Chapter 2
This was like a bolt from the blue.
As a young emperor who was actually a woman in disguise, I had to keep up the act. I collected beauties from all over the land, always tossing aside the old for the new, and my moods changed on a whim.
Every concubine lived in constant fear, never knowing when I'd turn on them. Could I really walk around with a baby bump and not have anyone notice?
Without missing a beat, I had Kairi fetch her some saffron. I needed it for more than just flavor.
Before the saffron brew was even done, news broke that Esteban was about to raid the palace.
Now that Esteban had a firm grip on power, he finally had time to go after the mastermind who'd brought all that bad luck down on his head.
Just as I picked up the bowl of saffron brew, Esteban walked right into my bedroom, Regicide Slayer in hand.
His eyes, sharp as a hawk, flicked over the bowl, and a cold smirk curled at his lips. "If I didn't know you were a guy, I'd almost think you were trying to cover up the evidence before I search the place..."
Yeah, he was obviously just messing with her.
When I was just three and Esteban was seven, he already started calling me a little girl.
We never got along, and he loved to make fun of how I looked more like a woman than a man.
That kind of talk always hit my father's sore spot, and it definitely hit mine too.
So when I stole his dream girl, he totally deserved it.
"Hey Murphy, want a taste? Who knows, you might be in for a surprise!" I teased.
Esteban almost choked on his coffee.
He looked like he was dying to spit coffee right in my face.
There was absolutely no way I could drink this saffron brew right now, not with Murphy watching me like a hawk.
Whether I had a miscarriage right in front of him, or he got even a hint of the truth, there was no way I'd make it out alive.
He said that the night he was ambushed in the camp, he caught a chilling plum aroma on the assassin.
He spent a whole month scouring Stormburg for that fragrance, but came up empty, until yesterday, when he found it sitting right there in the palace storeroom.
The steward told him it was handed out to the palace concubines.
Basically, he was accusing one of my concubines of trying to assassinate him.
He was this close to just saying I was behind it all!
He didn't even bring up what he did to that "concubine". He just used it to threaten me.
He gave me two options: either let him search the palace. He might not find a thing, but he'd still get to rub my royal face in the dirt. After that, how was I supposed to keep any dignity in front of the court or the concubines?
Or, I could just hand over the person he was after.
He was "generous" enough to give me a whole day to decide.
As soon as Esteban was out the door, my queen Lindsay showed up right on his heels.
Graceful and commanding as ever, she walked in and hit me with a bombshell.
"I was in the camp tent that night too..." she said.
She told me she saw what happened that night.
She saw the truth. She saw that I was a woman...
She said she was the only one who could've been there that night.
If it had been anyone else, they'd be dead for sure, not even I would've survived.
I was stunned, totally floored, but only for a split second.
Lindsay said, "So, it was you who drugged him..."
Now I finally knew why the stuff I made turned into that nasty brew.
It must've been Lindsay who slipped something into my potion to cancel out the effects; otherwise, Esteban wouldn't have reacted that way.
Rage boiled up inside me, and I felt a wicked urge rising.
She wrecked my plan, and now she wanted to use it against me?
Where did she get the nerve?
"Guards!" I barked.
Two shadow guards materialized out of nowhere, silent as ghosts.
"Get rid of the Queen. Make it clean," I ordered.
Lindsay's legs gave out and she collapsed to the floor, terror written all over her face.
In the blink of an eye, she pulled out her ace up her sleeve, a bone flute.
The bone flute's haunting sound pierced the night sky above the Hall of Dominion.
In the darkness, several ghost-like figures swooped in, instantly surrounding Lindsay to protect her.
Lindsay burst out laughing.
Her laughter rang out, bold and unruly, full of defiance and scorn for me, the ruler of this nation!
She shot me a smug look, like she was saying, "Think you can still take me out, Your Majesty?"
No way I could lay a finger on her. Those shadow guards were all Esteban's guys.
Let's be real, I couldn't win in a fight against him anyway.
Damn, I was this close to taking her out!
Honestly, Esteban was such a sucker for love.
Back when the Murphy family was in deep trouble, Lindsay ran straight to me without a second thought, and Esteban didn't even hold a grudge.
That bone flute he gave her? She can still use it to summon his shadow guards anytime she wants.
It wasn't long after the bone flute sounded before Esteban swept into the palace, moving like a storm.
"Murphy, His Majesty wants me dead!" Lindsay cried.
She darted into Murphy's arms, trembling all over like a scared rabbit.
Murphy didn't look at her or hug her. He just stared straight at me.
I watched her play it up, keeping my face calm and indifferent.
Lindsay looked Murphy dead in the eye and declared, "It was me in your tent that night!"