Hearing those words from the royal concubine convinced Emery that love was indeed scary for her. She believed that having such a feeling would make even the nicest person become the worst. And a question settled at the back of her mind; will Lady Hazel become the worst version of herself now that she sees her, the queen, as a rival? A small smile crept at the edges of the queen's lips as she turned on her heels and was about to leave the gazebo. She stopped by the stairs and turned her head a little. "I see no wrong in your love for His Majesty," she stated. "However, if that selfishness ever harms the king or his people, it would be better to stop now." After saying that, she left the royal concubine alone in the garden. She was not just in the mood to talk about things such as love or rivalry since such small talks were not appealing to her. On her way back to the Inner Palace, Emery saw General Kyan leaving the royal court. Thus, she decided to visit the king. Upon opening the d

The very next morning, Princess Garnet had arrived at the palace. Just as she expected, she was greeted by a lot of maidservants and a beautiful noble lady. Though, she was quite taken aback because the robes worn by the woman in front of her were not the royal robes of the queen. Though, she simply brushed that detail when she realized something. There was one missing person who was supposed to greet her as well... her brother. "Princess Garnet, welcome to the Silex Kingdom," Lady Hazel greeted as she curtsied. "Allow me to accompany and be of help to you during your stay." The princess smiled from ear to ear and curtsied as well. "To be with the queen is such an honor." Lady Hazel flinched upon hearing how she was addressed. Her body stiffened and her tongue froze. She did not know how to respond to that. She did not know if she needed to correct the princess but she thought that it might be rude of her to do so. Thus, she simply kept quiet about it. Meanwhile, Emery ran in the

When the sun had set, Emery was still in a sour mood because of what Jadeite did. She could ignore that because the words she stated were nothing but empty ones, however, she was dealing with the prime minister. Carelessly promising to him would be like making a pact with the demon. Biting on her nails, Emery was cracking her head on how to reason out with the prime minister. Blaming the king would cause her to self-destruct because her lack of charm and seduction would be blamed instead. She could not even bring herself to drag Royal Concubine Hazel in her problem. She did nothing wrong to her so she should also do the same. She turned and lay down on her back. With her eyes intently staring at the ceiling as her mind drifted to the clouds, she did not notice the king entering her chambers. He was surprised. It was because Emery did not yell at him or even look at him after their sarcastic argument a while back so he was expecting that she will bark at him the moment they see each o

Looking at the golden hairpin with the shape of a flying blue phoenix at its end, Emery found no words to say. In the belief of the Silex people, a blue phoenix signifies tranquility and passion. For her, such a gift was not suited for someone like her who was lying to the king about her real identity and it was a treasure she thought she did not deserve. Princess Garnet left Emery without any more words. She believed that she had conveyed what her mother wanted to say to the current queen. And now, it was up to Emery how to meet the expectation of the king's mother and she needed time to think about such things. Emery gripped the hairpin and mumbled, "Did she not know of the existence of her son's true love?" For her, Royal Concubine Hazel was qualified to be the queen and her only flaw was not being of the same rank or higher than her. And such a flaw was not something she could control. And with the current actions of the king, Emery feared that his feelings would take a sudden

When Emery finally calmed down, the king asked her, "What are you up to? Wearing combat clothes is not fit for a queen. I do not mind if you break one or two royal protocols but breaking almost all of them is deemed not fit." Emery got up from her bed and glared at him. She was just reminded of her time back at the Arcana headquarters when she was younger. They told her a lot of things about what to do and what not to do, making it annoying for her to always follow their demands. She thought she got away from the irritating sermon, but it seemed like she would also have to deal with the king about it. "The way I dress has nothing to do with you, Your Majesty. And for how long do you plan on staying here? If you won't leave, then I will. We will only be arguing if we stay together." “You should have already expected the rules when you are told about becoming the kingdom’s queen. If you continue to act like this, it won’t be a surprise if the officials suddenly come up to me and ask y