Hues of love

CHAPTER ELEVEN

"What do you think you are doing, Vermil?" Duke Elias bellowed with a sharp frown on his face, this was the second time he was allowed to come into the Empress palace, but this time around he didn't give a notice.

 He barged into the Empress' private chambers, a place only the Emperor was allowed into.

"Did you train your bastard son to bare his fangs at me?"

"Brother…?" The empress in surprise got up from her dressing mirror, some of the servants in the room were shocked to see the Duke of Elderslot in the innermost part of the Empress's palace, without being summoned.

 It was a disrespect to the Emperor, but due to the relationship between them it could be slightly overlooked, but he didn't even add the honorific while he addressed the Empress.

"Everyone…" She called, referring to the servants in her room and the royal guards at the door, her blue eyes darting left and right in panic. "Leave us this instant."

"But your majesty…" One of her handmaidens, the head maid protested, which earned her a glare from the Empress.

"Are you deaf?" She inquired sharply. "I said leave us!"

 Even though she had something to protect, she then aimed her glare at the Duke who was still seemingly angry. In an instant, the maids cleared themselves out of the room and she was now alone with her supposed cousin, the Duke of Elderslot but he looked so angry he could break down the building.

"I don't know what Prince Aryan had done this time but calling the son of the Emperor a bastard in front of the servants is too much of a disrespect." She scolded with wide eyes, and her voice rang out with a certain confidence. "What do you think will happen if a rumor starts in the Empress Palace?"

"But aren't I correct?" Duke Elias closed up the distance between them, and he grabbed her arms in an instant. "Isn't that what the Prince is?"

"Well, you don't have any proof to back up your claim, do you?" She smirked tauntingly. "I won't go down without a fight this time, brother."

Elias hadn't heard anything that funny in years, and so he burst into a peal of mocking laughter, Vermil's eyes narrowed, because she didn't know what was funny.

"In case you have forgotten, I am the Empress of this kingdom," She continued in an offended voice. "You might be my older cousin but you are just a Duke, and you should never forget your place, I am willing to overlook the fact that you barged into my private chambers without notice."

Elias laughed even further.

"Do you think you stand a chance against me if we were to fight?" He asked curiously and a short gasp escaped her lips because the Duke had suddenly grabbed her throat. "In case you forgot we are not even related by blood, I could dispose of you easily if I wanted to, why do you think I haven't done that in all those years?"

"E-Elias…" She groaned in pain as he had cut off her air supply, he applied even more pressure to where he held her. "I-I can't breathe."

"Why do you think I allowed a lowly serving girl like yourself to become Empress?" He queried. "I even did you the favor of eliminating the first Empress just so you could be of use and relevance, yet, you stand here to threaten me."

"Ah…" She squealed again, this time the Duke had slammed her to the wall.

"Haven't you heard of the popular phrase that says "do not bite the hands that feed you?" Why you ungrateful little girl?" He murmured against her ears, and she shuddered slightly, tears well up in her eyes as she squirmed against the Duke.

It reminded her of the old days she spent with him, those were the most terrifying days of her life, she thought when she became Empress she could escape from his clutches, but even the King was a puppet of this man and there was no escaping from him.

"Vermil…" He picked a strand of her hair, one that was stuck to the sweat on her face. "Why don't you try begging me?" 

"I-Is this because of the girl?" She groaned, even though her eyes were filled with tears she wasn't ready to back down just yet. "She is just an illegitimate child."

"Nevertheless, she is my child." He answered. "My blood runs through her veins, as red as ever, the prince must have wanted to start a war making my other daughter kneel in the cold for too long, now they are both sick."

"Even if you report this to the Emperor, the prince would not be punished." She reminded him. "She is the daughter of a harlot and shouldn't be allowed in the academy where the future Emperor of Aubreun is studying."

"So you have no plans of begging me for mercy?" He queries and the response to his question is a bone-chilling glare. "Then let me tell you something interesting."

"Your threat won't work on me." She answered. "The prince would be made Crowned Prince in a couple of days, do you think I would beg for a harlot girl?"

"You must have gotten too comfortable to forget that Prince Aryan isn't the only prince the Emperor has," Her eyes widened, could he be talking about…? "Yes, the previous Crowned Prince."

She gasped.

"You are making me regret my decision to eliminate all those obstacles for you." Elias finally let her go and ran his hands into his hair.

"The Prince Carl is dead." She answered with a stubborn look on her face. "He is dead, I saw you kill him."

"Who knows, he could come back from the dead." It was his turn to smirk. "What would you do if he came back?"

"Brother…" She gasped slightly, she could now understand the message he was trying to pass. "The prince is dead, right?"

"Depending on how you behave, he could remain dead." He confirmed. "You know what will happen when we wash the dye of Aryan's head and the Emperor testifies that he isn't a true Aubreun right?"

"What are you doing here?" Rain asked curiously as Doni climbed up to her window frame and sat on it, he then peeked vacantly. "Someone could see you."

"I saw the maids leave." He answered but this time with a small smile on his face, all this was surreal, Rain could hardly believe it was true.

This should probably be a dream.

"But…" He interrupted her by clasping his hand on her mouth.

"Shh…" He whispered. "Someone might hear you."

This isn't a dream, she blinked softly at him, the strange feeling that she felt when she first met him came back. She felt some sort of turbulence in her chest, but it wasn't so bad.

"Why did you come here?" She finally asked when he peeled his hands away from her.

"They said you were sick." He answered, jumping down from the window and into her room. Rain was still worried because the maids could come back at any time and she didn't want Doni to be in trouble. "It had been three days but you didn't wake up."

A deep shade of crimson appeared on her cheeks.

"Were you worried for me?" She asked eagerly, finally grasping the courage to go closer to him, even if this was a dream she didn't mind. "Did you come here because you were worried?"

"No…" He was still as hard-headed as ever, his eyes were narrowed but they didn't look at her as harshly as before. "Our last conversation ended with you crying…"

His hands went into his hair, and he scratched at it nervously, he turned his eyes away from her and if she wasn't mistaken, she could see a faint shade of red on his cheeks as well.

"I didn't want that to be your last image of me, so I came here to apologize." 

"Apologize?"

Rain was surprised, even as a slave, Doni seemed to have a lot of pride, she couldn't help but think it was because of his kingly appearance, so she couldn't expect him to apologize. No matter how she thought about it, she never thought of him as a servant.

"Yes, My Lady." He also added honorifics, as if that was not all, he knelt on one of his knees and bowed his head slightly. "I'm deeply sorry for always being so rude to you, for disrespecting you, and for making you cry. I hope that you forgive me."

There was a brief silence in the room, Rain was unsure of what to say first but she clenched her hands together.

"Will you please forgive me, My Lady?" He asked again and Rain nodded her head.

"Y-Yes," She finally answered still frozen in the moment.

"How do you know it is Love?" Rain had asked Meridia, one of her favorite courtesans whom she talked to in the red light district.

"Well, little girl, you might not understand what I am saying right now." Meridia attached some jewelry to her hair, she had customers tonight. "But love comes in anything, it could be a shape, a color, a name, you could recognize it in anything and once it comes you would just know."

"Just like that?" She had queried curiously. 

"Yes, just like that." Meridia giggled.

Now, she understood what Meridia had meant, Rain could now see herself in the blue hue of Doni's eyes.