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"... Alright, I\'ll bite," Calix sighed, letting the documents in his hands flutter back onto the tabletop. "What is my problem?"

"What a bold way to speak to your emperor," Ira scoffed from the far corner, buried behind piles of paper.

The other two men had grown used to their irritable friend\'s ways and knew that, though his tone was harsh, he really just wanted to be included with the conversation.

"Your clothes," Thane announced, pointing an accusing finger to the emperor\'s half-exposed chest.

"My… clothes," Calix shook his head.

Fortunately, he was growing bored of paperwork, or he would have put an end to Thane\'s foolishness at that very moment.

"Exactly," Thane nodded vigorously. "Think about it. Lately, you\'ve been so concerned about the princess\'s clothes. It\'s always new dresses this and princess\'s taste that-"

"I thought women liked that sort of thing, though?" Calix interrupted, narrowing his eyes. "At least, that\'s what you prescribed the last time you solved my \'problem\' for me."

"Right again, Your Majesty," Thane went on, undaunted. "But would such a woman want her partner to be wearing that?"

With a click of his tongue, he motioned to Calix\'s attire once again.

"I mean, you don\'t even bother fastening the front of your shirt properly! You look just like some peasant from the street."

Ignoring Ira\'s muffled chuckles, Calix thoughtfully considered the attire of his two subordinates compared to his own.

Ira always dressed flashily with far too many colored silks layered over the top of each other. Since his childhood, he\'d chosen bizarre fashions, \'trendy\' as he called them, probably due to the influence of his extravagant mother.

Thane, on the other hand, faithfully donned his full knight uniform every day. Many palace ladies were said to swoon at the sight of such a dashing soldier. Considering that it was a mandatory part of his attire, though, did it really count as dressing up?

Unlike the other two, covered in layers and accessories, Calix usually wore a dark shirt and simple black trousers. Sure, in the eyes of others, it could appear a little lack-

Wait. He was the emperor. Why would he even bother to consider what people thought of his fashion choices?

Even though, ordinarily, he would have never given the topic any further heed, when he thought of Keliyah..

"You say she would like it if I dressed up?" Calix conceded.

Thane\'s eyes brightened dangerously.

"Yes, Your Majesty! I have just the thing!" he called, jumping to his feet and running out of the room.

The two men left in the study listened to the knight\'s pattering footsteps fade before Ira spoke up.

"Isn\'t he supposed to be guarding this room?"

"No matter how I see it," Calix responded, the corners of his lips twitching with amusement, "Thane never really grew up."

"Can you say you\'ve grown up then?" Ira teased. "When you\'re still acting like a giddy boy over some princess."

Calix\'s face instantly darkened. "You should take more care in the way you speak of your emperor."

"Right, when Thane does it, it\'s adorable and childlike," Ira groaned. "But when I do it, suddenly you\'re offended."

"I don\'t know what you\'re talking about," Calix shrugged, picking up his discarded paperwork.

Ira grumbled to himself for a few moments before speaking up again. "I wonder, though, Sire, if the real reason you\'re doing this is to catch that man or if it\'s to have an excuse to see the princess more often."

"An excuse to see the princess more often?" Calix repeated absently. "Maybe that\'s it…"

Whether Thane\'s suggestion of severely overdressing for a simple trip to a dress shop worked or not, the emperor\'s plan to lure a particularly slippery snake out of the shadows with his hostage\'s golden hair was incredibly successful.

Perhaps, too successful.

The more the emperor learned about the times his half-brother, now self-imposed leader of the Subterrans, made contact with Keliyah or even worse, that Dashien fellow who couldn\'t seem to mind his own business, the more he considered locking the girl away.

He\'d been rather lenient until now, but, perhaps, building a cage would be better for both himself and his hostage. Especially considering the way his half-brother had been acting out.

The only one who could protect Keliyah from such a madman was the Dragon Emperor.

So, as the emperor went on carefully crafting the perfect trap for Keliyah, he began to become interested in something else--something he felt he\'d waited his whole life to see.

Her abilities.

Conveniently, an answer to his whims came almost immediately when he learned that the golden-haired girl was searching for a \'secluded place\' where \'nobody could see her\'.

"A place where nobody can see her doing what, I wonder?" the emperor ginned to himself. "Playing with fire, perhaps?"

He already knew the perfect place for her.

The place had once held some sort of significance to the Serin crown generations ago, but Calix had found a much better use for it. After all, it was a thick forest with an eerie aura, the kind of area people avoid at all costs.

In other words, the perfect place for weapon development and other kinds of experiments.

Though he\'d sworn to himself and his comrades that his father\'s death had no effect on him, he\'d refused testing or requesting others to test human subjects. Regrettably, however, there were times when people wandered too far into the forest and saw something they shouldn\'t have, unavoidably leading to them becoming test subjects of sorts for poison formulas.

But mainly, Calix used that place to further his knowledge of moonstones, dragons and other fantastical things.

And with the forest completely off limits to everyone other than himself and his shadows, he knew it would be the best chance to finally see Keliyah\'s true power.

He\'d led her to a clearing in the forest, found the perfect vantage point for himself, and was eagerly awaiting the show when, again, one of the girl\'s comrades insisted on sticking his nose where it didn\'t belong.