บท 44: Noble In-Laws
While Elaina is very busy with the upcoming festival, things have been on fire in the Luminous Kingdom. It's almost a month since the disappearance of the Empress and no one has a piece of valid information regarding her disappearance. It was like she was gone and no one had a valid reason why she was gone.
And the fact that even the Emperor has no idea where she is made a lot of people starts speculating here and there. Some have very wild and grim theories like the Empress has died and the Emperor is hiding her death from the public, or perhaps she was killed and no one knows where their body has gone. Many theories jump here and there.
Some got their theories correctly but since they don't know if it was the real reason, they all can only speculate about it and no one will know that was the real reason. But until the Empress is found, these theories will continue to emerge and evolve by the day.
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The Emperor's physique has changed drastically after the disappearance of Elaina on that fateful day. After he started to manage the businesses that Elaina once handled coupled with his emperor duties, he started to miss his wife even more than ever after learning about her hard work. Selena might be Elaina's sister but she is not as capable as Elaina who is gifted on what to do with business management. She might be able to handle the business if she studies how to do it, but not as well as Elaina would do it.
Alfred's eyes have sunken badly to the point that he looks older than he looks. His movements are sluggish, possibly because he has gotten a lack of sleep for quite some time after Elaina's disappearance. And the fact that he is swamped with work causes him to bear more burden than he can handle makes him more pitiful.
While he was busy organizing the papers of the last business meeting he had with some people, someone started to knock on the doors.
"Come in," Alfred lifelessly said as he was physically tired and just wanted to have a nice long sleep which was not possible due to his situation.
The one knocking opens the door and enters, revealing to be a guard that was guarding the gates.
"Your Majesty, someone has visited."
"Who is it?" Alfred asked as he lifted his head from the papers.
"The visitors are the Empress and Secretary Selena's parents, Your Majesty. They are requesting your presence and would like to see you as soon as possible. They are currently waiting in the lounge."
Hearing who was the visitor caused Alfred to stiffen after hearing who they were. After all, the ones who are visiting him this time is another set of nightmare for him. He felt a sense of deja vu for some reason but this is something that he is not liking.
"Tell them that I will be right there after I finish preparing. Tell the maids to serve the guests on what they want for snacks.
The guard bowed down before leaving the distraught Alfred. There is this little fear he was feeling. Compared to when Troy visited him, although he felt the same fear as before, its not as intense as this one. After all, Elaina's parents are something else that is someone who are just more terrifying when being interacted with.
He quickly started to prepare before the couple will become angry at him for being tardy. He also has his pride as an emperor to uphold in.
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Around 5 minutes later, Alfred makes his way to the lounge of the castle where the couple is waiting for him. He is nervous but he steeled himself, hoping that it won't be that bad. No matter what kind of personality they have, he is still the emperor and they can't just disrespect him.
Opening the door to the lounge, his eyes immediately saw the old couple. The mother of Elaina is sipping tea gracefully, while the father is reading a newspaper that is currently the latest issue for the day.
They already noticed him entering the room but they didn't even say anything and just quietly continued on what they were doing before he entered the room.
"Good morning, Mother, Father," Alfred greeted his in-laws.
"Hmm, and here I thought that we would be waiting for a long time before we will get to have a meeting with you. Guess you are not so busy after all," the mother-in-law sips her tea while Alfred is trying to compose himself.
Alfred observes the couple whom he have not seen for quite some time.
His Mother-in-Law, Maria Zangrande, remains her regal aura, maintaining to remain composed and respectable. Despite her age being around 60, she still seemed to be around her mid 30s, which is quite young to look at. If Elaina and her mother were to stand or sit next to each other, her mother would look like her sibling. The only thing that would indicate that she is old is her golden hair locks now coupled with a few white hair bundles that is slowly taking over the majority of color on her hair. Other than that, there is nothing else that would indicate she is an old person. Not even a few wrinkles are present in her face.
As for his Father-in Law, Victor Zangarde, he is a bit more older than his wife and although he does look younger than his actual age, he still does look older compared to his wife who looked like she hasn't aged. He has less wrinkles in his face and more scars are present. With him being from the battlefield, those scars indicate his experience when it comes to war. His fierce looking face is something that can make anyone shudder in fear involuntarily due to how he looks like he would break you to pieces if you mess with him. Even Alfred is not confident to win against him in a battle.
"What are you staring at? Is there something on our face?" Victor stopped reading the newspaper he was holding and looked at the Emperor who was shocked after he was caught staring at both of them.
"Ah...no, nothing..."
"Well, if there is nothing, then we will cut to the chase. We are not here to just talk with you and ask about the business because we care less about that. We are here because of the news regarding Elaina currently missing," Maria puts down her teacup and looked at Alfred with piercing look on her eyes.
Alfred instinctively gulps as he tries his best to scramble his brain on what to answer without causing the wrath of both.
"The search is still currently happening. The soldiers are doing their best to gather information of Elaina and looking for traces."
Although this response is something that Alfred thought would illicit a small reaction to them, it was his mistake that it would be how they would react. Because contrary to his expectation, the words he said are just enough to trigger something to Victor.
In one single slam, Victor smashed the table made of marble to smithereens like it was just made of cheap material.
"And you think that your little reasoning is enough? You bastard. We came here, expecting more information regarding the disappearance of Elaina. And that is what you will just say to us? What a bunch of bull. You piece of sh*t, even with your authority as the emperor, you should have done more than you could to find her!"
Maria pats her husband, consoling him. "What can you do? Even when he is already the emperor, he still is pretty useless. You shouldn't give your hopes up with him. If he can't find her, then we will find her instead. Simple as that."
"Yeah, I think that is a better idea. This guy hasn't changed a bit and he is still as useless as before."
Alfred couldn't say anything from all of the ridicule that he received from the couple. But what can he do? If not for these two, he won't even become an emperor in the first place.
"We are wasting our time here. Let's leave and let our men do the work. We can't afford to have Elaina missing for long. Her influence is necessary for our family to continue to uphold our power," Victor stood up while glaring at Alfred.
"Yes. We should ask Troy as well. Perhaps he has a better idea where his sister is. Selena might also have a better idea on where we should search first so we should get a move on instead of staying here and talking to this guy."
The couple stood up and leave, leaving Alfred gritting his teeth in anger. However, there is nothing he can do. For both of them has bigger influence and power than him who is the emperor.
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