The Emperor's Secret Luna

Chapter 1: 5 Years Later

“Your Grace, something bad has happened!”

“Speak, what is it?”

“It’s about Lady Alvira! Someone from the imperial palace said that she encountered an accident during the imperial hunt! She’s in critical condition!”

This spacious, rectangular study has mismatched metal and glass furniture. The floor is wood and the walls are textured and painted. Light is provided by table lamps. The room is done in colors that remind you of a temperate forest and, overall, has a clean look.

Grand Duke Chantrea slammed the wooden table after hearing it. “How?!”

“Lady Alvira fell on her horse while chasing a wild beast in the forest. Her head was slammed on a tree and caused her to faint.”

Finally, Grand Duke Chantrea could not hold in his anger and sternly asked with a heavy expression on his old face, “Where is she right now?”

The servant trembled on his knee but he replied, “Your Grace, they are currently inside the resting tent assigned to Lady Alvira… Doctor Leopold is already on his way.”

Grand Duke Chantrea felt relief that Doctor Leopold was already on his way. Doctor Leopold Dendy was their private doctor and he could not trust any other doctors aside from him, even if it was a doctor from the imperial palace. He was an old friend of the Grand Duke and was offered in the past to be the Head Imperial Physician of the Imperial Palace. However, he declined and instead worked under the Grand Duchy of Chantrea.

“My daughter is excellent at horseback riding… How did she suddenly fall?”

“According to Lady Alvira’s maidservant, Esther, before the imperial hunt started, she had an argument with Princess Octavia. Princess Octavia wanted the horse Lady Alvira had chosen, which led to their conflict. But there’s no proof that Princess Octavia was the cause of Lady Alvira having an accident.”

Princess Octavia is the eldest princess of the Islomore Empire. Her mother is Empress Victoria, while her elder brother is the current 1st prince, Prince Isaac, who had the highest chance to succeed to the throne.

With her status, she was born arrogant. She had been spoiled by everyone, which made her look down on other people. A lot of the other noble young ladies would flock around her, trying to curry favor, but Alvira was different.

She had never been like the other young ladies who would fawn over the imperial family. Since she was the only child of the honorable Grand Duchy of Chantrea who owned the largest military army, she had never been taught to boot-lick others to improve her status.

In both status and power, Alvira and Princess Octavia were of the same level. That made Princess Octavia hate her because she could not stand that someone was of the same level as her. Be it in beauty and status, they are equal.

But what made her angrier was because of the fatherly love that Alvira had. This is what Princess Octavia is envious of the most. Because Alvira was the only child of Grand Duke Chantrea, she had received all the attention and love that Princess Octavia could only hope for. Born as a princess, it was her role at the very beginning to compete with her other siblings for their father’s attention, the Emperor.

“Presumptuous!”

Grand Duke Chantrea slammed the desk with a bang, causing the desk to tremble from its force. “Tell the soldiers to protect Alvira’s tent and no one is allowed to visit her. If someone forces their way in, kill them instantly!… I’m going to see the Emperor!”

***

The imperial forest was especially unusual today. Everyone coming and going in the forest had a serious and heavy expression, as if the skies were falling. Even the wind that was blowing was icy cold and it blew up the cold sweat. After all, it was the beloved daughter of Grand Duke Chantrea.

It was known to everyone how this Grand Duke spoiled his daughter to the core that even a slight grievance from her would cause the grand duke to be in full rage. Not to mention that she was gravely injured at this time. Grand Duke Chantrea would definitely wreak havoc just to find who was responsible for this incident.

“Doctor Leopold, how is Lady Alvira?” Esther was deeply worried as she glanced at the pale complexion of her young lady.

She had never seen her young lady getting seriously injured ever since except for that moment 5 years ago. So, when she encountered such an accident, her mind went blank. If not for the blood that had flowed out of Alvira’s head, she would not have come to her senses.

Doctor Leopold walked directly over to speak, “Lady Alvira had a concussion on her head which caused her to faint. Fortunately, you were able to cover up the wound which blocked the blood from continuously flowing out. Or else, it would have been critical to her condition.”

Esther did not call out the imperial doctors to treat her young lady. Grand Duke Chantrea had strictly ordered them not to seek out any medical treatment with the other doctors, especially if it was related to Lady Alvira herself.

That’s why she immediately asked one of the soldiers sent by Grand Duke Chantrea to accompany them to hunt to call for Doctor Leopold. Although she didn’t know about medicine, she knew that excessive blood loss is crucial for a patient and so she tried her best to cover Lady Alvira’s wound.

Esther’s gaze became assured, “That’s fortunate… If something happened to Lady Alvira, I would never be able to forgive myself!”

“Don’t worry, she will wake up. Lady Alvira is being blessed by the Late Duchess, she will survive.” Doctor Leopold carefully said.

“Your Grace!” sounds of address were heard from the outside of the tent. The next moment, the door of the tent opened as Grand Duke Chantrea hurried onto his steps. Upon seeing Doctor Leopold, he asked immediately, “How is she? When will she wake up?”

“For now, we have already stopped the blood from flowing.” Doctor Leopold said, “I can’t give you an exact date as to when she will wake up. Lady Alvira's head was severely injured. But Your Grace must not worry too much, Lady Alvira is not in a critical condition now.”

“I heard Your Grace went to the imperial palace?” Doctor Leopold asked.

Grand Duke Chantrea did not reply instantly but instead headed to where his daughter was sleeping. There was a huge gauze that covered the top part of her head. Her face looked pale, which was very different from her valiant nature.

“My dearest Alvira, father has avenged you… I have punished that person gravely for you. So, hurry up and wake up so that you can witness her suffering for yourself.”

When Grand Duke Chantrea went to seek an audience with the Emperor, he had already found proof that it was Princess Octavia who caused Alvira to fall. One of the participants had witnessed Princess Octavia sneaking toward Alvira’s horse. Although that person had not witnessed what the Princess had done, it was proof that she was the mastermind behind it.

With these proofs and claims he presented, the Emperor was left with no choice but to punish Princess Octavia. The Grand Duchy of Chantrea held the most formidable and largest military army in the entire empire. The Emperor would not want to offend him over this trifling matter.

After a long moment of silence, Grand Duke Chantrea asked, “Did anyone come here?”

Doctor Leopold shook his head. “Anyone who wishes to see the young lady is being blocked outside by the Chantrea Soldiers. So, no one has ever come inside except me, Your Grace, and Lady Alvira’s maidservant, Esther.”

“That’s good… I won’t let anyone hurt my daughter.” Grand Duke Chantrea sighed as he glanced back at Alvira. “Butler Murray,” he called over.

Butler Murray Green immediately entered the tent and bowed respectfully, “Your Grace,” He is the head butler of the Grand Duchy and had been serving the family for more than 20 years. Anyone could say that he was extremely loyal to the grand duke since he had seen him grow up and had a family on his own.

“Tell the soldiers to prepare the carriage. We will go back. Alvira is safer in the residence than here.”

“Yes, Your Grace,” Butler Murray was about to leave when suddenly he remembered something, “Your Grace, Prince Isaac was waiting outside the tent. He said he wanted to speak with you.”

Grand Duke Chantrea coldly snorted, “Humph! That 1st Prince is definitely here for his younger sister!… Tell him to leave! I won’t be seeing anyone, especially those relatives of the person who hurt my precious daughter!” The old man said impolitely.

“This…” Butler Murray had some hesitation, “Your Grace, he is still a prince after all. Am I really going to relay those words to him?”

Grand Duke Chantrea frowned, faintly sweeping his eyes at the butler, “If you have the guts, then say it directly at him!”

Butler Murray hurriedly shook his head in fear, “Your Grace, this servant wouldn’t dare.”

Doctor Leopold chuckled and tapped Butler Murray’s shoulder, “Ignore him, he was just pissed off right now… Go tell the prince that Duke Chantrea is busy taking care of Lady Alvira so he can’t see him in the meantime.”

With that, Butler Murray nodded his head and left the tent.

“You scared your butler again,” Doctor Leopold commented after Butler Murray left.

***

Weeks had passed by. It was summer and the days were long and the nights were short. When the sun shone, the birds in the mansion started to chirp but there was not a sound from the grandiose room.

Grand Duke Chantrea looked at Doctor Leopold and asked, “What is going on?”

Doctor Leopold’s brow was tight as he took Alvira’s pulse. However, he shook his head in front of the grand duke.

“This is strange. Your Grace, Lady Alvira’s injuries were already healed and those were all superficial injuries. The medicine prescribed to her was definitely working. She should have woken up already but, till now, she’s still asleep.”

“So? What are you trying to say?” Grand Duke Chantrea’s expression was as deep as water as he looked at Doctor Leopold forcefully. He was told that his daughter was already away from danger, yet it had already been weeks since that incident happened, and his precious daughter still hadn’t woken up!

His patience was already starting to snap out! If only Doctor Leopold had been a stranger to him, he had long ordered his soldiers to arrest him!

“This is really strange. Are the injuries Lady Alvira got in the past the cause of this?”

Esther, who was at her side, cautiously spoke, “Your Grace, Doctor Leopold, could it be that there is some poison that Lady Alvira got? Maybe Doctor Leopold has not yet discovered it before?”

“That’s not possible,” Doctor Leopold firmly denied, “There are no signs of being poisoned in Lady Alvira’s pulse, so that’s not possible. Besides, I tested her blood as well and there were no abnormalities in it. It did not seem to have any problems but she was just unable to wake up.”

“How can that be?!” Grand Duke Chantrea became anxious, “My daughter cannot keep on sleeping like this! There must be a reason for it!”

Doctor Leopold glanced at the worried grand duke and sighed, “Let’s wait for another day. Maybe we will see something later.”

The grand duke was left with no choice. He could only trust his words and entrusted Esther to take care of Alvira.

Grand Duke Chantrea and Doctor Leopold went to his study right after.

“What is actually going on with my daughter? Even if Alvira did not wake up, there had to be a reason. Could it be that you were not able to find the reason for it?”

Doctor Leopold was unable to speak about the suffering of his heart. There was definitely nothing wrong with Lady Alvira but, she just could not wake up. Even if one was a doctor, there must be signs and symptoms to diagnose, but from her pulse and expression, it was like she was sleeping like an ordinary person, so what could he diagnose?

“Could it be that my daughter was affected by some mysterious force? After all, it was a forest! There are so many forces lurking in that forest, so maybe she was affected by some of them?”

Doctor Leopold could not answer. He was also helpless right now. It was his first time encountering such a situation wherein a person could not wake up and was only in a very deep sleep.

***

The flag of the rebellious group was flying high up. The weather of this lunar month was changing rapidly, the black clouds were pressing down on the empire and the wind was raging as if it was going to rain in the next moment.

There was no one in the Imperial Palace and corpses were lying everywhere. Some females had committed suicide and there were some servants who were beheaded by the rebel army.

Blood flowed throughout the field as corpses piled up to hundreds of thousands. On the palace’s tower, under the pressure of the rebel army, the Emperor and the Empress’s hands were bounded and they were tied to the flagpole.

The officials of the Islomore Empire were also tied up and were forced to kneel on the cold ground below where the flagpole was located.

Under the palace’s tower, there sat a male on a horse, with a pair of murderous gazes. His robes were gorgeous and stained with blood, but the noble air around him was not suppressed. The emperor who was captured paled in contrast.

“Xavier! How dare you plot a rebellion?! Do you still treat me as your father?!” The Emperor gritted his teeth.

“Long time no see, imperial father! It had been a long time since you exiled me from this empire!” Xavier greeted him.

Everyone knew that Prince Xavier was the youngest son of Emperor Vester. He was the son of the late empress and had been exiled. Who would have thought that the abandoned prince would come back to the empire and carry out a rebellion?!

“You will suffer a pain worse than death?! Even if you sat on the throne, the citizens of this empire would not accept you as their emperor! You die here alone?! Mark my words!” Emperor Vester contemptibly said.

“Don’t worry. I have already suffered that pain you were talking about. I’m used to it.” Xavier spread his hands out and the long sharp sword slashed through the emperor’s head, cutting it off from his body.

“Your Highness, everything has been thoroughly cleaned in the palace!” One of his subordinates reported.

Prince Xavier looked at the skies solemnly. Although he had attained victory today, his whole portrayed someone who had been lost. Under the clear bright moonlight, he looked extremely lonely.

“I have lived alone and will probably die alone,” he said lowly.

A young lady stood at the side watching the man suffer in loneliness. In the next moment, she felt her surroundings slowly fading away as she slipped into darkness.

Alvira finally stirred, her long eyelashes fluttered open and she found herself lying down on a nice warm bed in a luxuriously decorated room.

An old man was sitting by her bed and when he saw that she had awoken, his whole face lit up, and exclaimed, “Silly child, you finally woke up! You scared your father to death!”