It was after the Rehema's rehearsal that day, that Ekon was supposed to meet Rehema. It was the late afternoon, he and his three servants were ready to meet with her for supper and were trying to leave his house area, until he found his gates sealed and guarded by two tall men, with armor.

Ekon turned to look at his main servant standing behind him, who simply shrugged because he was just as confused as he was. Ekon bit his lip and went to approach the men at the sealed gate.

"Care to explain what the meaning of this is?" Ekon asked irritated but with his head held high. His royal robe touched the ground and was black and gold.

"Your majesty you aren't permitted to leave your establishment until Empress Rehema deems necessary," The guard on the right said, keeping his face straight and unemotional.

"Excuse me?" Ekon asked taken back.

The guards remained silent.

"Move out of my way. I have a scheduled supper with my daughter, this evening you imbecile. How dare you block the Emperor Dowager from proceeding!" Ekon burst out loud.

"We are simply following orders," the guard on the left responded with a nonchalant face and tone.

"And whom orders would that be?" Ekon asked puzzled.

"Her majesty's!" The two guards answered in unison.

"She would never—" Suddenly one of the servants behind him cleared his throat. Ekon turned around to give him his attention and now also saw the mail boy had joined them. His servant handed him an already open letter, while the mail boy seemed too scared to approach the Emperor Dowager.

"What the hell is this?" Ekon asked not bothering to take it. He felt nothing but embarrassment during this moment. It reminded him of his days back as a concubine.

"It's from the Committee Council, your majesty. You might want to read it..." his servant gulped. Ekon sighed in irritation and snatched the letter from his servant's hand.

He peered at the first line and then went directly to look at the bottom of the letter, which was confirmed with not just a stamp but Rehema's signature. This was the real deal. Did this mean he did something to upset Rehema? Everything has been going along well between him and her so what on earth could be the meaning of this.

Ekon read through the letter seeing it stated, "The Committee Council for Empress Rehema's royal coronation has collectivity decided to be a halt and pause of his majesty Ekon Eze leadership of the council until further notice. We hate to discuss and come to his discussion, but the current proposal of his majesty erupts and sudden changes, would do heavy damage to a coronation that is very important to the African people. We simply cannot allow them to take place and would rather give his majesty time off from the council as the coronation is near. Thank you for understanding your majesty and Empress Rehema will fill you in with updates later."

What mostly lingered on his mind, after reading the short message was what changes were they talking about?

"What erupt changes are they speaking of? They're keeping me sealed away over what?" Ekon huffed.

His younger servant shrugged, "They won't give us any detail."

"Who is the leader of the Committee now?" Ekon asked.

"His Majesty the Emperor, your honor," his main servant answered.

Blood rushed to Ekon's face, after hearing the title announced. Of course, it had to be him behind this. It just had to. Ekon crumpled up the letter in his hand in anger, turning his hand into a fist, and rushed back up the pathway to his home, with his servants bewildered and confused tailing behind him. There was no way Chike was going to get away with this. Trying to get his own daughter against him? Now that was a line Ekon didn't think Chike was brave enough to cross.

It had been two days since the visit of the Queen council and Marjo's irritation had yet to calm down. The audacity of those women to lecture her on what she is doing wrong after how they failed to protect her mother and let vicious Isolda Kasperek get away with so much.

The night was young and Marjo was sitting on the edge of her bed, while Klive was rubbing her shoulders. They were just getting ready for bed after a long day.

Having Klive around was helping her through a lot and in a good way. For a time in forever, she was mingling with her harem. It was a rare sight for the rest of the palace. Before she would be locked up in her bedroom, and never come out to speak to anyone. Now, she comes out for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. She goes to her study more often and has started to do more royal duties, and talk to her advisors, rather than ignore or yell at them.

Meanwhile, Klive was only focusing on keeping Marjo happy and avoiding Anton. Every run-in on Anton was bad. One look in Anton's eyes and Klive could see how much hurt and jealousy was behind them. He felt bad, but at the same time how much more could he tell him, that he wasn't his enemy. "I have no interest in taking the emperor's throne!" Klive wanted to yell at him, but he needed to be patient. The last thing he needed was an more reason for Anton to hate him.

"Thank you Klive," Marjo said stretching.

"Do you need anything else, your majesty?" Klive asked.

Marjo shook his head, and he reached over to kiss her cheek to which she responded with a smile. "It's been a long day; you can go sleep in your chambers. I need Anton with me tonight."

Klive nodded moving from the bed and giving her one last bow before wishing her well and exiting her bedroom.

Leaving the bedroom, he followed the path down the hallway that would lead to his bedroom chambers. Marjo specifically gave him a nice one after their romance had deepened over the weeks. As he was walking, he noticed Anton approaching, walking in the opposite direction to Marjo's bedroom, with a servant behind him.

Klive stopped to bow and greet him, "Your grace, have a goodnight."

Anton stopped, and rolled his eyes, ignoring Klive, and not bothering to respond to him. All that mattered was him getting to spend the night with Marjo. It's been forever since he last served her and Klive's annoying presence was not going to ruin that.

Anton pushed past Klive and continued to walk down the passageway, his silk robe trailed behind him

Klive shrugged and continued down his way, once he got into his room, and entered he went to change into a white long tunic and black tights. He reached for his white and brown woolen Viking-style coat and laced up his brown leather boots.

Tonight, was the night he needed to give updates like he promised he was. He made sure to lock his bedroom down and then went to the window in his room. He hopped out of his bedroom window, climbing down slowly on the stones of the slippery icy castle. His bedroom wasn't that far from the bridge of the castle, and he landed on the side of the stone bridge. He moved off the rail of the stone bridge and walked down the path of the bridge, which would lead to the exit of the castle. He needed to get to the Icefemme forest which was behind the Blair Castle. A forest that many of the royal guards used to train in, and has mostly been abandoned. It was a mysterious forest that spanned acres.

As Klive was running he noticed two female guards approaching and quickly ran to hide behind a stone column. The female guards didn't notice him and kept walking, not checking their surroundings. Klive kept his breath in check, and the air was so cold that when he breathed out cloudy vapor appeared.

When the guards were long gone, he kept going, till he reached out of palace grounds. He already was pretty familiar with everything in the palace complex. When the guards move, the shifts, where to go and where not to go, and what's guarded and what's not guarded. Which he needed in order to successfully complete his duties. He needed to get Empress Margo to completely trust him for this to work.

When he reached the Icefemme forest, he knew he needed to meet by the misty oak tree. It was even colder in the Icefemme forest and icicles were hanging under every tree branch. When he got to the massive misty oak tree, it was hard to see anything past the mist. The tree was so high up in height and disappeared in the sky when he looked up.

"Your late," A voice said in the dark behind the tree.

"Sorry, her majesty kept me a while," Klive responded out of breath. Klive couldn't see a face only a voice, but from the voice, he recognized actually who it was.

"How is she?" The shadow asked in a deep, croaky voice

"She been going through a lot, but she is doing well. Much better than before," Klive responded.

"Good. You have been doing good work, but you must not forget what you are truly here for."

Klive nodded, understanding.

"Have you been followed?"

"No, of course not," Klive answered.

"Well, continue to grow your trust in her, the next step is to have her body step out of the palace. What about the other men?" The voice asked.

"She is laying with the emperor of her harem tonight, who currently despises me."

"Does he find you suspicious?"

"No, he's just mostly upset that I currently hold Empress Marjo's favoritism in the harem."

"Be careful, don't have him tail you, and try your best to prove him to not be his enemy. Try to have her explore the other men in the harem, we don't want too much attention drawn to us."

Klive nodded understanding.

"Overall, you are on the right path. Remember not to rush anything or it could come off as suspicious. We have her in a good place right now," the voice assured. "We will meet again when I send you a scroll of invitation under a false name. Get some good night's rest."

Klive nodded, "yes, Sir," and that was the end of the meeting. Klive knew it was the end of the meeting and that the mysterious figure was gone when a wave of silence came through the forest. Klive walked in the direction of where the voice originally was talking, which was behind the tree trunk that faced him, and he found not a single trace that could lead to anyone previously being there. A completely untouched spot covered in ice, leaves, and wood.