Chapter 149: The Emperor Without His Empress
A few days after Alfred’s escape, he finally returned to Luminiera Kingdom. Luckily, it seems the king of Darcero Kingdom has no plans to pursue him, but the people who rescued him made various preemptive ways to ensure that no pursuers would follow them.
With the help of his rescuers, he arrived anonymously at his castle without any of the people in the public even knowing that it was him passing by.
Arriving at his castle, he was greeted by Selena managing the remaining job he left behind when he was captured, and was shocked to see Alfred appear before her.
"Alfred?!"
A mixture of happiness and confusion dawned on Selena seeing Alfred before her. She stood up from her seat and hugged him, which the latter reciprocated. The hooded man behind them only shook his head while watching the scene unfold but he didn’t say anything that could interrupt their mont.
As the two let go after their embrace, Selena questioned Alfred.
"But how in the world are you here? I heard you were captured in Darcero Kingdom and the king held you a prisoner there for violating their rules..."
"I was rescued by this individual here and managed to get away successfully. I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for him."
Selena looked at the hooded man, and although she was suspicious of him, she didn’t say anything. She couldn’t feel any danger from him and although he looked nacing, he seed to be normal and he wasn’t a threat. Instead, she decided to drop all of her current work.
"I will tell the others that you have returned and you will need a few things to recover. You must be tired from the travels so please rest."
Selena imdiately left to command the maids to prepare anything that Alfred would need for later.
As for Alfred, he removed his worn cape and sat down on his seat with a big sigh.
"I didn’t think that I would miss the feeling of sitting here. My imprisonnt didn’t last long but I felt that it felt like it was already a few years."
"That’s the effect of being imprisoned and also in a foreign land. You will lose track of ti to the point you will feel like things have passed by so fast even though the world remains to move the sa," the hooded man shoots a hook on the nearby apple on the table before retracting it and carrying the apple along, allowing him to grab the apple and eat it.
"I appreciate the help that you gave to
to break
out from my imprisonnt. I didn’t even know that your n also took care of my soldiers and freed them as well."
"Don’t ntion it. And besides, we must fulfill so you don’t have to worry about it."
"Duty huh..." Alfred fell into thought as he suddenly rembered Elaina. Half of his duties were handled by Elaina not too long ago but now that he is divorced from her, he is officially an emperor who has no empress. He beca a bachelor again and ready to mingle with others.
"By the way, the townspeople have already received the news about the loss of Luminiera Kingdom’s empress via divorce. It has been a hot topic for the public for many days and even now, it is still one of their main topics and I don’t think it will be over so soon."
Alfred clicks his tongue. He hoped to keep the news of the divorce a secret and let the people know that everything was alright but now, everything is not good.
"It seems the people already heard of the news. The news travels so fast..." Alfred shook his head after learning everything just from passing by earlier.
"There are various ssengers from both kingdoms that share news and the latest information with the people on the mainland. Their service is much more appreciated now that the ban on Darcero Kingdom’s entry prevents other people from this kingdom from entering their kingdom, making the news they receive from them much more valuable than ever before. And since the verdict from before happened a few days ago, it is natural that the news has already spread far to the public," the hooded man explained.
Alfred sighed and can now understand how it feels to have so controversial news always following you. But since he is finally free again, he will ensure he will not be captured again. He turned to the hooded man and realized that he didn’t know who this person was. He just followed because he could feel that he was not hostile to him but he is not sure who this person was in the first place.
"I keep myself quiet since you saved
from my imprisonnt but now that we are here, I think it should be ti to also know who you are. And the reason you rescued ," Alfred frowned as he looked at the hooded man smirk after hearing his question.
"And here I thought the Emperor is wise enough to recognize
even under my hood but I guess that you are not that perceptive. Well, it doesn’t matter since I am not hiding my face for the convenience."
He then removed his hood and the mont he did, Alfred was shocked as he didn’t expect to see soone familiar to him appear underneath that hood.
"I am sorry for the belated introductions Emperor Alfred. I am the Pope and the highest-ranking saint of the Church. Mikael Havanelo. Nice eting you officially, Emperor Alfred."
Alfred was shocked. The man before him is none other than Mikael Havanelo, soone who is known to be the man who was blessed by the gods and was considered a demi-god by the church due to the abilities he possesses. He is also the main reason the Church has risen to its current status. Although he didn’t appear in public, Alfred thought of Mikael as an old man and one of the oldest people leading the church.
And yet his reveal only made things more shocking to Alfred. Mikael was not an old man like he thought he would be. He looks like a teenager and he looks like he is not human. His aura has finally appeared and it is more pure than what he ever felt and seen before that he instinctively wanted to kneel.
"Hey, Emperor. Don’t kneel on . I am not a god or anything. Stand up."
"I...I didn’t expect the Pope himself would be the one who will lead the rescue."
Mikael laughed and grinned. "It isn’t that surprising, Alfred. I may be the pope but you are the emperor of this kingdom and without you, things will be much more hectic and troubleso that even the church will have so big problems without you, no? So instead of waiting for your punishnt to arrive and waiting for you to be released from prison, breaking you out of there is much easier to do. And besides, the Luminiera family has supported and given us the freedom to make this kingdom of yours the ho of our religion, so it is also our right to rescue our benefactor."
Hearing that, Alfred smiled and slowly stood up. "Since your help was a very massive thing that you have done for , I will ensure that our donations to the Church will be doubled. Not only that but we will make sure that your needs are t properly as well. I will ensure that you will not regret rescuing ."
Hearing that, Mikael smiled. "I appreciate everything, Your Majesty. Well then, my job here is done. I appreciate that you are grateful for our help. Don’t hesitate to ask us for help in the future as well."
"Wait, Sir Mikael. Perhaps giving you and your reward should suffice? I feel guilty not rewarding you all for the efforts you have made."
"Reward? No, no. We are the church, Your Majesty. We don’t need the reward but if you feel the need that it is necessary, then just donate it to the Church instead. That would make
appreciate it more. Well then, I will see you next ti, Emperor Alfred. Rember, we are here to support your endeavors."
Before Alfred can stop Mikael from leaving, he disappears from where he stood, leaving the man to smile.
"Thank you. I will make sure I will use this opportunity to recover. And when the ti cos, I will co back for Elaina. I will make sure of it."
...
...
...
At the top of the roof, Mikael stood there, grinning.
"Looks like the plan is a big success. Not only did we get the approval of the Emperor, but he also owed the Church for saving him. The Die is cast. We will wait until then. But who would have thought things would be this easy huh?"
Mikael started laughing. A manic laugh that anyone who can hear it will think the one who is laughing has lost his wits already.
"Foolish Emperor..." he smiled before he disappeared from where he stood.
Now, the wheel of fortune starts to spin.
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