Chapter 19: Injustice

Ave looked and saw the person who grabbed her hand was none other than the second prince. She glared at him, but he wasn't looking at her and kept holding her hand down, which despite how much she tried to pull it out of his, his grip was so tight she thought he might break her bone.

Was he trying to stop her from eating after he'd deprived her of eating lunch? This wasn't his palace, and yet he was acting like he could control her. Didn't he know she had the Empress' backing now?

Ave was about to open her mouth to tell him to let go when she realized none of the others were reaching out to their food yet and were seated, looking at the Emperor who'd just cleared his throat.

What was going on? she thought as she looked around in confusion, but then her eyes fell on the prince sitting in front of her, who wasn't staring at the Emperor like everyone else but was instead looking at her with an expression she understood all too well in men.

He looked every bit the charming model with ear piercings where he had black ring-like earrings on. Though he wore a royal attire like the others, his design looked different, and his top buttons were left open where she could glimpse his chest.

Despite the fact that he looked handsome and any woman, especially Victoria in her time, would fall head over heels for him, he was the kind of guy she avoided in her time. He was staring at her with what seemed to be a creepy grin, and when he dared to wink, Ave felt the urge to gouge his eyes out.

'I never knew there were Casanovas in this era as well. But why is he staring at me like that?' she thought as she glared at him in irritation and then looked away to see why no one was eating yet. What were they waiting for when the food was here already?

She felt the grip on her wrist tighten, and she leaned towards Lucian, who was still holding her hand under the table on his lap, and whispered, "Why is no one eating yet? Do we need to pray before we eat here as well?" She asked, but he ignored her as his attention was on the prince in front of her, who had winked at her a moment ago. If a glare could kill, the prince would have been dead with how Lucian was glaring at him.

She could feel the tension between them in the air and raised her brows. 'These two seem not to get along so well. I wonder why?'

Ave was about to brave up and ask why no one was eating yet when the Emperor opened his mouth and began to speak, he turned to his first son.

"Alden, how are the new recruit soldiers you are training in the camp? And how is the progress on strengthening our borders?"

Alden was a tall and robust man with a stern demeanor that naturally commanded attention wherever he was. He had taken over the Empire's army from a very young age and had spent most of his years at the borders camp to protect their lands.

He had long black hair that was let down his back now and a few strands falling over his shoulder. Above his eyebrows was a scar that made him look even more fierce and coldly handsome. However, despite his appearance, when his father spoke to him, he stood up and bowed in respect.

And to Ave, who had never seen him until now when he opened his mouth to reply to the Emperor, she was taken aback to hear how soft and calm his voice was. She'd expected something deep and scary!

"The soldiers are turning out well, Your Majesty. They are undergoing rigorous training and will be ready to face any war that befalls us."

The Emperor laughed proudly before he said with pride in his voice, "You are a fucker after all. I never expected anything less from you, my son."

Ave almost choked on her saliva at that word. Did he just call his son a fucker?!

The word had spread after the day Ave had used it. It had spread throughout the entire palace and had started to reach the villages as people thought a new word for warrior had been invented, but none of them knew it was Ave who had spoken the word.

Would she be beheaded if she told them the meaning? What if this went down in history and changed the true meaning of a fucker to warrior? Well, that would be a good thing.

Ave thought, but then to save her own head, she decided to keep silent and did not dare to make corrections after she'd given a wrong meaning to Lydia, who had now caused the spread.

"Indeed, Prince Alden is a true fucker," one of the important nobles who were related to the royal family and were invited to join the royal dinner agreed, nodding in approval.

The Emperor turned to the third prince as well, skipping the second prince, which Ave noticed.

"Caelan, I heard you made a remarkable decision yesterday at the camp by killing ten of the enemies' hostage soldiers, who dared to insult our lands." He remarked, his eyes still glimmering with pride as his sons were every bit like him when he was their age: ruthless and devoted to their lands.

Empress Elara, glancing at her son with a smile, said, "He indeed did that. Caelan would make a good ruler and a real fucker, Your Majesty." She put in, knowing that as long as she was alive, it was her son who would sit next on the throne.

After all, she was the Empress and the first consort; it was circumstance that had caused her to delay in giving birth, where she had constant miscarriages before she'd finally given birth to Caelan.

Caelan put on a serious face when he met his mother's eyes. Though he had killed the soldiers on his mother's order, he didn't care about the Empire or whatever some hostage soldiers were saying about it. Remembering how the soldiers' lowly, filthy blood had splashed on his expensive attire made him cringe and want to bring them back to life to make them pay for his clothes.

"It was nothing, Father. Any man who dares to insult our land or ruler shall be killed." Caelan said firmly like he really meant it. And the Emperor laughed in pride again, his eyes glimmering.

Consort Seraphina, not wanting her own son to be outshined by his elder brothers, cleared her throat, trying to draw attention.

"Speaking of accomplishments, Prince Orion will soon be a fucker as well, Your Majesty. Orion has been working so hard at the camp as well. I think he would be a good leader," Seraphina said, trying to put her own son in a good light. Did the Empress think only her son could be the next Emperor?

Prince Orion, who was completely oblivious to the conversation going on around the table as he was trying to put together a puzzle for a game he'd been playing with his friends the other day, almost choked on the water he was slowly drinking when his sister kicked his leg under the table.

He turned to glare at her when he realized everyone was looking at him as if expecting him to say something. What were they even talking about? He shrugged casually and was about to go back to his thinking when his mother forced a smile and said with that look he knew meant she was going to teach him a lesson later,

"Didn't you go to the camp yesterday, Orion? Tell the Emperor how you are doing good to become a fucker and how you trained the soldiers until they all passed out."

Orion awkwardly smiled. That was what he told his mother, but he knew he hadn't gone to the camp to do anything but sleep.

When the Emperor turned to him and asked if that was true, he nodded immediately and said, "Oh, yes. I trained the soldiers until they saw the gates of hell and shook hands with Yama himself."

Caelan, raising an eyebrow, smirked at his incompetent little brother's lies, "Really, Orion? I heard you spent most of the time napping in the shade."

"And I heard you spent most of your time cleaning yourself and ordering the soldiers to fetch you water instead of training them." Orion fired back with his chin raised up high.

"You...!" Caelan gritted but was immediately settled back when he met his mother's disapproving eyes. If the time comes when he becomes the Emperor, Orion would surely be among the people he would get rid of first. Caelan thought as he calmed himself down with that.

The Emperor, who had been beaming with pride when he spoke to his other sons, had a sixty-degree change in his expression when he turned to Lucian. The smile fell from his face, replaced by a serious expression.

"I heard you are recruiting new soldiers as well, Lucian. Why are you training soldiers when you are nothing but a soldier yourself? I don't remember giving you permission to train anyone in your palace," he said sternly.

Lucian, who had been quiet the whole time was taken aback that the Emperor knew about the soldiers he was training. It seemed the spies among his men had not failed to deliver this piece of information to the Emperor as well as his every movement to the Empress.

He had already anticipated this, and so his expression didn't flicker a bit. But before he could respond, the Empress interjected.

"Unless you are planning treason, I don't see why you should have your own soldiers. You are just a prince by name and have no powers whatsoever to do things without permission," she said, her voice cold.

Ave frowned as she could smell the injustice in the air. She had lived in a house where her father would praise her siblings and put everything she did down. Right now, she felt the prince was in that same position as she had been—where you had no right to do anything without permission while your other siblings could.

Ave hated it when parents did that to their children. She had lived through that injustice and knew how much it hurt to be less liked by your own father.

She felt angry at the injustice done to him, and from the way he was squeezing her wrist, which he hadn't let go of until now and she hadn't realized it, she had a feeling he also didn't like it.

Because she couldn't stand it when someone was being stomped on, she faced the Empress, who she still believed was the least favored consort, and said, "Why can't he do it when his siblings are doing it? What's wrong with having his own soldiers? Are you afraid he might outshine the rest and your fucker of a son?"