Foreboding Storm - Chapter 164

After a few twists and turns, Princess Qamari and Bai Lan finally managed to enter the Imperial City.

“Wow!” Bai Lan’s eyes practically popped out as she gazed dazedly at the sprawling houses of variant blues amidst the encirclement of aquiline city walls.

The bustling crowd moving back and forth between food stalls, jeweler stalls, and exotic trinkets made the atmosphere buzz with energy.

“Qamari girl, when are you going to return to the pharmacy? If you aren’t in a hurry, why don’t you stop by the pharmacy?” Old Reehem slunk to the girl’s side with shining eyes.

He needed to tightly cling onto the girl until word came from the Healers Association.

Princess Qamari thought about their current situation.

While she was gone, an unknown person seems to have stolen her identity and entered the Imperial Capital with her name. She neither had an identity plaque nor a palace entrance pass to enter the palace and confront the duplicate.

If she tried to enter the palace without making a meticulous plan, then she was bound for failure.

But at this time, she didn’t possess the currency of the Amayan Empire to rent a shelter for the day.

It seemed going with the old physician was the best option they had at the moment. They could leave once she made complete preparation.

“Old Reehem, we’ll go with you right now. I’ve been out of the empire for a few months due to an unexpected situation. We can’t return home without preparation, so I hope you won’t’ mind that we’re imposing on you.”

“Hahaha…Don’t mind at all! It’ll be my great pleasure to have you in the pharmacy.” Flushed with excitement, the Old Man took the lead and headed towards the Inner City.

Princess Qamari smiled.

At least with the pharmacist’s presence, they’ll be able to enter the First Inner City, Aqua City.

*

In the Imperial Palace, the Eastern Palace was shrouded in a thick, dreadful aura. The Crown Prince’s sudden return shifted the entire balance in the imperial court, making the eastern palace one of the most avoided areas.

Though powerful and unstoppable, the changes that occurred in the empire for the past year were too large for Crown Prince Lail to solve with ease.

As such, since the day of his return, the Crown Prince was caught on getting up to date with the latest affairs of the empire.

At this moment, in the study room of the Crown Prince, the hurried steps of a servant resounded before the shadow of a figure entered his sight.

“Your Highness, the Regent Prince asked me to relay that he won’t be able to see you at the moment. There are too many pending tasks for him to complete. He’ll see you when he’s ready.”

Crown Prince Lail’s face instantly darkened.

Was this the display of an emperor’s authority? Heh…funnily enough, the man wasn’t even the empire’s emperor. But as a throne holder, the regent’s actions, behaviors, and mannerisms were too ostentatious.

“I understand. You can go down.”

If it was before, Crown Prince Lail might’ve felt confused and conflicted to hear such news. However, the present him felt nothing but an empty void inside him.

Setting down the parchment in his hands, Crown Prince Lail held his head in serious contemplation.

One year. He’d been gone for one year and everything changed within that year. His Royal Uncle and his family’s cold behavior weren’t unexpected.

On the contrary, he expected them because he never perceived a familial feeling from them.

But the engulfing gap in his relationship with his wife tormented him because she was his only family. At least, he thought she was his only family. But something happened that seemed to challenge this very notion.

“Why? Why don’t I feel anything even after returning to the palace? Why does she feel like a complete stranger?”

Frustrated, he angrily slammed his fists on the worktable and pushed out of his seat. Moving around the table, he walked to a corner and clicked on an inconspicuous aquiline stone.

A grinding sound resounded and the wall before his eyes split apart, revealing a secret tunnel.

Crown Prince Lail entered the tunnel, familiarly walking through the dark passage before appearing in front of a flight of stairs. He climbed down the stairs and appeared in a wide space.

Moving with the same familiarity, he approached the far corner, pressed on a teal brick among various color stones.

With another grinding sound, the wall split apart and he entered another wide space. Only this time, multiple lines of black-clothed men littered the place.

Crown Prince Lail arrived before the group of masked, black-clothed men.

“How is the matter I told you to look into coming along?” He coldly asked.

“As you instructed Master, we looked into the red-purple veiled girl. But aside from us getting injured or hurt by mutated beasts, we weren’t able to find anything.”

The Crown Prince’s eyes turned as dark as an endless void.

They weren’t able to find anything.

Even after sending them out three times to clearly investigate his wife, the guards came up empty.

Does this mean there was nothing wrong and he was being paranoid? Or was there something else?

This thought made him feel even more uncomfortable.

“Alright, you may withdraw. Keep an eye on the mutation of the wild beasts.”

“Yes, Crown Prince Lail.” The black-clothed men shared a look, then withdrew from the room.

Once all the black-clothed men withdrew, Crown Prince Lail took out a parchment and unfolded it.

It was the same portrait of his wife he’d looked at in the Laining City’s Stone Mansion. The moment his sight fell on the picture, his heart melted and a warm current coursed through his body.

Crown Prince Lail lifted a hand to his pounding heart.

“When I look at this picture, the same feelings I experienced on the day we signed our Marriage Agreement and our wedding day surge in my heart. The commitment and vows we exchanged at that time, I’ve done my utmost best to stay true to them. So what I’m feeling right now, why don’t I  feel it when I’m standing before the real person?”

*

On the other hand, Aarya Quime and Marui Osklain were settling into royal life. While Aarya Quime received the treatment of a respectable Crown Princess Consort, Marui Osklain, as her closest handmaiden, wasn’t living any less luxuriously.

“Sigh. A…Princess, you were right to come up with this conspiracy. Because of you, we’ll enjoy a rich life living as the dearest of the Crown Prince, the Crown Princess Consort. If we still had the same identities, we’d never be able to experience such an enviable life.”

When the two women had first stepped into the Imperial City, they were astonished by the prosperity and good life of the citizens. But before they could even exclaim in amazement, they passed through the City and arrived at a second gate.

Once they passed the second gate, their eyes almost bulged out from the more sophisticated layout of the city. But before they could release their breath of astonishment, they lost their cool.

Because in the next instant, they passed the second gate and entered the astonishing First Inner City, Aqua City, of the Amayan Empire.

It was only when they passed those two gates that they realized they’d hit the jackpot. They saw the prosperous empire of the Amayan Empire in its full glory.

Because both in wealth and prosperity, no empire in the seven realms could compare.

“Heh…and this is just the beginning. I’m still only the Crown Princess Consort of the Crown Prince. Once I become the Empress of the Amayan Empire, then our reign will be supreme.”

After experiencing the sweet taste of being the second most important woman in the capital after the Regent Prince’s wife, Aarya Quime’s heart filled with the desire to become an empress.

“That’s great. We’ll be able to live in riches and luxury for the rest of our lives.” Marui Osklain was practically glowing as she thought of the future where Aarya Quime would become Empress.

“But that other one is still roaming around. Until we bring her story to a complete end, we won’t be able to relax and enjoy this fortunate in peace.” She added.

“I’ve already made preparations to take care of her. Within the next month, her shadow will leave our souls. And even if she manages to escape and enter the palace, after this next plan of mine succeeds, we’d still have the full right to stay in this imperial palace.” She chuckled with mirth.

Aarya Quime didn’t want to lose what she’d obtained. All this time she’d been commissioning mercenaries to finish her, she’d also been thinking of the worst-case scenario and making plans.

“I found out if the prince of the empire marries another woman while his first wife is around, then no one can break the relationship of the prince and the second wife. Once they take each other as husband and wife, even if the marriage happened by deceit, they’d have to accept the second wife.”

“This…what does this mean?” Marui Osklain couldn’t follow the other girl’s train of thought. Was Aarya Quime thinking of…

“If I marry the Crown Prince again as Princess Qamari, even if the real Princess Qamari returns, she won’t be able to kick me out of the Imperial Palace or break my relationship with the Crown Prince. Once we get married, I’d officially become his wife, whether he likes it or not.”

“Heh…as I expected, you’re definitely the most capable woman. With this plan, even if Princess Qamari returns, she won’t be able to do anything. What’s more, you’ll become the wife of the Crown Prince in the real sense.” Marui Osklain was rendered speechless.

Aarya Quime’s various measures had covered all gaps in their conspiracy. If she really becomes the second wife of the Crown Prince, then even if the crowd learns of her real identity in the future, they won’t be able to do anything to her.

“But A…Princess, to get married a second time, there must be a valid reason. What reason will we use to convince the Crown Prince and make him agree to marry you again?”

“I’ve already made the preparations for that. In a few days, the young ladies of the empire will be entering the Imperial Palace for a tea banquet with Princess Nari. As long as I make good use of my status as the Crown Princess Consort, it won’t be hard to lead them by the nose and make them bring up the idea of remarriage.”

Aarya Quime knew if the idea came out of her own mouth, she’d raise the Crown Prince’s suspicions against her even higher. But if it was brought up by the noble ladies of the empire, then word of the matter would spread and lead in the direction of her scheme.

But for that to happen, she had to evoke feelings of pity and sympathy from the masses.

At this moment, on the other side of the palace, Princess Nari had a vacant look in her eyes as she gazed in the Eastern Palace’s direction.

Since her cousin had returned, Princess Nari anxiously waited for her to seek her out. She still needed to hear the other’s explanation behind her disappearance. But as the days went by, her cousin made no move to visit the western palace.

This made her displeased and confused because Princess Qamari had always been the one to seek her out.

Princess Nari had suffered many ups and downs in the past year. The noble ladies of the empire still despised her, making it difficult for her to integrate with them. Her mother and father-in-law treated her like air. And since she failed to become pregnant even after a year of being together, her mother-in-law began taking in concubines for Prince Noore.

The only reason why she was still able to maintain her position as the Princess Consort was because of her husband’s sudden affection.

She had no idea what happened to change her indifferent husband back to the same caring one she’d fallen in love with. But she knew that the matter had something to do with Princess Sera.

Therefore, she convinced Prince Noore to ban Princess Sera from coming to the western palace. If the woman played the same trick again and she failed to prevent her the second time, Princess Nari felt certain that she’d lose her husband to the vixen.

And thankfully, the now loving Prince Noore listened to her request and banned Princess Sera from the western palace. This way, she spent a year of blissful marriage showered with her husband’s love.

However, as good things never lasted, her difficulties began again when her mother-in-law brought in beautiful women to seduce her son.

Her cousin’s reappearance made her see hope in overturning her situation. As long as the Crown Princess Consort took on the role of being her elder cousin and spoke to her mother-in-law, then the Regent Prince’s Madam would have to seek her husband’s advice.

And the Regent Prince seemed to place more importance on this princess of Jinn than on her.

“But why hasn’t Princess Qamari come to see me? Is she expecting me to seek her out?” She grimaced with displeasure.