"Nyanyansaurus— Nyasasaurus parringtoni," Cal Junior's brows knitted as he wrestled with the pronunciation of an extinct genus in his book. It was new, only came for him in the mail yesterday, and now he was carrying it around like a treasure.

After their impromptu introduction a few days ago, both had found out about their shared interests in reading, and soon conversations began to flow swimmingly. If only the Emperor had been more considerate and introduced them to each other sooner...

"Another one of the ancient lizards?" Gigi peered over from her seat. They were spending a lazy afternoon in the library, playing a guessing game based on their reading topic. "The question?"

"Herbivore or carnivore?" A delinquent smile played over her lips as he pressed his hand over the text. "No peeking!"

Gigi's eyes roamed over the drawing of a two-legged animal with a swan-like neck, sharp claws and a long tail, making a deduction. "It walked on two legs and it had claws, so... carnivore."

"You're wrong!" he giggled victoriously. "It's a herbivore, and the claws were there to grapple on trees!"

Cal Junior had read more books than any boys twice his age. His reading materials covered a wide range of topics, but his favourites were the ones that could capture his imagination, such as fairy tales and dinosaurs.

"Wouldn't it be so cool if we could have dinosaurs guarding the empire? Theropods roaming over the borders and ocean reptiles patrolling our seas. Those bad guy spies wouldn't even dare to snoop around, because then they'd be eaten!"

"Sounds like a terrific idea. Though I wouldn't know if your father would agree to it, he seems to favour warships and jet planes."

"Those things are boring!" he pursed his lips. "What about your homeland, have they ever found one?"

"Dinosaurs? I don't think they have, but what we do have are Komodo dragons."

Junior gawked, staring at her owly-eyed. "Praja has dragons?"

"Well, they're not the fire-breathing dragons you'd find in fairy tales. They are much smaller and without wings, but they are venomous and could kill you with a single bite. We confined them to their home island, to keep them safe."

"A whole island? That's more than anything we have in Angletonia!" he exclaimed joyously, clutching onto her arm. "Gigi, we have to go, now!"

"Now? What about your homework?" Gigi fidgeted nervously, not expecting such enthusiasm. Truly, she was afraid of what his father would take it, or if he'd approve their friendship at all. Imagine him fuming, 'You are such a bad influence over my son, Gianita!'

"Homework? I'm off to see the dragons!"

"I could still show you their pictures," she convinced, going over to a rack where she stored all of the books she had brought from Praja. One of her brothers was in charge of the conservation, he once sent her a picture of the island and she had been using it as a bookmark.

"What are those? What are those?" Junior hopped off his chair in enthusiasm as soon as he spotted a jumble of foreign books on the shelf, aching to take a closer look at them.

"These are my personal collection," she ran her fingertips affectionately over the book spines. "I've read all of them, but I do like to re-read and knowing I was going to miss them, I brought them all abroad."

Bewildered, the Prince took each of them into his hands, retracing the embossed cover of the books. Some depicted illustrations of native folklores while others showed photographs of famous figures.

"Here's a picture of a Komodo dragon on the island." Gigi slipped it into Junior's hand, so he's now clutching a book in one hand and the photograph in the other. It showed the lizard basking under the sun on the beach-shore, showing off its fork-like tongue.

"They are magnificent," he gushed solemnly before retracting to the books. "May I borrow these?"

"Well, can you read it?" Gigi simpered, tilting her head over. The books were in Prajan and she doubted that he had ever learned the language.

The boy looked at her for a moment, holding his breath. "Teach me!"

***

Teaching Junior the Prajan language had become Gigi's new favourite routine. Over the next few days, she taught him some basic sentence structures and simple greetings with her childhood books. Luckily, she had brought a few of those— getting a hunch that they might come in handy one day.

Junior wanted to jump into the heavy topics, but he had to be patient for that.

"Cal," Gigi addressed the Prince at dinner. "The envoy from the embassy has been called away, so I don't have to work tomorrow. Would you like to go on a marathon again?"

The Emperor turned directly to her at the mention of his name, thinking that she was calling out to him. But the Prince replied first, "I would love to! I don't have classes after lunch, we'll have plenty of time!"

Shell-shocked, the Emperor fell silent at his seat, their daily interactions were still restricted to work. His eyes lit up alert at the friendly banters between Gigi and his son, although he didn't show any objections.

Gigi smiled contentedly. Now, how does it feel to be treated like you don't exist?

"Time to go, Junior, it's your bedtime," he told his son after they finished dinner.

Finishing his glass of milk, the Prince climbed down his seat to take his father's hand. "Selamat... malam!" he greeted Gigi, in Prajan.

"Selamat malam, Junior!" Gigi beamed, curtsying to her husband. "Good night, Sire."

"Good night," he replied, disappearing to the corridor with his son.

Gigi returned to her chambers exhausted but otherwise happy. The Prince was the companion she never knew she needed. He didn't overwhelm her like the crowd on her wedding day but provided her with the sort of intimate one-on-one interaction she was craving for, the kind that her husband neglected to give.

So screw his father. Oh wait, she already did.

Before bed, she was being attended by her four ladies-in-waiting who were personally selected by her mother, the Queen of Praja, to serve her in Angletonia. They were called the Four Gitas: namely Gita Dian, her oldest servant who had been waiting on her ever since she was fourteen; Gita Dewi and Gita Shinta who were immaculately trained in the craft of a lady's maid; and Gita Citra who was to be the nanny to her child.

Though judging from the current situation, apparently that's not going to happen.

"How was the Prince today, Your Majesty? I heard you spent a whole lot of time with him in the library," asked Gita Shinta as she tenderly brushed Gigi's hair.

"It was wonderful," she giggled, removing her earrings. "He was really smart, brilliant even. Oh, did I tell you that he asked me to teach him our language?"

"It pleases me to hear that you've found yourself a good friend," said Gita Dian, smiling back at Gigi's gleaming reflection in the mirror. "It really shows, your happiness shines right through you."

"Forming a bond the Prince meaning she may get close to the Emperor soon," Gita Dewi suggested, helping her slip into her nightgown. "If you look after his son, he might be willing to give you more sons."

"Don't talk about him," Gigi sulked, tightening the sash of her robe. The mere mention of him soured her good mood.

"My apologies, my Lady," she hung her head low, having folded her evening dress for the laundry. "It was not my place."

"I wouldn't hold my hopes up for the Emperor," Gita Citra added from the other side of the room, tidying up her bed. "Our Empress is so beautiful and well-read, what else could he possibly want?"

"Ladies!" Gita Dian scowled at her subordinates. "Haven't the Empress made it clear that she didn't want to hear about the Emperor? And be very careful, you're talking about the ruler of the empire!"

"That's right," Gigi frowned. "We've yet to figure out what kind of person he really is, and I would hate to see you punished for it. I wouldn't want you to—" Gigi paused, feeling a twinge in her stomach. She wasn't feeling very well all day and it was getting harder to ignore. Perhaps, she had eaten the wrong food.

"Are you alright, My Lady?"

"Yes, I just need to use the restroom," she abruptly stood up, rushing toward the bathroom clutching her belly.

Getting worried that she wasn't coming out for a long time, one of her ladies went to check on her after earning her permission. They soon came back, with Gigi clad in a fresh clean nightgown.

"Don't worry, she's just got her monthly cycle." Gita Shinta stated, tossing the dirty laundry into a basket.

"Probably for the best," Gigi scoffed, throwing herself back onto the chair.

"Your Majesty—" The others gathered around her, saddened, apparently they had been hoping that the Emperor had gotten her pregnant that one and only time she'd lain with him.

"He doesn't even care!" she seethed, her body shuddered with anger and resentment as her ladies attempted to comfort her. "You see, he doesn't even want to have a child by me, so why bother? Why should I be saddened by the fact that I'm not carrying his child?"

Despite her words, she couldn't help her feelings otherwise.

.·。.·゜·༺♥༻ ·゜·。.