Conquering the Emperor - Chapter 83

After a short walk, we arrived at what must be the front gate to Ren’s palace. The gate and walls were so tall and heavily guarded. The place eluded a sense of importance and superiority which made me feel slightly intimidated.

The guards bowed and opened the gate at once when they spotted Ren. With a wave of his hand, Ren silently walked through the gates to his own palace, dragging a very bewildered me behind him. Ren’s palace was huge and so was the garden that surrounded it. I had expected that, so it did not come as a surprise. However, the multiple layers of walls that currently separated us from the palace itself was something that I hadn’t anticipated.

“There are three layers of walls that we need to go through to reach my palace,” Ren said as he grinned at me as if he could read my thoughts.

“Isn’t that a bit much?” I asked.

“Don’t ask me. I didn’t request for it to be built this way. Apparently, it was designed by my great grandfather and every single crown prince has had to live with it since. I’m not the first, my father and my grandfather lived here as well when they were the crown prince,” Ren explained.

“I guess it takes a long time to travel in and out of your palace…” I observed.

“You’ll get used to it…and it doesn’t take that long on horseback,” Ren replied.

Does that imply that I’ll be going in and out of here…often? I didn’t want to know.

Between each walls were beautiful gardens with lush trees and flowers. While I was admiring the flower and landscape, Ren pointed out something entirely unrelated to the lush gardens.

“Each layer of the walls acts as different security measures to the palace. The first wall that we just passed; for example, has houses to house a mini army of soldiers. Since that wall is the first line of defense, foot soldiers live there and there are big cannons as well. This means that even if the imperial palace were to be invaded, there is still an army ready to fight to defend the crown prince,” Ren explained.

“Wow…sort of like your private army?” I asked.

“More like private guards. I do have a private army…but that’s not for my personal security…” Ren said trailing off and I could already imagine what his private army was used for.

“I see…” I mumbled and Ren squeezed my hand as we entered the second wall.

“Wow…so many horses…” I exclaimed as I looked around at the many soldiers walking their horses around or tending to them.

“The second wall houses soldiers on horseback and their horses. These soldiers also work to breed horses and train them for battle,” Ren explained.

“Do you like horses?” I asked. I remembered how well Ren took care of his horse and figured that he must like the animal.

“I do. They are loyal creatures and intelligent in battle. That is why I have my own breeding and training team for horses, separated from the palace’s,” Ren replied, proudly.

As we continued walking along the path, I could see large stables on both sides and large lawn of grass. Many horses were freely grazing, and they seemed to be enjoying their peaceful lives. Walking leisurely through the path to his palace together made me feel like Ren was trying to give me an introduction to his home and I truly appreciated the effort.

The third wall was taller than the other two and had more guards and large canons on the wall. Two guards approached us, and Ren held up his hand to halt them. I was confused as to what was going on.

“There’s no need…” Ren said as he held up his hand.

“But…Crown prince…” one of the guards said with a concerned voice.

“I can handle one woman on my own…even if she’s an assassin,” Ren said jokingly as he laughed a little at the shocked expression of the two guards.

“What was that about?” I asked, as we entered the door to the third gate.

“Body check,” Ren replied.

“Body check?” I said, curiously.

“Guards of the final gate performs a body check on everyone that is not part of the royal family before they are allowed to enter. Basically, they will strip you and check that you don’t have any weapons or anything dangerous before you can pass through the gate…” Ren explained as he flashed me an evil grin.

“Uhhh…so they strip everyone who passes through, women included?” I asked.

“Correct. If a maid were to enter or leave the palace, her body would be checked by the guards,” Ren replied flatly.

“Isn’t that…” I began saying that it was an over the top, but Ren’s words cut me short.

“Don’t worry. I won’t let another man lay hands on you or see you naked,” Ren said with an amused smile.

“Right…” I mumbled.

I followed behind Ren with my hand still in his as we approached the main building of the crown prince’s palace.

“Welcome to my home,” Ren said with a pleasant smile as he gestured to the palace behind him.

“Wow…just…wow…” I said what I honestly felt.

I heard Ren laugh softly next to me at my reaction to the massiveness of his palace. It was a crime against humanity that someone could live in a place this massively huge all by himself. Ren’s palace was too big for me to accurately describe and decorated with statues and carvings of dragons everywhere. Red and gold were the main colors used to decorate his palace as fitting of the crown prince of the Flame Dragon Empire. The official seal of the empire along with Ren’s official seal were featured side by side in various places on the exterior of the building.

“Let’s go inside. I think the palace looks even better on the inside,” Ren said before winking at me.

I laughed a little dryly as I followed him into his palace. It was obvious that Ren was born with a golden spoon in his mouth…and I meant that literally. There was so much gold in this palace that I started to wonder if he had a thing for gold.

–To be continued…