It was rather a strange feeling. His eyebrows furrowed in concentration, trying to understand the feeling that was stirring in his chest. It felt a bitter taste in his mouth. His eyes wandered elsewhere as he tried to grasp the unfamiliar emotion.

What is this?

He remained silent for a moment, fazed by the intensity of his emotions. He presumed it must be anger in another form, that he was simply mad at the fact that someone had touched something that was clearly his.

He wasn't entirely convinced of what he came up with but since he couldn't understand it just yet, this will have to do for now. With an unreadable expression, he took a deep breath and combed the doll's curly tresses with his fingers before turning around to leave the side room. He didn't want to make a scene where the patient was lying.

"Let me ask you again. What the hell is going on?" His words were directed to the ones still frozen in place.

Everyone in the room trembled at the emperor's question. They looked at one another concernedly, not having any idea how to respond. They subtly peeked at the emperor and saw an unfamiliar expression pasted on his face.

It's been too long since the Majesty had that look on his face.

Most of the time, he had this expressionless yet calculating look. He looked guarded at all times, as if he was sizing an opponent up and trying to figure out his weaknesses. The cold, daunting look on his face was what the maids saw every day for a year ever since the Emperor took the throne.

And if his questions were answered unsatisfactorily, everyone's necks will be gone in an instant.

Fortunately for them, the presence of the doll for the past month somehow eased his tension. The good night sleep he's been having recently made him a bit nicer than he usually was, that it slipped from everyone's mind that the unforgiving Emperor, who had built his throne upon the blood of his enemies, was a man who always gets what he wanted.

Especially when he's this mad.

The emperor glared at them with his stony eyes. The maid in front stuttered, unable to speak coherently. "T-that's...."

"Speak properly." The Emperor demanded in a booming voice.

There was no point in prolonging this further. The two servants who had been hiding all this time are now on the floor, shivering in obvious fear.

"What did these two creatures do?"

"Please allow these two to explain themselves."

The emperor responded flatly. "Go on."

"Thank you, Your Majesty." The head maid faced the kneeling maids. "Now tell the emperor what happened to his doll."

The maids' eyes darted around, mouth slightly parted and no words came out but the faint sound of their teeth chattering. Trepidation ran wild inside them, preventing them from speaking despite the emperor's assent. Fearing the emperor would be more enraged from the lack of explanation, the head maid urged them with a shout so loud it made them flinch on their spots. "Hurry up and tell him!"

The brunette maid lifted her head slightly and caught the head maid frowning in her direction. She opened her mouth before closing them again as if choosing her words carefully. Then she spoke, "...Well, it's not our fault! We don't know what happened either! I really didn't mean to-"

"I was just teasing her!" The red-haired maid piped up, "But when I came to my senses, Marie was already falling down the stairs!"

No words were uttered after that. Despite the lack of a better explanation, the emperor figured out what happened right away. "Are you saying that you pushed her down the stairs?"

"Your Majesty, please calm down!" Being used to the emperor's temper made the knights standing on guard spring into action, hastily stopping the emperor from lashing out.

Being in numerous battlefields which all led to his victorious pursuits made him crown himself with his own power and greatness. The emperor does not simply kill his knights, but he would beat all of them enough to put their lives on the line. They knew they were the only ones who could stop him when he's in the middle of his outrage. Ridrian glared at the knights who came to stop him, golden eyes eyeing them up like a predator would a prey.

"Where were you when this was happening?" He barked.

"Well... Your Majesty..." The two knights glanced at each other apprehensively and closed their mouths.

They were instructed to guard the emperor's bedroom earlier this morning. When both of them took their places by the door, the two maids appeared and bribed the other with a gold coin and went inside the room. Honestly, they didn't think much of it, thinking that the maids were probably just going to play around with the doll just like they did with the previous dolls.

It never crossed their minds that the maids would actually try and kill the doll. The knights didn't dare voice this out loud in fear of having their necks brutally severed.

"Why do you think I instructed the both of you to guard the room?" The emperor snapped.