AU where Rashta lives and remains the Empress of the East, and Sovieshu adopts Ian for random reasons
The garden of the Western Palace gleamed beneath the midday sun. White and crimson roses lined the perfumed paths, and the air swelled with the murmur of guests and the distant harmony of a violin and cello duet.
Kai wandered about with a basket slung over his shoulder. Several roses were still left to deliver, but his enthusiasm had faded ever since Lari —with a suspiciously sweet smile— convinced him to hand out hers as well, which was practically an entire bouquet compared to the single rose he had given before the blackmail.
Looking for distraction, he slipped between the hedges until something caught his attention.
A few meters away, a lady was playing with her son beside the pond. He could only see her back, bent down to pick up a ball the boy had dropped. There was something dreamlike in her aura —in the calm way she laughed, in how the air itself seemed gentler around her— that made Kai stop in his tracks.
At least, he thought, he could hand out three roses at once.
He ran toward her and, his voice trembling with excitement, called out:
—“Lady!”
The woman turned, and for a moment, time seemed to stop. Kai couldn’t tell if it was her gaze or the serenity she radiated, but there was something about her that made one want to speak kindly, even without knowing her. She was the kind of “beautiful woman” who made words come out pure.
She looked like the angels from the fairytales his sister used to read—though, of course, no one could ever surpass his mother, the most important and beautiful woman in his life.
He lifted the rose solemnly.
—“A rose for the lady ”
She laughed softly, her sweetness melting away any trace of awkwardness he might have caused with his loud voice.
—“What a well-mannered boy…” she said, accepting the flower. “What’s your name?”
Kai puffed out his chest.
—“I’m the future Emperor of the West, His Highness Kai Lazlo Trovi.”
—“Really?” she asked, her eyes glimmering with nostalgia. “You’ve grown so much. When I first heard of you, you were barely the size of a toy .”
The boy looked at her with curiosity.
—“You’ve seen me before? I don’t remember you… and I’m good at remembering faces.”
Rastha smiled with faint hesitation.
—“And you, who do you think I am?”
Kai scratched his head, thinking. Before he could answer, the lady’s son ran back with the ball, clinging to his mother’s skirt and staring at Kai with open suspicion.
—“Who’s that ugly boy, Mama?”
—“I’m not ugly!” Kai shouted, his cheeks flaring red.
Rastha couldn’t hold back a light laugh, and for a moment, the air filled with petals and the echo of childhood.