Double update!

🚨INTENSE CHAPTER TOWARDS THE END. READ WITH HEAVY CAUTION.🚨

-Ishiran Capital Honshu-

"Emperor!" A servant ran into the throne room, holding a scroll with the seal of House Tang of the Shigami Empire.

The hazy smoke cleared as the curtains moved in the cold winds.

"Who dares to enter the throne room unannounced?!" The royal adviser Wang Wonho snapped.

The emperor moved his iron-gloved hand, the sharp edges nearly tearing the silk curtains. "Wonho. Let him approach."

Wonho nodded once. "Well, make haste, boy! You heard His Royal Highness."

The servant bowed deeply, holding the scroll over his head as he got into a child's pose, his chest to the floor. "A letter has arrived from House Tang of the Shigami Empire!"

"Your Highness?" A concubine was moved aside roughtly, her hanfu nearly exposing her large breasts.

"Get off me, Pin." The emperor pushed her aside, standing up and not caring his own robes were a bit messy. He did make an effort to fix the silver robes as his lower face was hidden by the same silver cloth.

The concubine did so and stood, glaring at Wonho who didn't care to make eye contact with her.

The servant whose name was Akiteru was trembling as the emperor moved closer, the iron on his armor hitting his belt which also contained armor.

Akiteru flinched when he felt the emperor's sharp cold iron claws touch his hand briefly, picking up the scroll.

"You should stop trembling like a banshee," Emperor Kai of House Shang said with ice dripping in his voice. "Wonho, see to it that he recieves military training. He has nearly perfect reflexes yet he lacks bravery."

Wonho glared at the servant and nodded. "Yes, Your Highness."

Emperor Kai broke the seal in hopes of a positive response from the Princess Consort of House Tang in the enemy kingdom. "I should hope for the sake of the Shigami Empire that her response is to her favor."

The dark-haired male unrolled the scroll and read over the documents, a semi-peculiar smile making its way onto his face beneath the silver cloth.

"My Emperor-" Wonho began.

"Wonho," Emperor Kai turned and looked at his royal advisor. "See to it that the Shigami citizens are allowed past the Great Wall. We shall hold an imperial meeting in three days."

Wonho nodded and barked orders at the many attendants in the room who followed the strict man's orders.

The concubines were dismissed from the room as Emperor Kai left, his long dark brown hair held neatly by a silver pin as the cold winds threatened to knock over the guards who were following him.

"My time to rise to my ancestor's full stead is here," Emperor Kai mumbled, holding the seal of House Tang and House Shang in his hands. "You are mistaken Father. I shall never slay the Empress of House Tang as she will wed me before becoming the Empress."

Akiteru of the once-noble family House Li heard his emperor and shivered.

He ran past Wonho and to his twin sister Jasmine who was in the Imperial Harem.

"Jasmine!" He called to the beautiful woman.

She stopped at the steps of the pagoda, allowing her older brother to escort her up the stairs. "What is it, dear brother?"

"The Emperor has made his bride," Akiteru explained.

Jasmine's eyes narrowed. "Are you absolutely sure, brother?"

"I am."

She closed her eyes, glaring at him. "Then make allies with her."

"Certainly." He nodded.

"Good. Our family's former glory shall be restored within the next year," the woman promised. "And our dear siblings will know our pain and suffering."

She walked quickly to her assigned living quaters which contained a secret labratory underground.

"Are you absolutely sure this will work?" Akiteru asked. "Father-"

"Father has died. As has Mother," Jasmine snapped. "We cannot rely on anyone but each other right now."

The pair made their way down the spiral staircase and into a room filled with liquids in jars.

Jasmine located a bottle with a clear liquid and two dashes. "This. This is the remedy. I shall poison the emperor and you shall use the remedy. This is the only way we will be able to speak with her."

"But Jasmine, you'll be thrown into jail!"

The concubine nodded. "Exactly. The princess consort of the Shigami Empire is soft. She will want to speak to me."

"Have you met her?"

Again, she nodded. "I have. Princess Consort Tang (y/n) is someone who we can rely on. Especially due to our family history."

"But does she know the truth?"

"No. But Akiteru, do not act on her. I wll tell her the truth myself."

Akiteru looked at his sister and nodded. "Then I shall keep a close eye on the Princess Consort."

The silver-haired twins both looked down at the picture of their mother, her (e/c) eyes staring back at them.

We will avenge your death Mother, the pair thought at the same time.

Wonho POV

"Traitors?" I looked at the emperor with confusion as he changed his robes.

"Yes, Wonho. I believe that the Li siblings are traitors," he said. "Keep a close eye on them."

I nodded and turned my head away when he took off the silk covering that covered his lower half of his face. "I assume His Highness shall want to go to the hot springs later?"

Kai nodded. "Don't be so uptight, Wonho. You've seen my face before. You need not cover your eyes."

I did so and saw the scar on Kai's face that he recieved from his father, nearly closing my eyes as the memory haunted me.

"Have they really been accused of being traitors?" I asked my oldest friend.

He nodded. "I have strong evidence that suggests so. My father demoted House Li from their noble status when the former lady Li Jiao fled House Li in X801 along with my older brother."

I thought about how Consort Li Jiao had the striking silver hair that almost all members of House Li had, aside from a few.

"Your Highness, is it really no surprise that some of the children of House Tang have-"

Before I could finish that thought, I felt Kai's cold iron grip on my throat as he glared at me, a red glow in his amber eyes.

"I would advise you not to finish that sentance, Wonho. Especially right now of all times."

I nodded and he released his grip on me, scoffing with annoyance.

"My dear elder brother foolishly made the mistake seventeen years ago to escape into the Ishiran kingdom when I was four, being a traitor to the crown." Kai shook his head with clear annoyance-more than usual.

"The two monarchies were built on a throne of lies," I said cautiously.

"No really?" Kai snapped with sarcasm in his voice. "And I'm known as the iron emperor."

"At least it's better than being called weak," I suggested.

Kai shrugged. "I suppose so. But our history with House Tang may make the official wedding a bit difficult."

"I see. I promise to make it as funtional as possible," I vowed while bowing.

The emperor nodded. "Much appreciated. I've a meeting with some of the noble houses."

He dismissed me from the royal living quaters and I walked past the concubine living quaters, turning my nose in disgust at the moaning noises.

This will be the final emperor with the pure blood of the black and silver dragon.

Once Kai weds Princess Consort Tang (y/n) Fushun, the royal blood will be mixed.

Once more, the dragons shall unite as they did long ago.

I adjusted my imperial hat and walked to the war rooms where we were creating gunpowder.

You may be the emperor, but you are my puppet, I thought with a smirk on my face. I control the strings of this cursed empire.

Flashback (10 years ago)

"Father, what are you saying?" I asked, my eyes wide with horror and disgust.

"You heard me boy," he spat. "You will be working for House Shang."

"But why?!"

My father, the head of the noble House Wang lifted his gloved hand and struck me, the iron tips scratching my face. "Do not question me. You will be assigned to Emperor Kaito's son. Prince Consort Kai is your age and you will serve as his royal advisor just as I serve the Emperor."

"But Father, why? I don't understand."

"Emperor Kaito is a ruthless man,"Father explained. "No doubt Prince Kai is the same. It will be your best interests to get on his loyalty side. It is not the emperor who rules but the royal advisor."

"Yes, Father."

He looked down at me and scoffed. "Go tell your servant to clean your face before it scars."

"Yes, Father."

"And stop looking at me. You have her eyes."

My mother had succumbed to a rare sickness but was left to die as she had been caught in bed with my father and there were rumors I was the illegitimate son of the emperor as they were married before.

And Father never forgets to tell me.

End of Flashback

I clutched the necklace my mother wore, my eyes narrowing with hatred.

If I was indeed the son of the late Emperor Kaito, then I could have a legitimate claim to the throne as my mother married the emperor before I was born.

However she had an affair with the imperial advisor Wang Shizo, the man who called himself my father.

I had been born a few months before Emperor Kai, and if I did have royal blood, I could really claim the throne.

As my birthright.

Do not fret, Mother.

I will see to it that your death is avenged.

And that I will walk through the lake of blood from Emperor Kai.

____________

To clarify, Wonho's mother was the previous Empress's son of the Ishiran Empire.

There were rumors that Wonho is actually the previous Emperor Kaito's son as he was born three months after Kaito and his mother divorced AND six months before Kai was born.

Wonho is six months older than Kai.