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"Thank you, Polly." Urduja smiles as soon as Polly has done washing off the mud from her clothes. Ingrid moves swiftly to place a big cotton cloth over her shoulders. "Thank you, Ingrid." She turns at her with a smile.
"Our pleasure is all mine, Your Imperial Majesty," Polly and Ingrid say politely in unison.
Urduja sits on the wooden bench made from Ingrid's wood element. Her hair is dripping wet from earlier. Gertrude approaches her with a cup of warm chocolate and bestows it to her.
"Nice! Thank you for this."
Gertrude smiles and politely bows her head.
Urduja looks straight to the pool of mud that has covered the obstacle course. She has done her strict training for herself to enhance her body. This is to work on having the same wavelength of her body that isn't hers, to begin with, her soul as Corinne and her mana. So, she can finally unleash her magic armament.
Urduja sips her hot drink as the shiver of coldness slowly fades away from her body. With the help of the cotton cloth and the cup of warm drink, she manages to overcome her trembles.
'Being pampered like this, it's great to be an empress.' She chuckles mentally.
"Has Camila arrived?"
She turns to Gertrude, Ingrid, and Polly, waiting for their answer. Camila went back to her hometown three days ago. Until now, she hasn't heard anything from her.
"Not yet, Your Imperial Majesty." It is Gertrude who just spoke.
She nods. "I see." She frowns afterward. "If only we had a telephone or phone right here so we could contact her immediately..." She says, not realizing she vocalized her thoughts.
"Telephone?"
"Phone?"
"Is that a food we do not know of, Your Imperial Majesty?"
Urduja turns her head to them, having a perplexed look. She chuckles after realizing what they just said. 'Ah, yes. They did not know those words yet. Sending letters via messenger birds is their means of communication here in the Lucelence Empire.'
She smiles wryly. "I suppose you can call it that..."
"Oh."
She purses her lips into a thin line, trying to contain her laughter. 'Damn it, Corinne. That is not food, you bitch!' She clears her throat to cease herself from chuckling.
"We must head back, Your Imperial Majesty. You have to have your morning meal and take a warm bath," Gertrude says.
She looks up as the sun slowly rises. She takes a deep breath and smiles, feeling nostalgic right now.
'If I am still in my real body every time the sun rises, it means I am on my way home.'
She suddenly misses her graveyard shift. She misses her co-workers, Mia and Noah. She inhales again, contemplating before she decides to leave the wooden bench.
"This infamous training ground has already been revamped, I see."
Urduja immediately changes her expression to straight-faced upon hearing Alistair's voice. She calms herself before deciding to turn around seeing Alistair on his nightshirt, which surprised her.
"Greetings, Your Imperial Majesty." Her ladies-in-waiting greet Emperor Alistair with a curtsy.
Urduja secretly gnashes her teeth as she eyes Alistair up and down on his long, loose shirt. 'Damn it! Why the hell does he look so hot in… Is that a pajama in this era?' Her eyes dart to who is beside him. Her eyebrow arches upon seeing Tatiana clinging to his arm. Tatiana has a proud smile smeared on her lips as their eyes meet. 'Heh? So, someone has a good night's sleep, huh.' She can't help herself huffing a little, curling an ironic smile on her lips.
She turns her head to her training ground, glancing at her obstacle course before she focuses her attention on them.
"Did you like it, Emperor Alistair?" she asks, approaching them. She halts when she is in front of them. Then she drops her eyes to Tatiana, looking at her with a shocked expression. "Noble Consort Tatiana, I did not notice you were here with him."
Tatiana looks at her with her eyebrow arching. She smiles wryly. "I am very sure you noticed me, Your Imperial—"
"And you did not pay respect to me. You did not even greet me. Is that how Duke Tobias and Duchess Elsie taught their daughter's etiquette? How embarrassing!" Urduja exclaims with a subtle smile.
Tatiana looks embarrassed when Urduja's ladies-in-waiting snicker. She grits her teeth in annoyance. She is about to speak when Alistair butts in.
"Are you even worthy of such respect, Empress?" Alistair remarks. His tone masks coldness.
'The fucking nerve of this asshole...' She snickers silently before cementing a stoic expression. "I am still the empress of the Lucelence Empire, after all, Alistair. So, I deserve to be respected regardless if I am incompetent due to having low mana and a once having a tongue-tied condition." She dares to look at his piercing icy blue eyes without faltering.
'This inept woman...' Alistair scoffs. "Must you know that I can depose you from being my empress so I wouldn't have to see that arrogant behavior of yours, Empress?"
"Heh?" Urduja slightly tilts her head with an amusing smile. "Well, then, I dare you, Your Imperial Majesty. It would be favorable to me if you do that," she challenges.
Gertrude, Ingrid, and Polly gasp at her absurd words. Empress Urduja mustn't utter such a ludicrous thing! The three think that Urduja has gone insane already.
Urduja witnesses Alistair narrow his eyes at her. She holds her chin up as her purple eyes meet her blue orbs. She maintains a stoic expression just like his.
"Your Imperial Majesty..."
Alistair glances at Tatiana, who has a concerned expression on her face. She must have noticed that Alistair fell silent and couldn't utter a word. He cements his apathetic attitude and glares at Urduja.
Then in a blink, Alistair surrounds her feet with ice, unable to make her step backward. Urduja's eyes enlarged from his sudden action. In an instant, he quickly moves to approach her and grimly grips her jaw with his hand. His disdainful, frosty blue eyes pierce on hers dangerously.
"What a brazen, haughty mouth of yours challenging me to depose you, Urduja." Alistair squeezes her cheeks in such a rough way while Urduja gazes at him. She lets out a short guttural sound. "You have been misbehaving ever since your tongue-tied condition healed." His face comes closer to her right ear. "The audacity of you challenging me to depose you. You might want to shut your mouth. And I would love to rip off your jaw so you wouldn't have the confidence to speak your thoughts again." He curls a wicked smile, glaring at her ladies-in-waiting, who can't utter a step to help Urduja.
But Urduja maintains a dispassionate expression when Alistair looks at her. She even dares to fight gazes at him.
Then he hears her soft scoff. "Remember that you were the first one to challenge me, Alistair. I have been riding on it since you started it," Urduja says. Still, his hand was squeezing her cheeks. She speaks like something is stuffing inside her mouth. She doesn't even move to stop his hand from squeezing her cheeks.
The corner of Alistair's mouth stretches into a smirk. He releases her mouth by shoving her to the ground. With her feet surrounded with ice, the cheeks of his bottom hit the ground, causing her ladies-in-waiting to gasp in a horrific tone.
"Your Imperial Majesty!"
"Empress Urduja!" Gertrude catches Her Imperial Majesty's back and hugs her from behind.
Polly and Ingrid also approach and tend her. When they approach her, they see Urduja's head lowered. She does not even utter a painful expression and remains silent, not even looking at Alistair again. They know that it must have been hurt hitting a butt to the ground.
Alistair smiles devilishly. "That is where you belong. To the ground. So, do not act so mighty and all just because you are my empress, Urduja." He approaches her and grabs a handful of her hair. Then he compels her to look at her. He sees a devoid of emotion in her eyes, so he cannot tell what she is thinking right now. But even so, he desperately wants to see those painful expressions. "I've been so merciful with you. If next time you act so hastily, that will not be the only thing I can do to hurt you, Your Imperial Majesty," Alistair says in his dangerous tone before he releases her hair. "Come on, Tatiana." He scoffs and starts to leave.
"Yes, Your Imperial Majesty." A sweet smile emerges from Tatiana's lips when she looks at Urduja's pitiful state. She approaches them and hears the empress's ladies-in-waiting hiss at her. "What a pathetic state you have here right now, Empress Urduja. I hope you learn your lesson." Tatiana chuckles and turns around to leave so she can catch up to Emperor Alistair, who left already.
"That woman..." Gertrude says in her gritted teeth. Then she immediately turns at their empress and gently shakes her shoulders. "A-Are you alright, Your Imperial Majesty?" she asks, worried.
Polly materializes her magic armament, dagger. She starts using her dagger as an ice pick to remove the ice covering their empress's feet. Ingrid grunts as she helps Polly by materializing her magic armament, darts.
"We need fire to melt them," Ingrid says in a panic state as they carefully use their magic armaments as an ice pick to break the ice.
"Just keep on going!" Gertrude sighs in frustration. Then she turns to Empress Urduja, who remains silent even though their emperor has already left. "Your Imperial Majesty... Emperor Alistair has already left," she informs her.
None of their elements will be able to help Her Imperial Majesty. Even Gertrude cannot melt the ice, for she possesses air as an aura element.
Ingrid and Polly silently break the ice as Gertrude tries to help them by removing the small pieces of ice away from Empress Urduja's legs. They are already worried about their empress, who hasn't spoken up yet. They are afraid that their empress has been traumatized again.
It means she will be having a hard time coping up with the abusive behavior of their emperor. Emperor Alistair shows them how he no longer favors the empress of the Lucelence Empire. Again. It saddens them that Empress Urduja has to be in this unbearable, pitiful state.
"Have no fear, Your Imperial Majesty. We will not accept His Imperial Majesty to depose you from being our empress," Polly utters as she sniffs, upset from how their emperor treated Her Imperial Majesty again.
"Polly is right, Your Imperial Majesty." Ingrid's nostrils flare from annoyance.
Urduja does not say anything and placidly watches them behind the strands of her hair that cover her eyes. Slowly, she draws out a complacent smile and snickers. The three ladies halt and look up at Her Imperial Majesty.
Then she releases a sigh in relief. "Worry not, ladies. Alistair wouldn't even dare to depose me." She combs the strands of her hair that covers her eyes then pulls them back to her head. Urduja looks down to see her feet which are almost covered with ice. Polly and Ingrid have managed to remove some part of the ice on her feet. "Gertrude, please let me borrow your shield. We are taking our time here. I want to go back to my chamber right away."
Hesitant as Gertrude is not sure as to what she is going to use of her shield, she nods."Your wish is my command, Your Imperial Majesty." She magically appears with her magic armament, shield. "Here, Your Imperial Majesty." She bestows her shield to Empress Urduja.
"Thanks." Urduja smiles and gets hold of Gertrude's metallic shield. It is circular in shape. She emits a slightly surprised expression when she realizes her shield is quite heavy. 'Whoa... I can't believe this, huh.' She uses the edge of the shield to hit the ice that is in between her feet.
With firm handling of the shield, she exerts enough strength to it, hitting the ice repeatedly. After a while, the ice has finally been destroyed.
"Thanks to all of you, ladies." Urduja returns Gertrude's shield. Then she carefully stands up with the help of Polly and Ingrid.
"We must head back now, Your Imperial Majesty. We must check if you have bruises on your feet or legs and put some ointment on them," Gertrude says in a concerned tone.
Urduja stretches her arms and ignores Gertrude's remark. She pulls out a winsome smile at them. "Shall we make a bet that Emperor Asshole would not even dare to depose me as his empress, ladies?" she asks, grinning.
A surprised expression is evident on their faces when Empress Urduja raises a question. And it is not just an ordinary question. But it is a ridiculous one!
"W-Why?" Ingrid asks, a little reluctant.
"H-How sure are you, Y-Your Imperial Majesty?" It is Polly who also asks, quite worried. She doesn't want Empress Urduja to be deposed as their empress. For Polly, she is the perfect empress the Lucelence Empire needs. But sadly, the empire's people fail to see it because their emperor treats their empress like almost rubbish.
"Your Imperial Majesty..." There is a gloomy tone in Gertrude's voice. "Please, let's head back to the palace." Gertrude doesn't want to hear any more about Empress Urduja being deposed. She doesn't want that to happen.
Urduja chuckles at their reaction. "You three are no fun at all." She sighs and smiles, feeling grateful for these people. "Let's head back now. I am already famished." She caresses her stomach as she begins to walk away from the training ground.
They bow their heads before her and follow her.
She cements a stoic expression, looking straight to the road. She recalls how Alistair gripped her jaw and squeezed her cheeks a while ago. Urduja mindlessly touches her jaw, sighing. She believes she will have bruises later or tomorrow.
'Now I experienced the Emperor Asshole's foolish abusive acts. I already felt pity for the real Urduja for enduring them for two years. Our only difference is she experienced physical and verbal abuse from the people here in her empire. Unlike me, I only experienced verbal abuse from my mother for the rest of my life...' She can't help but scoff silently.
Then she smirks mentally upon her bet that she wants to implement with the three ladies-in-waiting. 'Alistair can make a threat to depose me, or what I mean is the real Urduja. But he cannot impose it because Urduja Croimont is needed here in the imperial court.' She brings to mind the account records of before and after the real Urduja's reign as the Empress of the Lucelence Empire. She has already finished studying those records days ago. 'Empress Urduja had an impressive and splendid performance when she became the empress here two years ago. Unlike her before reigning when only Alistair is the only one who single-handedly held the state affairs, I saw the fluctuating hole in them.'
She looks up, spotting some birds flying in the sky. 'Because Urduja loves this asshole so much, she did her best to draw his attention by executing good deeds behind the court. How fucked up that they called her an incompetent empress of this empire just because of her tongue-tied condition and has almost no mana... How stupid they are.'
She huffs mockingly, thinking of Alistair as the incredible asshole of the whole galaxy. She even has the confidence that Alistair will not depose her as the empress. She knows that Urduja is still serviceable here in this palace despite the real Urduja being considered incompetent.
She halts when she remembers her butt hitting the ground. "Did you know?" she asks and suddenly turns her head to the three ladies who also cease from walking.
They blink and don't know what to say next.
Urduja chuckles. "When Alistair pushed me a while ago, my butt did not land on the ground severely," she states.
"What?" they say in unison, surprised by her words.
She keeps nodding her head with a wide smile. "I used my lightning to use it as my cushion for my bottom." She winks at them.
"Really?"
"Uh-huh."
"That's a great development, Your Imperial Majesty!" Gertrude exclaims and claps her hands. Then she turns to her fellow ladies-in-waiting, who are also clapping and amaze at Her Imperial Majesty.
"Right? It is very worth it that I practiced it every night," Urduja says proudly.
"But I just hope Her Imperial Majesty shall not try to blow off her bedchamber," Polly says. "We will be having a hard time cleaning the coal from your lightning."
"Sorry," Urduja says with a wry smile and a peace sign. Ingrid and Gertrude giggle at how cute their Empress Urduja is. They already know the V-sign shaped on Urduja's forefinger and middle finger.
They continue making strides and pass by the training field of the Imperial Knights. Urduja has already set her eyes off to their weaponry: wooden swords, bows and arrows, spears, and others. She observes from afar, watching their training. Urduja is hoping that her magic armament is far more remarkable and excellent than theirs.
She twitches her lips to the corner. "I hope I can have a gun as a magic armament..." she mutters, sighing in defeat. 'That is even impossible to have a gun in this era. They only have cannons as part of the magic artillery. And no one in the history of the Lucelence Empire can even have a gun as magic armament… Why do I even bother to have that wishful thinking?' Then she looks in the sky again. "To be a policewoman someday, huh..." She sighs again, feeling down.