How To Tame An Empress (BOOK I)

Chapter 44- A Wonderful Idea

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"Oh, no... Ria, darling... You have made a grave mistake..." I muttered out, looking her in the eyes and she flinched under the intensity of my gaze. As she should.

I've let her get away with too much. But this is enough.

"Leave us... And do not dare to enter this room without my permission again or I will have both of your heads," I looked over my shoulder at the two men that stood by the entrance of the throne room.

Clearly, not heeding my words, neither of them attempted to move until I sensed Ria nodding her head along to my words in confirmation and both my son and my brother-in-law were still hesitant to leave her alone with me but decided to leave anyway.

With every second that passed by and with every tick of my jaw, I felt myself growing angrier and angrier. Were they trying to get on my nerves?... Because if they were, it is most certainly working. Why can a husband not be trusted to be alone with his wife?

I'm annoyed. I am so bloody annoyed right now.

Clenching my fists, I bit down on my bottom lip, willing myself to breathe in and out as calmly as I could manage and counted down from ten.

"I know... That you are upset..." Her words angelically rang through my mind, reminding me of wind chimes in the summer as if lulling me to sleep under a nice, warm breeze. No matter the situation, no matter how that voice's tone changes and no matter what expression sat on her face, I could never, not even in my wildest dreams, imagine myself coming to dislike it.

"Well, I am glad that you are at least aware of the burden of your words," I replied, taking a step closer to her while simultaneously brushing the hair that covered my forehead back so I got a clearer view of her face right now.

"I do not regret what I said... You are no longer my husband, Stacius... Although, calling you by that nickname might be deemed inappropriate since we no longer have any relationship," Once more, I felt my jaw tick.

"Darling, are you trying to fuel my anger more than you already have?" I breathed out.

"Valeria. I would like that to be the name that leaves your lips from now on. Those nicknames should be for your partner, not me," She said as if not having heard my words.

I shot my hand forward, grabbing her by the forearm and dragging her up against my chest and she gulped back her gasp, resting the free hand against my chest while tilting her head back to glare a threatening glare up at me.

"I have had enough of your nonsense for today... Darling..." I leaned down, brushing her hair over her shoulder while whispering in her ear. "Do not test my patience any more than you already have. There is one dead body over there and there is one in here-" I paused, placing my hand over her blood coated clothes.

She shivered, glare falling away and being replaced by fear. "How many of your loved ones have become my victims so far?... 3? 4?... I cannot say that I remember, but whatever the number, I do not believe that you are so heartless to go and add more numbers onto that one, are you?" I asked, standing back up straight to look at her.

"Y-You... Cannot be serious... Even for you, that is too-"

"Do not underestimate me, flower. I am capable of much more than what you are imagining... And I don't think you want to see just how far I am willing to go to have you... The world can burn for all I care, I just need you,"

"You are crazy!" She spat under her breath. I chuckled.

"And exactly whose fault is that?" I innocently asked, placing a hand against her cheek. "With every mischievous act of yours, every time I see you with a man that isn't me, the jealousy spirals out of control and my insanity looms closer... It is all you, Ria. You are the cause of my insanity," Her lips trembled, she struggled to hold back both her retorts and her feelings and I thrived under the beautiful expression.

Now, to teach her a lesson, it's about time I stop being so lenient with her and give her a nice, harsh slap of what is her reality.

A serious look fell over my face and I took a step back, releasing my grip on her. "Under no circumstances will I ever leave you nor will I ever let you leave me... So give up on this petty hope of yours to be free of me, that is something that will never happen,"

I spared her a last glance before spinning on my heels and walking away but not long after, I heard the sound of her footsteps following me and smirked a small smirk at the realisation. No matter what, from now on, she will be afraid every second that I am not in her line of sight. Why? Because I have the power to kill those she loves.

This may not have been what I had planned to happen but I'm not complaining.

"Stacius... Where are you going?" She asked, running after me.

"To take another bath, I do not like being coated in the blood of a man I despise and the blood of my unborn child... You are not still mad at me about that, are you?" I stopped in my tracks, suddenly doing a 180-degree spin and surprising her as she came to a skidding halt, this close to bumping into my chest.

"What? I-"

"Do not be mad, darling. Children live and die all the time, I can give you as many of them as you want," I smiled, placing a hand against her womb and noticed that she was still covered in blood and at that realisation, an idea crept into my mind. 

A wonderful idea.

"...Let us go take a bath. And with our bath, we will wash away everything that took place today. It will be as if this day never existed. Okay?" I held her hand, taking her with me to the bathhouse.

"No, Anastacius... Wait," She drifted off once we reached our bathhouse, noticing that I wasn't stopping in walking around the place where we usually bathed together.

You see, my Ria is an amazing woman, I didn't think there was anything she couldn't do and to add to her talents, she was also an empathetic woman that cared for all humans. But every human has a weakness, while Ria is mine, one of her weaknesses is that she is unable to swim.

This beautiful woman is unable to swim.

"Why are you...?" She probably realised that I was up to something by now.

Walking over to the deeper end of the bath, I moved to pick her up in my arms. "No, Stacius... Stop, you know that I can't-" She was cut off by her own loud gasp.

I pushed her into the pool and watched as there was a large splash, some of the water spilling over the edges due to the force of her falling in.

I stood there, with my arms crossed, watching as she drowned, trying her best to stay afloat, throwing her arms into the air and opening and closing her eyes as the water kept going in them and she called my name, reaching out for me.

"You are the one that wanted to live without me... And now, look... You are calling my name..." I whispered under my breath.

The sight of her drowning, calling my name while her arms were outstretched towards me... This feeling; I loved it.

"S-Stacius... I can't- I can't swim-" She called and after a few more minutes, I watched as she slowly started to give up, eventually losing all her energy and just when that happened, I jumped in without a second thought.

Picking her up in my arms, I swam up to the surface, carrying her in my arms bridal style as I climbed over the ledge and stood up, both of us soaked to the bone and Ria, lying unconscious in my arms.

Brushing the wet strands of hair away from her face, I smiled a small smile while leaning down to kiss her forehead and then her closed eyelids.

But holding her in my arms is a feeling that cannot be rivalled by any other.

"See... You cannot live without me,"

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