Standing behind Tori's chair, Emperor Corean Shuia Eckrett sneakily took his lover's hand and held it with a tight grip—not before he drew circles at the back of her palms with a gentle smiling face.

"A noble's words are equivalent to heaven's law. Have you heard of that passage, Lord Bormish of Rozenreff Dukedom?"

"Oh. So that's your name, huh?" Tori languidly said, not caring if the person she was pertaining could hear or not. As if remembering something, she looked at the man who was smiling gently at her vassals. Somehow, she felt for the old fools. Had they followed her instructions, they could have died a lot more peacefully compared to perishing under Cory's hands.

She remembered how his gentle-looking face remained smiling as he swung the dull blades of an axe. Five times did he hit Sabina's neck in front of Tori. The blunt blade made Sabina's suffering all the more painful... and long. Tori remembered how she had to bite the insides of her cheeks just to make herself stand still without wobbling. It was at that moment that a realization dawned upon Tori. The man who loved her and saved her was a beast hiding from his weak-looking gentle façade.

Emperor Corean Shuia Eckrett was a monster and he was the monster that Tori had tamed and accepted with all her heart—morals be damned.

"E-Emperor! Blessings to the Empire's Sun, Emperor Corean Shuia Eckrett."

"Blessings to the Empire's Sun, Emperor Corean Shuia Eckrett."

After the vassals and the handmaidens bowed along with Lilian, Tori finally stood. She bowed down in front of him while her teasing eyes remained locked with intense ones. With her nightgown barely covered by her maroon-colored robe, with his stature, Cory was able to see Tori's cleavage that she intentionally showed by arching her back excessively. "Blessings to the Empire's Sun, Emperor Corean Shuia Eckrett."

Tori yelped.

The next thing she knew, Cory had already pulled her waist to his warm body. His firm arms embraced her small body, her back against the vassals who were secretly gnashing their teeth after witnessing how smitten that emperor was to the Duchess they deemed useless!

"Behave," whispered Cory into Tori's left ear. "Or I will have to stake my claim in front of these people. I am a possessive bastard. I might not spare their eyes, my love."

Heat filled Tori's cheeks which later on reflected on her ears, earning her a kiss on her head.

"Take them away." Cory's cold voice was the exact opposite of his calm face.

It was too late for the vassals to know what had struck them when multiple shadow guards appeared from nowhere.

"Let me go! You can't do this, Your Majesty!"

"What will the people do when they learned of this? Huh? You will be crucified as the emperor who bends the knee for a woman! A spineless emperor!"

"Let us go! And I-I promise to never speak about this event! Never ever! I swear, Your Majesty, Duchess!"

Rather than answering the wailing vassals, Cory guided Tori outside the indoor garden while whispering sweet nothings in her flushed ear—though his eyes reflected nothing but death to the vassals he condemned merely because they talked inappropriately in front of his beloved.

It was at that moment that Tori's beloved black roses which she was grooming inside the greenhouse had received a hefty amount of bloody fertilizer.

PLUCKING THE PETALS of the black rose she was holding, Tori languidly leaned on the Willow tree while her legs were being used as a pillow for a certain someone who ran away from his duties.

"One more petal and I'll be stuffed to death here," said Cory. His face was filled with black petals while he inched his nose and lips away from it by shaking his head.

Cory received a light tap on his forehead when he shook his forehead a bit too much for her liking. "Naughty emperors have no right to say shit in front of me."

"But I just miss you! I miss you and if I won't be able to touch you one more day, I swear I'll be the first emperor who resigned."

Tori tapped his forehead again. This time, more strength was added to it. "Stop whining and enjoy the peaceful afternoon. Any minute now and your aide will be here to get you."

Tori's plucking frenzy was interrupted when Cory took her left hand. He caressed her palm and kissed the back of her knuckles. Heat crawled down her spine upon watching him kiss her palm, eyes locked with hers.

"Who told me to become emperor so she can become my queen? And where is she now, huh? Isn't it fair to disturb that daring woman who ditches the Sun of the empire?"

Rolling her eyes, Tori could not help but leaned down towards him. Hovering over his face with a mere inch between their noses, she said in a heavy breath. "Wait for me for a few more days, my king, and I promise you, you will get tired of my face." She kissed his half-open lips lightly as her fingers caressed his smooth jaws. "So guard my seat well if you don't want another civil war, my love."

Before Tori could lean back away from the entranced Cory, her nape was captured in one fluid motion. He carefully yet firmly held her nape and waist as he switched their positions.

The black rose was long discarded the moment Tori was pinned on the lush ground of her estate's backyard. Both of her wrists were held by his right hand as he knelt in between her legs. Tori's nightgown easily slid down her thighs when she arched her back to tease him back.

"You should distinguish night and day, my king."

Pressing his erection beneath his pants onto her crotch, he earned a low moan from his lover while he watched her arch her back as if she was asking to be penetrated in the middle of the day. Cory leaned down. His right hand combed her entangled golden hair in between his fingers as he whispered against her left ear. "Then you should distinguish a depraved man and a deranged one, my love."

Biting back her moan that was threatening to escape her mouth, she tilted her chin up, eyes fixated on the sky in between the willow branches. "What's the difference, huh?"

"None. I am both and... deranged and depraved men don't distinguish night and day, moral and immoral."

Cory's sexy voice resonated within her soul. But her so-called last string of restraint snapped when he sucked and licked her collarbone.

"Aaaahhh..."

Her voice was an open call for her male which the latter would gladly answer...

When a voice poured cold water for the both of them, stopping their mingled breaths and entangled limbs from fulfilling their desires.

"Your Majesty! Your Majesty!"

"Fuck!" Cory pulled Tori into one deep kiss before he sit up, pulling her along with him. With lust-filled eyes, he fixed her entangled hair and messy robe. "I am seriously starting to hate being the emperor."

Though the ache in her core was yet to be extinguished, most of her sanity returned. A happy glint gleamed behind her ruby-red ones while watching him sulk as he 'fixed' her up.

"All good things come to those who wait, my king." Patting his cheeks, she stepped away from him. "You better get going then."

Cory easily closed the distance she created for them. By pulling her waist to his body, he engulfed Tori into one big clingy hug. "Can't I take you back with me? I am the emperor so I am entitled to be spoiled for the only one desire I have in this life, you know."

Tori was about to answer her childish lover when the aide beat her to it. "Your Majesty... May I remind you that we have an audience from the Kingdom of Altera."

With his shoulders down, the emperor reluctantly left Tori—not after a long deep kiss.

Standing beneath the shelter of the Willow tree, Tori's eyes which were gazing at the retreating silhouette of the two lost their vigor when the two vanished from her line of vision.

A frown made way on her face when she recalled where she heard the Kingdom of Altera.

The plot did not stop turning! Even after the death of the main characters, the plot still continues! I remember where the 'Kingdom of Altera' fit in the story Thorny Crown. In the Season 3 of the story, following the supposed death of Victoria and Corean, the main leads face a new problem. And in that season, the Kingdom of Altera is the problem that the main leads should overcome together while strengthening their relationship! But Sabina and Lauren are dead, and the original main leads are gone—but they are replaced by Cory and me! Does this mean that I have to continue battling this story?

Tori's lower lip bled upon the strength that she had put in her bite. Emotions swirled in her mind and heart as she remembered what role the Kingdom of Altera would play in the Thorny Crown's Season 3.

"They are the enemy for the coming war."