Synopsis and Starting Chapter Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
Chapter 74
Chapter 75
Chapter 76
Chapter 77
Chapter 78
Chapter 79
Chapter 80
Chapter 81
Chapter 82
Chapter 83
Chapter 84
Chapter 85
Chapter 86
Chapter 87
Chapter 88
Chapter 89
Chapter 90 - Light And Shadow>
Chapter 91
Chapter 92
Chapter 93
Chapter 94
Chapter 95
Chapter 96
Chapter 97
Chapter 98
Chapter 99
Chapter 100
Chapter 101
Chapter 102
Chapter 103
Chapter 104
Chapter 105
Chapter 106
Chapter 107
Chapter 108
Chapter 109
Chapter 110
Chapter 111
Chapter 112 - The Morning Comes>
Chapter 113
Chapter 114
Chapter 115
Chapter 116
Chapter 117
Chapter 118 - After The Storm
Chapter 119
Chapter 120
Chapter 121
Chapter 122
Chapter 123
Chapter 124
Chapter 125
Chapter 126
Chapter 127
Chapter 128
Chapter 129
Chapter 130
Chapter 131
Chapter 132 -
Chapter 133
Chapter 134 - Epilogue 1.3
Chapter 135 - Epilogue 2.1: Traces Of Life
Chapter 136
Chapter 137 - Epilogue 2.3
Chapter 138
Chapter 139
Chapter 140
Chapter 141 - Epilogue 4.1: Ever After>
Chapter 142 - Epilogue 4.2
Chapter 143 - Epilogue 4.3
Chapter 144 - Epilogue 5.1>
Chapter 145 - Epilogue 5.2
Chapter 146 - The Most Romantic Weekend>
Chapter 147 - Short Stories 1.2
Chapter 148 -
Chapter 149 -
Chapter 150 -
Chapter 151 -
Chapter 152 -
Chapter 153 -
Chapter 154 - Short Stories 3.1: Unexpected Things Happen>
Chapter 155 - Short Stories 3.2>
Chapter 156 -
Chapter 157 -
Chapter 158 -
Chapter 159 -
Chapter 160 -
Chapter 161 - Short Stories 5.1: The Man Behind The Mask>
Chapter 162
Chapter 163
Chapter 164 -
Chapter 165 -
Chapter 166
Chapter 167 - Short Stories 6.2
Chapter 168 - Short Stories 6.3
Chapter 169
Chapter 170
Chapter 171
Chapter 172
Chapter 173
Chapter 174
Chapter 175
Chapter 176
Chapter 177
Chapter 178
Chapter 179
Chapter 180
Chapter 181
Chapter 182
Chapter 183
Chapter 184
Chapter 185
Chapter 186
Chapter 187
Chapter 188
Chapter 189 (End)
Categories Genre: All, Completed, Fantasy Status: Completed ______
Total Chapters in book: 189
Estimated words: 290059 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1450(@200wpm)___ 1160(@250wpm)___ 967(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 290059 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1450(@200wpm)___ 1160(@250wpm)___ 967(@300wpm)
______
LIST OF LAST 10 CHAPTERS:
Page No. 189 Page No. 188 Page No. 187 Page No. 186 Page No. 185 Page No. 184 Page No. 183 Page No. 182 Page No. 181 Page No. 180 Page No. 179 Chapter 160 -
Chapter 160:
Just then.
“His highness has arrived.”
A loud announcement resonated from all over the place. Everyone around her moved quickly to make preparation. Bina was used to this; except when he had to work, he spent the rest of his time with Bina at her wing.
The golden-haired emperor Lucretius approached them. Excluding Bina, everyone kneeled to show their respect.
“Greetings to your highness the emperor.”
Lucretius walked quickly towards his wife. “Bina.”
The empress smiled gently and took a step towards her husband. “Your highness.”
Lucretius smiled like the sun and started to make corny comments again. “How is it that you became even more beautiful since I saw you only this morning?”
Bina grinned. “It isn’t even lunch time yet.”
“I know! It’s the darnedest thing.”
When Bina first became his wife, these comments used to make her feel uncomfortable. Now, she could just laugh at him. As a matter of fact, Bina felt like if he stopped saying these things, she might feel disappointed.
When she realized this, she started to laugh out loud.
Lucretius’ green eyes widened. “What? Did I say something stupid?”
Bina shook her head and whispered, “I just realized that I am now used to your corny comments.”
Lucretius grinned, too, as he took her hand gently. He took the clean wet towel from the servant and started to wipe Bina’s hand clean. When he was done, he looked satisfied as he kissed the back of her hand soundly.
This was Lucretius’ habit. It was like marking his territory; he was even jealous of the horse for licking his wife’s hand.
When Lucretius looked pleased with himself, Bina said to him, “You are the one who gave me Lorelai as a gift, yet you get jealous of her just because I pat her a few times?”
Lucretius continued to grin naughtily. “Are you telling me you don’t like it when I act jealous?”
Bina couldn’t lie to him.
“… No.”
Lucretius confidently held her hand and kissed it again.
He lightly caressed the inside of her hand with his finger. Bina felt a jolt of pleasure as he kissed her hand again.
She realized it then.
He was openly and blatantly showing his affection, but she liked it. It made sense because he was the man she chose. It couldn’t compare to the brief contact she had with that man, which was incredibly atrocious.
***
Roberto drank the cheap watered-down red wine he prepared for himself and remembered the woman.
‘I have never seen hair like hers. It looked like a beautiful night sky.’
She wasn’t as beautiful as the rumor claimed, but she was definitely lively and attractive.
Roberto loved all the women in the world. In his own way at least.
What interested him was her attitude. He could understand if she was just proud and conceited. She was an empress after all, so she deserved to behave arrogantly. Katleyanira was like that, so was his own mother Duchess Lonensia.
However, there was something different about Empress Sa Bina. He had never seen a woman exactly like her. It was very hard to describe it, but she was definitely unique.
‘How interesting.’
High-ranking hard-to-get women interested Roberto the most. An easy prey was no fun.
Hunting easy girls weren’t enough anymore. He wanted a woman he couldn’t get, and he finally found one.
Just then, he remembered his mother’s words.
“Wouldn’t that be too dangerous, Rob?”
When he told her he could create a small scandal between himself and the empress, his mother seemed interested and concerned at the same time.
He replied, “I should be able to create enough tension and distrust between the emperor and the empress so you can place Yulia in the first wife’s position.”
Two birds with one stone. This gave him the chance to hunt a worthy prey and also help his mother.
‘So how should I do this?’
The first thing he needed to do was to find out her weakness. While he was thinking deeply, a beautiful voice called him.
“Um, Jusepe?”
It was the red-haired Amarince, who called him by one of his many aliases.
The interruption annoyed him. Amarince noticed his anger and apologized nervously.
“I’m sorry, Jusepe. I didn’t mean to disturb your thoughts.”
Then suddenly, Roberto smiled. Looking at Amarince gave him an idea. When he first saw the empress, she was mesmerized by Amarince during the operetta.
He said to the anxious woman kindly, “Now, Amari my dear.”
“Y, yes?”
Amarince still seemed fearful, but she placed herself in his arms.
He whispered sweetly, “There is someone very important who would love to see you.”
Amarince seemed confused. “Someone important? Is it a man?”
“No, a woman.” He hugged the slim woman and murmured, “Now that I think about it, you are about the same size and height as her too.”
“Huh?”
Roberto shook his head. “You need to get ready for the castle masquerade that will take place soon. You are performing that night, right?”
Amarince nodded. “Y, yes. How did you know… Oh, that’s right. Your music will be performed.”
“Yes. Would you like to attend the ball as my date?”
“Me…?”
Amarince was shocked. She remembered their past relationship very well. When they were lovers about five years ago, he abandoned her suddenly without a word.
Roberto said to her sweetly, “Who else would I take to a ball?”
“But Jusepe…”
Roberto shook his head. “No, call me Christian from now on.”
Amarince’s eyes widened. She knew he was now composing under the name of Christian Boceti. If people knew, this would be sensational news, but he didn’t want this fact to be known to the public.
He didn’t seem to mind her calling him Jusepe until now, so why was he changing his mind all of a sudden?
Before she could ask any questions, Jusepe, or Christian, kissed her passionately. Amarince was shocked and nervous, but she still couldn’t push him away. He knew this very well. He knew Amarince could never refuse Jusepe or Christian.
Soon, the room filled with the lovers’ heat.
Agnes murmured in frustration, “I didn’t expect the harvest celebration to start with a masquerade.”
Samantha nodded. “We didn’t get enough notice for this, and… Masquerade? How inappropriate!”
The middle-aged women nodded in agreement, but the young maids looked excited.
One of the new maids, Sylia, who was hired after Elza and Luis left, whispered with a blush, “But the masquerade would be so romantic! The emperor came up with such a wonderful idea.”
Hannah, who was another new maid younger than Sylia, agreed.
“I agree. I heard the emperor Kentius also held masquerades during his reign!”
Different age groups reacted differently to the idea of a masquerade ball. The younger generation loved it as it would be less formal than a regular ball.
In addition, a brand-new operetta was supposed to be showcased during the ball. It was a piece made by the popular composer Christian Boceti, and its title would be “The Masquerade.”
On the other hand, the older generation such as Samantha and Agnes narrowed their eyes at the idea. To hide one’s identity and dance with masked figures were not their idea of a good time.
Except for the two people in the castle, no one knew the real reason behind why the traditional ball was changed to a masquerade.
Total Chapters in book: 189
Estimated words: 290059 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1450(@200wpm)___ 1160(@250wpm)___ 967(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 290059 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1450(@200wpm)___ 1160(@250wpm)___ 967(@300wpm)
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