"From, Lillian,"

"WAIT here," Judy tells Benedict as she approaches the pawn shop without waiting for a reply.

The street is empty—shops are still closed and Judy knocks three times on the wooden door—something that Scott told her to do in the letter when she comes to the shop. The door locks echo in the quiet surroundings before the door opens and an old man in a long white beard, brown overalls with a faded black coat on top peeks his head outside—his eyes darting from left to right to ensure no one in the vicinity is seeing them.

"Aren't you going to let me in? It's freezing," Judy tells him, and the man opens the door ajar to allow Judy to walk in.

"Where's the empress?" he questions, his voice gruff.

"She couldn't make it. The emperor doesn't allow her to," Judy replied, and Scott smirked slyly.

"Terrified that this old man will charm his way through her?"

Judy scoffs and rolls her eyes. "You wish,"

Scott lets out a hearty laughter and leads them to the back of his shop. It is dark and cluttered but surprisingly, it's squeaky clean. He brings out two stools and Judy aids him by taking one and having a seat.

"It's been a while," Judy begins.

"Yes. You forgot your old pal when you moved to that palace," Scott says, waving his hand in the air as he approaches a small stove and places a kettle on it.

"It's not a palace," Judy counters. "The King and Queen live in a palace,"

"Argh! Whatever. As long as it can fit a whole village,"

Judy refrains a laugh. "I didn't pick you to be such a bitter person, Scott,"

"I'm no bitter person," he rebukes, and Judy raises her arms in surrender.

"Alright then,"

The whistling sound from the kettle fills the room—the water bubbling loudly inside it. Judy watches it shake terribly and badly wants to tell Scott to move away before it topples over but she knows the old man is as stubborn as a mule.

"Hand me the book," he says, and Judy immediately does so. When Scott gets a hold of it, he hums in approval. "This is some good quality,"

However, Judy doesn't respond, eyeing him closely.

"Do you know how difficult it is to get quality leather?" he asks rhetorically. "The price of it is double my wage,"

Scott then turns off the stove and gives the diary back to Judy. "Hold this while I prepare us some tea,"

It doesn't take him long and soon; Judy's cold hands are warmed by the hot mug held in between her palms. Taking a small sip, she says, "How long will this take?"

"A second," he replies, and he takes a mallet, raises it in the air and the banging sound of the metal against the padlock makes Judy wince and startle. It becomes silent and she cranes her neck to see what he's doing.

"Have you succeeded?"

"Huh," he says, and Judy springs up, approaching him.

"What? What is it?" she fires, almost pushing him aside to see what the problem is but jumps away when Scott raises the mallet again and bangs it against the stubborn lock.

"The lock can't be broken like this," he says, sighing.

"So, what does that mean?" Judy asks him.

"It means that I'll have to cut through it," he explains.

"Okay," Judy drawls. "Then do it. What is the issue?"

"I don't have the right tools...here,"

Judy stares incredulously at him, not saying a word and Scott chuckles nervously. "They are at my workshop back home," he answers quickly. "If you give me an hour...no, two hours, I'll be back with the book,"

"No,"

Scott scrunches his face. "No? I thought you wanted it done today?"

Judy nods. "Yes. The empress wants her d-book back today but I'm not letting you leave with it," Taking a deep breath in, she continues. "Instead, bring your tools here,"

Scott is about to object but Judy sees through it. "Benedict will take you to your home and bring you back,"

"Who's Benedict?"

Judy points to nowhere with her thumb insinuating where Benedict sat waiting outside the shop. "He is outside. I suggest that you hurry up. The empress isn't a patient woman,"

"What about you?" he asks.

Judy grabs the diary, resumes her previous seat, and crosses her legs. "I'll be right here. Waiting for you,"

~

• Xavier •

It was almost eight in the evening and Xavier had finally retired to his room after a long day of meetings and work. He is exhausted and his eyes feel so heavy that he was willing to skip a bath and just go to sleep but someone interrupts his plans when they knock on his door.

"Apologies, emperor but a letter came in designated to you," the King's butler says, and Xavier accepts the letter in his hand.

"Thank you," he replies, and once the butler leaves, he takes a look at the envelope. Has Serena written to him already? It has only been two days and a smile threatened to spread across his lips.

So, with haste, he breaks the seal, and takes out the letter but his shoulders sag in disappointment when he reads the name:

Dear Xavier,

It's Lillian and please, don't stop reading because this is very important.

I already miss you. Things are hectic over here without you.

Xavier doesn't understand what Lillian means when she says that because he instructed Jade and April to help Serena out with the planning. Were they doing a pathetic job?

First, I'm deeply offended that I wasn't informed of the tea party when I live here.

"You'll be leaving soon," Xavier mutters under his breath.

I am the perfect candidate for this because I've thrown my fair share of parties back at home but I see that you don't see that.

Remember when I told you that Serena isn't ready to do her duties, it seems that I was right. More than right actually because I found something. Something that I was shocked to find.

Xavier furrows his eyebrows as he reads, taking Lillian's letter more seriously.

Serena has committed treason.

She has been in contact with her father.

When Xavier read that, he felt as if someone had splashed him with cold water. No, this is not true. She would never. Impossible.

And if you don't believe me, I have attached her father's letter with mine inside the envelope.

Xavier stops reading and checks inside the envelope and his eyes widen in horror when he sees the familiar color. It was red just like the one he found in his drawer before her maid claimed that it was hers. Was she playing cahoots with Serena all this time?

He doesn't open it and resumes reading Lillian's letter.

To make things worse, your wife wanted to leave this morning but the guards refused to do so. I don't know what Serena is planning but as soon as you're done with work, you need to come back here and keep your wife in check.

So, she was trying to leave. Again.

If you don't take care of this matter, I will send another letter to the King to inform him of this situation. So, if you don't want me to, hand over the tea party preparations to me and I will shut my mouth.

Yours sincerely,

Lillian Jalon.

Xavier crumples the paper in his hand, feeling rage taking root in his heart. Not only has Serena betrayed him by keeping contact with the man who killed his mother but Lillian is blackmailing him to let her take over the party.

And he isn't done, another letter is to be read and he gulped, not wanting to read it because he was terrified. Terrified of the contents inside. Terrified of how he will be seeing Serena after this.

He had let his guard down and he regrets it. But, he is the emperor, and nothing scares him so, he grabs the other letter and reads it.

And after he was done, at first he was confused because of the way Martin was speaking—as if this is the first time he's writing to his daughter. How else would he know that she lost her memory?

Or, has Serena been fooling him that she can't recall her memories when she can? If they have been keeping in touch, won't that mean that Serena remembers her father? Recalls, everything?

He lets out a mocking laugh, snaking his hands through his locks, and stares at his reflection in the window.

Xavier Alexandria. The emperor of Malta has been deceived by his wife.

Serena...

Serena...

"Serena," he breathes out.

The name easily rolls off his tongue as if it were meant to be said by him. He hums—not out of delight but with a scoff.

Serena is making him go insane.

He curls his fingers into fists as a tension settles in his jaw. As soon as he goes back home, Serena is going to wish that she would have escaped when he was away because of the unimaginable things he will do to her...

But first, he'll have to deal with Lillian and then his little wife second.

Just you wait, dear wife. Your husband is coming home soon.