TILLY felt exhausted after smiling for the emperor for more than twenty minutes. Thank goodness Emperor Aku let her use one of the parlors in his palace. Now she had the room all to herself. The royal maids also served tea for her a while ago.

[Tea is life here.]

Well, she needed refreshment again even though she just had tea with the emperor. Using her brain to come up with careful but witty retorts was very tiring. But at least, she picked up pieces of important information from their conversation.

First, the emperor also knew that she was a Fire Mage. He was probably aware of her heart, too. She wasn't really surprised because he was Princess Nia's twin brother and fiancé. Plus, he was the emperor. He couldn't be clueless of his surroundings.

[But the last thing he said is the most worrisome of all.]

His Majesty purposely told her that he was looking forward to meeting her son as a warning.

[He wants my son and that's the only reason why he's keeping me alive.]

That also meant that the emperor would kill her as soon as she gave birth to Winter.

[Scary.]

"Tilly?"

Tilly was startled when Kiho entered the parlor room. She blinked in surprise because she didn't hear him knock. "Oh."

"I've knocked several times, Tilly," Kiho said while walking towards her. "I got worried when you didn't answer so I went ahead and opened the door. I apologize for startling you."

"It's okay, hon," she said, then she tapped the space next to hers. "Come here."

He nodded, then he sat beside her. "The emperor's maid told me you were waiting here. Are you okay?" He touched her forehead with the back of his hand. "You look pale."

"I'm just tired."

"May I know what you talked about with the emperor?" he asked politely. "His Majesty didn't tease you, did he?"

[No, he just threatened my life.]

"His Majesty just wished me a safe pregnancy," she said. "He said he'll look after me in place of Her Royal Highness."

His face softened up. "Oh. That's nice of His Majesty."

It kind of hurt her to be reminded that Kiho trusted Emperor Aku. Well, she was confident that he would still choose her over His Majesty. But she knew that his choice would hurt him. After all, Kiho had a good relationship with the emperor.

"Do you want to rest here more or do you want to go home now?" her husband asked worriedly. "You look really tired, honey."

"I want to go home," she said. "Aren't you coming home with me?"

He shook his head. "Unfortunately, I still have a meeting with His Majesty. Today, he will officially assign Blake as the temporary captain of Black Serpent Knights. I also have to file my leave of absence, as well as the memo about Blake's new position."

She pouted. "You sound busy."

"Sorry, honey," he said apologetically, then he kissed her on the forehead. "I'll try to go home as early as I can."

"Kiho, can we go on a date tonight?" she asked him. "I don't care how late it is. I want us to go to a place where there would only be the two of us. Do you know a place like that?"

He nodded. "I'll ask my men to clean it up for us."

She shook her head. "Please don't. I don't want anyone else to know where we'll be meeting up tonight."

"You look serious, Tilly," he said worriedly. "What's wrong?"

"We have something serious to talk about later, Kiho," she said. "Please don't ask what it's about. You'll find out later."

Kiho looked at her long and hard before he nodded. "Alright. I'll pick you up at later. But please, rest as soon as you get home." He placed a hand on her tummy. "You and our Baby Winter need a lot of rest, as per the doctor's advice."

"Okay," Tilly said, then she hugged him. "Please come home as soon as possible, Kiho."

***

"IS IT really wise to give Lady Prescott a hint that you already know who she really is, Your Majesty?"

"Of course," Aku answered Captain Sherwood's question. Right now, they were in his office while waiting for Kiho and Vice Captain Blake. He knew that they had time to talk right now because Kiho said he'd walk Lady Prescott to the carriage first. "If Lady Prescott knows that her life is in danger, then she'd definitely ask for her fellow Fire Mages to protect her."

"Do you think that the hiding Fire Mages have already made contact with Lady Prescott, Your Majesty?" Captain Sherwood asked. "Do you think Duke Prescott and the vassal families under them are hiding his daughter's real identity?"

"Duke Prescott doesn't know that his wife was a Fire Mage. He's not aware of Lady Prescott's real identity as well," he said. "I attended Lady Marianne Prescott's funeral many years ago. I can tell when a person is lying to my face. And the last time I saw Duke Prescott, his eyes are still clueless. And if he knows the truth, I should have felt remorse from him no matter how much he hides it."

"Does it mean someone else helped Lady Prescott awaken?"

"Uh-huh," he said. "Lady Prescott knows who she is. I felt that when we were talking a while ago." He smiled when he remembered their conversation. "I should have known that Lady Prescott was special when Nia suggested that I choose her as Kiho's partner. Unfortunately, my beloved had tricked me into believing that she just wanted her friend to rise up in the society."

"It's not that Her Royal Highness has tricked you, Your Majesty," the captain said. "You know that she has a hidden agenda but you just chose to turn a blind eye."

He laughed at how true that was. "I let Nia do all the things she did behind my back because I wanted her to think that she has freedom. If I breathed against the back of her neck every minute of her life, she would have felt suffocated. That's why I chose not to look at the things she wanted to hide from me, such as the owner of the heart that she wanted. I also pretended that I didn���t know she was killing off Fire Mages just to keep her by my side."

"Her Royal Highness believed that she had fooled you, Your Majesty."

"That's what makes her cute," he said with a smile. "But since she failed to do what she wanted to achieve, then I shall continue it in her stead as her twin brother and lover."

"I'm surprised that you managed to control your anger, Your Majesty," Captain Sherwood said in amusement. "I thought you were going to kill Lady Prescott after I told you that she has the heart of the Supreme."

And that meant only Lady Prescott could have ordered the replica to burn Nia alive.

"At first, I was really mad and I even swore to kill whoever it was that caused Nia to end up that in that terrible state," he admitted. "But after a few days of watching Nia unconscious, I felt glad that she fell into a coma. I don't care even if her physical beauty doesn't recover 100%. What's important to me is that she's alive…" He smirked before he continued. "And that she could no longer run away from me. Not in that horrible state."

"You're crazy, Your Majesty," the captain said with a smirk. "No wonder Her Royal Highness is desperate to get away from you."

He just laughed it off. "I can't kill Lady Prescott anyway. Not yet, at least. I still need her to give birth to her son."

"Will you really let the boy live despite the prophecy, Your Majesty?"

"Of course," he said. "I need the Kiho and his child to get what I want in the future."

"Speaking of Captain Kiho, do you think he's not aware of Lady Prescott's identity?"

"He is not aware," he said confidently. "For now."

"What if Lady Prescott confesses her identity to Captain Kiho?"

"I'm betting one hundred percent that Kiho will choose Lady Prescott over me," he said with a laugh. "Kiho and I are the same. We will abandon everything for our lover."

The captain's forehead knotted in confusion. "Wouldn't that be a problem, Your Majesty?"

"I will turn a blind eye to Kiho's betrayal for a year," he said firmly. "I will leave their family alone until Lady Prescott gives birth to her son."

"But why wait for a year, Your Majesty?"

"Because I'm sure that in a year, Lady Prescott is going to prepare for a war against me. That means she'd secretly meet up with her allies," he explained. "All I need to do is wait for the perfect timing and catch them all together. If I ask my people to follow her, then she'd be very careful. But if I leave her alone, then she'd let down her guard. It will be easier to catch her and the other Fire Mages that way."

"Oh, that makes sense," Captain Sherwood agreed. "But what about Kiho? I'm sure he won't leave Lady Prescott and their child."

"Kiho's son can stay with us despite his Fire Mage blood because the child is one of the keys I need. But Lady Prescott is replaceable. We can throw her away after she gives birth to the child," Aku explained. "And most of all, I have a way to make Kiho return to my side."

***

[THE WAR begins now.]

Tilly was thinking deeply while she was alone inside the carriage. She asked Damian to sit beside the coachman because she needed to think.

[The emperor clearly gave me an ultimatum.]

In a year, Emperor Aku would take her child away from her.

She was pretty sure that the emperor would leave her alone to make her lower her guard. He definitely wanted her to ask help from her allies so that he could catch her all together. But that also meant that the emperor wasn't aware yet of whom his real enemies were.

[I have to be careful to protect the Denvers as well.]

Then, there was the thing about the High Priest, too. During the three days that she would serve his temple, she had to find the truth about the prophecy.

[I need to know why HisMajesty needs my son.]

But above anything else, she had to let Kiho know about her real identity first. She needed all the ally that she could get. And of course, she wanted her greatest support to be her husband.

[Kiho, you're going to choose me and Winter… right?]

***