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Distant MemoryThe empress was seated in his chair in the cold palace as he looked lifelessly at the picture in front of him.It was his wedding photo, it was himself and the emperor, he was wearing a white tuxedo with gold lining along the hem of the outer jacket. Tyler next to him was adorned in a black tuxedo that was as plain as they could come.That should've been the first red flag he could have picked up on. He was so deluded in his own mind that he didn't realize how Tyler has duped him into marrying him. They didn't have a cake nor was there a reception, Tyler has lied and said that they didn't need a reception as they were royalty and that they needed to be modest and think of what the people would say about them if they had a grand wedding.The sad part was now he remembers how he was the only one smiling through out the whole ordeal and not once does her remember Tyler smiling genuinely. Maybe getting married at fifteen was a very stupid idea and he sees now that he got married on the basis of being married at a young age.He had always wanted to experience how it felt to be married at a young age, he has imagined it would be great and grand, but what he got was rather depressing and just bland."I should have known that bastard was sketchy. I was too dumb and young, but who FUCKING smiles like that." Aria blasted as he looked at the photo of himself smiling and grinning like and idiot. He was truly a moron for not seeing Tyler for what he truly was."Eunice, get me a bucket and some kerosene!" Aria yelled as the stood up with a cold glint in his eyes."Your highness?" The head maid questioned as she entered the empress' inner room."Get me kerosene in a bucket and a lighter I'm about to burn this whole place down." Aria stated with more resolution than he'd ever mastered to speak in.He was a resolute person in it's entirety, but for some stupid reason he got butterflies at fifteen and got married young. A stupid decision one might add on to the dumb things he's done, he was lucky enough to not have given Tyler something valuable as a wedding gift. Tyler had made it apparent that he not had even thought about gifting the new young empress a wedding gift, given that there was no gift that had graced the empress' given palace.The palace itself that the empress was welcomed to was not even up to the standards of an empress. Rose was given an even more glamorous palace by words of the maids. They had ridiculed Aria in secret but they didn't know Aria had ears everywhere in the palace despite being a new appointed empress.Aria remembers a distant memory of him begging the emperor for 'attention' and just by this memory alone he shudders with both disgust and embarrassment."What a time to be alive!" He said as he was left alone in the inner room of the cold palace. Contrary to it's name, the palace wasn't actually cold, rather it was a palace with questionable decorations or rather the lack of. The walls were plain, the lighting was of poor quality and the flickered most of the time, the flooring was just oddly looking and old?.It was a poorly maintained shabby palace, come to think of it, the empress does remember this place. It was the same palace he was welcomed to as the new empress. The thought hit the empress like a lightning bolt and he froze for a second. He frantically looked for something against the walls of his room, a scratch, a line something to make him more sure of this place."That bitch!" Aria yelled as he saw the marking he left on the corridor that lead to the backyard of the palace. He had made that mark out of boredom, it was a scratchy drawing of a lily pad.Now more fuelled with anger and abhorrence towards the emperor he walked towards the palace's shed, he remembered it had one, that's if they didn't scrap it already. He found it with ease where it was the last time he was here, he opened the door that creaked and looked through the tools on the shelves, some hanging from the wall, some where sprawled across the floor. He located what he was looking for, an axe, he walked up to it and picked it up, an evil glint in his eyes.The cold palace was made from wood from the bottom upwards, according to the palace maids it was supposed to become one of the most beautiful places in the whole entirety of the palace grounds, but sadly the late emperor had abdicated the throne before it was even finished and Tyler didn't even care to complete the construction on it. He just shoved his newly appointed empress in there when he arrived, in an incomplete and under construction palace."Your Highness I implore you to put down the axe!" Eunuch Ress reasoned as he had followed the empress out the palace and towards the shed. He knew the empress and he saw the glint of madness Aria had just displayed a few minutes ago. The same madness overcame him when a couple of maids tried to test his patience when he had caught them gossiping and badmouthing him.He has acted on impulse and shot one of the maids in the knee and kicked her square in the jaw. Due to his military trained prowess, the poor maid had a dislocated jawbone from the impact of the empress' kick. Tyler had almost ordered for the deposition of the empress because of that, he had a tinge of fear of what Aria was capable of doing from that incident. What he didn't know was that Aria wasn't one you'd occasionally just mess with. He may have let Tyler step on him, but he was one stone cold bastard."I dare you to spit another word." Aria stated calmly his eyes a fiery red of raw power and dominance, the eunuch shivered and shuddered at the look directed at him.He hung his head low and kept quiet, he knew if he apologized he'd have his head rolling on the ground because him doing so the empress would have a reason to relieve him of his head since it didn't seem to have sense imbued in it."I thought so." Aria saud as he walked the shed, the axe on his shoulder, his eyes cold and determined. He was like a lumberjack who has a vendetta against another lumberjack.His pathway towards the palace was as clear as the sky, the maids however few were assigned to the cold palace had already vacated the premises and when to look for shelter somewhere far from the palace but close enough to witness their empress be consumed by madness and anger."Here's the kerosene Your Highness." Eunice said as she handed the calm and composed looking man. Aria looked like he wasn't about to chop down this whole damn palace all by himself."If you two want to live runaway like all the other maids." Aria said coldly to Eunice and Ress, the eunuch was beyond stubborn, normal people would have ran the second they knew they weren't 'safe' even when it was their own master causing the disturbance."We dare not!" They both yelled in unison."Suit yourself." He shrugged as he started swinging the axe and hitting a wall that caved at the impact."The r_""Shut up! I'm busy." Aria roared at Eunice as he turned to look at her, axe in air. The Head Maid started to fear for her life for the second time from the same man. She quickly fell to her knees and her heat hit the unfinished wooden floor.The empress continued to cut down the walls he was stood in between, it was a corridor that had a balcony view that overlooked a rather dull garden and unattended pond with algae. Eunice and Ress where right behind the craze infused male who rampaged around the palace with his axe, beads of sweat on his forehead as he panted ever so slightly.He cut down everything and anything he saw in his way and honestly he'd cut down the maids too if they were in his way and low and behold one maid had made the mistake not to vacate the premises."You!" Aria looked towards the maid who just came out of a room. She was stunned and froze like a deer in front of headlights."RUN!" Ress yelled and the maid woke from her trance and started sprinting for her life."Come back here." Aria yelled as he too sprinted behind the runaway maid."Your Highness stop." Eunice said as she too and Ress sprinted after the empress.