Picked Up a Beast, Turns Out He's an Emperor (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 22
“This marriage is not my will.”
Emperor Maxwell turned his head and spoke, gazing toward the distant cathedral bell tower.
The wind swept his slightly grown-out bangs to the side, revealing a lonely expression. Arabella’s heart ached whenever the ever-confident emperor’s face occasionally appeared weary and solitary.
It was a feeling different from the pity she felt for unfortunate people or animals—a sorrow not of sympathy or compassion, but of painful helplessness, wishing she could share his pain.
“It’s because of the imperial decree. A useless law requiring the emperor to take an empress before his twenty-sixth birthday, all for the sake of producing an heir.”
He turned his head again, aligning his crimson eyes with Arabella’s gentle gaze, and continued.
“No matter how much I’ve lived dismissing human principles and beliefs… I’m not so despicable as to ruin a woman’s life by marrying her with this cursed body. That’s precisely why I’ve held out until now, unlike all previous emperors who took their empresses in their early twenties.”
In three months, he would celebrate his twenty-sixth birthday. Even an emperor wielding absolute power could not abruptly abolish the empire’s ancestral traditions.
He had to unravel the curse before then. An empress whose allegiance—ally or enemy—remained unknown would eventually learn his secret and hold his weakness in her hands.
“Jacob and Sir Peter have scoured every corner of the continent searching for clues to lift my curse… yet found nothing. And then, by chance, I met you.”
Strangely, the word “fate” rather than “chance” flickered through his mind—but he kept it to himself.
The two loyal knights, once his father’s closest friends, were the only ones aware of Maxwell’s secret. The first time he transformed into a black panther, he’d fortunately escaped their arrows and fled into the forest.
Two days later, having returned to human form, he’d found them combing the mountains for their missing emperor. The two knights listened breathlessly as the emperor, standing before them completely unclothed, spoke.
When the emperor finished speaking, the knights knelt before him and swore an oath in blood. And that vow—to guard the emperor with their lives—had held true until this day.
When Maxwell’s father passed away, the two knights had been on the battlefield. They’d only returned to the capital just before Emperor Maximus’s death, reuniting with Maxwell in time.
After Being Cheated On, She Picked Up a Treasure (Female-dominant)
One-line summary: The husband I married on a whim had been secretly in love with me for a long time.
On the day when Jun Shao finally obtained the imperial decree for her marriage, Lan Qu, the person she had admired for six years, defied the decree and ran away.
Her gentleness and devotion, her promise of a lifetime together, were all disregarded by him. Instead, he dreamed of entering the palace to serve the Emperor’s sister as a sixth-rank attendant.
News of this incident spread throughout the capital, and the alleys in front of and behind the Lan mansion were crowded with people who came to watch the commotion.
Jun Shao should have been embarrassed and angry.
But someone stepped in to protect her dignity.
The figure was in a miserable state, yet still possessed an undeniable elegance and handsomeness.
The young lord struggled to climb the wall of the Lan mansion and shouted to her, “If he won’t marry you, I will!”
So, Jun Shao took advantage of the situation and married the person.
She thought the young lord did it to save the Lan family from the crime of defying the imperial decree, but never imagined that from beginning to end, what he coveted was her.
*
After the wedding, Jun Shao felt like she was living in a dream.
Her Wife-master was as beautiful as a fairy in a painting, skilled in the six arts, well-versed in poetry and literature, capable of being gentle and attentive, and also grand and dignified. Most importantly, she was the only one in his heart and eyes.
Jun Shao didn’t know how Lan Shiwu, as a illegitimate son without a father and blessed with beauty, had managed to preserve his purity, recklessly escape, and use his last ounce of strength to ruin his own reputation, all because of his love for her, just to stand before her.
She could only see him gazing at her with eyes full of love, and when she bestowed a name upon him, his eyes shone like stars.
“You have come to me like a weary bird perching on a branch. I shall call you A Qi.”
MANGA DISCUSSION
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Chapter Comments (2)
Is she not concerned because the emperor told her she wasn’t going to become the empress regardless? He explicitly stated she only needed to break his curse & that she wouldn’t become the empress as she wasn’t qualified (I don’t recall his precise wording).
The Emperor’s shamelessness continues to astonish me. Just how long can he get away with this?
Inline Comments (2)
The words lingered on the Emperor’s lips, but he never spoke them. Instead, he s
Placing her in the empress competition as one selected by him immediately marks her as a prime target. He understands her character and temperament yet did this regardless. Now it sounds as if he is confining her and throwing her to the wolves. Yet he still needs her to lift his curse, so she must not only survive but also remain in the palace long enough to lift the curse. Was there truly no other way for an emperor to bring a healer (even if not a mistress but a healer) into the palace? This plan seems so reckless.
“The competition will proceed according to imperial law: the winner shall become
If this is how things are done in this empire I imagine there are a lot of mistresses and illegitimate offspring from the emperor
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Aelthia
I’ve been wondering just how he intends to keep her alive and unharmed enough to even attempt lifting the curse. I don’t believe these classes will be enough if she only had four days.