Finding Stardust

Xion, who had been standing still with Emma in his arms, was stunned to see that the girl was finally sleeping because she was tired of crying. He looked at their clothes and realized they were wet.

He didn't know that women could shed that many tears.

Finally, he walked over to the bed and carefully placed the girl's body there. He made sure that Emma was really sleeping and not pretending. He was worried if he put her down and she was pretending to sleep, she would just dash out of the room and left him.

Ah, Emma was really exhausted, Xion thought after he was checking her condition. He breathed a long sigh, and for the first time in six months, the man looked sad.

He felt very sorry for the girl. All of her hopes for the past six months were shattered.

Emma thought that by returning to Akkadia, she would be able to meet her mother and father again ...

As it turned out, something bad happened and destroy everything.

He couldn't imagine what it was like to be her. Emma had lived on a foreign planet by herself for over a dozen years. And now she was back to being alone.

Haoran was in a coma and her father was gone. Xion didn't think Princess Arreya would be able to withstand the counterattack from Akkadia, especially now that General Moria was back with The Dragonite.

The young man just sat there watching Emma lying curled up on her bed, her face was swollen and damp with tears.

He had never seen Emma this frail. Somehow, something in his chest felt hurt.

***

Therius was furious. He listened carefully to the reports conveyed by the tower operator. He immediately asked to be connected to the minister of defense to find out what actually happened.

"King Cassius is lying sick he couldn't meet anyone. But we have his orders brought by Prince Yared. The king wants to set an example for the rebels by executing political prisoners," Minister of Defense, General Lenka, explained to Therius respectfully. "Because of that, we held a public execution in the capital plaza. General Stardust was one of the prisoners executed publicly and witnessed by the whole country."

Badump!

Therius felt his heart drop to the floor. This is bad. Really awfully bad....

"Why do you guys just trust Yared's words?" asked Therius.

Yared was his other cousin who had been eyeing the throne, together with Heron. Since Heron was in Daneria, Therius knew this chaos must have been Yared's doing.

The prince was now completely filled with anger, but his face still looked calm as he tried to remain cool-headed.

"We believe in Prince Yared because we saw His Majesty King Cassius give that order from his bedroom," General Lenka replied. "His Majesty gave that order before his health deteriorated."

"Hmm ..." Therius snorted softly. He frowned and tried to think of various possibilities. "Was there something important that happened before the King issued that order?"

"There is one, Your Highness," replied General Lenka. "A troop of soldiers patrolling in our border with Thaesi was slaughtered by Princess Arreya's people. The commander of the troop happens to be the Minister of Finance's only son. You know that Duke Errol is very close to the king. They were long time friends."

"Shit," Therius grumbled softly. Now he could guess what happened. He knew Princess Arreya was not stupid and would not attack without a cause. Most likely, she was framed.

Therius suspected that either Heron, or Yared, most likely the latter, was responsible for the massacre the Akkadian troops at the border and then blamed Princess Arreya.

They did it to incite the finance minister's anger. They knew he was very close to the king.

Then the rest was as predicted. King Cassius considered it futile to make peace with Thaesi, and then executed Kaoshin Stardust as punishment for Princess Arreya, who had humiliated the Akkadian royal family, and now murdered the son of the finance minister.

Therius was certain that Princess Arreya was not the one responsible for the massacre. He regretfully knew that if he was there in the palace, he could have talked some reason into his grandfather. King Cassius must have been really angry to issue such order and couldn't think straight.

Also, since his health had deteriorated, it might also affect his ability to make proper judgment.

Ahh .. Therius really wanted to arrive at the palace immediately to see for himself his grandfather's condition and find out what really happened. He also had to quickly think about what action he should take to punish Heron and get back at Jared.

He then turned to General Moria. "After we land, don't you go to Thaesi yet to attack them. Wait for my orders. I'll go to the palace and see my grandfather and discuss what happened with him."

General Moria nodded. "Yes, Your Highness."

"You wait on board and stand by. I'll tell you right away what to do."

Therius got up from his chair and walked out of the bridge. He had to go to Emma right away and make sure she was okay.

.

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From the author:

To be honest, writing this part is really hard for me. I cannot imagine how life would turn out for Emma in Akkadia when her world turned upside down.

The cover is changed to show Emma's parents to remember Kaoshin and Arreya. T_T This story was initially about Kaoshin and Arreya and how they escaped from Akkadia. However, since their love story is too sad, I decided to focus on their daughter, Emma. That's how we ended up with this book now.