The Romantic Trials Of A Transmigrated Empress

Chapter 372: Real love.

Very slowly, Sigrid folded the letter, put it back in the envelope and flattened it with her hand over and over like she was ironing it.

"On a scale of one to ten, how angry was my mother when she received this letter?"

Roland shrugged.

"Ten." Cosmos replied and he continued to laugh. "They called her a nosy lady. Basically, they asked her to mind her business."

Sigrid ignored Cosmos and focused on other important things. The seeds and the gems!! Who knew that writing letters could be profitable like this? Maybe she needed to pick up a pen and join her mother.

"What gems..." she started and stopped when Sir Samuel dropped a large sack on the table.

Roland gestured to them. "This is half of everything that was sent to your mother. Since sending the letters out is your duty, she decided to share her profits with you."

Sir Samuel moved the sack to the floor and then maids started unpacking the gems. It was diamonds--all diamonds, in all colors and different sizes and shapes. They were already polished. One was very eye catching for it appeared to have nearly every color in existence and it was shining brighter than the rest.

It elicited gasps from the onlookers and Sigrid was no better than them. She had seen many diamonds in both lives but none like this.

"Your mother would like you to know that there was only one gem like this and she left it for you." Roland told her. "It is her hope that when you become the official empress, your crown will have room for it. She also suggested that you can save it for any of our children. Apparently she was sad to give it up but happy because it was coming to you."

Sigrid held the gem and measured it. It was the size of her two thumbs combined. She looked at it with love and sighed. "So this is what it feels like to be loved without safeguards of any kind."

"Hey, I love you." Roland let out a lost heroic sigh of disbelief.

"It is not the same." She answered. The genuine love of a mother was like the love of a god.

She was her mother’s most beloved person in the world, there were no doubts about this. Her father was a strong competitor and her brothers followed. But, Sigrid was number one. The proof was the fact that Lady Iryne had gone all out to avenge the original Sigrid and ended up dying for it.

Even when she was dying, she had no regrets. Her only regret was that she not managed to kill Emmah.

Roland’s love. Who knew how balanced it would be after they had children? She was not dismissing it but she did not want to indulge in it and lose herself.

"Speaking of love." Roland pulled her chair with magic until they were rubbing arms side by side. "I have confessed my love to you many times, but not even once have I heard you say it back."

Sigrid’s heartbeat started to hasten.

"Siggy," he called her gently and tilted her face upwards by grabbing the chin. He assessed her with raised eyebrows. "What is it that scares you? I can hear your heart, it is beating so fast. You are like a cornered rabbit."

It had not been beating this fast when she crushed the snake queen, led mages into war against Nemoris or when Anita was aiming for her just now.

"I am not scared," she said haltingly, hating the fact that she was nervous.

Surely, she had no reason to be scared to say the words back to him. Her life was no longer hanging by the thread. She was free. So why did her tongue feel heavy every time he confessed his love to her and waited for her to say it back?

"Sigrid"

"Sigrid"

He called her name twice to draw her attention. When he did not get it, he decided to try another way. His lips touched hers abruptly. Because she was glad for the change, she accepted his kiss quickly, opening her mouth. His tongue dipped inside and she felt herself being pulled onto his lap. noveldrama

His fingers were demanding as they traveled over her arms like tiny vines creeping everywhere. Like his fingers, his mouth was also demanding and she had what he was searching: a validation of his love.

"Say it." he whispered.

She kissed him instead, wrapping her arms around his neck. Sigrid took it a little step further, raining little seductive kisses along his jaw and his neck.

Mourning bells suddenly tolled on the wall of the castle, coming from the direction of the queen’s chambers. Panicked footsteps rushed to the balcony. Sigrid and Roland separated and looked around.

She stood up and he did the same.

"Your highness," A knight that was rushing over shouted at the top of his voice, "Its the queen."

For a moment, Roland stood in place, frozen as he processed what the bells and the shout of the knight meant. He knew exactly what they meant but his mind seemed to be piecing it together very slowly.

The bells on the wall of the castle followed suit and then the bells in the tower of the middle of the city. More bells rung in the mage estate and walls of the city followed suit.

The same thing happened in other cities, one after the other, sharing the news of the fall of the queen.

"Your highness." Jesting called.

Sigrid shook him, trying to get him to move. Unlike him, she had been prepared for this outcome. After speaking to Lady Florentine, she had a feeling that she would choose death and she would not go alone. She was a mother, how could she die and leave her daughter in such a state?

"Roland," Sigrid shook him again. "You need to move. There is much to do, the queen is dead."

He finally found the energy to move and broke into a run. Rudbeck, Lord Evermore and the other knights followed him, running as fast as he was.

As Sigrid watched him hurry to ascertain for himself the news, she wondered how he would take his mother’s death. Would he be indifferent or sad?

Sooner or later, he would come to know that she had paid a visit to his mother and grandmother. If he knew the content of their conversation, would he blame her for the words she said?

Had the vial of poison been cleaned up? It was one thing to know that she had advised Lady Florentine to commit suicide and take the queen with her. It was another to know that she had practically handed her the tools to achieve it.

Sigrid sat down again and took a slow measured breath. Whatever feelings she had for Roland, they needed to be buried for now.