Chapter 3
Lucian was dragged out of the Sanctuary by the palace guard. But his curiosity did not abate.
“Vivian, why am I forbidden from going to the White Tower?”
“Because it is the imperial protocol of this palace. Only His Majesty the Emperor may enter and leave the White Tower.”
“Who was the girl I saw?”
“That is something you will learn when the time comes for you to become Emperor, Your Highness.”
A thoroughly unsatisfying answer. Afterward, Lucian posed the same question to others, but the replies were all identical.
In accordance with imperial protocol, he was entrusted to House Tristan, where he received his education as heir alongside Ezra, his foster brother and the knight who would one day serve him.
“Ezra, I saw a beautiful girl at the White Tower. She looked like she wasn’t of this world. If fairies or elves existed, she’s what they would look like.”
Even through the grueling swordsmanship drills and his studies in imperial governance, Lucian never let go of his curiosity about that girl.
“She looked much younger than me…”
“Your Highness, you mustn’t speak of the White Tower.”
“Why? Why does everyone say the same thing?”
“Because the White Tower belongs to His Majesty the Emperor alone.”
Lucian was born to become Emperor. And yet he found it impossible to accept that there existed a truth even he was not permitted to know.
“Besides, have you not been betrothed to the princess of the Bellotien royal family, Your Highness?”
“That wasn’t my choice.”
“But I was taught that betrothals are always that way.”
Lucian was the sole Crown Prince of the Empire. A political marriage was only natural—he understood that well enough. He simply had no interest in the princess.
And so the days at House Tristan passed. With each year, Lucian cut a more imposing figure, growing into a striking young man with jet-black hair and jewel-blue eyes.
Then, when he turned twenty-five, the Emperor died suddenly of a heart attack. The funeral was conducted with the utmost solemnity, the coronation that followed with solemn reverence.
The moment Lucian sat upon the throne, he summoned his maid, Vivian. It was time to settle the question that had plagued him for a decade.
“Vivian.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“What is inside the White Tower?”
A flicker of alarm crossed her face.
“That is not something I am at liberty to speak of. Please ask the Empress Dowager, Your Majesty.”
“Then I shall go see my mother at once.”
Lucian rose from the throne and strode toward the Empress Dowager’s quarters. Isadora was still in mourning for the late Emperor, a black veil draped over her face.
“I have come because there is something I wish to know.”
“What is it?”
The bond between mother and son had been severed for ten years. They had long since become more distant than strangers.
“I wish to know about the White Tower. No matter whom I ask, no one gives me a proper answer.”
“That is not something the Emperor should concern himself with.”
“I must know regardless.”
Lucian’s stance was unyielding. Isadora, newly made Empress Dowager, saw in his blue eyes the ghost of the obstinate late Emperor Franz.
If she failed to give him a satisfactory answer, Lucian would simply walk to the White Tower and discover the truth on his own.
“Long ago, when this Empire was first founded…”
The Orbien Empire had a history spanning roughly one hundred years.
“There is a legend that the ancestor of Orbien founded the nation with the aid of a Saintess.”
“…A Saintess?”
“At the time, there existed a mysterious clan living peacefully in the forest. They were known as the Lumines clan, and they were said to divine fortunes from the stars and deliver prophecies.”
“What does that have to do with my question?”
“Afterward, each time a new Emperor was enthroned, the Lumines clan offered up a woman. These women came to be called Saintesses, and they were made to live in that White Tower.”
“But…”
“There are legends that the Saintess’s prophecies saved the nation from peril on several occasions, but such tales are not to be believed. And yet, the Orbien imperial house continued to demand women from the Lumines clan, eventually going so far as to require that a female infant be surrendered when the heir turned five.”
When Lucian had seen Asteria at fifteen, she had appeared to be around ten.
“Then… the girl I saw in the White Tower as a child…”
“She is the Saintess prepared for you, Your Majesty. She should be just twenty now.”
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