I post a lot of TSE aesthetics and edits 🐍

.·。.·゜·༺♥༻ ·゜·。.

A huge body of Seolian soldiers was gathered near the border to unleash one last blow at the remaining camps of Angletonian soldiers. Once hiding in surrounding regions, all the remaining troops had joined together to deliver the last blow, now that the Angletonian forces had almost retreated completely.

Since most of their generals had died in the war, the royal Princes were assigned to lead at the front. It was midnight, and although the air was wet and chilly they were prepared to take the soldiers out by surprise while they were resting.

It was time to teach those invaders a lesson.

"After we burn down their last hiding spots, capture every traitorous peasant so we can incarcerate them all at once!" ordered the Crown Prince.

Near dawn, the Seol-il troops surrounded the last base of Angletonian military camps, throwing flaming arrows and spears at them as the firing squad waited at the perimeter, waiting to shoot any fleeing soldiers.

The Prince watched close by, satisfied.

"Your Highness!" one of the soldiers sprinted back to them. "The tents are all empty! There was nobody there!"

"What?" The Prince was struck aghast, but before he could process this turn of events, the sky was raining fire on them.

"A trap! It's a trap!" some of the men shouted through the garrison.

"They've been waiting for us!"

There was a loud thunderous sound coming from above and everyone raised their heads to the horizon. A squadron of military aircraft appeared before the rising sun, charging directly at them.

"Fire," Cal commanded from one of the planes, dropping the bombs to the surface. In mere seconds, the ground beneath them exploded.

All this while, Angletonia had been fighting with one hand tied behind their backs. They were only releasing their ground forces, but now that they'd unleashed their aerial power, how would an underdeveloped country like Seol-il stand a chance?

The planes manoeuvred, ready to release another set of explosives. Bodies were scattered on the ground. The men who attempted to escape the field were soon gunned down by the fighter planes. A soldier leapt before the prince as an airstrike was directed at him.

"What?" The King rose up from his seat. "A surprise attack?"

"Yes, Your Majesty," informed a palace aid, cowering in fear. "One of the troop leaders sent this message through his eagle!"

"But that's impossible! They were just retreating! Even if they meant to deceive us by leaving, they wouldn't be able to reach the field that quickly!"

"It was an aerial attack. I-I heard the princes were killed on the spot."

"Your Majesty!" The head guard ran in with a number of soldiers.

"Now what's this?"

"A group of rioters are on their way! They want to overthrow the royal family!"

"Your Majesty, we are going to find a way to get you and the princess to safety but for the moment please stay inside!" the man begged.

"We've had rebellions before, we can take care of that again. These peasants have no power!" He waved it away, heading to the balcony.

Ignoring the servants' beg and plea, the King emerged from his dominion and saw hundreds of people—commoners, heading for the palace carrying sickles and blades.

They were a mix; the refugees who had been living with food and shelter in Archambault, the peasants who raised the Serpent banner in their homes near the border, all who had received aid from Angletonia. Having tasted the comfort of the Serpent's coil, they were willing to kill to be provided more. Their weapons were raised up high, unafraid to slash anyone who stood in their way. And at the front, leading the crowd, was Kym Shion.

"That cross-breed!"

As Cal arrived at the capital at midday, the rioters were already looting and destroying the entire complex. The royal palace had become a gruesome sight, with pools of dead bodies and ruin.

Something could be heard crushing the lion statue on the second floor, sending dust and fragments of stone onto the ground below. Cal sighed, brushing the dirt off his military uniform. "Could you please tell their leaders not to smash everything in sight? I don't care if they grab themselves some antiques, but I wouldn't like to waste our funds rebuilding this place."

"Right away, Sire."

"This way, your Majesty."

Cal then followed as a soldier led him to a safe place where the King was detained by Kym Shion. It turned out to be the audience chamber, where the King was bound to his seat. His throne had now become his personal prison.

The elderly man sneered when he saw him. "So, the Serpent Emperor. We meet at last."

"Your Anglese is actually really good for someone who hates foreign interference."

"Well take care." The King taunted. "Those people will do to you the same they've done to me."

"You shouldn't have treated your subjects so poorly." Cal stared down at the deposed King. "These are the consequences."

"I merely did what was within my power; power that had been vested in me by the sky and my fathers before me. Not a single thing beyond that. Could you say the same for yourself, Cal Leroy?"

"A monarch's power is fragile," Cal smiled cynically. "It bears no strong hold without loyalty and devotion; both which fear and terror do not inspire."

The King looked astounded for a moment before giving him an understanding nod. "Very well. So you ought to end me then?"

"A tempting offer..." Taking a gun out of his waistband, Cal cocked and pointed it at the King's face. But then he paused, before handing it over to Kym Shion. "But it's not mine to take. Farewell, Tsoy Samson. Take the old world with you."

Sparing them one last glance, he turned and disappeared through the door he entered by.

The King laughed at Kym Shion, who was now holding the gun pointed at him with trembling hands. "I knew it. Cross-breeds are a disgrace; a threat to the balance of society. Give one an extra chance and look at what it has become... We should've outlawed you long ago; eradicated you at birth."

"It's not surprising you'd take innocent children's lives, like how you killed my sister," he gritted his teeth. "Navie was high-born, and yet it didn't stop you from taking her life. Your Queen's life!"

"Your sister was a harlot. A Queen does not let herself be seduced by a common guard, like a street whore."

"You talk about fidelity? How many court ladies— how many serfs and nameless women have you been with? You could've sent her away and no one would've noticed!"

"She tried to pass their ill-bred spawn as a royal child."

Kym Shion stiffened. A child?

"Oh, you didn't know?" The King smirked wider. "Reminds me how glad I was to take her life; seeing her chug that poison before that abomination in her belly could take its first breath... That slut."

The sound of gunshots racked the palace complex.

***

A week later, Cal proposed a parade where he'd embark on a tour around Seol-il for the first time since the war ended. It would be good for the people to get a glimpse of their new ruler.

"On horseback?" The wrinkly lines couldn't be more defined on the Head of Security's face as he heard the Emperor's request.

Cal shrugged. "It's only fair that I should be allowed a close look around my new dominion."

"But why should you be on horseback, Your Majesty?"

"Why not? I didn't bring Inferno up here only to graze the Archambault gardens."

"That would only make it harder to keep you safe. The political situation of Seol-il remains unstable for now. I'd suggest you do it in a few weeks or months after the new government's installed."

Cal rubbed his chin. "But that's far too long! I'm afraid we're going to lose the momentum. I want it to go as soon as today."

"T-Today, Your Majesty?"

"Just a turn around the perimeter." He smiled brightly. "It's not too hard, right? Ask your men to rehearse according to the protocol."

It was too hard, but who could deny the Emperor? One might have expected a quiet ride along the archetypal main roads of Angletonian cities, but there was no such thing on Seol-il. The armed members of the Emperor's guards awkwardly circled Inferno, forming a live fence to keep people out of the way as the coal black stallion continued to march through the crowded market of Seol-il capital. Sometimes they would bump against the stallion's muzzle, irritating him.

"The Emperor has arrived!" a pageboy cried in the native language.

They were just lucky it wasn't the rainy season, when the grounds would stick with mud.

Cal waved gracefully at the crowd as he was halted by a woman. "Hello, how are you?" He gave her a kind smile.

"Thank you, Emperor." She then flashed her breasts before leisurely walking away. Cal slipped off his saddle, almost falling off his horse, unable to believe what happened before his very eyes. Later he learned the working class women thought baring their breasts as a symbol of freedom.

Convinced that the parade was a bad idea, after all, Cal headed to the inner palace where the Princess was being kept safe. It wasn't her fault that her father turned out to be an awful ruler, so they had agreed that she wouldn't be imprisoned or punished like some of the King's supporters.

"How is she?" Cal asked Kym Shion who had been standing by.

"Still shaken." Kym Shion replied. "I'm afraid you'd find her quite unpleasant, Your Majesty."

"Can't blame her for that, she's seventeen." He shook his head. "Tell me about her."

"Her mother was once a serf before she was elevated to the rank of a royal concubine. She used to work as a water maid in the palace. The King took notice of her one day, and..." Kym Shion frowned and Cal didn't need him to finish his sentence to find out what had happened.

"Do you think that'll give her enough sympathy for our cause?"

"Princess Leelian of Seol-il, Your Majesty," a soldier announced her arrival before Kym Shion could reply. "Your Highness; the Emperor of Angletonia."

The Princess didn't look like anything more than a normal teenage girl; a sad, angry, tired teenage girl. Even dressed in the finest silk of royal attire, one couldn't miss her sorrowful glance as she curtsied, unwillingly, to him. Her bronze hair was kept in a tight braid. It was known that the women of the Seol-il upper-class would often dye their naturally dark hair in a fairer complexion.

"Oh, the murderers of my father and brothers," she grunted in Seolian, after taking one uninterested look at Cal and Kym Shion.

"The ones who saved your people," replied Kym Shion in a rebuttal.

"If we were to have a conversation," she spoke in clear Anglese, raising her gaze up to Cal, "Can it be done among well-born people and exclude the roaches?" She spoke with a spiteful tone, clearly referring to Kym Shion.

Cal let out a deep sigh. There was no use in fighting a teenager who just had her family killed. "Kym Shion, could you leave us for a moment, please?"

Clenching his jaw, Kym Shion left the room involuntarily.

"I know you're upset. Indeed it's hard to grasp, but your father was a terrible ruler, just as his fathers were before them. Look what it did to your people."

"So, if some people are doing things differently from what you're used to, you destroy them?"

"I am not destroying your country," Cal clarified patiently. "I want to rebuild it; give it a chance to start anew."

"Hard to believe from someone who had just blown our border and palace not a week ago," the princess remained unconvinced.

"I'm giving you an offer. You are the only remaining member of the royal family, and I'm sure you'd rather rule it yourself than hand it over to the greedy politicians. You may keep your titles and rule as a Queen under the Empire, but for one condition; you must abandon the old, brutal practice that your father used to do."

"And if I refuse?"

"Your Majesty—" one of his men suddenly cut in.

Cal raised his hand. "I am in a very important meeting."

"The Imperial Palace just made a telephone call, Sire," he nudged over a small note. "It's about the Empress, I believe."

Hearing Gigi being mentioned, Cal abruptly stood and took the note card. His eyes shot wide as he read the message. Gripping the paper tightly in hand, he went to grab his coat and headed to the door.

"Very well, Princess, you have more time to consider my offer." Glancing at the guards as he left he added, "Get Kym Shion. Tell him to take care of this for the moment. My wife's in labour, I am going home."

.·。.·゜·༺♥༻ ·゜·。.

We've got two chapters left + epilogues! ♥