The Tyrant's Pet

"My feelings are my responsibility, not yours. Don't let it sway you. You can't handle it."

Aries ran her hands through her hair before tugging her scalp in distress. She would go insane with Abel's voice lingering in her head, repeating the words that came out of his mouth today. 

After kissing her with such passion, Abel just smiled from ear to ear, like usual. She couldn't speak a word when Conan and Isaiah, the grand duke of Fleure, arrived in the lake. Their objective was obvious, and they just did that. 

Isaiah and Conan ended up dragging Abel back to his office, while the latter had this stupid grin on his face. She could still remember the ridiculous scene unfolding before her, recalling Abel waving at her whilst being dragged away.

But that wasn't what put her in this situation. It was the words that were already uttered carelessly before Conan and Isaiah arrived. Now, she was a mess.

"Why are you even getting stressed about something you shouldn't? Jokes are half-meant, sure. But so do lies. He just spews a sweet lie and that's it." she murmured, letting go of her hair. She turned her head to the desk inside her chambers, flinging her legs out of the bed, and marched towards it. 

'I should just study. I am lagging behind our lesson.' She thought, plopping down on the chair and opening a book. 'If he comes, he comes. Torturing my brain by studying is more productive than letting Abel kill it!'

Aries huffed, eyes on fire with determination. She slammed her hands against the desk lightly, shaking her head as she refocused on studying. It didn't take that long when all unnecessary thoughts disappeared from her head as she read history. It was the first book she picked up.

Well, Aries and Conan weren't actually tackling the empire's history these past few weeks. They were too busy with other unimportant things. Hence, it wasn't really a bad coincidence that she picked up the book of history. 

She already read a few parts of the book. But since Abel mentioned the first emperor, Aries was curious. He said the first emperor had a family, so she wanted to confirm if she missed the detail. 

"Huh?" Aries titled her head to the side after reading the first emperor's biography and how this empire was established. 

In the book, way back in the past, when Haimirich was just a small kingdom ruled by a foolish king. It was said that the king was selfish and only inflicted misery on his subjects. When the king's deed had reached unspeakable inhumanity, a rebellion arose. 

A genius and kind man led the rebellion. It was said that it was a turning point in Haimirich. The foolish king had fallen, executed in front of the seething masses. That king's death marked the beginning of the rule of the Bloodworth clan. 

The man who led the rebellion claimed the throne. His name was... Abel. 

From then on, the Haimirich kingdom flourished until it became an empire. It continued to grow significantly. There were no records of the first emperor having a family. If anything, there was just a short detail about his marriage. 

It was more like a summarization. The first emperor married a princess from another kingdom. It was said that the first emperor and the empress lived a happy marriage. Unfortunately, she died birthing their son. Due to his love for his empress, the emperor didn't marry anymore. 

Instead, he focused on making the empire great for his heir. The first emperor died a natural death at old age. His son took charge and continued the legacy of his father. 

"I guess he is lying," Aries murmured after reading the article regarding the first emperor. She cupped her jaw, fingers playing with the tip of the book. 

"Now that I think about it, the emperors always had Abel in their first name." She rocked her head, reviewing the names of the emperors in this empire in her mind. "It looks like it's a reminder for the next emperor not to tarnish the name, Abel." 

She frowned. Abel was doing just that, wasn't he? Tarnishing his own name to his heart's content?

A shallow sigh slipped past her lips as her eyes glossed over the book. Her eyes lingered on the short summarization of the first emperor's marriage. 

"How strange..." she mumbled, reading the topic regarding the second emperor of the empire. After skimming through it, Aries checked a few more emperors. 

They all had in common. All information regarding their impresses wasn't that detailed. Just a quick summarization. For some unknown reason, Aries simply glanced at the rest and just read the part of the previous emperor's marriage. 

"There are barely details..." she whispered with furrowed brows. "Not just that. But all the previous empresses either died of childbirth or an illness." 

According to the book, the emperors followed in the first emperor's footsteps. Hence, they don't take in another empress other than their deceased wife. And all the people birthed in the royal family were always a boy. 

It was almost perfect for Aries. But in a way, it was a little ridiculous. 

"All these years... every empress birth a boy? Never once a girl?" she wondered and cocked her head. "Were they cursed or what? But if they are, shouldn't it be more believable if they stop the bloodline entirely?" 

Aries rubbed her chin because the more she dwelled in the empire's history, the more questions rose from her head. Although she had tackled this with Conan, they focused on different aspects rather than the love life of the emperor. 

"It sounds perfect, but... it's almost too perfect and convenient. It's unbelievable." She nodded in agreement, leaning back against the chair. "Either way, that's history. No one can rewrite it."

There was a moment of silence as she gazed at the open book. All the emperors almost had a similar story of ascending the throne, making the empire great, marrying a princess, gaining a son, the death of their empresses, and then the emperors living the remainder of their days all alone. Then repeat. 

The only difference was their ruling and achievements. 

"Is this the reason Abel hadn't taken in an empress despite the pressure?" she wondered while rubbing her chin. "At his age, he should have got an heir now. Did he also notice the fate of the emperors that he wants to stray from it? He's the only tyrant in the empire to ever exist. Considering his personality, he would rather be alone than take a wife just to get his heart broken upon her death."

Aries pondered about it before she shook her head. "Enough history. Time to sleep." Studying was effective for her since she didn't think about Abel's advances to her. She closed the book, blew the lamp, and hid under the blanket to sleep.

Little did she know, being too smart wasn't always the safest route.. For she… had taken an interest in something she shouldn't.