THE EMPEROR'S CAPTIVE

Kingdom of Liryc

The first time Rose saw the new emperor was on his first visit to her small town. The town had been thrilled about the arrival and visitation of the new emperor that you would think it was His majesty himself who decided to grace the town with his visit. Their town was one of the smallest towns in the Kingdom of Liryc, they relied on farming for survival and even though they were drowning in taxes, the people never complained. It wasn’t as if they were happy with their situation but because they dare not utter a word against the King that ruled over them like a Demon and now, his son, Hadrian has been made an emperor.

The gods forgive her, Rose thought it was a useless position endowed with some fancy name. The world was already in the industrial revolution period and yet, The Kingdome of Liryc seems to give priority to some towns other than the rest.

The first time Rose came into town, everyone had one or two things to say about her weird appearance. She had pale skin that was as white as snow, her hair was ginger red and her eyes were so blue you could think they home the skies in them. She looked sickly thin and had one tattered cloth on her shoulder. She had come to stay with her sick grandma so she could take care of her but the old woman didn’t last too long for Rose to perform her filial duties before she died. Rose never left the Town of Sicily after that. It was better for her to live as a farmer rather than live in an industrial city. She never told anyone the real reason why she had left her former town because she was scared she would become an outcast here too.

Tell or no tell, no parents allowed their children to go closer to Rose, she was considered an abomination because of her looks and anytime they haul an insult at her, Rose would laugh as she imagined what their reaction would be if they knew she who she really was.

Despite being an outcast, Rose was invited to the Kitchen by a respectable, reasonable woman, May. May was Rose’s grandma next-door neighbor who had been kind enough to feed her some bread and gave her some extra clothes on cold nights when she first came to town till the next farming season started so she wouldn’t die of hunger. Rose was to help with the preparation of meals for the festive, a ceremony to welcome the emperor. Their town was the last he would visit on his tour around the Kingdom and their Chief deemed it fit to make them starve just to fill the belly of a useless emperor for the night.

What an irony! Rose sneered.

“Rose!” The shrilling call of her name made her jump as she forced herself out of her thoughts almost instantly. May was standing at a spot, glaring at the skinny girl with so much annoyance. Perfect! She had successfully angered the only woman who bothered to spare her a second glance.

“Yes, May!”

“Where did you put your head? I’ve been calling for you,” May clicked her tongue, pushing a plate into another girl’s hand.

“Sorry, I wasn’t listening. What did you say?” She asked. May groaned before pointing at the flour that Rose was mixing.

“Isn’t that too smooth for the meal we’re trying to prepare?” May raised her voice and Rose couldn’t miss the hint of annoyance.

“I’m sorry, May, I got carried away,”

May closed her eyes, not sure of what she should do with the child. “Just please, don’t ruin things for us tonight. The emperor is in a good mood, don’t spoil it with your mindless attitudes,” Rose nodded. “Now, wash your hands and carry these bowls along with me,” May pointed to the bowl of fruits in front of her.

Rose quickly washed the flour out of her hand as quickly as possible, even though some parts of her hands were still covered with flour, she quickly cleaned her hand on her clothes as she picked up the two bowls and followed after May. May reduced her pace so Rose could catch up with her and when she did, the two of them moved swiftly towards the festive.

The community hall has been used to host the emperor, Rose has helped with the decorations though the next person assigned with her was like ten feet away. They acted as if she had a plague or whatever it is they called it. She had even overheard some people saying she had the Industrial town diseases. The emperor was sitting at the edge of the long table, their town chief was sitting at his right side while the rest were mostly people that Rose didn’t recognize. The Emperor lifted his head just as May and Rose walked toward him and Rose quickly bowed, using May’s feet as a guide.

When May suddenly stopped, Rose couldn’t. She fought to hold her ground but it was too late. The bowls she was holding, tripped over May while she herself fell flat to the floor, hitting her leg against a chair.

“Oww!” she groaned as she struggled to get up from the floor.

“I told you to be careful, Rose,” She could hear May nagging as she helped her up the floor. All eyes were now on them, the town chief was already up from his seat to probably caution them and punish May for allowing her into such a dignified setting.

As Rose tried to look away from the little chaos she had caused, her eyes settled on that of the new emperor and she almost gasped at how young he was. She was expecting a fifty years old man but the emperor was no more in his late twenties. He had black jet hair that curled to the back, his eyes were wild as that of a cat, his lips were curled in a smirk and Rose found herself entrapped in his eyes. She looked away before she was caught staring and walked out of the hall with her head bowed.

Rose crumbled into the floor behind the hall as hot tears ran down her cheek. She could hear the laughter coming from the hall and she knew it was about her. She’d heard worse and seen worse, how come this one affected her so badly. She wiped her tears angrily with the back of her hand and decided to wait till after it was over before she show her face to May again.

Two hours into waiting, she was already drowsy so she deiced to leave and see May by morning.

“Where are you going to?” A thick voice asked from behind. She turned to find herself in the presence of the emperor.

“My lord,” She bowed. What has she gotten herself into? Rose bit the inside of her cheek as regret washed over her. She had angered the emperor who was probably not different from his father.

“I asked you a question,” He queried. His words didn’t draw out, they were sharp and demanding.

“Home,”

“Do you have a family to go back to?” He asked again.

Rose shook her head as questions began running through her mind.

“Good, because you’re coming with me,”

“What? I don’t under….” Before she could finish her words, her mouth and nose got covered with a rag from behind and as she struggled to set herself free, she felt drowsy till she didn’t feel any strength in her hands and entire body enough to fight it.

As darkness overshadowed her, she heard the emperor. “Tie her up properly, we don’t know what she is. A wolf or a vampire,”