The Duke's Passion

"I am not someone who deserves the title of the Empress, Sam. This may sound like cowardice, but… I don't think I am cut out for it."

There was a moment of silence between Sam and me. What I said was selfish and insensitive, since Sam didn't wish for the title of the emperor. However, he still accepted the throne and carried the load the crown offered. So, for me to state such, I would understand if he was upset about it. After all, I was supposed to share his burden.

But this burden… would cripple me. Just the thought of it terrified me already. I didn't want to lie to myself or to him regarding this. I didn't need a title. I was already content with the kind of life we had lived for the past months since my awakening from my five-year slumber. 

To my surprise, his lips curled up into a gentle smile, eyes glinting with clear understanding. Just the sight of it felt like a bandage wrapping around my wounded heart, making my vision blur with the tears I was suppressing. 

"I know, love. I know." He rocked his head, taking a step forward until he was standing toe to toe with me. "You and I… aren't cut out to lead. I already knew that the second Law was born. Hence, I kept him in the dark about it since he didn't need to concern himself with that sort of thing."

"Sam?" my brows rose, hearing those words again. In the past, I asked Sam why he kept his status from Law and he only told me because there was no need for our son to know. I didn't probe about the matter, as I just trusted that he had his own reasoning. 

But now that I was hearing it the second time, it piqued my curiosity. Sam seemed to take notice of what was on my mind, so he chuckled, tapping his index against my forehead lightly.

"I'll explain that to you later, my beloved wife." He smiled as he withdrew his finger, holding his hand behind him once again. "For now, let's deal with the people outside since Quentin and Stefan will be busy. Those in the fort will also be busy dealing with the detestable Heliot."

"Heliot is not detestable." Sam frowned at my correction, casting me a look while scrunching his nose up. "I'm just being honest. You even fooled me just so you can buy him some time. That means you have some level of trust in him."

I stepped aside and faced ahead, shrugging. I felt Sam's gaze linger on my side before he took a step forward and I followed. It was odd that even with the disaster, Sam and I had the leisure to talk and walk in the driveway of the mansion as if we're just taking a walk in the garden after a meal. But just as he said, he didn't need to move since he was the emperor. 

If Sam fought, that only meant that his people were far too weak against the enemies or the empire was on the verge of falling. That was the importance of the emperor. The more I thought about it, the more I remembered back when Stefan was sitting on the throne, he also barely made his actions. 

All Stefan did as the king was to plan his scheme, and his people would follow his decree. Now, Sam held the same position, so he had more hands and feet to fight for him. 

Sam hummed before he cocked his head back. "You're right, my wife. I trust Heliot on these kinds of things, but I don't trust him on other things. He's always been a suspicious character, and he is so fond of my wife he threatened me to snatch you away if I didn't have enough power to protect you."

"In other words, Heliot was the reason we have this leisure time right now amid this chaos."

Sam didn't respond to the other angle I pointed at. I couldn't help but let out a light chuckle as he frowned. My husband might've denied it, but he surely liked Heliot. Although the latter was a person who was hard to read or predict, that was Heliot's charms. 

"God… just the thought of seeing his face again aggravates me. I always let Rufus deal with him and the Karo Kingdom."

I shook my head lightly with a subtle smile. "You like him."

"Over my dead body."

A light chuckle slipped past my lips at my husband's denial. Sam could deny it as much as he could, but it was obvious he didn't dislike Heliot. I should invite him for some tea if everything went according to my husband's plan. 

As we approached the gates and the yelling along with the metals clashing resonated in my ear, I looked at Sam. I didn't ask earlier as I had a lot of things in mind, but I was curious about one thing.

"Sam? How come Fabian is alive?" I jogged beside him, bending over with my head turned in his direction. "Is he immortal or what? Zero took out his heart, after all."

Sam scrunched his nose up as he scratched his temple. "My love, I told you before, didn't I? Fabian and I had a strange start in our relationship. We only grew close because I let him dissect my body out of curiosity about his fascination with vampires' anatomy. 

But he looked he was having so much fun while slicing my stomach open. So, I was curious what was fun about it." 

My eyes dilated as I looked at him with a horrified expression. "And??"

"So, I tied him down and played doctor." Sam averted his eyes and whistled to make it sound light. "I was curious if anyone can live with two hearts, so while keeping him alive with my blood and life force, I messed up his internal organs to add a heart. I think he put three inside me to make me a better person, but I highly believed having over one heart doesn't necessarily make the person kinder since it obviously didn't work for us."

"…"