The situation slowly turned upside down as I looked back to her majesty. I was not aware of the place we are currently at... Even so, the empress might think that I am cheating on my fiance right now...
"Worry not, I am not a fool to put you in the same category as my blunt husband," she said and I stared down on my lap. Yes, indeed, but I fear that not everyone will think so.
"I..." there was a small pause from me before I shook my head. "In return for this gamble, your majesty, I want something from you."
"And what is that?" 
I nodded and then I looked at her in the eye. "Raise as the empress dowager, your majesty!"
My declaration might come abruptly, but I did not care. For time is the essential enemy I have here, I need the empress support when I break off my engagement. I need her as my witness, so that not even his majesty can restrict me directly.
The empress, when I looked at her, she was sharply gazing at me. "Are you declaring yourself a traitor of this empire?"
Her question was calm but her voice was very much angered. I can hear it echoing in my ears, as if she's telling me to stop. I clicked my tongue and I stood up.
"I am sure with your intelligence your majesty, the fact that this palace is corrupted is within your reach, and I am sure that the Second Prince can't even properly lead the Imperial Knight. You have seen yourself, have you not? The emperor's ignorance of what was happening, and the concubine's scheming behind the empire's back. If this continues, not only will we suffer, this empire will not be able to withstand the crucial fall of another war."
Yes, another war, a rebellion, if we can't convince her majesty for a silent agreement. The choice now is by revolution, the enthronement of his majesty. The empire will surely agree with our plans, and since Kalester has done it before, I cannot assure this empire if they can't fall.
This is a crucial thought that she needs to think about. A problem that she can't ignore. 
"This, you really do not fear dead, my dear," she complimented and she silently looked down. 
I can't say I have no fear of dying, because Kalester and I died once. What I fear the most is not doing what I can to save this empire from its near collapse. Even if Kalester did not influence the empire's fall, with such a ruler, it will not be too long for this empire to meet its end.
The palace is unstable as well. If a war broke out in the middle of the succession problem, even if this empire was ruled in prosperity for centuries. No one can avoid what is coming next to them.
"That said," I spoke and then I went closer to her as I kneeled in her presence. "I do not want to force the empress, but think of the future that will uphold in the hand of such a person."
The empress gave me a long stare, as I kept my knee on the ground. She then turned towards Kalester before she looked at me. 
"My dear," then she held my shoulder. "That is easier said than done, you may know that my power in this place has been reduced gravely, I have no power to help you achieve such hastily goals. I am not even sure if I have the power to help."
She's right, her power is reduced gravely. However, what if we change our directions. "You are not wrong in that, your majesty, but you forgot a small variable in your calculations."
The empress quietly smiles. "And what is that?" She asked. 
I steadily stood up as I held her hand softly. "You have the support of the Roqueves Family," I declared. 
"Don't forget us, as well, your majesty, whatever Catholy decides, our family will support it."
I jolted my head as I slowly turned and looked at Kalester who was still calmly sitting on the sofa. He looked at me with his dark raven eyes and then he smiled. Wait, will Valentine be part of this too? If that is the case. 
"Your majesty, use our support as you see fit! We will make the first prince the emperor of this empire!" 
I waited, though I could feel her majesty's cold hand, she simply took it with her warm hand and I looked at her. 
"I have waited for someone to encourage me to fight back against my husband," she said as she held the tips of my finger nails. "With the help of both Roqueves and Valentine, two of the strongest dukes and grand duke, I will do it if it means justice will be served."
The empress is someone I have known, but I barely even know. She's different from the master whom I meet, and the person in front of me. 
I give a long nod and then I smile. I still intend to heal her son, nothing will change. I will put him atop, and become the Crown Prince. However, that is not the only authority I want from her majesty. 
"Can I also ask for your aid when the time comes?" Our bargain is to ask his highness, but things were different from what is planned. In fact, I don't mind it since this was better. 
Now, my first aid is her majesty. The main reason that I wanted to meet her second, then his highness was first. 
The empress gives me a warm nod. "You are indeed a peculiar person, who couldn't have thought that you would go behind your lovers back."
I know it was not an insult, but the way her majesty said it had taken me mad. When I accidentally took a step back. "He is not my lover, our engagement is prior to his request, but I never considered him more than that."
Yes, he is not someone I will love. The Second Prince is a man I despite, who killed me and took away all of the precious people in my life. Hearing about him being my lover, disgust the inside of me. 
"The society had said so, my lady, it was not my opinion, I was just raising it," she said and I calmed down. 
"I do not wish to marry such a man," I honestly said and looked away. 
"Hmm, indeed, that is why you need my aid. You plan on breaking off your engagement? And my approval can guarantee you that?" She asked. 
"Yes, I needed your aid in this matter. I do not want to make a mistake by marrying a man who is unworthy of both my love, and my support as the daughter of the Roqueves Family," and beside, I do not need an unfaithful husband who couldn't get enough with one wife. 
"I see," she exclaimed and nodded. "I understand, I will offer you my aid."
I got her answer but I wasn't happy. The empress spreads salt in an open wound. It's not that I still have lingering feelings, rather, I feel resentful towards myself who let herself become a fool for love.
I was not even a bit happy about it. 
『━━✣━━』
The moment the time stopped, the empress greeted both Kalester and Catholy goodbye before they walked through the same door, and the same pathway that leads to the same spot they came in earlier.
Once both of them were outside the wall. Catholy ended up breathing in as she walked through that dark forest with Kalester behind her. He was awfully quiet since earlier, nonetheless, she wasn't in her right state to concern herself.
She couldn't even focus even upon entering the carriage, which was disguised in a commoners theme to cover up which household it came from. Upon seating on the couch, her body had stiffened at that silent yet cold touch.
She looked at him straight in the eye as he was above her. "What's wrong?" She asked confusingly.
Kalester stared at her for long, ignoring her question. He then tightly held her hand, as he pulled her closer to him. "Ahh! Wait!" Forcing her to sit on his lap, and fall on his hand. 
She was confused why Kalester was doing this. She couldn't even move because of his strong strength, making her feel lost. 
"What's wrong with you!?" She tightly scolded him as her fingers were clenching on his clothes.
Kalester simply looked at her and he gently gave her a soft kiss on her forehead. It was so warm, that she could feel his lips against her skin. His cold touch soon loosened up, but his embrace remained.
"I told you didn't I, even humans cry sometimes," he randomly mumbled to her. 
Catholy shifted, as his words were enough to make her embarrassed. He had once seen Catholy cry before, it was while she was holding to her dear life in prison. When he told that to her, she felt as if he was observing her even before they met that he knew when she was not alright.
She clenched her fist on his clothes. "I was a fool," then she mumbled. "Even though I knew, I decided to turn a blind eye."
Slowly, he gently touched her shoulders as he moved her closer. 
"I spent my entire life, thinking that my family did not need me," she then carefully came closer to his chest as she buried herself to his warm embrace. "At that time, I also thought he loved me back."
There was this moment before that she couldn't tell Kalester about this before they regressed. She couldn't bear to expose these dark truths about her. Yet, she couldn't resist his warm embrace of affections and love that she didn't want to hide anything.
Her eyes soon were washed away with such tears. Waters that fell on her soft skin. Baring a pain so great it was hard to keep, and finally she decided to lean on him.
"And then... I married him..."
She tightens her grip as she slowly reveals everything about what happened before slowly. 
"There is something I have never told you about," she confessed and she firmly held back her tears from falling.
"Whatever that may, I will not abandon you, as his highness did," said Kalester.
"You have seen it once, did you?" She asked. The young lord gave a long silence before he nodded.
She was speaking about the time he spent his time with her, that was probably the last time they saw each other. That time, it was a long night for both of them to remember but what mattered the most was the heavy scars he had seen on her back.
The wound was from a long time, so it wasn't fresh, or the longest he can guess it is by month. The wounds appeared to be a work of something sharp, and something straight since it was swollen and bluish.
He didn't ask about what happened that time. He didn't want to pry, nor perhaps did not want to force her and tell him what happened.
It was an unpleasant scene where he couldn't even control himself but to get mad.
Her body is fresh right now because both of them regressed, but it was still hard to get off his mind about that scene. 
"I was frequently being abused in the palace, the concubine would come often to 'teach me' as she called, and his highness would use the excuse of me being 'too wicked' to physically hit me when I complained about his unnecessary actions," said Catholy. 
"Is that why you have many old bruises? Although you were deemed a criminal, no guards have the right to hit a sinner, that is why I did not ask about it," he said and made Catholy look him in the eye.
"It was hard to talk about how I was used by them, you were so nice, I was afraid it would have spoiled you, and I hid it," or perhaps she was just afraid to be seen as someone stupid enough that she let herself be harmed by others.
It was not a pleasant story to tell. 
"It doesn't matter," he mumbled and made her look at him. "What matters most is that you are here, changing your destiny, it's time we sever that future predicament."
Then he gently patted her head as he gently hugged her. 
Catholy smiled as she soon rested her eyelids that were about to close.