Chapter 70: Meeting with the Emperor

As Rhea and Draven were trying to discover the establishment of the elixirs, In the royal palace of the Birhhan Emperor, another matter was at hand.

The grand Emperor’s chambers was adorned with opulence and power. An enormous high chair sat at the center of the room. The emperor was seen on the high chair, his presence commanding respect. He wore a crown that gleamed with authority. With officials lined up before him. The atmosphere in the chamber was tensed as they’d just received news from the border town that the general had gone missing with his wife for a week without a word.

The general’s wife who turned out to be his stepbrother’s daughter, whom he had bestowed upon the general for his loyalty to Birhhan. And he’d just found out they were nowhere to be found, not even their dead bodies.

The emperor’s eyes narrowed as he seemed to be deep in thought. After a moment of silence, the emperor’s advisor, Edmund Santino finally spoke. "We don’t know what happened to the general, however I know it has something to do with the outcast creatures. A few days ago, there had been news of the shadow stalkers pursuing the strong aura of a powerful dragon in the border town."

One of the officials stepped forward, adjusting his robes nervously. "Your Majesty, we face grave challenges in our preparation to conquer the Fazzan Empire. Our forces are outnumbered, and the recent disappearance of our esteemed general and his wife has left us in a vulnerable position. We have to do something about his disappearance and seek out the detected dragon in the border town."

A murmur of concern rippled through the officials, their faces reflecting worry and uncertainty. For decades, even before the fight with humans and dragons, Birhhan had been preparing for war with the Fazzan Empire. The general was supposed to prepare the Birhhan soldiers to fight this upcoming war, however now the news had arrived that he had gone missing with the emperor’s niece for weeks.

The Emperor raised his hands to hush the murmuring in the chamber, "Silence. We cannot allow setbacks to deter us from our goals of conquering the Fazzan Empire. Which was why I made some arrangements before hand years ago. For years, we have been enemies with the outcasts and the Fazzan Empire, and due to Alina’s wonderful help, we will be able to make our soldiers the most powerful beings in all the world to fight this battle."

The Emperor gestured to his advisor, who nodded before shifting his gaze to the guards by the entrance, and said. "Let her in!"

The double doors of the chambers opened. All the officials eyes turned towards the entrance at the same time as Alina stepped inside the grandest room in the palace, with her stunning beauty and grace. As she entered the chamber, heads turned to catch a glimpse of her radiant presence. Her long, flowing black hair cascaded down her back, shimmering under the warm glow of the chandeliers, while her piercing black eyes seemed to hold a universe of secrets.

Every step she took was like a dance, her movements fluid and elegant. Her slender figure was adorned in a regal gown, the fabric clinging to her curves in all the right places. The intricate embroidery on her dress reflected the wealth and influence she commanded.

As she approached the Emperor, Alina gracefully bowed, her eyes never leaving his gaze. "Your Majesty," she spoke in a voice that carried a mix of confidence and respect, "It’s an honor to be present at such important meeting."

"The honor is mine, lady Credan. I should be the one honored to have you present here today, after all it was all thanks to you our wonderful realm, Birhhan still exists." The Emperor replied, his voice filled with admiration. "You must have heard the reason I summoned you to the royal meeting."

Alina nodded her head, then bowed slightly, "Yes, your majesty. I heard general Jurian has gone missing with his wife. The fire controllers are still on the look out for any signs if he was harmed by the outcasts."

"Hmm." The Emperor hummed, then said. "The main reason why I summon you here is because we will like to know the progress of the elixirs you’re creating with the cores. We need to distribute them to our soldiers as soon as possible. We can’t delay any longer."

Alina smiled, "Your Majesty, we are still diligently working on making the magical elixirs. However, the scarcity of dragons these days has posed a great challenge."

The Emperor, captivated by Alina’s intelligence, nodded in understanding. "I trust in your abilities, Alina," he replied, his voice filled with gratitude. "Birhhan is relying on you to make these magical elixirs to give our soldiers more power to face this battle and conquer our enemies. Birhhan will forever be grateful to you."

All the officials in the hall bowed down to Alina in respect. "All Hail Lady Credan!"

"All Hail Lady Credan!"

With the meeting concluded, Alina made her way back to her awaiting carriage, accompanied by her loyal lady in waiting and Oriana. The air around her seemed to turn colder as she stepped inside her carriage with her niece.

Oriana spoke, "Aunt Alina, what are you going to do about Lord Enzo, your wedding has been delayed due to his sickness. And now you have this huge responsibility on your shoulders."

Alina’s expression soured even more. Although everyone in Birhhan thought she was doing this to help Birhhan, in reality that wasn’t the reason she had taken the huge responsibility of their realm. She had endured for centuries to finally meet her dead husband again. She had committed a sin of locking his soul for centuries, she’d risked her life by stepping into the dragon realm just to get what she needed. But despite that, she failed in getting that one thing that would make her husband remain by her side forever.

And now that she’d finally met his reborn soul, he was completely different from the man she married centuries ago. He had a weak heart and could die at anytime from his heart condition. To avoid suspicion, she had proposed to the officials to make use of the dragons instead of killing them on sight to make elixirs to keep humans from growing old, and also proposed to the Emperor to make the Birhhan soldiers stronger with their cores. All this just to make Enzo stay by her side forever. But despite her efforts, none of it was helping him at all. It was like his system was rejecting the elixirs.

Enzo’s heart condition wasn’t recovering completely, but the elixirs were only suppressing the disease for some time. However, she would never allow him to die again after doing all this for him.

"Ori, has there been any news about the detected dragon in the border town?" She asked as the carriage began to move.

"No, there hasn’t been any news about that creature the shadow stalkers detected. You shouldn’t worry about that, the fire controllers are working on finding more Dragons. If that Rhea hadn’t released those monsters back then, we wouldn’t be in this situation now." Oriana sneered in annoyance, oblivious to Alina’s main goal. But more annoyed by Rhea for ruining her image in public. She’d sworn to get back at her the next time they meet again, but it turned out the disgraceful daughter of the Villden had gone missing with her husband.

"It’s a good thing that useless girl wouldn’t be here to ruin our plans this time again. She got away with it last time because of Azure, and thank heavens she’s nowhere to be found now." Oriana mused, the joy in her tone couldn’t be missed.

However, Alina didn’t even reply. She’d heard about the news of the girl who released the dragons back then, but that wasn’t her own problem at this moment now. She was more concerned about the strong scent detected in the border town. Furthermore, she had felt that someone had broken the seal she’d placed in the cave to lock the dragon king’s essence. And nobody else could do that except the owner of the essence, and the owner couldn’t do that without the presence of his core. Which only meant Draven had found the core before she did and was probably on his way to retrieve his powers and form.

Alina’s lips pulled up into a smirk. So he managed to survive after all. Her eyes gleamed dangerously before she then said to Oriana, "Tell uncle Edmund to place more guards and fire controllers around the building. Inform him not to sell anymore of the remaining forever young elixirs, and deliver them to my residence."

If Draven had really survived by now he would have found the core since it was a part of him, it would only be right if she allowed him deliver it to her himself.

There wouldn’t be a need to go after him again, he would surely come for his powers, and she’d wait until then for him to come. She couldn’t let her centuries of hard work go to waste without completing her goals. As long as she had the dragon’s legendary book in her possession, then no dragon on earth could ever defeat her. Not even the ice dragon king himself. Alina’s eyes sparkled with a mix of ambition and determination.

Alina then added, "I have one more request: please ensure that Valen, that useless crap, has no knowledge of this situation. I don’t want a repeat of what happened with Rinus. It was not an easy task to get rid of Rinus’ Villden when he tried to ruin my plans."

Oriana scoffed, "Don’t worry, Aunt Alina. Even if Valen finds out about it, he is powerless as he is under the control of Uncle Edmund. He is nothing more than a womanizer who’s life revolves around brothels. Rinus is no longer a threat, and the Villden’s troublesome daughter is not present, so you have nothing to be concerned about."

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay Read