Days after the assassination attempt on Hadrian, the young Emperor was indeed kept busy at the desk, filling in and signing countless of documents that have piled on top of each other in a span of only a day as his butler and his brother oversees the final preparations for his visit throughout the whole realm. He was growing tired and sleepy when his hands stopped working as he read a single ream of paper. What he read seemed to have pleased him his lips curved to a gentle smile. “Expansion of the Educational System in Hungary” He felt euphoric, like he wanted to jump for joy over that single law. But he knows it is too early to be

In Carinthia, Alexia's husband, Duke Friedrich went out of his mansion to inspect the mercenaries that his wife hired.‘Are we really going to overthrow the Emperor?’ he asked his wife, standing beside him smiling satisfied at the sight.‘There is no other way to the throne.’ She answered. ‘Only this.’‘And what about his siblings and Albert?’ he asked again referring to Josef and Marianna since Austria allowed women to inherit the throne.‘That will be up to me. We will free Edmond and our line will be restored.’‘We must not forget that the army that Hadrian commands is a formidable one.’ Friedrich said again to which Alexia replied with a scoff. She may have failed to kill off Hadrian, but she is determined to finish what she has started in one fell swoop. Indeed, the Imperial Army is strong, but they have not seen battle in decades and this, to her, is their advantage. She

Hadrian drew his sword and fought along with his men in the front of the battle. He breathed; this was different from what he trained for. He trained with his soldiers for a time like this. And it all came down to this one moment.  'As I thought,' he thought. 'A real battle is indeed different.' He looked ahead as both sides clashed. He clashed with the Alexia's men. His drawn sword glimmered and blurred as he swung it to his adversaries. He felt as if time has slowed, men are shouting on all sides at once and pointing their muskets and swords at the men opposite their sides. As his sword descended, time sped up and everything was going too fast for him to keep up. He kept pushing forward and he found himself in the middle surrounded by his guards.

As soon as they returned to the capital, Hadrian was met with paperwork after paperwork, and he was again buried in a mountain of paper in his office. He sighed exasperatedly and almost has his head on the table as he fills in what needed to be changed in the document he is reading. He had wanted to tend to his garden as soon as he arrived, but Anton has been driving him to work since. He looked out the window, his heart has been pounding in his chest. He felt like something bad is about to happen, but he does not know what. He wanted to ask Anton, but the man was out preparing his afternoon medicine. He went back to work and when he is about to finish the days' worth, the emerald pendant Catherine gave him fell from his neck. He looked at it and immediately picked it up; he made sure there was no damage on it and to his relief, none was found. As he sat back down on his chair, he heard a commotion coming from outside his office and Anton rushed through th

Henrik paced back and forth waiting for news of Catherine’s whereabouts; agitated at his men’s slow response, he kept asking his butler of news from the search party, he gave orders after orders and after more than a half hour later, the soldiers that came and he received reports from soldiers who were scurrying in and out of the office.   Valdemar stood beside him just looking at the men as they talk to the King. His eyes were angry, but not because of the soldiers, but because of Catherine running away. His plans to finally become a royal have been thwarted. He went to a man standing close to him and whispered something and left soon after. In his mind he planned to make Catherine marry him when she returns.