She stood there, quiet and motionless. There was no fraction, but a silent wind blowing from the balcony. Her face shows a puzzle look behind her disgust and agitation.

A piece of memory made her remember the time she gave birth, that very time when she looked at her child’s eye she felt at ease.

She was delighted at the thought that finally, she will never be alone in this palace again. Because she strongly believes that she can love her child, who may have not been born from love, but she was her deliverance.

That child was her everything, and her happiness alone, but affection was not strong enough to stand against human greed. Upon gazing upon the child, Callisto abruptly departed from the room with an icy stare.

That man’s eye pierces her with the coldest stare, as if she did not exist. After that, she heard a quite bothersome rumor that had circulated in the palace.

"His majesty was disappointed that the first born turns out to be a girl, and he left to meet his mistress."

Selena knew it was impossible. The emperor can't do that, but when she looks at her daughter’s face.

Desire grows to fertilize inside of her. The desire of her husband's affection from distrustful and it turns towards her bitterly hate. 

Selena's feelings grow ominous as each day passes by. Although it was likely the vision, the author could not recall those things that were written from Selena's point of view.

It was useless to lean on the original. 

It happened not so long ago, when the last thread of her patient broke. The girl, the baby, kept on crying as she was reaching out her mother’s hand.

Selena did not move, her eyes were seeing something that she shouldn't have. She could see a half image of her husband from her child’s face. It made her unhappy, like seeing the man who caused her so many miseries in front.

What she did next was the most blatant work of art. Her evil acts then were created. She secretly put her own child in the middle of danger and left her in the wilds.

If the emperor gives her at least his attention, she will never do that to her own child. Still, she can't blame only him. She was part of this action as well.

"Your highness, this union could have been successful had you not disregarded both myself and your daughter.," she said with disappointment.

Things may be different now if he did not make her suffer, but their situation is already too late to revise.

"I told you—"

"I had enough of your majesty. I was always afraid of presenting my opinion because you were so difficult and indifferent. In the past years. Your mother would come and torment me because of one mistake. If this marriage works as a magic, it shouldn't have ended with so much pain," she said, looking in a different direction..

Besides, she knew he never loved Selena, and she never had feelings for him. That would have resolved it if they made efforts, but they did not do that, they lack communications.

"I would have told you the same," he coldly brushed her off. "We do not meet often before our marriage, but each time we meet, it was precious to me. Yet, after I came back, you were the first one to ignore me," he argued.

She looked at him confused, and did not understand what he meant. Did they know each other back then? It is impossible, there's no memory from before.

"We barely meet," she said, and it made Callisto look at her.

He knew she barely remembered, but he always wished she could at least remember the time they spent together.

But it looks like he can’t expect anything since it was his fault she couldn’t remember anything.

He looked at his hands and he pulled out the sword which had been hanging on the wall. The sword was made of obsidian colorful steel, but what really pulled her attention was a jewelry hanging on the sword handle.

It seems precious, could it be? From his lover? She asked. There is a rumor going around that Callisto was sighted with a female lover in hiding. Perhaps it belongs to her? Or could it be from someone else?

"If you are trying to tell me you love someone, then so be it," she said in discontent.

"Why do you keep on misunderstanding some certain situations!?" he asked.

It doesn't matter if she doesn't remember. After all, it was his fault, but why does she think he has someone beside her? Did he cheat on the course of his marriage without even knowing that?

"Then what do you want me to think? People are talking! Everyone knew you left me and went to your mistress!"

He shook his head. "The rumor lacks any substantiated evidence. Why do you readily accept all rumors without even inquiring with me!?"

"Ask you? Haha," she breathed in and out. "Did you not think I would not do it? I did it a couple of times, but you brushed me off as if I did not exist!"

Callisto looked at her and he put the sword down. It is the first time both of them fought like this. They would not do this before, because both of them lack communication.

This time, their voices of screams and yells were heard behind closed doors. The knights who were stationed, and the servants who were working, had heard every word both of them were throwing at each other.

At last, they look like a normal married couple. It wasn't the same before, neither of them fought or showed any emotion. It varies now that the empress had changed, did she also change the emperor who was indifferent.

"Why wouldn't you at least listen to me?" he asked.

"Did you do that when I first begged in front of you!?" she yelled.

He gulped and looked at her. "I did what I have done to keep you safe by my side," he said bitterly.

She slowly bites her lips. "I only want a bit of your respect, your majesty, and a little of the time to appreciate the birth of your child, but you give me sorrow and pain no one should have ever felt."

Is this marriage worth salvaging? The writer empathizes with the pain experienced by the character, despite not inhabiting their physical form. Nonetheless, it is clear that there are differences between the author and Selena.

Indeed, she merely wants his love, but the emperor couldn't give her that.

Callisto looked down, and he looked at her before he coldly smiled. He then grabbed the emerald jewelry wrapped on the sword and he went closer to her.

Selena looks, but her expression has already been written all over her face.

"I have seen you twice before our marriage. You were a hasty girl who got so lost so easily within the imperial ground, but that was the reason I ever cherished you. We're so different from each other, I was unloved by the former emperor and I am regarded as a tool to rule the land, yet you came into my life, a girl who was loved by the Solen King so much that he demanded my head if you were hurt during your stay," he giggles and smile. Then he kissed the emerald jewelry before he handed it over to her.

"You gave me this when you pulled me out of the palace and told me I should keep it. I held this jewel closer to me when I was on the frontier. Each time I felt so hopeless and powerless, this had given me courage to move forward—"

He tried to let go of her hand until a few seconds of thought made him do it. 

"I will give back all of your memories that I had stolen from that day, so if you wish to leave then I will accept it as a punishment from my harsh actions I committed, I will not stop you any longer as I have done for the past couple of years," he said.

'Is this the only way?' He asked himself, but he can see how he had inflicted her more torment than he can ever give.

Besides, it was her word against his actions.

"Let's meet back in the conference room. I'll go first—empress."

━━✣━━

Selena froze at the scene that had happened before her eyes. Each of her fingers was numb, even though it had been minutes since her husband left the office.

She tried to brush her thoughts, but it came out with shameless thoughts.

What just happened? What did he mean by memory? And who did he say that the jewelry belongs to? She wasn't sure how to respond, because the author always knew that Callisto was a man who is different and cold towards his wife.

‘So, who did she see?’ Who was the man who showed a painful grip and look in her eyes?

Besides all of that, she was still confused because of what he was telling her. So she ended up looking at the emerald jewel he left in her hand.

The emerald jewel was like a full emerald stone, but it also was wrapped with a small rope and became a necklace.

It wasn't small nor big; it was rather just the right size for a jewelry. It carries a lot of dirt and scribbles, as an evidence of how far it survived.

Cracking at any moment’s steed.

The husband she created, a man with an icy heart, yet as an author, she can't predict anything that had happened outside of her target plot.

She doesn't even know what had happened that day, which was mentioned by his majesty when he was talking to her. There are things in this world that she didn't write, she can see that and finally reality hit her.

This is no longer part of the original, because she changed the flow and it affected those around her. Even her husband, who had treated her like nothing—but why did he change?

And what did he mean he stole her memories from that day?

What recollections have slipped from her memory?

Something was not right, and different. The flow of the story was different in this world, and it was not an ordinary change.