The Tyrant's Pet

Aries and Roman traveled to the Imperial Palace in silence. To Roman's surprise, when they reached the gates of the imperial palace, it opened for them without being stopped to check who it was.

"Do they know?" Roman wondered, keeping his eyes on the knights guarding the gates, who were supposed to keep the security tight.

"No." Aries shrugged, not a bit surprised by it. "They welcome everyone in here."

His brows creased, looking back at her in disbelief. "You can never know if the ones entering are coming with ill intention."

"I know, right?" she chuckled briefly. "Normally, the place where the king lives is the most secured place in the kingdom or in an empire. However, the Haimirich Imperial palace has the most relaxed security. The Marquess' estate had tighter security than the palace."

"Abel is served poison every single day, assassins here and there, and so much more," Aries continued in a matter-of-factly tone. "So, you shouldn't be surprised if you see knights pulling a wagon of corpses, since that had been a normal occurrence in this place."

"..." Roman was rendered speechless for a moment, staring at Aries in a daze. "They… those people are being lured in here?"

"The emperor was suicidal — desperate, if I may add. So, why would he try to protect himself from the assassination attempts if death used to be what he wants?" Her eyes glinted as she set them at the window, seeing knights and nobles walking or talking amongst themselves. "But that just makes me angrier. It seemed he wants to get a beating for not changing his ways. How dare he lowers his guard when he now has a wife who will be left behind if he dies? Does he plan to make me a widow now? Hah! When will he stop tormenting me like this?"

Seeing the glint in Aries's eyes, Roman could not help but swallow a mouthful of air. She truly seemed upset, but it felt weird when she was talking about her 'husband' when she was in disguise as a young man.

"Those two…" Aries cracked her knuckles, engulfed by an invisible flame called anger. "... they better be alive before I kill them myself."

Roman's lips parted, but he closed them again. It was better to stay quiet, he thought. A shallow breath slipped past his lips, shaking his head mildly. He didn't know if Aries was concerned about Dexter or Abel, or she just wanted to personally deliver those two to hell. Either way, that wasn't Roman's concern right now.

'I should stay out of this,' he told himself, peeling his eyes away from her. 'This is not my problem.'

Little did Roman and Aries know that what was awaiting them was something that never crossed their heads. No. Even in their wildest imagination would they ever think that the reason Dexter and Abel didn't show up for the past days was that… they really couldn't, even if they wanted to.

"What the hell…" Aries stopped by the door of the emperor's chancery. Standing frozen beside her was Roman, bearing this aghast expression he had never sported in his entire life.

When they entered the imperial grounds, Roman simply had to tell his name, and he was told to head to the emperor's chancery. It was odd, but the people had expected his arrival. And thus, with Aries's guidance, they reached the emperor's chancery without getting lost.

However, what graced their eyes was pure horror.

Inside the emperor's chancery were at least six chaplains Aries had seen in the past as Abel's pet. They all looked gaunt from exhaustion and gained bags under their eyes. When they noticed her figure standing by the door with Roman, they turned their attention in her direction but were too tired to even wonder who they were. If anything, their eyes screamed that Aries and Roman weren't there to bring more documents to review and work on.

No one seemed to have taken a bath for days as well. Anyone — even the devil himself — would pity these people inside.

Aries and Roman shifted their eyes to the corner desk that hadn't been there in the past. There, buried with more documents, was Dexter's distraught figure. The usual refined air Dexter exuded was replaced with hopelessness, looking back at Aries, and could not even smile at how exhausted he was.

"Brother…" she whispered, furrowing her brows. Aries then moved her attention to the person sitting behind the emperor's desk.

Unlike everyone's distraught figure, Abel was smiling at her with delight. However, Aries's heart sank at the sight of him. Her gaze lingered on that strange helm around his head. She had seen those types of chairs in the past; it was one of those execution chairs where one would get electrocuted to death. His hands and feet were bound by thick chains.

An official was standing beside Abel's desk, and if Aries was correct, the chaplain was there to force Abel to read the documents. But that person was not in a better state, knowing Abel would surely traumatize him while doing his job.

"I'm… sorry," was the first word that came out of her mouth, feeling ‌deeply sorry for getting angry before knowing Dexter and Abel were held in here against their will. There was only one person in this empire who was audacious enough to do this.

<strong>Conan.  </strong>

"Hello, darli —"

<strong>BZZZT!</strong>

Abel winced as the sound of him being electrocuted echoed. The scent of something burnt instantly wafted her nose, but before she could react, she heard another series of 'bzzt' noises. Aries turned her eyes in Dexter's direction, and she finally realized Dexter was also being chained in that seat.

"What is…" Roman was rendered speechless, slacked jaw. This was definitely not the sight he was expecting to see. It was… ridiculous on so many levels.

"Oh, you're here!"

Suddenly, Aries and Roman heard Conan's voice from the side. The two of them turned to face Conan, and they could tell he was the only one who looked refreshed.