Chapter 164 - The Evil Emperor's Scheme - Part 1

Rex slept in the garden while Daryun watched over him. Needless to say, he was observing his surroundings too and was constantly keeping an eye over the entrance of the Banquet Hall.

While he was doing this, the remaining army that was despatched earlier was close to the city and was to soon enter it. The gifts were brought safely however right now Alex and Elina had almost nothing to offer.

All they did was talk with others. While some Queens, Princesses, or other Noble Ladies liked Alex, they despised Elina. Of course, they were fully aware of how strong she was, but despite that, they just wanted to gossip about her.

Nevertheless, the males liked Elina but they found no reason to despise Alex because, for them, Alex was a God-like figure or like a role model! 

"So tell me, Alex, do you have any plans for tomorrow?", Elendo asked.

He basically wanted to know for how long Alex was going to stay. He had to make many arrangements after all since his friend had come to visit them after a long time.

"Not really, I am planning to stay for a total of three days...", Alex replied boldly as if he was making a statement.

"Haha, that's good!", Elendo was happy when he heard that. The reason for this was quite simple, Alex used to visit them earlier but used to leave within a day. But now fortunately he would be staying for a longer period which was the source of Elendo's happiness.

At the same time, Seria and Elina were chatting with each other.

Many other ladies joined them too to have a chat. It was quite obvious that the ladies who were in a lower position when compared to the Queens paid respect to Elina, but those who were in the same position as the Queens paid no regard to them.

In fact, they formed a separate group to gossip about them.

They were having fun while chatting when suddenly the topic about Julia was raised.

"Ah, come to think of it, you have a wonderful daughter right your highness Elina?", a purple-haired lady asked.

She was the only Queen amongst all the ones who joined Seria and Elina.

On hearing that Elina nodded her head and her chest broadened with proudness. 

"Oh yes, I've heard about her..." 

"Isn't she a battle champion of her age?", said some of them.

The chatter continued and they discussed about Julia in detail about her beauty, skills, and other things too.

'It's weird...'

'I'm sure I know where this topic is drifting towards...', Seria suspected the purple-haired Queen from the start and after seeing her raising Rex's topic right after Julia's, her suspicion was confirmed.

"Recently there was another interesting rumor..."

"I heard that your son Rex came back!"

That was how the matter of the subject changed to Rex. She knew his name perfectly, it was as if she had come prepared to start this topic.

"Oh! Your son is back?", other ladies started to look towards Elina when they heard this.

"Yes, he is back and-", Elina was happy about it and was proudly going to explain the sensation of having him back just before which other ladies or queens who were waiting for this topic to rise like hyenas popped up!

"What!? Your son is back?"

"Haha, isn't he unfit to be a royalty?"

"I have heard that he is the only royalty in the world who cannot manifest any emblem!", a Queen with brown hair appeared. She started to say these things while looking at others without having direct eye contact with Elina.

Elina felt hurt when she heard that. She almost immediately wanted to defend Rex right before which other ladies started to join. They all started to thrash talk about Rex which was their way to lower Elina's position.

"Please mind what you are saying Your Highness Qian!", Seria got pissed when she heard this. She raised her voice in order to shut up the brown-haired Queen. She indirectly wanted others to shut their mouths too.

"Pardon me your highness Seria but what I'm speaking has a point to note too!", Qian spoke back with a low but audible voice.

"What?", Seria was surprised to see that she was still ready to speak.

"We all know that a royalty will have emblems no matter what..."

"So if two royals marry and produce children, then without a doubt the children will have an emblem no matter how insignificant it may be...", she said with a raised voice.

The entire hall was quiet. Everyone was hearing what she was trying to say. Even Alex and Elendo who were in deep conversation paused and looked towards them.

She was basically the center of attraction at the moment and she was actually enjoying the moment.

She continued, "Only a peasant or a low born won't have an emblem!" 

"And your point is?", Seria still failed to realize what Qian was trying to say.

"What I am trying to say is that-"

"If a person has half royal and half peasant blood then what are the chances that they won't have an emblem?", she asked.

The moment she asked the question, everyone's eyes widened. They finally understood what Qian was trying to say.

"...", even Seria finally understood what Qian was trying to say.

Alex gulped a large amount of dry saliva when he heard this.

"...", Elina had a dark complexion when she heard this.

"So you are trying to say that Queen Elina had an affair with some peasant?", another lady who had black hair asked this.

"Precisely! Because that is the only possible way when a kid-", Qian was trying to tell many more worse things when suddenly the entire area was filled with killing intent.

She could clearly see that Alexander was emitting it.

She froze up and others did too. However, she didn't want to step back right now.

"Your highness Alexander, pardon my rudeness but what I spoke was the truth!"

"Why don't you ask her highness Seria herself for your satisfaction...", although she was scared of Alex, she still said that.

Alex walked up towards Qian with anger but after seeing her persistent even while knowing that she could end up dead, he couldn't help but doubt a little.

In the end, he ended up asking Elina himself.

"Is it true? What she said, was it the truth?", he asked in a low voice while lowering his head.

"...", Elina didn't answer.

She looked at Alex, but Alex didn't even bother to look at her. His head was lowered and probably this was the first time this had happened.

Elina was completely shocked. She couldn't believe that Alex doubted her even if it was for a moment.

Elendo was shocked too and so was Seria. They could barely believe what had happened.

'Are you kidding me? Alex, have you gone mad? The heck are you asking her?', Elendo tried to ask Alex this but his lips didn't move.

'Sir Alex is doubting Elina? What is going on? Did the sun rise from the west today?', Seria was too surprised but she wanted to ask Alex herself if he was alright, be her lips had also frozen.

Elina stood up. Her face was covered with tears. She could hardly believe her own ears.

She burst into crying and ran away from the Hall. She came out and then ran aimlessly only to end up in the garden.

'What the heck did I just say...?' 

'Why would I say that?', Alex was shocked himself when he realized what he had just said.

Other than Qian, all others had stopped moving. Although they had consciousness and could see everything in front of them or here and thereby moving their eyeballs, their body had become like that of a statue.

Alex, Elendo, and Seria were no exceptions, they too had stopped moving all of a sudden.

'What the hell is happening?'

'My body is refusing my orders...'

Alex was the most confused because here, he was the strongest. Even if everyone was under some spell, at least Alex should have been able to notice.

He was a king not only by strength but also by intellect so he was sure that there was no spell cast to male them statues, at least not after he arrived.

'The only conclusion that I can get is...'

He wasn't completely sure about what he found out, but he knew this much that out of all he could think, this was the only possible outcome!

To be continued...