"Has anyone ever told you that your personality sucks? What kind of emperor takes delight in seeing his subjects suffer? I swear that you are the only one who does that."
Rucia looked at her cousin's lazy form in front of her.
The 12-year-old cursed emperor had a wicked smile, making Rucia feel sorry for the person who had offended the emperor.
'But then again, I don't know the bigger evil here, the Saintess or the emperor. They are both shady people.'
Rucia sighed, sympathising with herself again.
She wondered why she decided to serve her cousin.
"Tsk, are you trying to offend me, Rucia? How dare you say such a thing to my face? You will not find a more caring and mature emperor than me, even if you look around."
"And anyway, we were not discussing that. You said that you got the news that I wanted. Where is the document?"
The emperor extended his hand impatiently, and Rucia placed the sealed document in his hand.
She was sure that it would make Kerin happen to get his hands on the evidence he wanted.
But the more he read the papers, the paler his face went.
"Kerin, is everything alright-"
"Fuck those shady temple bastards and that shady Saintess. How dare they request for Meria to be their guard? Does he look like he's part of the holy guard? Who approved this arrangement?
The emperor yelled loudly, and Rucia felt her headache.
Now she understood why the temple retainers had looked so smug when they handed her the document. They knew about the emperor's interest in General Meria.
"Rucia, we are heading to the temple right now. There is no way we can let those bastards have Meria."
The emperor stood up, and Rucia knew better than to say anything to him.
She knew in her heart that the emperor's approach would not work.
The notice of service had already been sent out, and there was no way to take the order back without shaming General Meria's name.
'I am sure that my brother knows this better than anyone else. But whether he cares about this reasoning or not is an entirely different matter.'
...
'I feel restless. I am sure I did not leave anything pending when I returned home, so why do I feel so restless?'
Meria could not understand why his feelings were all jumped up. But he knew he could not allow it to control him.
He quickly got off the carriage and headed back into his estate.
Initially, the plan had been to look for Fiona and then head back, but he had been unable to find his step-sister.
A kind guard had informed Meria that his sister had already headed home with his ex-fiancé.
The thought did not hurt as much as it should.
Meria never had any expectations out of his political match, and that did not change even after he got betrayed.
If anything, it made his indifference all the stronger.
The guard had felt awkward seeing Meria standing there and had called for a carriage.
And apparently, there had been a standing order to attend to Meria, giving him instant access to the royal passage.
He finally reached home, and Meria threw all his worries out the window.
Meria was about to return to his room when his father appeared in the doorway with a letter.
The golden colour of the envelope looked familiar, and Meria tried hard to remember where he had seen it before.
"General Meria, we need to talk. Go, change out of your formal attire, and meet me in my office. I will tell you about your next mission."
Those words delighted Meria as much as they shocked him.
'A mission? For me? But why?"
Meria was surprised when he heard his father's words.
He was a capable general, but Meria had long given up hopes of receiving a pepper mission.
Being a beta brought a lot of limitations to his life, and not being assigned to high-level missions was one of them.
Plus, with his status as an 'honorary general,' he was often overlooked when the planning committee planned things out.
'Is this what the nervous feeling inside me was about? Was my gut warning me that this would happen?'
Meria could not help but feel on edge.
He entered his room before any maids could and closed his door.
Even as he changed his clothes, Meria's mind returned to the golden letter he had received.
He finally remembered what that golden seal represented.
'The Saintes's letter. Why would the Saintess send me a letter?'
Thinking about this would not give him an answer, so Meria quickly opened the door and entered his father's office.
The letter was still sealed, and it was currently placed on his father's table innocently.
"Meria, come in and close the door after you. We need to talk about this…letter from the temple."
Meria gulped after heading these words coming out of his father's mouth.
The look his stepmother gave him asked a single question - what the hell did you do now?
And truthfully, Meria also wanted to know the same thing.
As far as he knew, neither he nor his family had any affiliation with the temple. He also should have paid a visit to the temple regularly.
'Is it because we do not believe in the temple like other noble families? No! The Saintess will not be that petty. She is said to be the most benevolent lady on this planet.'
As far as Meria knew, the Saintess was said to be the perfect omega.
She was said to be soft-spoken and capable of taking your breath away with her beauty.
Her only flaw was that she could not meet people without her mask, making it impossible to see her face or smell her pheromones.
Otherwise, she was considered as close to 'perfect' as possible.
"Meria, are you going to open the envelope anytime soon? Or do you want us to give you a special invite?"
His stepmother asked, her voice calm but full of sarcasm. She looked at Meria with an expression that said - hurry up.
And Meria sighed before he opened the letter.
A blinding light flashed over the area, causing Meria to close his eyes and flinch. When he opened his eyes, he was shocked to read the words on the invite.