The Emperor who loves me dearly - Chapter 100

On the first snow of the Ainiligary empire, two fates were once again entangled. Their destiny, like a loose thread on one’s favorite sweater, one could not help pulling despite knowing it could unravel around them.

“Is it too bad to want you again?” his body like a cup of coffee on a rainy season, warm and soothing as it overlaps Helen’s fragile state.

His words, fogging the woman’s head, the past is repeating again…

‘Who am I?’

A question that she buried deep within her heart yet always resurfaces.

‘Who am I?’

A question that always shatters her whole being.

“Tell me, Celestia, can you forgive me?”

‘Celestia…is that my real name?’

“I am willing to pay for my retribution…just stay with me, I-I will make things right” his tall frame shrugging slightly as his embrace cast the warmth Helen is longing to have that cold night.

Such fragrance…his smell is intoxicating, what was it? So manly yet sweet to one’s nose.

‘Is he crying?’ a question Helen thought…but the answer is obvious.

“Don’t cry Mister” she said, hushing the handsome man by tapping his broad shoulders softly. Her feet not reaching the floor anymore as the man’s embrace lifted her up for a bit. Her hand landed on his jet-black hair, caressing it slowly.

How come a stranger such as him remembers her, but she, herself doesn’t have any memories of her own.

Looking sadly above, the sorrow she tried to hide now comes back.

“I’m sorry but I do not recall you” was what she said truthfully, masked with fake sturdiness.

His body continued shaking…from what?

Helen doesn’t know either.

“Soon, you will remember everything, I promise you” his voice soothing Helen’s rioting heart.

Amongst the many broken promises, this is the promise Logan will never break, he’s willing to sacrifice everything to keep this one.

“W-what if…what if I don’t want to remember?” her voice, soft and little yet it pierced the man inside.

‘So, this is the feeling huh…of being forgotten. Knowing that I have put you through this situation, this heart perishes more’

The guilt t is eating the man whole. How can he be so heartless to the one woman whom he loved the most?

Snowflakes falls relentlessly as the night goes deeper. The emperor of the Theavarian empire has powers unlimited in everyone’s sight, however, that time, what he wants the most, to stop the time, is beyond his greatness.

“If…if you don’t want to remember, can you please make a new memory with me?”

And right then, an enamored man like him puts down his sword, crown and even dignity to chase the woman he once shoved away.

Helen slowly broke free from the hug, her feet once touching the stillness of the floor. Her once lively face is getting pale from too much cold.

“It’s not that I don’t want to, but I’m afraid I can’t…” after all, her heart has already been snatched by Hannibal. It’s not hers to decide anymore.

‘Hannibal, if I could see you right now, I would voice out my feelings. O, gods, please, extend my life longer’ she pleaded as the combined physical pain of her injured feet and throbbing heart occupied her thoughts.

“Hey Adam…can I make another favor? P-please, bring me to Hannibal” she said weakly, her hands gripping loosely on Logan’s coat. Her weight seems to be falling.

“Hannibal Devyn…you can unlock my phone, just please…I need him” her mellow voice puffing out a fog-like smoke as she pleaded for her life to be saved. Her body finding its strength on Logan’s by putting all its mass on him.

The man’s body trembled. What is this feeling?

Nervousness?

Fright?

Or

Fear?

Never has he felt this before but with Celestia lying on his arms lifelessly, his feet involuntarily move.

“GUARDS!” he shouted out loud amidst the snow.

“Take me to Hannibal, NOW!” his voice roared like a wounded lion as he carries the maiden on his arms.

He never thought he would be afraid of death for he, himself is not afraid to face death but when it comes to Celestia, his heart crumbles to bits. The cure is not perfect after all because that .01 still managed to seep through his system, wrecking the barriers he so hardly built.

“Do you remember now, Logan?”

“Our once shared life”

These lines were what the past Celestia would’ve said.

And Logan’s answer this time should’ve been this, “Yes, Eve, your Adam is back”

But how cruel fate is, to make one remember and the other forgets…

Logan now remembers clearly, how they first met.

(Flashback)

“Here, it’s not that hot anymore since e-er I’ve been eating it” the lady hesitantly gave the stranger the bowl she has been holding. However, her hands failed to transfer the food in his, he’s just looking at her face and the porridge back and forth for Pete’s sake!

An awkward silence filled the room as Celestia continually reaches out the bowl but failed at every second that passes.

Now what?

“Feed me” his weak and low voice demanded. Although in a weak state, it felt like an order that you cannot ignore but wait, Celestia is a princess! The firstborn in fact.

She was about to feed him but is immediately taken aback.

THE NERVE!

“Excuse me Mister I-don’t-know-who-yet-I-saved I am not your servant and definitely not your wife okay? You have no right to treat me like one!” she exploded, she’s already at her limit this day was just too exhausting that even a nap cannot subside the fatigue. She put down the bowl at the coffee table beside the man and crossed her arms while pointing at him, after all, she’s not the “perfect” princess the whole Thusha Kingdom thought to be, she’s madness and perfection in her own way not in a princess way.

The man huffed a little at the sentence even though he has no recollection of who he is, it just felt like he is not used to rejection, it felt wrong, “How can a gay like you become my wife?” not to offend anyone but just a fact needed to be voiced out.

Well, he just unconsciously ordered the same food since his stomach can’t take it anymore, maybe because he is also feeling groggy that’s why he doesn’t want to lift his hands, that explains why he still wants that guy with porcelain skin to feed him.

G-gay? Celestia almost spit out words of anger when she realized that she is still in disguise as ‘Dave’

Let her tease the man a little, a small evil grin formed in her face.

“How can you say that? Didn’t you know that I saw every part of your body? I even licked some of its hard parts” She said with an evil victorious laugh inside, she even licked her tongue to add annoyance to the man even more.

The man shivered with disgust, he felt nauseous at the sentence,

“What the fu–” Celestia shushed him by putting a finger at his lips, “No cursing here baby” her face is so close to the man just an inch apart to be exact!

What a beautiful shade of gray! Celestia can now see clearly the man’s eye color, the thing she has been wondering about just a while ago.

The wide-eyed man started rumbling and pushing Celestia although he too, was awed at Celestia’s green eyes that is synonymous to a clear emerald however, he is not into gays, definitely not.

He pushed a little harder this time and a loud thud came; she fell from the bed!

“T-that hurts” a teary-eyed Celestia whimpered.

What a fragile man, the wounded man snickered. He is not apologetic in any way it is ‘his’ fault for getting touchy with him, he loathes it when someone touches him, especially someone unworthy!

Celestia, knowing that the man wouldn’t help her, stands up on her own and wipes her crocodile tears, ‘remind me again why I saved that man.’

“You ungrateful piece of a creature, I’m a girl okay? and I’m just teasing you, I have no interest in your body” she rolled her eyes upward to add a dramatic effect and removed her wig, golden locks fall from it and in that little moment, the man can’t help but admire her beauty. Porcelain skin and emerald eyes are already a killer even when she is dressed as a man but partnering it with long curly golden hair is a sin!

She’s like a goddess that descended from heaven but even a goddess can only nudge a little in his highly-shielded heart. Love doesn’t even exist in his dictionary, marriage? wife? As far as his memory serves him it is only for the purpose of reproduction.

Still, he sighed a relief knowing that he is not stuck up with some weird person, a freaky guy to be exact.

“Thanks” was all he uttered and grabbed the porridge that had been seated at the coffee table for a while now, he started eating hungrily.

He doesn’t know why but the word ‘sorry’ does not fit his vocabulary even a small ‘Thanks’ is already hard for him to pronounce.

Celestia just huffed in disbelief and changed the topic, she did not pry anymore on the way this stranger speaks, she is far too tired to debate.

“Okay, just tell me your name, it is weird to talk to someone without knowing their name you know” she demanded almost pouting with arms crossed below her breast.

His name? He doesn’t even know it!

He stopped eating mid-air to response, “I don’t know” was all he said.

“What do you mean?” Celestia frowned a little, it’s his own name how could he forget? Unless…

“It sounds absurd but I can’t remember anything lady” the man looked at her blankly and even though he is staring at an alluring lady his heart remains unfazed.

Does he have amnesia?

What a pain, how could she return him to his house if he can’t even remember his own name?

“Just call me anything…” he trailed and then resumed eating.

Anything?

Celestia sighed in disbelief because she wants him to have a name of his own, not just a random pronoun she could use for convenience.

She thought for a second a name that could fit his image, the first man that she had an interest in, the first man to annoy her and who knows? Maybe the first man she will fell in love with.

“Adam” Celestia blurted after a minute of thinking.

“Adam?” he asked almost innocent.

Almost.

“Yes, I will call you Adam from now on, I am Celestia by the way” she softly smiled at him, although he is cold and has a stoned-heart, Celestia can’t help but feel pity for the stranger, the man who was shot almost close to death and the man deprived of his own memories.

(end of flashback)

It was Celestia, who saved him on death’s door…

It was Celestia who made him know that he too, is capable of loving.

However…

It was him, Logan, who almost caused her death.

It was him, Logan, who stole her beloved kids.

It was him, who ended Celestia Wresea.

In his callous hands, he destroyed the love she has for him. Like a flower on its full bloom being crushed slowly, he gripped it tighter, stabbing the woman who’s always been there for him.