Not Today, Your Majesty

Aurelia's POV:

beautiful sunbeams shone above the city of Eudora playing with the gentle cold breeze moving the boughs of trees surrounding the city to create a breathtaking view.

It was a cold november morning, everything about the atmosphere announced the arrival of the long-awaited winter.

Eudora, my residence for the past 14 years of my life, no matter how much time pass, it never fails to amaze me each day and year. a beautiful place to call home. it's like the city from the fairytales your mother reads to you about before bedtime

a combination of narnia and wonderland, and every fairy place your mind can wonder to.

with trees of every kind and color filling the city with nature and beauty, gardens of every size and flowers spreading sweet, charming fragrance across the streets. temples and statues that takes you back in time to the age of hercules and troy.

it's a city that came straight out of history and mythology books, yet its urbans and maginficent towers would send you to a hundred year in the future. in the middle of the city stands a extravagantly marvelous castle declaring itself as the greatest landmark of the city

but it's not a mere castle, it's the only institution of education and knowledge in the city. it's the spring of many great scholars and wizards. also known as The Academy of Eudora.

Eudora is a city linking the past with the future to create a home for people like me, the demigods.

legends say it was created by our emperor Ambrosius Ozius Amargo, our one and only emperor, to provide a safe place for demigods, being a demigod son of Zeus himself. the city name indicate its purpose. in greek, Eudora means The Excellent Gift.

and it was indeed a great gift for us. see, being a demigod isn't much fun. we are always haunted by monsters from the day of our birth. in past not many made it till teenage, let alone adulthood. but after the creation of the city now we are able to have our own families and the most of people in this city are in fact legacies of the gods. their grandfathers are demigod

there's a lot of thing concerning that and it's much complicated so we talk about that on another time

as for our emperor no one knows anything about him, the only things we know that he is the son of zeus and for some reasons he is immortal, he lives in a place called Ourania, a very few number of our people has been there, it's a place existed in an unknown destination. just like Olympus, the home of gods. but the thing about Olympus that we are actually allowed to go there and i even visited it many times before.

but that's not the case for Ourania, there's special gate to get there and only special people have the access to the gate. we don't see the emperor at all and even some die without having the chance to get a glimpse of his face.

which leads us to my situation today. after succeeding in my last quest, i was ranked up to Sapphire and in order to get the medal of honor of that rank i have to go to Ourania to recieve it directly from the emperor. this is my first time going to Ourania or even meeting the emperor and probably the last in the time being since i have no idea when i'd be able to be ranked up to Diamond

so here i'm today, in my new navy blue uniform heading to the gate of Ourania that is located in the Academy of Eudora. as i approached the golden gates a familiar face appeared before me

"i never imagined you could look even better in a navy blue uniform" Amadeus greeted me with his usual playful smirk. i really wanted to return his smirk but i was too nervous to be able to "thank you and good morning to you too Amadeus, what are you doing here in this early hour"

"what do you mean what i'm doing here? i'm here to escort you to Ourania silly, i mean i'm one of the few who has the key" he proudly smiled "and to prevent a war from happening"

i chuckled "you look good in your white and turquoise uniform though. the diamond rank really fits you"

and that was a clear fact, he indeed does look handsome, Amadeus has the charisma to charm every single female in this city and even males, he is like a magnetic that attract everyone. Amadeus laughed messing my hair " and you look great as well red head, i mean the ruby red uniform perfectly matched your hair but you literally nailed it in the navy ones"

"heyy my hair! i want to look decent" i pushed him slightly and tried to fix my hair, he again chuckled and went to the golden gate "don't worry red head" he put his hands on the wall and suddenly the golden gate started to shine, like a sea made of gold, a maginficent sight i could never forget "you are too beautiful for my brother to resist" he turned his head and give me a playful wink as he held my hand and went through the gate

i was so shocked by the gate to process what he said at that time, because never in my life i've experianced the feeling awaiting for me.

When we went to the other end, i was greeted with the most beautiful scent I've smelled in my entire life, a scent that has awaken a hidden part of my mind taking me to places I've never been before. it was like the smell of home after a hundered year of exile. the smell of your mother's homemade dish after a long day of work

a smell like a warm embrace after a cold day in winter, the smell of your favorite flower after 10 years of prison. i closed my eyes trying to get as much as i can of the scent. it was too familiar yet too foreign. as i opened my eyes the view wasn't too far from the pleasant fragrant.

we arrived to the most enchanting garden i've seen in my life, not even the gardens of olympus can be compared to it. beautiful dark green leafs surrounded the garden holding the most gorgeous ingrid bergman roses, an infinit number of scarlett red roses with a sparkling fountain in the middle.

the statue of the fountain took the shape of a girl in an elegant gown holding flowers, i couldn't focus on the statue's much because Amadeus interrupted my thoughts " you like what you see?"

"very.. hey Amadeus what's this sweet scent?" i eagrly asked, because no matter how much the garden and flowers enchanted me, it was the scent that went right into my heart

Amadeus seemed confused "you mean the smell of roses ? yeah it's pretty much beautiful". "no no there's a different scent, more beautiful than the roses"

"ah i don't smell anything"

"nevermind let's just go"

as we made our way out of the garden, the beautiful ingrid bergman roses didn't seem to stop nor be less, it's like this entire place is made of it "the emperor seems to like scarlett roses a lot huh?"

Amadeus smiled "you've seen nothing, it's just a small percentage of the existence of these roses in Ourania, they are literally everywhere, there are other beautiful type of roses as well but this one is the largest in numbers"

yeah i think the emperor is obsessed with these flowers.. i mean who can blame him they are the most beautiful but still.. he seems exaggerated in everything. "ah Amadeus come to think of it, isn't this place is too green ? i mean the fact that we are in autumn"

"ah don't you know ? there's no such a thing as seasons here in Ourania, there's only one season and it's Spring"

oh wow.. just wow

i followed Amadeus like a curious child asking about everything. i mean i can't be blamed, the more we get further in Ourania the more breathless i become. i wonder what the gods feels knowing that the emperor has a more beautiful place than them ?

no offense to Olympus, it's beautiful and all ,but Ourania is heavenly glamorous.

as we became closer to the emperor's palace, the castle seemed more clear and beautiful. forget what i said about the castle in Eudora, it's nothing compared to this..

but e with every step i take my heart skips a beat. am i scared ? well who isn't.. i'm meeting the person i've been hidden from my entire life

i mean not hidden it's just.. my supervisors tried to make me forgetten to him afraid of a sudden change of mood that leads to my death

it's not everyday someone disobey the emperor and give themselves the name "meliora" i mean

we entered the huge gates of the palace, but surprisingly there's no sign of a guard or something, i mean it's not like people can come here anyway

As we entered the palace Amadeus paused and looked at me seriously "listen Aurelia.. look the emperor is kinda.. moody and doesn't like it when someone replies back. The last execution happened because someone accidentally said 'are you serious' to him.." he took a deep breath "Ambrosius is the type of guy that keeps teasing the person till he brings out worst in them and enjoys their reactions that is full of fears and anxisty"

"i know that he will do exactly the same to you and he will keep teasing you until you lose control of your emotions and explode at him, Aurelia that's his goal and source of enjoyment.. so be wise.. control your emotions and simply ignore all his teasing and you'd be fine.. just get in there, greet him, take the medal and you can go back to Eudonia and never see his face again"

okay first of all what the actual fuck?? no one has ever told me that we have a psycho as an emperor!! i've always heard how hard and scary he is but the person Amadeus is describing is a mad person that needs to be healed!!

Suddenly i was able to hear my heartbeats and the atmosphere felt a lot hotter and scarier..

Amadeus kindly took my hand and gave me one of his warm smiles that has always erased my worries "that's why i'm here don't worry"

I took a deep breath, gathering all the courage i have and went through the doors

The throne room was just as i expected, exaggerated in every way possible, but what i didn't expect is the sense of nature within the room, it was surrounded by different types of trees and flowers, the ceiling was made of stained glass and mosaic forming divine images of different animals and plants, it was a room that showed nothing but elegance and natural beauty yet the throne stood magnificent in pure gold that can steal a blind's heart

It was such a huge throne with red velvet added to make it even more glorious

the small stairs leading to the throne were covered with red carpet as well

I think our emperor is obsessed with the red color...

but what really left me breathless is the person seated on the throne.. the emperor himself

as we got further in the room i got a better look at him, they said that women threw themselves at his feet, i never believed such a thing till i've seen him today

There he sat elegantly, his halo was full of authority and power and a beauty no mortal can dream of. Golden hair like sunlights shinning through the room and stormy blue eyes as sharp as the knives, filled with thunders and storms yet his gaze is even colder than the ice

He looked in his mid 20s, an eternal youth no one had the honor to gain but him

a breathtaker no less, even the strongest man can tremble at feet of the possessor of those piercing eyes

He was wearing a simple white traditional greek robe with golden hemline, for some weird reasons this simple robe made him even more gorgeous ..

I suddenly lost interest in receiving my medal and just want to go back to my room but Amadeus nodded at me to follow him

I was scared i need physical and emotional support but it's not the time to show that

I followed Amadeus till we were the closet to the throne, i bowed as he did, Amadeus cleared his throat "here is Aurelia Meliora Grace". i greeted him with "your majesty" hoping that i can just leave as soon as possible but this bastard known as emperor didn't even blink, he was too busy fixing his icy gaze at me

Our headmaster, Professor Alastair was there as well, he came forward giving us one of his usual warm smiles "Amadeus, Aurelia what took you so long?"

it was nice having someone familiar in this hall, i felt even more relaxed when i saw that our six supervisers are there as well, i've always had good relationship with them

Amadeus returned his smile "ah Aurelia was so fascinated by the beauty of the garden so we had to make a small stop"

i was unable to focus on Amadeus and Professor Alastair's chat because certain eyes were piercing my soul, i felt as if he was reading me like an open book, i couldn't even lift my eyes to meet his

please don't give me any attention just focus on being the emperor and pretend i don't exis-

"so that's the wretch whom was brave enough to name herself Meliora" sudden husky voice spoke sending chills to everyone in the hall

excuse me?

"she even found it funny enough to dye her hair in this ugly shade of red, you think you are going to a club miss Aurelia Meliora" he stressed on the name Meliora as if mocking me "i'm surprised of how a filthy brat like you could make it till now ? i always thought that uncle Poseidon can do better than this to be honest"

wh-what the hell? i was too shocked to even lift my gaze of the floor, anger started twistering within me

calm down Aurelia, take a deep breath control your emoti-

"are you fucking serious!?"