiss on her head before going to his seat as his wife placed his cloak on the rack and then went to stand by his side.
The Emperor waved his hands and all the guards that had been waiting with the Empress and the set that followed him left the room quickly. When they left the empress poured him a cup of honey tea and reclaimed her position by his side. "Where you able to take care of our little pest issue?" she asked in her soft voice.
The Emperor nodded "yes, it turned out to be just that one and he came on the orders of someone who wiped his mind, so there was nothing we could do except cast protection spells throughout the Palace and that took some time." his wife smiled at him and he turned his attention to where his daughter was sleeping still wrapped around Cyra.
"How is she, is she still frightened?"
The Empress shook her head and smiled "she was frightened for a bit but I was able to calm her down and then she kept asking for you so here we are." The Emperor hummed and said that he could see that his daughter made a friend "yes she did, she was very interested in the way Cyra dressed and carried herself and asked if she was small like her in age or just height, I spent quite sometime explaining the siblings to her before she fell asleep."
The Emperor hummed "that's good to hear, hopefully when the child has finished her training she will spend a lot more time in the palace and Jenirus can have someone trust worthy as her friend." The Empress nodded in agreement "and you seem to have found some company in Rime as well."
The Empress smiled and told him what they had been talking about and decided that later they could discuss some ways to make things easier for Rime and Cyra, something that made the Arch Mage frown. When the Emperor agreed, she made her way back to Rime so they could continue there chat as the Emperor and Arch Mage spoke quietly among themselves.
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The Arch Mage decided it would be best to take their conversation outside and the Emperor agreed, they sat in the chair and the Arch Mage looked up at the sky before looking back at the Emperor "why did you lie to her, she needs to know about what really happened so she will know who to and not to trust."
The Emperor sighed "You know Elmira is not as strong as Samra was, you know how sensitive she is and how easy it is to hurt her. If I were to tell her that her uncle was the one that head sent the man to take her and the Princess's life it would crush her. And then again you and I can both agree that she is still a child, she shouldn't be exposed to things like betrayal so soon."
The Arch Mage chcuckled "I understand what you mean but the minute you made Elmira your wife she was no longer see as a child in the eyes of everyone else. No to them she is their Empress and as an Empress she needs to be strong, brave, powerful and intelligent otherwise she does not deserve the title. Many people already think that and the more you shield her is the more right you will prove them and that's the last thing you want."
"And I have to give her credit where it's due because the girl is very resourceful, even if you, no one in the palace or even her family tells her that her uncle had tried to kill her, she will find out and it will hurt her more. Because she will think that you don't trust her enough to tell her something that concerns her safety."
The Emperor sighed and sat back in the chair before running his hands through his hair "you know sometimes I really hate you, you could say the stupidest thing and still be right. Not that what you're saying now is stupid, it's just that she just got a scare and she's finally okay again I don't want to see her frightened again."
The Arch Mage shook his head "you don't have much of a choice, it's either she gets upset for a little while when you tell her or you don't tell her and she finds out and she becomes angry and she doesn't tall to you for a while."
The Emperor let out another sigh "fine I will."
The Arch Mage stood up "Okay I'll take Rime and Cyra and leave so you can have some time to yourselves."