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❝𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝐼 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑒𝑛 , 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑢𝑟𝑒 , 𝑖𝑛𝑛𝑜𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑙 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑚𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑟𝑖𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑓𝑓 𝑚𝑦 𝑠𝑜𝑢𝑙 , 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑚𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑑 𝑑𝑢𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑑𝑎𝑟𝑘𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠.❞

W̶a̶t̶c̶h̶ ̶m̶e̶ ̶m̶a̶k̶e̶ ̶'̶e̶m̶ ̶b̶o̶w̶ ̶o̶n̶e̶ ̶b̶y̶ ̶o̶n̶e̶ ̶b̶y̶ ̶o̶n̶e̶

⏮𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝚜𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚜𝚎𝚎 𝚖𝚎 𝚒𝚗 𝚊 𝚌𝚛𝚘𝚠𝚗 ⏭
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"Audrey, you are betrothed to me. How long you are going to ignore this truth?" Emmett gripped the edge of crafted wooden table, clearly irritated with a hint of anger.

Sipping the expensive commandaria wine, Audrey raised a questioning eyebrow at the son of the Duke.

" Emmett. " Audrey continued, " Firstly, you are still the son of the Duke Rawe and I am the queen of Noxus. So, it is 'Your Majesty' to you. And secondly,  as far as I am aware of, the betrothal paper said, the marriage should happen within one year after my coronation. It has been only nine months since I had become the queen.  You still have enough time left to marry me. Then why are you rushing around the marriage?"

Emmett clenched his fists, to control his temper.

" Your Majesty," Emmett streched dramatically before continuing, " I have not heard a word about it  since Queen Theodora died. She was the one to betroth you to me, aren't you delaying the marriage is similar to being disrespectful towards the late queen?"

Audrey's eyes narrowed.
" As the late queen gave her daughter one year to think and prepare for the marriage, I don't think I am showing any kind of disrespect towards my own late mother. "
Audrey realized that those words, especially the words 'my own late mother'  tasted so bitter in her mouth. Yet, the destiny forced her to follow the same path of the woman she hates.
" And to be honest, I think she was one of the cleverest women I have ever seen."

To say Emmett was surprised would be an understatement.

" From when have you become so fond of your mother?" Emmett blurted out before he could stop himself.

Raising an eyebrow, Audrey stated, " When did I say that I am fond of the late queen Theodora? I am merely saying that she was very clever and extraordinarily good at politics. I was young and inexperienced when I was in my teenage, that is the reason I used to think very low of her. Yes, I still think that she is cruelest person I have ever seen, yet I cannot deny her knowledge and experience at this point. Though, to betroth me was probably one of her biggest mistakes. " Audrey finished with a hint of amusement.

Emmett looked at the young queen in front of him skeptically. The tone of her voice clearly means some business that he certainly does not want to happen.

"She was stuck in such a position that to save her own sorry self,  she had to sacrifice me." Audrey spat out,"Our betrothal was pre  planned a long ago, as you became the one night product,  dear illegitimate brother of mine.",  Audrey drawled before bringing the golden wine holder closer to her lips.

The first emotion Emmett felt was confusion. 
"pardon...? " He stated,  suddenly feeling drowsy.
'The aftereffects of consuming classic wines.'  he thought.

Audrey smirked knowingly.
" It was very clever of her to murder my father, just like it was very foolish of her to toy with your father, Emmett." Audrey continued. 
" At first, it was just a clever game to stop the Duke from marrying the daughter of the Sybulian Earl David. But as the young hormones kicked in,  their one night business produced you. Of course,  being the vile woman Theodora was,  she simply wanted to kill you, but the Duke got the information and blackmailed her with a recording he had done previously for safety.He wanted you to be his heir by any means and for some reason Theodora couldn't get rid of your father back then. So,  in result, they made an agreement that was Duke marrying some random girl and killing her afterwards and spreading the rumor that she died giving birth to you and the queen attaching the betrothal paper with her will in return."

The drowsiness had turned into a massive headache as Audrey spoke further.

" She was clearly out of mind, or rather, out of choice; or else she would've never done it. She even tried to kill the Duke but the Duke knew her too well for her liking. He had his own spies wandering around the castle along with Theodora's own. Besides, he was too experienced politician to lose like that. She was careful  with her decisions yet so careless about the future. But I am capable of taking my own decisions for the greater good, ain't I? "

Audrey's smirk grew when she saw the son of the Duke stumbling quite a lot, gripping on the table to steady himself. Maybe he is too light headed to process the information?

" Tell me Emmett,  if I marry you at such a young age, how will I allure the young kings who are begging for me to turn my eyes on them? After all, I need them as my allies for the safety of Noxus. But not all of them will be pleased to have a king in consort to mingle into the royal businesses every now and then. Besides, I know very well about your motives, Emmett. Your goal is to please your own pathetic self with the royal treasures, you do not have an ounce of affection towards me, all you have is lust for me,  you pathetic example of a man! I have no intention to please you with my virginity,  but the only problem is the betrothal paper.  But,  once the person I am betrothed to is dead, I am not bound to anyone anymore. "

Emmett's eyes lit up with an animalistic glow. Gripping tightly on the edge of the wooden table he growled with a husky voice, " What have you done to me? " He could feel the waves of nausea that were threatening him, weakening his body.

Chuckling sadistically, Audrey dramatically said," Oh love, don't you feel my magic inside you?  Or rather,  the magic of poisonous arsenic inside you?"
Audrey's fingers settled themselves tightly around the throat of the weakened man who's fingers desperately tried to loosen her grip,as she revealed further.
" I honestly feel sorry for you, Emmett. You are so weak that you can't even fight me back. '' Audrey felt the fingers loosely gripping her own loosening further.

Audrey pushed him backwards and saw his body fall weakly on the red embroidered carpet, almost unconscious. 
" Let me inform you about the future before you die." crouching down on the carpet, Audrey said.
" As soon as you lose your sense, you will be carried to your room and possibly die within tomorrow morning, if not then another dose of arsenic will be given to you. Now, arsenic is a brilliant poison for killing as it will cause kidney failure that will cause your death.  After that,  you already know,  some low quality drama will take place and finally after the funeral, I will be free to marry anyone I wish."

Audrey saw Emmett's eyes rolled back and he finally slipped into unconsciousness.

" Andrew, carry him to his room. " Audrey calmly ordered the servant waiting outside of the soundproof room, opening the oak door.
Audrey watched as the servant bowed silently before carrying the limp body to his room.

The queen walked through the semi lightened corridor and stopped right in front of the throne room.

" Who could've guessed that the kind hearted, beautiful, young princess will turn into a cold blooded , emotionless queen once she claims the throne? "
Audrey wondered out loud.
She entered into the room decorated with crafted mirrors only to see her own reflections staring blankly at her.

Audrey fell on her knees, desperately searching for any vague resemblance of the young, cheerful princess in her own reflections. But she found none. She could only see the rough and cold shell of a woman who's inside was shattered into pieces.
Hatred.
That was the emotion she felt. Along with the searing guilt that burned every cell of her body, leaving the ashes for her to wear and look appealing to the eyes of the world.
Guilt.
Overwhelmed guilt tore her skin apart as soon as the self hatred died down. Tears ran down her  pale cheeks like waterfall and silently fall on the thick red carpet.
Audrey looked up at her reflection.
" Isn't it funny, how the cold hearted queen who just killed a person,  no matter how vile the person was, is now bawling her eyes out on the floor? "
Audrey whispered to her own self.
" It has always been like this. " Audrey felt like her vocal cords were not under her control anymore as she continued to speak even though she wanted everything to be silent.
" To gain something, we always need to sacrifice something. And the royal throne claims the innocence of the person as it's price before the person themselves claims the throne. "
Audrey felt a rush of energy filling every inch of her body, a vigorous dark energy radiating off the royal throne that shone mysteriously in the blue neon light, as she approached it. Stroking the velvet of the throne, Audrey said , " You left no emotion inside me except the overwhelming waves of hatred and guilt, royal throne.  But now I have realized, claiming the royal throne is just a game of hatred and guilt. Self hatred that comes from the countless cruel games we play and guilt is the reward for winning in those games. There is no place for innocence, happiness or any other feelings for that matter. Everything just circles around the hatred and guilt and the longer one bears these feelings, the longer the throne belongs to them. "

Audrey sat on the throne at the center of the room. Elegance glowing through the vigorous posture of her.

" May the world bow down to the queen and may the queen rule the earth. May the evils be demolished and may the throne chooses it's rightful owner. "

" May the games of hatred and guilt begin."
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