C10 The Chaotic Dinner..

''We were just discussing some matters, father.''

''Matters, you say? So why does Miraila's face looks so red?!'' The Emperor shouted.

''Maybe she was out of breath, who knows?''

''You dare to lie to me, brat.''

The emperor was getting angrier, you could clearly see his face turning red just like Miraila's.

''Forgive me, your highness.. This brat of yours didn't know that the royal family should show any respect to peasants, so my hand may have slipped on her neck and tried to choke her to death.''

River was speaking sarcastically, but the emperor knew this is exactly what happened to his mistress.

The emperor glimpsed Miraila who looked completely terrified of River. He didn't need this chaos right before the dinner.

He also didn't like the fact that the violence was used right in front of Prince Reido and Princess Reina, but the two stayed quiet. No sound, no complaints about anything.

The emperor knew that Miraila was hated by his children, but there was nothing he could do, he liked her. In front of his eyes she looked fragile and innocent, so he just couldn't understand why everyone was against her so much.

''Reido, Reina go to the dining room immediately.''

The emperor's tone was aggressive.

Reina looked at River as if she was asking for his permission to go. River shook his head, telling her to go.

''Kaiden and Skyla must be there already, you two should go greet them.''

When Reina and Reido walked away, Miraila was standing next to the wall, pretending she was hurt. The emperor was here and he wasn't in a good mood, so she could use this opportunity.

Miraila's facial expression changed, her red face turned pale and her angry emotion quickly changed into a sad and scared one.

River knew what she was doing.

River stood there and looked disgusted with her expressions. ''She's really going to play a victim now?'' He thought and looked back at his father.

''You think this is funny?''

The emperor said in a serious tone.

''Oh no, Father.. Not at all !!'' He smirked. ''I think this is hilarious.''

The emperor lifted his right hand up as if trying to cast a spell on River. He murmured.

''The holy dragon of Autumn, let the fire flow through my hand.''

River, sensing his attack straight away, called for Winter dragon's water.

When the fire was about to reach his face, River blocked it with a huge amount of water, making sure that Miraila got wet too.

The emperor became even angrier with River.

He then called for the Spring Dragon power.

''The holy dragon of Spring, let me borrow your power of life.''

Once the emperor murmured something, a big tree - looking root was placed on River's neck, as if it was about to choke him.

The root became more tight and it felt heavier.

River without thinking set it on fire. This root burned out and his face got a bit injured.

''You brat !!'' The emperor was angry. ''You do this to your face before the dinner!!''

''Why don't you take care of Miraila first? She doesn't look in a good condition.''

When the emperor looked at Miraila, her face was wet from the water of River's defence and her clothes were a little burnt from the fire River used to destroy that root.

All his focus was on River, so he didn't even notice that Miraila got involved in this. He quickly ran to Miraila's side to comfort her, but she felt so humiliated that she didn't even allow him to touch her.

She shook his hand off her shoulder and walked away.

''My love!''

The emperor shouted and chased after her.

''What a joke.'' River wiped his face with his hand.

River didn't even bother to change, he went straight to the dining room where the Winter guests were waiting.

When he walked into the dining room, he was surprised how luxurious the servants made it look. The golden - looking walls were really shiny, as if almost someone was wiping it all night. The big five chandeliers with white diamonds crafted on them were holding multiple brand new candles to make the room look bright.

Loads of food were served on one long rectangular form dining table that was made for twenty people. Next to the table there were twenty golden seats, which were being used only for special occasions.

The last time they used them, it was when the empress Diara was still there to celebrate Raiden's nineteenth birthday, that day he was announced as the crown prince. It was five years ago. Everyone was happy that day except for the empress.

That day she was supposed to be happy and celebrate her son's happy day, but a few hours before the announcement she found out about the emperor's affair. Her anger and feeling of betrayal was on a different level that day.

When she confronted him, she wanted to kill him with her own hands, she wanted to take her kids and run away to Senkaru kingdom, where she was from.

The emperor would never allow a divorce, and his obsession with the empress Diara was different, he would never allow her to be with a different man or let another one touch her. He knew there's no way they would go back to normal, so he threatened her to kill her children if she runs away.

He promised her that if she would take them, he would find them and kill them all together. The emperor would make sure that River goes through hell every day if he won't die with the rest of them.

Diara, was a kind woman, and most of all she loved her children, she could sacrifice her own life to save her children from the emperor.

That day, she came to celebrate Raiden's big day, she laughed and smiled with everybody.

She hugged her children, no one was able to notice anything strange with her behaviour, because that was normally how she behaved, but later that night after the banquet, she gathered all of her maids and moved to a different palace.

She didn't allow anyone, except her maids to enter, no one was allowed to see her or meet her. No letters were sent to her and news was able to reach her.

To gather information, she had her own eyes and ears, so she was not bothered with the emperor's orders to hide everything from her.

To protect her children, she could have done anything, but one day when that day comes, she will get her revenge on the emperor, that day will also be when she dies.

When River finished scanning the room, he saw Reina sitting on the left side next to Skyla. Skyla was still wearing the same white dress from before, you could tell she didn't bother much about her outfits, because her beauty was on a different level anyway. Reido was on the right side sitting in the middle between Raiden and Kaiden.

''What an interesting combination.''

River thought and sat next to Reina facing Kaiden.

Raiden saw his brother's bruised face and immediately knew that he fought with the emperor, but this was not the time to bring it up.

When they all awkwardly were sitting in silence, the emperor entered the room.

His five servants were following him from behind.

Miraila was nowhere to be found. She was probably still changing into new clothes.

The emperor sat next to the table where only he and the empress could sit. That was a different table made just for two of them.

It was dark and had red dark rubies on the sides, shiny and heavy. There would only be two dark black seats just for two of them, no one else would dare sit next to the emperor on that chair except for the empress Diara.

''You can start now.''

The Emperor spoke in his loud tone.

Everyone started eating, enjoying themselves, nice conversations were taking place, the atmosphere was good, until the door opened and Miraila walked in.

She was wearing a long red dress, the top of her shoulders were naked and like four centimeters down her sleeves were stuck next to her skin. It was really impressive how her dress was holding, the dress was sparkling and shiny, it was probably a brand new one. Most likely she wanted to outshine Skyla's beauty.

She scanned the room and saw an empty seat next to the emperor.

She smirked and with an attitude walked towards.

Miraila sat next to the emperor. Everyone looked at her with surprised faces, how dare she sit over there? That seat was the empress.. Even the emperor was confused, he didn't know what to say and ignored everyone's angry faces. This was an embarrassing moment for him too.

Miraila looked at everyone with an evil smile on her face and started eating.

An awkward silence filled the room again, Reina was looking down as if she was about to cry. It felt to her like her mother's existence would vanish from the palace..

Reido looked upset too, he didn't know what this feeling was, he longed for his mother and now it feels like someone else is taking her place.

River and Raiden were furious. They were furious with both of them, the emperor and Miraila. In Preto's law if you're the emperor/empress and you are not married, no one else could sit next to you during the dinner, meetings and balls.

When you get married and you're not divorced, that seat is for your empress or emperor only, no one else could sit next to you, unless you're dead or banished from the country.

Miraila.. She knew the law very well, so did the emperor.. And for them to disrespect the empress like this, River and Raiden could never forgive.. River folded the fork he was holding in half, his angry energy surrounded the table, he was about to explode.

Kai and Skyla were shocked with such behaviour of Miraila, they knew Preto's law well, and they could understand how disrespectful that was, but it's not Winter, they could not interfere in Preto's matters. They both sat in silence looking thorny at each other.

Skyla felt Reina's trembling shoulders, her leg was shaking too. Reina was just a little girl, it must have been hard for her to be in this situation. Skyla touched Reina's hand and held it tight. ''You must stay strong, princess.'' Skyla whispered to Reina.

Reina looked at Skyla with a teary look on her face and then looked back down, so no one could see her emotions.

When Raiden was about to say something to the emperor, the dining room door opened again..

A nice smell filled the room.

A gracious body walked in, wearing a dark dress made of Senkaru's cotton, the middle of the dress was filled with blue silk and with flowers decor. Its sleeves were dark and long, the ends were loose, the shoulders were puffy and its sides had bright blue pearls.

She had dark long, straight pink like candy hair, her eyes were light brown and almost looked like gold, her eye shape was pretty and she had dark longer than our lives eyelashes.

Under her eyes you could see some wrinkles, at some point her eyes looked tired.

'' Mmoomm?''