It was getting late and the sun was about to set. "What a beautiful sunset, is it not? the sky ever so red and the air getting cooler" exclaimed Edmund in delight. "It certainly is..." replied Lari absent mindedly as a twig of the birch tree caught her attention. There was an owl on it and the whole empire knows all too well about Princess Lari's affections for owls. It's feathers were of the same colour as the birch tree trunk so it was perfectly well camouflaged but alas it cannot escape Lari's vision. Seeing this Edmund grew more and more grumpy and impatient inside, feeling his ego broken and feeling utterly small and miserable in front of his gorgeous fiancee, and actually loosing to an owl.
"Marvelous, simply marvelous, what strong and robust looking young horses, maybe we could go for a ride tomorrow eh?" suggested Edmund. "Well, that does sound lovely, your highnessbut I shall like to correct you on the matter that not all horses are robust, some are very gentle." answered Lari all poised and composed. That made Edmund snicker and suggest they take a seat on a pile of hay for a chat as they did walk quite a long distance to reach there.
"Well your majesty, may I call you Lari? or Since you'll be my wife soon, may I call you Daria? I heard that's the name you go by at home and it is your other name." asked Edmund eager for an answer. Lari raised her eyes to look straight into his and said "I do not believe we are close enough for that, in fact we do not even know each other very well yet. But you may call me Lari if you like."
"Very well, Lari, you may call me Edmund or Ed for short." said Edmund with a smile on his face, and of course not a sweet one, more like a mischievous smirk with a mischievous look in his eyes. "very well, Edmund." was Lari's cool and aloof reply.
They chatted for a while and Lari remained quite indifferent, cool, aloof, poised and composed. "You know, you don't have to always be so formal with me, be more informal, it is warmer and more becoming. You can forget all about etiquette with me Lari." Edmund suddenly said after feeling rather uncomfortable with only talking formally to his future wife when they were all alone together. "I do not think it proper, at least not yet." said she. And that was it for Edmund, he had grown rather tired of this indifference and suddenly pushed Lari backwards quite hard with his robust strength and sinply glared at her. "Edmund, what is the meaning of such behavior?" demanded Lari. Edmund looked like an angry hungry beast at that moment and said "I am horrified Lari, you're my woman, my future wife, yet you won't be comfortable with me or be smitten by me like the lines of ladies who wait hours to only have a quick glance at my face. I've nwver once been treated as such by a lady, yet you, you, you just make me impatient and want you more and more, you make me go crazy." he then started kissing Lari's neck vigourously, forced her into a french kiss, rubbing his hand all over her, especially her bosom, tried to put his hand under her skirt to lift her leg, but to his surprise Lari kicked him hard in the stomach with her knee, that made Edmund take a few steps backwards while loosing balance, and that's when he recieved another blow to his head with Lari's martial arts. It was a most artistic and splendid martial arts. And half of prince Edmund's teeth came out.
"You violent woman, why ever do you know martial arts? How dare you do this ro me? I'm the crown prince of Leisenburg and YOUR future husband, how dare you, foolish tomboy of a woman, do you want ro see the diplomatic relations between Western Empire and Leisenburg fall through? You shouldn't have refused me, you foolish..." yelled Edmund in all his pain while his mouth bled.
" Just because I'm a woman doesn't mean I cannot defend myself where my honor and chastity is at stake. And I think that all young girls and women ought to master martial arts so gigolos like you cannot trick them. I feel so sorry for the lines of young foolish girls who are after you, they certainly are blind. You are an imbecile immature sissy who cannot even protect himself, having had my brother investigate your matters and protect you. And do you think I care about your measely Kingdom? I feel rather sorry for your people if they are to have a king like you. Out engagement is hereby cancelled and I assure you my father will agree with me once I tell him the events of today which I will." replied Lari still calm, composed, and poised.
"Alri, Lari dear my daughter, where have you been? why are you back so late, your mother and I were dreadfully worried about you. Lari dear don't be alarmed for your mother and I have decided to annul your marriage with Leisenburg. Bow wven if you're smitten with him I will not change my mind, he has several bastards, he is unclean and impure, known to be a womanizer but the king always cleaned up after him, how dreadful they think they can fool us like this while not knowing how cautious we are, the mercenary I sent on this information gathering task only just came. Before giving my edict, I thought I would tell you about it." said Emperor Heinrey with a rather worried experssion on his face, especially after just noticing Lari's disheveled appearance, "My, he did not, you two did not..." the words couldn't come out of Emperor Heinrey's lips. His eyes grew fierce, having the aura of a hunting jumbo dragon fly, he clearly meant to kill Edmund and his father had the former done anything to his precious daughter.
"Relax father, he couldn't do anything to me, I wouldn't allow it. for the past few days Sophia taught me some basics of maryial arts cultivation and I practiced a lot secretly at night under the willow trees. Instead I did quite the irreversible damage to him, he won't be able to find himself a decent wife anymore, not like he ever deserved any woman at all. Now I'm even more shocked, I knew he was a gigolo but to think that he has several bastards, that is beyond my imagination, he is trash and trash belongs in a worse place than a trash can, father, I actually came to tell you I won't marry him." Said Lari. Empress Navier was boiling with rage all the while but kept her composition and summoned the remaining members of Leisenburg's royal family to the parlour.
It was quite a sight, below were the Royal family of Leisenburg, on their knees, trembling in fear before Emperor Heinrey and Empress Navier who were on their thrones, releasing quite the murderous aura, mixed with another aura that truly left them in awe;powerful, beautiful and mystifying.
"Here's my edict, recieve it. The engagement is annulled and Prince Edmund is to be stripped of his title of crown prince, the diplomatic relations between the two nations thus severed. The trde routes cancelled until we find someone suitable to rule over Leisenburg as a fair, just and honest ruler. Once we find a suitable ruler for you, the entire royal family of Leisenburg will be atripped of their titles and roles as well as influence in high society. Fret not we already bought the country a long time ago, do you remember? The promissory note on the contract whereby the Western Empire had to lend Leisenburg a good trillions of kreutz plus the trading deal to trade our precious stones and petrol to Leisenburg was that Leisenburg's entire land belongs to the Western Empire since you cannot afford to pay the debt. A ruler shall be just, fair, honest, caring and kind as well as clever, filled with wisdom, humility, and humbleness. A ruler shall never lie to anyone, and shall nwver engage in immoral conducts such as adultery, theft, murder, greed and so on. I declare that you are no longer fit for such important tasks as you have been corrupted. After I appoint the new ruler, You are banished to live your entire lives in religious service and charity."
"I accept the edict, thank you for your mercy and wisdom" said the royal family members of Leisenburg with a long face. "I have something to add, And that is I would like to enlighten you in the matter. Firstly It is unfair for men to think they can fool around with any innocent girl of their choice just because she is quiet, innocent, a new face, a new debutante, naïve, emotional and full of romantic notions. It isn't fair for men to play with the girls ' feelings aa such, making them fall in love with them and later when marriage comes into the conversation the men run away or slip away and has an excuse ro do so, leaving the girls high and dry with damaged emotions and damaged marriage prospects while looking for a "pure" girl to marry. Excuse me but such men aren't men, they are foolish boys and clearly DO NOT deserve any "pure" girl at all when they themselves aren't "pure". Those "pure" girls deserve way better and real "pure" men too. and of course the girls those impure and immoral imbeciles toyed with were once pure and roo innocent, not knowing that malice and miachief can be found in the "loving" gazes and gestures of the men, and that is how they fell into their traps. Women should not be regarded as faulty in such matters, it is most of the time entirely the man's fault in it, anf of course there are some exceptions where there are women who are as vicious and malicious and scheming as snakes who would seduce innocent men or rich men or powerful men or men they find handsome or what not for personal gains and for protection. Each gender, each individual should be held accountable for their wrongdoings and here you are all very wrong, One Prince Edmund fathered many children out of wedlock, two you the king covered it all up. These are wrong in every aspect and one should admit it, therefore I demand that you Edmund, also work hard to provide for all the women you impregnated and all the children you fathered. That is where your family fortunes and heirlooms should go to as well. Be thankful my husband, I mean Emperor Heinrey did not torture you till you wished you were dead and did not put you under the guillotine, for that is what he is dying to do but personal grudges aside, he is nonetheless an Emperor and a human being with humanity " Said Empress Navier and the accused thanked her and accepted her decree.
Later that night, empress Navier went to Lari's bedchamber to find her crouching on the floor beside her bed. She rushed to her daughter and asked in panic "whatever is the matter dear? Do get up, onto your bed, come on." and hugged her tightly. There Lari cried and cried, the teats wouldn't stop, he hugged her mother ever more tightly and said " Mama, back in the stables, Edmund, he, he tried to, he tried to... I was scared, I was really scared but remained very composed and used the skills Sophia taught me without even realising I did so myself. I hate men, I won't ever marry mama, never, only father, Kai and Rhydian are decent in this whole world, oh I shall admit that Prince Yusha and Marques Helio are quite decent too but mama, this, this..." and she was out of breath. " There, there my dear little flower bud. Not all men are as trash as this, you haven't seen all of them yet, surely a good one will come, mama will pray for you day and night like I always do. My previous husband was trash too, I lost trust and was disgusted but your father really slowly showes me the true meaning of love and sincerity. It will take time dear. Nothing is ever perfect, one should experience the taste bitter gourd to know the sweetness of chocolate later. Your brothers are undoubtedly like your father and you are very much like me. Lari since the engagement is annulled and Kai and Rhydian are going with princess Sophia's crew, why don't you join them? It will do you good" comforted empress Navier. That said Lari dried off her tears, smiled and nodded, thanked her mother and hugged her tightly and fell asleep in her embrace. Empress Navier smiled at the peaceful sleeping face of her daughter, gently stroked her cheeks and kisses her forehead.