A Single Mother's Farm of the Gods
Chapter 220: Interlude: Council Meeting

Chapter 220: Interlude: Council Meeting

CRASH!

Despite being naked, Alfred stood without a care about his appearance. He just shoved a vase destroying it in the process.

"Alfred! What are you doing?!" Selena, who is covering herself with the blanket as she is also naked underneath tried to talk to the Emperor angrily clenching his fist.

"This isn’t right. This isn’t right!" Alfred punched the wall next to him, causing his fist to bleed. Yet despite the injury, he didn’t seem to care.

"Alfred, you are bleeding!"

"Shut up, Selena."

"Alfred?"

"I said shut up! Can’t you understand that!?" Alfred snarled at the startled Selena who immediately recovered and quickly stood up and slapped him in the face.

SLAP!

"What is wrong with you?! I am trying and yet you keep on saying you are fine and you will suddenly lash out like this. Are you starting to get mad?!"

"You don’t understand..."

"Of course, I don’t! You don’t say anything and everything I tried to say seems to just pass through your ears. You are not like this back then. You were more passionate and more romantic compared to today and the other days as well. Where is that Alfred now?"

"..." Alfred just looked away.

Selena slapped her forehead in frustration before she grabbed her clothes scattered on the ground.

"Is it because you cannot make it "stand" anymore? Is that why you are now frustrated?"

Hearing this, Alfred looked at Selena who was now getting dressed.

"Don’t look at me like that. I can tell. You are trying hard yourself. I saw you took a few pills and medicine to keep yourself aroused. Don’t deny it. But it seems you are now frustrated due to your inability to do so even with it."

"..."

Selena is starting to get pissed.

"I will be leaving and we will sleep in different quarters for now. Cool down your head. We can’t afford you to look haggard for tomorrow. The vassals will notice. Oh, and about the vase, don’t bother cleaning it, let the maids deal with that in the morning."

After the talk, Selena walked out of the room and left, heading to her previous room before she was the lover of the Emperor.

Alfred grits his teeth. Selena was right about all of her accusations. He is trying to move on by focusing on Selena. But how can he even do that when his body does not even comply?

He returned to his bed and stared at the ceiling. His mind wanders off, thinking why his life is starting to descend from best to worst. Did he ever become like this before, or was he always like this, but only changed because of Elaina?

Glancing on the side, he saw the portrait of Elaina displaying her eternal smile that he liked on her. She is his light and his hope. However, everything is now gone. She is no longer there.

And although Selena is there to fulfill the missing role of Elaina...it seems things are not even going well. She is not the replacement, she is different than Elaina. Elaina...she is different.

"Elaina...please, come back to me."

...

...

...

The birds are now chirping loudly on the balcony of his room and the sunlight is already creeping through his room via the open windows. Even some of the rays have already crept through the bed of Alfred.

"Ngh..." Alfred slowly opened his eyes.

He didn’t realize that he had fallen asleep while thinking about Elaina. It was not a great sleep as he felt more tired than before even though he got to drift off to dreamland a few minutes after his last talks with Selena before she left him in the room.

"It’s morning already..."

The mornings nowadays are a slog to deal with. Before, he was excited to get up every morning because he would soon meet the face of the most important person in his life. He still remembers her smile as she wakes him up from his bed, combing his messy hair with her hand and hugging him from time to time whenever he is still sleepy.

But all of those are from the distant past. Now, things have changed.

Getting up from the bed, he somehow felt the need to continue to sleep. It was an urge in his body to continue to lie down and forget about everything. He wanted to sleep. He wanted to just remain there, and just forget his worries away.

However, he cannot do that. He still has to continue moving even though everything has been destroyed after Elaina left him.

Heading to the bath and freshening himself, the maids who regularly come and go to clean the room brought him his daily outfit of the day and put it on the bed.

"Clean up the mess inside this room once I leave," Alfred ordered the maids after they tended to his needs. The maids nodded silently and retreated into the room before the master left the bath.

As for him, he took his time to remain there and tried his best to freshen up and refresh his mood. He cannot show his haggard face as he will be talking with the Church and the Elders Council. It is an important meeting.

After the bath and changing into his clothes, he looked at the calendar displayed on the table. It has been 10 months since Elaina left and 7 months since she divorced him. He showed vulnerabilities at that time and it allowed her to grasp his weaknesses causing her to successfully get a legal divorce despite being held in the other kingdom.

However, it seems the Church finally got a good plan. A plan to drag back Elaina once more. He does not accept the results of the divorce, nor he is going to accept Elaina leaving him.

"Just wait, Elaina. I will make sure you know that I am the only person who will love you and no one else. You will belong to me and no one else."

...

...

...

Selena woke up much earlier than Alfred, yet she didn’t go to his room to wake him up. She instead sends the maids to check up on his situation. She didn’t want to make him more pissed off than what happened last night. Even though she is pissed, she knows Alfred has not yet moved on. And she accepted that she would only be the second woman in his life and would never replace her sister in his heart.

However, she will not give up.

At the moment, she is currently helping organize the meeting room that will be used to hold the meeting between the vassals, Elders Council, and as well as the church. She will not be there during the actual meeting but she will make sure that everything will be perfect. She might not be Elaina in terms of planning and in terms of being the perfect woman, but she will ensure that she will surpass her, sooner if not later.

...

...

...

Council Meeting. It is always held during winter time where the empire is in slow mode due to the work being more less compared to the other seasons. Despite the Luminiera Kingdom being able to have a less harsh winter, the season is still something that halts most of the businesses due to the season itself. Therefore, many consider the winter the "slow" season.

This is why meetings like this are being held during the "slow" season, and it is also a good time to meet up with the vassals who are usually busy with their various lands during the previous seasons. With winter, their time is much wider and free allowing for this kind of thing to be conducted.

If it is the slow season in other places, things are not slow in the kingdom. The hustle and bustle of the maids and the workers were all over the hallways and rooms as the various men of distinguished families arrived one by one to attend the meeting.

And right now, Alfred will be holding a meeting with them in the very room where he is currently sitting. He is just waiting for every men to arrive and complete the table of participants. He recognized every face of his vassals. However, Elaina has the most knowledge of every man there. Their business, their current situation, their wealth, and whether they are loyal to the kingdom or not. But without Elaina, he will have to rely on his mind and wits to talk with these people.

Alfred never felt nervous before during the previous council meetings. Perhaps because Elaina is always there to help him deal with the problematic men who seemed to have an endless list of complaints. But without her, he is now left to handle them all by himself.

However, he will ensure that he is a competent emperor. She might not be there anymore, but that doesn’t mean things are not going to progress well. He will show everyone that he is not just reliant to Elaina.