Saving The Abandoned Empress

150 “Does She Loves Him?”

Cathain leaned on the sofa as he sighed deeply.

Everything is confusing him, he can’t even understand his feelings.

One moment, he still dislikes Eleanora like he used to do but another moment, he feels like he can’t live without her.

Even without his memory, he is able to complete all his works after Brayden helped him to understand a little.

But he can’t solve the relationship between him and Eleanora.

He can’t dislike her like he used to do before nor love her like he used to did now.

‘Seven years... All internal and international affairs on the paper are showing the date of seven years in future...’

‘A future which is different from what i imagined...’

‘Is someone playing a trick on me?’

.....

Feeling frustrated, Cathain stood up from the sofa and head towards his bedroom with Brayden following him.

Brayden carefully observed the emperor’s situation and sighed.

‘No, if it goes on like this, he will never recover his memories...’

“Your Majesty! How about we take a walk outside?”

“No.”

“Let’s go, Your Majesty!”

Brayden paid no attention to the emperor’s refusal and dragged him outside.

…

“What’s this building?”

Cathain asked as his eyes fall on the imperial Orphanage building, which he remembered as a abandoned mansion.

“Oh, this is the orphanage you build for the homeless kids...”

‘Does he think am a fool? Why would i build a Orphanage into the imperial palace out of every place...’

“To give the crown princess a surprise gift on her birthday. You suddenly wanted to destroy this place and then created this place three years ago.”

“...”

“...”

“I never did that.”

“You don’t remember because you lost your memory.”

Brayden replied bluntly, ignoring Cathain’s killing glares.

“This joke was quite refreshing...”

“IT’S NOT A JOKE, YOUR MAJESTY!!”

Cathain sneered and walked towards the imperial orphanage building to take a closer look.

But as he got closer, his felt like chocking as the strong smell of roses filled his nostril.

‘Why is the whole imperial palace full of roses?!’

‘At this point, people might call it rose palace instead of imperial palace!’

As Cathain was lost in thoughts, Brayden sneak up behind him as he spoke in a low voice near the emperor’s ears which made him flinch.

“Your Majesty, You gave the order yourself for rose gardens to be made in every corner of the royal palace, because roses are Lady Dalton’s favourite.”

“Brayden,”

“Glaring at me won’t change the fact that you love her, Your Majesty!”

“...”

Cathain felt his headache worsening because of the strong smell of rose’s fragrance and walked towards his room ignoring the Brayden who kept telling him things which he didn’t wanted to hear.

“Leave me alone, Brayden.”

Cathain spoke as he entered his bedroom but Brayden was still following him behind.

“Shouldn’t i be by your side, Your Majesty?”

‘After all you have lost your memories.’

“Get out at once,”

Cathain spoke as he rubbed his aching forehead.

But then his eyes fall on something as he sensed his mana coming from the wall behind his bed.

He took big steps towards the bed and slide the bed curtains.

Even Brayden was shocked to see the wall, not to mention the emperor who just stare at the wall in disbelief.

A big portrait of a beautiful smiling lady with silver hair and jewel like blue eyes was drew on the canvas, which was hanging on the wall.

Eleanora had the empress crown on her head and her sword in another hand, roses surrounded her in the background as her silver hair was blowing in the air.

The portrait was so beautiful that no one could ever look away after one glance.

“My Goodness!! Is this the portrait you draw of her?! Why didn’t you let us see this before?!”

Brayden asked in a cheerful voice, where Cathain kept staring at the portrait.

As someone who couldn’t understand what is going on.

A picture of a girl, hanging above his bed and that too the portrait of the girl whom he finds annoying to the point that he wanna choke her sometimes?

The young Cathain always found Eleanora’s mature behaviour as some kind of act to attract attention by showing maturity.

A act which made people praise her and then talk about how hot headed stubborn the crown prince is.

But now, everything around him is telling that he loves that same girl?

He even draw a portrait of hers by his own?

‘When did i become so capable of making portraits?’

Cathain always liked to draw but he couldn’t as he was always busy with his extra lessons to defeat Eleanora.

He didn’t wanted to hear people calling him childish for liking arts when he is born to be the next emperor.

He should focus on politics, not arts.

Everything seemed unacceptable to Cathain.

“You really love her so much, Your Majesty...”

“...”

“You must have been afraid of the portrait being worn out, so you had casted a preservation spell on it...

Like you had casted a damaging spell on the imperial necklace to protect the lady.”

“...”

Cathain blinked his eyes a little as he felt like the world was spinning.

‘I was scared of the picture being worn out so i casted a preservation spell on it by my own after making it???

I gave her the imperial necklace before she become the empress...

I turned the whole imperial palace a rose garden because she liked roses???

I made a orphanage, created a new rules which allows the female to become official knights just because of her???’

The more Cathain thought about what he saw and learnt after this walk around the imperial palace, the more dizzy he felt.

‘Madness, A total madness!’

‘Either i have gone mad or am dreaming!’

“Oh, Your Majesty! Do you wanna see that portrait?”

“No... I don’t wanna see anymore of this kind of crazy portraits!”

“No, It’s a portrait painted by the royal painter!”

Brayden’s words made Cathain halted on his steps and he looked back at Brayden with his widened red eyes.

.....

“I commissioned a portrait?”

Cathain asked as he followed Brayden in a corner of his bedroom, where the sofa’s was.

But before he could see the portrait, Cathain walked in the dressing room with shocked gaze.

Beside his cloths, there was some dresses for ladies. All the dresses was not the same sized.

But he could tell that it was customised for one person as the patterns and designs of those dresses was similar.

“What’s this now?”

“You always keep few dresses for Lady Dalton, in case she ever stays in the imperial palace in advance.

They all are custom made by the designs you selected for the lady.”

“...”

Cathain didn’t spoke anything more as he kept staring at his dressing room where not only he had ordered dresses for her but also shoes, jewelry and makeups for her to use.

Without waiting to hear anymore nonsense of how much he loves her from Brayden, he approached the painting he commissioned.

Everything felt like lies to him.

Previously, he could accept that he had forget his memories but now he feels like a complete stranger to himself.

The things he did is infront of him but it’s hard to accept that it’s really did by him.

The current him feels like another person, who is not him.

Cathain removed the cloth which was covering the portrait and clenched his fists into a ball.

‘Is it really me?’

The portrait infront of him was a young girl and a teenage boy dancing.

This was drew during his coming of age ceremony banquet, where he danced with her.

Cathain was shocked to see his own image.

He never knew he could smile so gently like this.

Wasn’t he always cold from his childhood?

A gloomy child whose father was busy with his works, leaving him with the maids whom always used to criticised him for being born while eating away his mother’s life.

A stubborn kid who was always jealous of his own fiancee and tried his best to defeat her, not realising his crush on her and being angry because she never noticed him.

A cold crown prince who disliked his genius fiancee to the point he didn’t attended their engagement ceremony and was always rebellious against the emperor...

This is what he remembers himself to be.

There was never gentleness or warmth in his red eyes, no emotions.

His red eyes always looked cold.

Then what is he seeing in his teenage self’s eyes?

Why do they look so gentle and full of love?

Like there is no one but only her in his world?

‘I look... Happy,’

‘Do i really love her?’

Cathain thought as his eyes fall on the girl in the portrait, who was looking down as they danced.

There was no emotions in her jewel like blue eyes, like she was quitely waiting for it to end and step away from him.

‘No, The question should be...’

‘Does she loves...

...him?’