"Here you are, your majesty." Ernest Avington gave a pile of documents to the emperor. They are not in the throne room but in the emperor's office. Most official businesses, such as approving laws, announcing important information, meeting delegates and formal visitors, or even debating with each other are usually done in the throne room but other administrative duties don’t require to be done in the throne room. Each minister of Claes also has their own offices in the palace to do their administrative work.

Secretaries are working and walking around the emperor's office filing papers and sending messages. They all have pink hair since most of them are from the Helman clan. This is unusual in the noble household where secretaries were often held by people of nobility but because of the influential positions of secretaries, the idea of only one noble being able to hold such a prestigious position is often the center of fights over nobles. So, the emperor is an exemption from this social rule. These secretaries are the retainers of the Helmans who are already vetted, trusted, and most of all, belong to the main branches of their family.

Ernest is younger than the emperor but is much closer to the archduke, Andrew von Claes, the emperor's brother, and even he admitted personally that he feels his friend would be a better emperor than the current one (but he will never admit this out loud). It is not that Levucian was a bad emperor, it’s just for the past few years the man has been favoring the Elrose faction, the faction of the sixth prince more and it has been chaos in the throne room ever since.

Ernest has never liked the Elrose duchy. They were known to use underhanded means to achieve their goals. The current war was the result of their scheme to get Aztos which resulted in the death of a noble. That noble may be a baron and one that is not active in politics nor holds considerable power and wealth but he was still a noble. This was a sad reality for many of these nobles. Some nobles, especially the ones who are independent or not part of any faction would not escape their fate being used in politics. Those who lack political power are often the common victims.

Ernest was the youngest ever to become prime minister which was not easy as some undermined him due to his age. While the Avingtons name is high, it still didn’t help that when he entered into politics, he was younger than the average prime minister who entered the court in their thirties. But because his father – the former prime minister - died from an illness, he has to take the position fast before anyone could take it. This is because positions in governments are often inherited unless the emperor is willing to appoint someone else. He went through many cases of abuse, gossip, and schemes from many of these people. It's people like these that are often hard to remain neutral among the factions.

When he found out what happened to the third prince, he became angrier and angrier at the emperor's neglect of his sons. The third prince was not the only one who was schemed at and even he knows the empress also share that blame. Schemes are common in the royal family, especially in the royal harem where the women fought for the attention of the emperor and their family pride. They often use their children as either tools or victims to achieve it. Sadly, many of those children died as a result.

What Ernest didn’t expect is after his trip from Agan, the emperor has been behaving differently. Before it would take ages for Ernest to even granted an audience to the emperor but lately, he has been giving him more attention than usual. At first, he was afraid that the emperor was planning something ominous for him. But for the past few weeks, he seemed to be more genuine. The one main difference is that the aura of the emperor which has become dimmer since the last time he saw him is starting to shine brighter and brighter. Ernest has asked around whether something happened but according to the servants, the emperor was ill a few weeks ago and is now feeling better.

He did notice that the emperor has not been accommodating to Duke Elrose and his faction. The emperor seems to be avoiding or shutting him down. He heard that he has not spent any time with the noble consort and her children which explains the woman’s frustration as she gallops around the harem screeching and making more trouble for the other concubines. Normally, the emperor would let it slide as whatever happens in the harem is not within his control as long as it doesn’t go too far. But the emperor warned the noble consort to behave.

This made Ernest curious about what awful thing Margaret Elrose or Duke Elrose did to get this treatment from the emperor. The servants did confide in him that the emperor has gotten sick a few months before but after that, he was acting a little different. He has not been spending his bed with any of the concubines at all. Although he has spent some time with his children, he never stayed overnight like he used to.

But there was another thing that worried the prime minister. Ever since the emperor publicly hugged the third prince, all the factions panicked including the faction that Ernest (secretly) supported. This raises some questions for many about whether or not the emperor is considering giving the title of crown prince to Prince Victor especially considering that the emperor himself got his crown mostly because he was the most favored prince among the royal siblings – whether he was qualified or not. The competing factions were pissed and the other nobles are now confused about which side they should support. Especially since the third prince is not known to have a strong faction – any faction for that matter. Some of the commoners who even heard the rumor were more afraid of the prince’s reputation of being a tyrant.

Though Ernest doubts he is, he still does not think the third prince is suitable as the next emperor. He always has this nagging feeling that the third prince is hiding something especially since Ernest still could not detect any aura from him so it is difficult to assess the prince’s capabilities and competencies making him a very unpredictable variable in the political game. His recent performance in the throne room did show a man who is prepared and eloquent but kept everyone on their toes. He was a fresh piece in the royal and noble society.

"Your majesty, might I ask, I did not realize that your relationship with the third prince was very good," Ernest commented a little cautiously.

"Yes." The emperor just continued to write.

Ernest was worried about asking his question. His relationship with the emperor is improving and thanks to that they were able to push very important reforms that were long been backlogged.

"Are you planning to make him the crown prince?"

The emperor stopped writing and looked at him emotionlessly. Ernest almost stopped breathing at that point.

"Why are you asking?"

"I wanted to be prepared," Ernest answered honestly. Whoever is named crown prince has to make the necessary preparation to either fight, flee or support. If it was the second prince, he would support him. If it was the sixth prince probably either fight or flee. The third prince is still an anomaly.

The emperor does not seem to be angry but he turned to look outside the glass windows. "I'll think about it. But for now, I have not decided yet. Do you have more questions?"

"No, your majesty."

"Are these all the complete documents?" The emperor asked.

"Yes, your majesty," Ernest answered knowing that the emperor has been busy working more and more lately.

"Then you are dismissed, Ernest. You should spend some time with your family." He said and Ernest nodded but paused. Since when did the emperor care about family? It made him feel conflicted because for some reason he has an inkling that the emperor is lonely but he could not find any indication from his magical aura about it. It is still shining brilliantly, as expected of the father of the nation.

The emperor watched as the prime minister left. He watched as the white glow roamed around the prime minister and gave a long sigh. The secretaries know too well never to talk to the emperor unless asked even if they brave the "Are you all right, your majesty?" question will still not fare well based on etiquette. Although the emperor was not harsh to them, the head of the servants and secretaries is. Their job was not just to help the emperor but also to deal with everything the emperor needs including his household.

Levucian von Claes fought his whole life to become the emperor because it was an expectation of every prince born in the royal household. Daughters were often used as tools for marriage and bio sons were practically unrecognized or nonexistent to the point they were never really treated as royal in the palace. Royal bios are so rare. Levucian was born from the empress alongside his older brother, Andrew. Except his mother favored his older brother over him. Both he and his brother have golden eyes except, Levucian has black hair while his brother has his mother's blonde hair.

He spilled the blood of his own family just to get to the throne and the recognition he has for his father and the empire. He got lucky that the emperor seems to favor him over his brother. Some say it was because of his hair and eye color but he knows he also earned it. But his father was murdered by one of his half-brothers. After that brother of his was punished, his father left all the resources to him which pushes him to become emperor and because of this his mother and brother became estranged from him. He was smug about it from the beginning but didn't realize the extent and the drama he has to go through as emperor. From the schemes, the backstabbing, the constant looking at his back because sooner or later some of these people will betray him, or even the constant loneliness he has to live through. As the emperor he has to always be strong but it is hard to stay in that image when you have no one to talk to.