“Okay, find out from father if the livestock is ready!” Sahara states as she put her hands through Matthew’s long hair, making it look slightly ruffled now. Normally it flowed straight down, the total opposite of her light hair, that goes fluffy when not put up. But…Now his hair drifted out a bit, making her feel satisfied…Because, well, he was just way too handsome as it was!

She knew she was weird, but if she dishevels him to some degree, perhaps others won’t look at him as much! As it was, a couple of girls from here, in Purple Haven, had the hots for him, but luckily they don’t seem to have the guts to go beyond looking though…

Bloody scavengers! He’s mine!

Matthew stood up and sighed, “You will not go to the Auction House without me!”

Sahara cheekily smiled and kissed him, “What if it was with Felix?”

“No…”

As Matthew tried to continue to speak, he found himself suddenly at the palace in Green Haven…

Sahara then smiled, “I won’t go without you.”

Then, she turned to see that the emperor wasn’t there…

It was the normal place that they teleported too, which wasn’t where court was held, nor the study, it was just where the emperor resided after court.

Every other time that they had teleported here, he was already sitting there as though he had been waiting for them, it was strange to Sahara to not see him sitting there with his golden threads…

“…He must be in his study.” Matthew stated.

But no…He wasn’t…

The emperor was now with the Empress…

It seems that the month was not the time left for her, as, overnight, she had gone into a coma and is now stated that she will not last beyond this coming night.

The emperor was now saying his farewells to his Empress…

***

Upon finding this information out, Matthew was uncertain whether to approach the Empress’s chambers or not.

In the past, he had been brought up by not only the Empress Dowager, but the Empress. He had been safe and had been treated very well, yet, she had tried to harm his beloved Princess.

“Do you want to see her?” Sahara asked.

Matthew frowned, “No, she tried to harm you.”

Sahara leaned her head to the side, looking at him, “Will you regret not seeing her this last time?”

Thinking of the possibility, Matthew shook his head, feeling sure he wouldn’t regret it. It wasn’t like he wasn’t thinking of this realistically and immaturely, it was more so on how important his Princess was to him and the potential harm the Empress had willingly tried to accomplish…What he was more thinking of, was that Sahara didn’t seem mad anymore, or was she just hiding it?

“Are you happy that she will pass away?” Matthew asked quietly, while hugging her.

Sahara shrugged, “She may have been nasty to me, but I’m healthy now…Will she harm me while in a coma or beyond death? Should I continue to hold a grudge?”

Matthew sighed, his vengeance to Isabella’s family wasn’t complete until their whole family had perished, yet Sahara…Was she able to let go of her hate?

“Why are you not angry at her?” Matthew asked, completely interested.

Sahara leaned into him and went silent for a moment. That cycle of hatred exists everywhere and was easily made. She always wanted to find a way to mend it or break it…Yet how was this to be done?

It was strange though, she had indeed disliked the Empress, yet now it seemed like it didn’t matter anymore…Why was that?

It was weird, because Sahara did remember what the Empress had tried to plan against her, but thinking about it seriously…It was like she wasn’t mad anymore…

Weird…Let’s just answer with something that I had already figured out from my last life…

“If I hated her, I would start to become a different person, one that you may not even like…I want to live my life to the fullest, and I think, that perhaps hatred would tie me down from doing that. But I don’t know how to let go completely of my hatred. Right now, I am not worried about her because…Ah…Someone else deserves justice more…The person who killed my family is still around, not knowing how much pain they had given me…”

Matthew gently rubbed her back and kissed the top of her head.

Sahara hardly knew that she had felt this way, having finished the sentence as she had. Normally, she had to think about a matter seriously for a whole day…Or more! Being able to help her find this out, Sahara held Matthew slightly tighter…Why was it that she was completely open with him and honest? Well, whatever it was, it seems to help make her think, just by talking to him, to find solutions…Which was something she wasn’t used to, but he seemed happy with whatever she said…Even if he didn’t quite understand it all…

A grateful feeling rose up from the depths of her heart, and Sahara felt lucky to have been able to meet Matthew…

She was sure that their relationship was quite magnificent, yet, at the same time…Somewhat weird and odd…Considering that they were supposed to be royalty and acting the part, yet here they were cooking for five thousand people like servants or something…

Closing her eyes for a short moment, Sahara had a good idea upon why they were always able to stay close…And that was simply because they not only cared for one another, but that they found the other’s happiness important. It was great to be the other’s person’s happiness! She was his happiness, as he was hers, and everything else just went from there…

Finally continuing, Sahara said, “If I search inside myself, I don’t think I’m mad at the Empress anymore. But…I am still very mad at the killer of Talon, Samuel and Zeus…So, if you want to see her, then let us go and see her.”

“…I love you, Sahara.” Matthew quietly said, while still hugging his beloved close to him.

Sahara smiled and whispered back the same special words, “I love you too.”

Entering into the Empress’s bed chamber, they found the emperor sitting there, looking deep in thought, and a few maidservants and Imperial physicians to the side of the room.

“Emperor Father.” Matthew said, walking up to him.

“…My son…Sahara…You have come.”

His words were swallowed into silence and the three of them looked upon the bed that the Empress now laid on.

She looked already dead, not moving at all. Her eyes were sunken in and her skin pale. Her light clothing didn’t cover her head that has no hair, and she was practically all skin and bones…

“Her time is near.” The emperor stated. The words didn’t hold emotion, yet his mind was going through a few times in history with his Empress.

Sahara didn’t say much but watched the emperor stand there, not going to the bed.

Upon seeing that the touch poison inside of the Empress was still active, Sahara understood why the emperor did not go too close to her.

Finally, Sahara saw extra clothes around, either upon the floor or hung on the side, and that she had to travel past a screen that was not see through, to get into the room, it looked like they were taking measures to keep the active poison from going anywhere else.

Now that Sahara had a good look around, it reminded her of some quarantine movies and felt like they were similar to this. Why wasn’t the Empress put under some quarantine earlier? Was it because the poison could only be given to others by touch?

They were clearly still within the palace, and not only that, they were in the Empress’s own chambers…Making Sahara wonder if news of the Empress having a contagious, touch poison, had never leaked out to the populace at all…

At a time, the poison was a threat and making her able to win against her adversaries…Now, it was stopping those close to her, to completely and sentimentally be able to let her go, like any other person on their death bed.

Sighing, Sahara sat down on the floor, getting the attention of a few people and went through the Empress’s body to purge her of this active, touch poison.

Not touching any other poison, and having the usual silence in the room because of the sad truth of the Empress unable to live much longer, Sahara was able to concentrate easily and purged the touch poison within the hour.

Matthew had settled himself close to Sahara, but also had memories go through him and started to see that coming here to say goodbye was something that he was glad he has done.

Standing up, Sahara noticed Prince Felix had come at some time and he stood there silently, not showing any kind of emotion on his face.

Before wanting to go to the small Prince, Sahara stated that the Empress’s touch poison had been purged and that if they want to touch her hand, they won’t get poisoned.

Gasps from the Imperial physicians were heard, and the emperor nodded, but still made no attempt to touch her.

Instead of going to Prince Felix, Sahara sighed and then moved closer to the Empress and touched her cold skin herself, to show that she had not lied or to give them more inclination to do that kind of thing themselves.

“It is gone.” Was all Sahara said, before gently placing the lifeless hand back down by the Empress’s side.

Now, walking over to the young Prince, she heard movement behind her and guessed that perhaps either Matthew or the Emperor had taken the hand that she had just put down.

Isn’t death strange? People could potentially let go and be able to send them off with whatever anger they had against them, like they were forgiven of every type of misdeed that person had ever done…And then there’s some death that does the opposite and implies anger, from perhaps the death is of an innocent being taken or that of a loved one…Shouldn’t death be more simplistic? Or was it, that death was simplistic…That death could mean a goodbye to making more memories with that person or a hello to emotions such as hatred, sorrow or vengeance that were never felt before, and that was it? If I’m not wrong…Death provides a certain type of power…A power that everybody is scared off…Yet isn’t it nothing that comes after death? So…Are we afraid of nothing…Or are we afraid of what we would feel because of nothing? Ahh, stop it, stop it!

Sahara was living a second lifetime, yet still had not reached a hundred in adding both lives added up together. Her questions were probably being asked by many, many people and so far…Nothing really is told or found out. Death was something that happened every day, that happened to everyone, it was common and still…It cannot be undone, only delayed. As much as Sahara tried to understand it more, the more she lost herself, and so…She turned to Felix and decided to come back to reality…

Sahara took Prince Felix’s hand and said, “She was mother of the country.”

Country? Shit, I meant Haven, Haven!

Not much strength was needed for Prince Felix to remove his hand from hers, “Yes.”

Seeing him just accepting what she said, Sahara took his hand once again, “Perhaps you do not understand that this woman did what…”

“She hurt other people, my mother’s people told me.”

Prince Felix had said this in anger and didn’t quieten his voice to any degree, so everyone else in the room also heard it…Most of which, some already knew this truth…

Squeezing his hand, Sahara bent down a bit, to be more equal to his height, “Everyone hurts someone! Our feelings are that of human, and we are all connected. You may not like the Empress because of your mother, but your mother had tried to hurt your father. Your father is now my father and if you are still being upset, it will make me upset.”

Being hurt by others…Is a part of life…Of course the amount of hurt could defer…Mmm. Wait, Sahara, don’t lose yourself again, this is important!