Empress of Otherverse

If Roberto was left alone at his current disastrous state, Lucretius knew he would die. Therefore, he ordered one of his guards to take him home and drop him off there.

Lucretius looked up at the sky and walked. His steps felt light. The sun was about to rise, and his lovely wife would wake up soon. He had to make sure she never knew what happened today, so he had to return to the castle and wash up quickly. He would then sneak into her bedroom like nothing happened.

He had to hurry.

***

Chirp, chirp, chirp.

The empress’ bedroom was filled with the sound of beautiful birds singing. Lucretius had made special order to the gardeners to release birds that made pretty noises. He did it because Bina once mentioned that she loved waking up to the sounds of birds singing.

Rare and exotic birds were brought from faraway lands and their wings were clipped so they couldn’t fly away. The birds remained in the empress’ garden and sang every morning for her.

Sometimes, Bina took Beatrice to the garden and fed the birds. Whenever he saw this from his personal office, Lucretius felt proud and pleased at the same time.

He was looking down at the empress’ garden right now. It was currently empty, but he smiled anyway because he remembered seeing his family there only a few days ago. The two most important people in the world for him were smiling and having good times.

‘I’m going to order all the colonies to include exotic birds as part of their mandatory yearly gifts.’

He knew they would be shocked to hear this, but he didn’t care.

Lucretius stood up and turned to the bed with a white lacy curtain.

Bina’s bed.

She was still sleeping when he returned early this morning.

He picked up the silver tray and quietly walked towards the bed. Bina opened her eyes when he was about to sit down.

He regretted having to wake her up. She still seemed tired, but her breakfast was getting cold. His movement must have awakened her from her sleep. Bina frowned sleepily.

Was she dreaming?

Lucretius got close to her and whispered to her ear teasingly, “Bina…”

However, it wasn’t Bina who got surprised.

Suddenly, two hands grabbed both of Lucretius’ ears.

“Got ya!”

“…!”

When Lucretius’ eyes widened, Bina giggled.

“Did I scare you?”

“…of course. Why didn’t you let me know if you were awake?”

It was a bright sunny day, but even the shining sunlight paled compared to Bina’s smile.

She continued to tease him, “Are you sure you were surprise?”

“I was!”

“Then how come you didn’t even scream?!”

Lucretius smiled. “I can’t help it. I grew up not showing my emotions.”

It was true. Growing up, he was taught to remain quiet, even when he was deathly sick or severely injured.

He was the king of this jungle that was Cransia. If he showed any weakness, all the other predators would think it’s their chance at the power.

Emotions could be the death of a person. He learned this at a young age, especially after seeing his mother’s execution for her powerlessness.

Bina complained, “I told you to be more yourself and relax when you are with me.”

Bina had, indeed, said this to him many times before. Lucretius tried to make an excuse.

“I AM being myself in front of you. Don’t you know how shocked my servants and assistants get whenever they see me with you?”

This was the truth. He acted very differently around Bina, especially as time passed.

Bina had to agree, “Yeah, I know.”

She was his world. She was his everything.

They kissed each other.

***

“Wow, what’s all this?”

Bina was surprised to see the contents of the silver bed tray Lucretius placed on her lap.

It was a simple breakfast with still-warm bread and hot black tea.

“It can’t be that you made this yourself…”

The chefs would never just sit around and watch the emperor cook. Lucretius actually tried to cook something for Bina, but it was a complete failure. He had to give up eventually.

“But I brewed the black tea myself.”

“Huh? Really?”

Bina was genuinely surprised. It was shocking to find out that the emperor himself brewed the tea. He must have done it secretly or else the maids wouldn’t have let him. Imagining Lucretius hiding and making a cup of tea for her made her smile.

She picked up the cup. “Thank you. I appreciate it.”

Lucretius smiled naughtily. “You are thanking me just with words?”

‘But we kissed just a minute ago.’

Bina narrowed her eyes, but still gave him a peck on the cheek.

They sat on the bed together and had a peaceful breakfast.

Lucretius whispered quietly, “I don’t know who it will be, but when we inherit the throne to the next heir, let’s travel together, just the two of us.”

“Travel?”

“Yes. I guess travelling the entire world… would be impossible, but we should be able to see most of our continent. I was born here and grew up in this castle, so I haven’t seen a lot of the world. I have studied about other kingdoms, but I still don’t know what they actually look like. I always imagined what it would be like to travel.”

“I sometimes think the same thing.”

“Perfect. This is why we are good together.”

“Okay. Let’s travel the world when we get a chance.”

“And… when we are travelling, I will make breakfast for you with my own hands every morning.”

Bina nodded.

They both hoped that their every morning was this perfect and happy.