Luke opened his eyes again. Right beside him, Samuel was worrying over him. 'It seems the princess told Samuel that it was not my fault, and now he is worrying,' Luke thought with a small smile. He sat up and looked at Samuel to calm him down while he kept apologizing. After a quick diversion, Luke asked, "Where is the Princess?"
Samuel said, "She is still in the room, you have been knocked out for 30 minutes. Whatever she has to say, it is important."
Luke thought 'What in the name of God happened in the church for the princess to try and beauty trap me?' Luke got up and went to the room with clear instructions for Samuel not to get inside, no matter what. He nodded as Luke went into the room to see the same scene as he said, "I just got hit with Deja vu."
Claudia looked at him and worriedly asked, "Are you ok? Sorry, I didn't know my screaming would cause something like that."
"It's alright, my knight has a hero complex. Leave him be, now, will you tell me what you want?" Luke said with a smile, which morphed into an emotionless expression as Claudia sighed and said
"I want you to keep the engagement and support me."
"One, why should I? And two, the house of Wayne will not participate in any political conflict as long as the other family doesn't influence it too much. We are called the Shield of Empire for nothing, because we protect and not attack." Luke said he was dead set on not letting the Wayne family into a conflict and breaking a tradition since the beginning of the empire, just because he would get a royal princess.
"I am not asking for the Wayne family's support but yours, as for what you will gain is not becoming the emperor of humanity enough?" Princess said as she was starting to sweat.
"And the Wayne family is the same. If I support you, the Wayne family will also support you. As for the position of the emperor, I have no interest in it. Why don't you give it to the destined one or something?" Luke said as he started to get up, 'I already have plans to make a banking system without becoming the son-in-law of the emperor.' He thought.
"Wait, I have nothing else except the position of the empire and my soul, body, and mind. I'm willing to give you all in return for your support," Claudia said. Luke just sighed as he said
"I need neither of those, I already have my plans, plus do you think being engaged to you is some kind of blessing? All you can offer is ties to the castle, and that's all, and I don't even have any interest in it. As for you, as a woman, you insulted my mother by breaking her last wish and then proceeded to insult me by choosing him and treating me like an option. I am not an option for the person I love, princess, I believe it's best if you take this political game somewhere else," Luke said with a calm tone like he was telling a servant to cook something for him.
"Do you think you know everything I went through? Well, I will tell you now, you don't know one thing about me. When I was born, my mother only saw disappointment that she wasn't able to give birth to an heir; even so, she took care of me and trained me since childhood for a dream that wasn't even mine to begin with. Then, just when I thought that I was the future empress, my stepmother showed up with a child who was then declared the heir.
Everything I trained for, all the hard work, was forgotten right there and then. Thankfully, when the emperor left to meet you, he came back with some sort of enlightenment and removed the law that states that only males can inherit things from their parents. When that was put forward, I also became a candidate for the throne, and I did everything in my power to keep my power and increase it to match that of Thomas, who was just born to have it.
Finally, when we were equal and the matter of engagement was brought up, I just wanted to get ahead of Thomas in the battle of the thrones. I never meant to insult anyone; all I ever wanted was the freedom to be myself without some controlling me. I met you, and finally, someone valued my opinions just like those of any other person, but blinded by greed for power, I didn't realize it then. When I went to meet the destined one, all he could talk about was the power he would have as the emperor and how he would treat me.
I am not against sharing power, and whenever I tried to bring up another topic like politics or just plain nature, he dismissed my ideas. Imagine sharing power with someone like that, even though I will become an empress, it will be equal to just being another cage of someone else. You are not an option, but the only way I can get my freedom. So please support me," Claudia asked as she was in tears when she finished with all her frustration she had been holding in herself since she was a child.
Luke closed his eyes and thought about it. Although women in the period were indeed given more rights than in the usual medieval period. It is still less than that of a man, since medieval is medieval. As a modern man, I have certain values that are still strong, one of them being subconsciously looking at women like other human beings that couldn't be said about the others, though. Now, I don't care enough to fight for women's rights or something, I just want power. So, the question is whether I should help the princess or not? I get political power, an empire if I do, and if I didn't, I get nothing.
"Fine, I will help you, but don't you dare betray me, or I will make sure you will regret it," Luke said, giving a warning, but Claudia didn't mind as she smiled with happiness. She was one step closer to getting the throne. She asked
"What are you going to do now?"
"I am going to train, you should too. Make more public appearances and socialize with the nobles, and finally enter the academy." Luke said
"Academy, why do I have to do that?" Claudia asked
"For public appearance, and showing off your talent. Having the support of the Academy will make it much easier for the emperor to choose you, and on top of this, the support of the nobility will shift heavily towards your side if you or I were able to get the top spot." Luke explained, and he pinched his forehead and thought, 'I need to delay the great reveal and play the role of the Fiancé more, plus now I have made an enemy of the destined one. Just great'