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No way. Did this man barge into Subterra and think he could take Kel back just because he\'s the emperor? Had he ever met his half brother?? Because, obviously, that would never work.

"That wasn\'t necessarily the highest thing on my list of concerns," the emperor shrugged.

"An escape plan wasn\'t on your list of concerns?!" Kel retorted.

This had to be some kind of joke. The Dragon Emperor she knew was always at least two or three steps ahead. There\'s no way he\'d be caught somewhere like this without having carefully planned a way out.

"It\'s not that I wasn\'t concerned with it," the emperor smiled, softly tucking a loose piece of hair behind her ear. "I was just more concerned with other things."

Kel shook her head. "What could you possibly be more concerned about at a time like this?"

"About you," he answered bluntly, sliding his fingers past her ear and cupping the back of her neck.

He leaned forward, eyes half closed, aiming for her lips.

Suddenly feeling irritated, Kel put a hand up, pushing his mouth away.

"Sire, this is arguably not the right moment to be wasting time like this."

"W-wasting time?"

She could feel the emperor\'s lips turn into a pout against her fingers.

"I was worried about you," he sighed, pulling her hand away from his face and clasping it against his chest. The steady thumping of his heart tingled against her palm.

"I was worried," he repeated, "worried if you were safe or not and worried if I could get to you in time."

Kel sighed, reaching up to pat the emperor\'s head.

"I am safe, though, so you don\'t need to worry," she murmured.

"But, mostly," the emperor continued, placing his hand on top of hers, "I was worried you wouldn\'t want to come back with me."

Slowly, he slid her hand off his head and toward his lips, planting a soft kiss on her wrist.

Kel flinched at his warm breath against her skin.

"I was worried too," she admitted quietly.

\'Hmm?" the emperor grunted, his lips working their way down her arm.

"When I finally found out the truth of everything," she swallowed, her skin burning from the man\'s caresses, "I thought you only wanted to use me."

"... just like everyone else," she added in a bitter whisper.

"I do want to use you, though?" The emperor glanced up at her.

Kel\'s heart dropped.

What? He did want to use her, after all? After saying all those cheesy things and kissing her, he was shamelessly admitting his true motives?

"Ha. Is that so?" Kel yanked her arm away from him. "Well, I-"

"Like this," the emperor interrupted, lacing his arms around her and pulling her into a tight embrace.

What the-? Was he covering for his mistake now, or was all of this an honest attempt at the Dragon Emperor being romantic?

"And like this," he added, pressing his lips against her neck. "I want to keep you close to me and use you to my heart\'s content. Just like this."

"Your Majesty…" Kel hesitated. "That\'s a super creepy way of telling someone you like them."

The emperor pulled away from her a little, locking his gaze with hers.

"I like Ira," he declared.

EH?!

Kel\'s brain stopped working. She couldn\'t possibly digest the words that just came from the emperor\'s mouth.

He liked… Ira?

What was that supposed to mean?!

"And I like Thane," he went on. "But I don\'t want to do this with them."

"Oh my-! What the-? How…" Kel pressed her palm into her forehead.

Did the emperor have the emotional intelligence of a child? Naturally, liking a friend and liking a person romantically were completely different. Was he only just discovering that the word, \'like\', could be used in more than one way?

"Don\'t tell me.." Kel glanced up at the emperor again, his eyes still focused determinedly on her. "Is this the first time you\'ve had feelings for someone?"

"No," the emperor replied immediately.

"Ah.. ok," Kel\'s chest stung a little at his words.

Wait, why would she even care if he\'d had feelings for another girl in the past? Was this jealousy?

"For you," the emperor clarified. "I\'ve had feelings for you for a long time."

"Oh, i-is that right?" The stinging in her chest turned to a fluttery feeling. How could the emperor admit these kinds of things so boldly?

She wondered what he meant by a long time. Was he trying to say that he\'d liked her ever since she first came to the palace?

"Longer than that," the emperor remarked.

Oh no, had she accidentally said what she was thinking out loud?

"Ah, I didn\'t mean to.." Kel mumbled.

"Since I first heard of the golden-haired girl in Mevani," the emperor went on. "Since then, I\'ve been in love with you."

"... the golden-haired girl in Mevani?"

Officially, according to everyone on the continent, there was only one golden-haired girl in Mevani.

Princess Adriell.

Kel\'s chest stung again, and a knot appeared in her throat. It wasn\'t her the emperor loved, after all. It was the person he thought she was.

Adriell.

How could she have forgotten her place? She was only a stand in for the princess. There was no way the Dragon Emperor would love Keliyah, the palace guard.

"S-should we figure out how to escape now, Your Majesty?" She quickly changed the subject.

Sooner or later, the confusion about her identity would be cleared up. When that day came, she didn\'t want to be anywhere near the emperor and his wrath. She could almost hear his cold voice demanding, \'you tricked me!\'

Her original plan to escape and start a new life was still the best course of action, after all. But since the emperor was here, she might as well rely on him to get out of this place. Once she was on the surface, she\'d find a way to run.

She could worry about being heartbroken later.