The head servant led the four inside the emperor's study room. After that, he excused himself with a note that he would let the Empress know they were already there waiting.
With Abe assuring the head servant that they would wait, the head servant left.
"I've had my reservations about what you guys said about the Royal Court," Zeniff started after the head servant had closed the doors.
The four were seated on the long couches in the middle of the room. Abe and Pheobe sat on one to the left, while Kyran and Zeniff sat on the right.
"But seeing this treatment... I can now understand what you mean," Zeniff continued.
Abe, who had been smiling the whole time, had finally scowled and said, "For them to order the head servant to come greet us is an obvious sign they are not taking us seriously. Not that I cared about formalities and who they sent. But we are proper envoys; they should at least have an officer come."
"At least they are being honest right from the start. We won't have to bother with mind games," Zeniff replied.
"I just hope we can meet Empress Iulia," Phoebe also chimed in. "I don't think the Royal Court would outright reject anything she does or says in front of us."
"She will come," Kyran assured them. "Don't stress over things."
Compared to the three, who seemed restless as they sat there, Kyran looked pretty lax.
Abe smiled wryly at him and said, "You know this talk about the Royal Court and the Empress all started because of you."
"Ah, right. My bad, sorry."
The three could not help but look at Kyran with a bitter smile.
'You don't sound sorry at all,' they thought after hearing Kyran's deadpan tone.
With nothing left to do, the three busied themselves with other things.
Zeniff took out a rectangular crystal item, which was a magic item used by the Regis Clan to store records and reports. He started looking through what was written on it.
On the other hand, Abe went over to one of the bookshelves by the wall and browsed through the selections.
Pheobe also took out a book and started reading. Because there was no title, nor image on the book she was holding, it was unknown what she was reading about.
Kyran was the only one who did not seem to be doing anything. He just sat there in silence, with his eyes closed. He looked as if he was meditating.
Finally, after almost two hours of waiting, the doors burst open, and Empress Iulia barged in.
That was right. Looking at Iulia's flushed face and slightly out-of-breath appearance, she did look as if she was in a hurry and had to come rushing over.
The four stood up at once and were about to curtsy in greeting. However, Iulia raised her hand and said, "Please, there is no need for that. Instead, I hope you will pardon my late arrival, I was not told you were coming."
Her brows furrowed slightly after realizing something about what she said, and she added immediately, "Though it sounded like a lame excuse, I am really not aware of your arrival."
"Empress Iulia, you don't have to worry because we understand the responsibility that you have to attend to because of what happened," Abe assured her.
Iulia sighed softly, "That may be the case, but I am responsible for ensuring you are attended to properly. I failed on that part—."
"We can talk about those things later," Kyran suddenly cut their conversation short. "Why don't we sit and get down to business?"
Just as Kyran had spoken, two members of the Royal Court also entered the room.
They wore red robes with gold accents, and both held a long golden staff. Seeing how they firmly held the staff in their hands as if they were prepared to take them on at any minute amused Kyran.
Obviously, these two court members were wary of them. But Kyran knew it was not because they were plotting anything. He had his magic sense active all this time and already sensed these two did not have any mark left by Haylee.
"You!" The court member standing on the right glared at Kyran at once. Apparently, he heard and saw how brazen Kyran sounded and appeared, and he was unhappy about it.
"That is not how you speak to the empire's Empress!"
"It is fine," Iulia told the member. She then looked at Kyran curiously, her eyes seemingly able to see something about him.
She did not know why, but she sensed something familiar with Kyran. Was it the way he carried himself? No, that should not be the case. Iulia had never met any of the male youths from the Regis Clan. To be precise, she never had any dealings with the opposite sex until now.
"It is strange, but I feel like this is not the first time we have met," Iulia told Kyran.
Kyran only responded with a slight smile.
Seeing that smile made that inkling Iulia grow stronger. She really knew this young man, but she could not recall ever meeting one.
No.
That was not entirely true.
She did meet a young man quite recently, and for some reason, she found that young man's smile and the Regis's young master's to be the same!
"You remind me of Disciple Tyr..." Iulia muttered under her breath.
As soon as she said this, Pheobe and the two court members frowned.
"Your Majesty?"
Kyran, on the other hand, smiled and said, "Let's change location. This place is full of prying and spying spells."
Hearing his accusation immediately sowed ire on the two court members.
"Don't say you are part of the Regis Clan."
The court member standing on the right had said to Kyran.
"Any more false accusation from you will be judged accordingly."
"That is enough," Iulia told the court member. "Find us another room, please."
She did not speak loudly. She even sounded gentle. However, her voice carried an immense pressure that made the two court members lower their heads at once.
Their reactions surprised Abe, Pheobe, and Zeniff.
Did they not speculate that Empress Iulia would not hold that much power over the Royal Court? How come these two looked ready to fall on their knees and beg Iulia for mercy?
"As you wish, Your Majesty."
The two respectfully bowed toward Iulia before turning to leave.
Kyran slightly raised his brows at how easily Iulia had those two follow her order. Then again, he already deemed they were not there to intervene with their talk but protect her from possible hostility from them.
"I worried for nothing," Kyran started. "It seems you already have your people enter the Royal Court. Or, did you win them over?"
"The latter sounds too dark," Iulia replied with a smile. "I admit it is not easy to have my people enter the court because of how I became the new Empress. However, my people have real talents that the senior members could not deny."
"That's good then," Kyran replied with a nod. "This means we have less thing to worry about."
Iulia chuckled, "How much I find you familiar is quite strange."
Kyran only smiled in response.
Abe, Pheobe, and Zeniff exchanged glances at the exchange between Kyran and Iulia. Although Abe and Zeniff guessed, the latter might have realized who Kyran was. From her words just now, she was not entirely convinced of her own guess.
Meanwhile, Pheobe could not help but look at Kyran suspiciously.
The truth, when the talk of Kyran's father, Cade, wanting to build an Array formation that could travel to other 'places,' and that he was recruiting Array Specialists from the whole empire, there had been talk of letting 'Disciple Tyr' being one of the suitable candidates.
Pheobe had already heard of that name. It was the name of the only apprentice of Chairman Noir. The one who was also said to be non-existent.
But Disciple Tyr's name suddenly became a hot topic, especially among the ladies, who found him attractive.
Apparently, at the time when the Regis Clan had been forced to confine themselves inside the estate's Inner Walls, Disciple Tyr had decided to show up.
'Show up? No,' Pheobe's eyes lit up as a sudden realization crossed her mind. 'Don't tell me Kyran had...?'
She looked at Kyran questioningly. However, whether the latter was avoiding her eyes or outright ignoring her, he did not say or do anything.
When the two court members returned to the study room, they led the group to the inner part of the palace.
They then entered one of the private rooms reserved for ministers to gather in small groups.
After that, Iulia asked the two court members to leave them.
The two were reluctant to leave. However, Iulia did not budge, and so they left.
Nevertheless, they only left the room but decided to stay outside.
"Sorry," Kyran suddenly said when the five of them were about to sit on the chairs arranged around a round table.
Before they could ask him what was wrong, they felt an invisible force pass through their bodies.
And in a blink of an eye, the scene before them changed.
This 𝓬ontent is taken from fre𝒆webnove(l).𝐜𝐨𝗺