William pov contd.

I gritted my teeth as she tried to insult the father of Abigail, Abigail and me together., asking him directly was nothing less than a two edged sword. If he agreed then he had to give me the hand of Abigail as my mistress and if he denied then she would declare it as treason and punish him.

She gave me that sinister smile as her eyes filled with evil glint and then she turned to look at Abigail’s father.

“The whole palace is waiting for your reply, Duke George. Do not tell me that you are selfish enough to let the whole empire suffer because you want your daughter to be the empress.” I looked at my father through gritted teeth. 

Would he let his wife once again ruin my happiness? Would he let her manipulate the truth once again? Since the start she had been doing what she wanted and even today I could not see any chance of my father speaking against her.

Her cold and sinister look and the prideful smirk on her face was telling that we both knew it.. She was the one who would take the final decision. I looked at George Essendson’s who face was red with anger and embarrassment. His hands were clenched too yet his eyes were clear. At that moment, i knew that he was going to support his daughter even when he could be given death penalty for treason. For a moment i felt jealous with Abigail as she had such a loving and caring father who was ready to sacrifice his life for her without even an ounce of regret.

But I would not be selfish enough to let that happen.

“Scarlet did not want to marry me, your majesty!” I announced and once again every eye turned towards me. The gasps and whispers were not enough to describe the chaos of the palace hall.

“Who said so?” asked the empress as she raised a brow and looked at me with her cold eyes. But it was my turn to pass her smirk and look at her with confidence.

“She has denied herself. She told me that she did not want to marry a womanizer, it would not be good for her kingdom. She had denied me long ago. I have asked her to give me another chance, and she has reluctantly agreed. 

But when she heard about this incident, she called me and denied that she would not be able to marry a man who loves another woman this crazily.“ I could see several of them nod their head in understanding while the empress gritted her teeth. She was not expecting that this would happen and all the credit goes to Scarlet, who has shown her kindness when I have asked for her help.

I had thought that she would deny me since it may affect her future and the empress might show her anger on her kingdom too, yet she agreed to deny me and get the wrath of this snake.

“I will talk to the princess personally. There are times that marriage alliances need to be done due to political welfare.” her sweet voice resonated in the hall again.

“That would not be needed!” came the strict and cold voce of my father before I could show a mirror to the empress.

“Your majesty!” She looked at my father with a teary face as if she had suffered huge grievances. I just wanted to beat her and show her what grievances really were!

“That’s it, empress. We are not weak to request the princess to marry our son. We are strong enough to thrive and win even without them.” came his authoritative voice that did not have any chance of argument.

How could the foolish woman forget that father loved more to his pride than even his children. And here she wanted to request a princess from a small kingdom’s princess. But I still did not get why she wanted me to marry Scarlet. 

I had thought that Scarlet was working for her but now that I look at it, Scarlet was a kind, honest and loyal friend. There was no way she would be supporting this woman who got blinded by greed!

“I.. I understand your majesty.“ She replied in a low voice, and I was sure that she did not agree with him at all, yet she did not have the courage to defy him in front of everyone.

“Then i shall take my leave.” I said as I bowed my head when her laughter filled the hall once again.

This woman would not stop her tricks until she was taught a lesson!

“I understand that we can not force lady Scarlet to marry you without her wish but it doesn’t mean that lady Sophie is against it too. I am sure as the noblesse oblige she would understand that you will have a concubine sooner or later.

  And i have heard that Sophie and Abigail are old friends so i do not think that they would have problem in living together.” I was sure that the crazy girl would not deny me. Her eyes have always been filled with obsession when she looks at me. She would turn me crazy if I ever married her but denying now would make the condition worse for the duke.

“I will marry her, but I have a condition too. I will take Abigail as my legal wife and Sophie as my concubine.” I replied, as I was sure that the family of the archduke would never agree to it. They were filled with pride for their precious little sister to be the empress of the empire.

And as expected she frowned. I must say that her love towards her family was unconditional. Even if the whole empire burnt including her husband, she would still be only worried about her family.

“How could that be? Sophie was a higher noble than Abigail, and as the hierarchy goes, Sophie deserves to be the legal wife.” she proclaimed as if she had always followed the hierarchy. Who was she rubbing those rules to?

“If that had been the case then was my mother not the eldest daughter of the previous northern duke, an empire that was stronger than our empire, yet she is the concubine and you the sister of the archduke who was only marques at that period is the empress of the empire?” I asked , looking straight into her eyes with clear disdain.

The whispers increased and I could hear the sound of dishes on the floor.

“William!!” came the loud roaring voice of my father who could not see his lover getting humiliated.

“Yrs father?” I asked , feigning ignorance and soon her eyes were filled with shock and hatred. Which was showing her real face as she was too stunned to cover her hatred with fake care lost and the fake tears that have always been her best weapon filled her eyes.

“How could you be so insolent? Apologize to your mother!” came the cruel voice of the man who had no remorse for what he did.

  He was not guilty at all. He still has the audacity to ask me to apologise to her.

“I will, your majesty. I will apologize to my mother.” I replied looking straight into his eyes and for a second his facade cracked too.

He knew I was talking about the mother who had given birth to me, not the one who was sitting beside him. Her face reddened with embarrassment too. She even forgot that she was faking tears for a second as she looked at me with anger filled eyes.

“I will apologize to my mother as I was not able to stand up for her when she was demoted to the post of concubine from the empress when her father had transferred his everything to you, father. 

After taking everything she had to offer, you discarded her as a fly and got married to your concubine. You even went to the lengths to blame her that she was not able to satisfy you well, even when you have a single son!

If you have so many problems with her, why haven’t you given birth to another son and made him your heir?” I looked straight into his eyes. It had been years since I wanted to ask her that! I wanted to know how he could be this heartless and cruel! How could he still have the audacity to speak when everyone knew what he did and that woman was just two steps higher than him. Both are made for each other. One is scumbag and the other is shameless. A perfect greedy couple.

“William?” he roared as he stood up from his seat.

“Why! Did the truth hurt, father?” I asked , looking back at him with a straight face. Gone was the little boy who got intimidated whenever he tried to show his anger to him.