<div>


    Valkyrie ? Chapter XXI ? Calm


    Money means little. True wealth comes from something else. The Emperor once again felt painfully aware of that. The death of a Valkyrie always takes a heavy toll on him. The fact that all those who are no longer here have left this world with honor and dignity meant little to him. In these trying times, honor and dignity sometimes felt like a mockery. But that was just the feeling of a man who was worn down. Taking another look at the Valkyries reminded him again what honor and dignity meant—how important they were, and how important his own position was. The Valkyries were doing all this for him—their Emperor. He could not give up. Never. Because neither could they.


    These last years did much to the Emperor. If it weren''t for the support of the Valkyries and his family, he might have gone insane long ago. Politics is a terrible battlefield. He tried to pacify everyone, wanting the best for all people in the Empire, regardless of their rank or origin. And yet he was called a tyrant by many.


    Thessia is like this. And his position is like that too. That''s just how the world ticks. The role of the Emperor demands a constantly firm hand. He can try to keep it open, but all too many times someone will still try to strike it. The Emperor is forced to respond accordingly. He is forced to take action against his own subjects, and to send his own servants to damnation; to cause much suffering. All this so that Thessia can emerge stronger in the end.


    Sometimes the Emperor himself wondered how the Valkyries could be so loyal. Shouldn''t they hate him? For having taken away their civilian lives? For the fact that they have to live a life of constant selfless service to him? That they will have to die early, one way or another? No. Even if they were somewhat pushed into it, in the end it was their own decision to have chosen this life. And they weren''t complaining either. They had a choice at least. The Emperor didn''t. He was born into this. And like them he was just a servant. He didn''t wield true power. It was with the protocol. The codex. This old script from people long gone, written down and upheld by any force whatsoever... this was the very thing that wielded the true essence of power. A set of rules from past eras. Unreformable, unredeemable, unforgiving.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    The codex. Sometimes it really frightened him. It was so powerful, so merciless, so efficient... he, and especially the Valkyries, were the very manifestation of it—had to be. There was no questioning. The Emperor did not knew about a single Valkyrie in all of history who ever had been disloyal. Either because never such a Valkyrie ever existed, or because they had been erased from the chronicles with equal efficiency.


    But none of that mattered. The Valkyries have proven a hundred times that the Emperor could trust them. It was an unique, special relationship: he was at their mercy, and they at his. But the relationship between them was positive: intimate, loving, yet it always continued to remain strictly professional, even after so many years at each other''s side daily.


    There were things in the life of the Emperor that did not exist in the life of the Valkyries. Physical love. Leisure. But also increasingly gray hair. Depending on personal values and experiences, and of course indoctrination, this could be seen as a privilege, yet also as a burden. Mostly both.


    Unlike the Valkyries, the Emperor would not enter the afterlife in a perfect state. He had to enter it as an frail old man, and as the years continued to pass, it was precisely this aging that he increasingly noticed in addition to the general burden of his office. The Valkyries will never have to know what it is like when the body becomes fragile, the mind weary, the heart stone-heavy from the decisions he is forced to make daily.


    The Emperor is just a man, the rebels themselves said this often enough, and there is indeed only so much a man can take. The Valkyries and his family both were there for him. Physical protection wasn''t everything. Sometimes the Emperor had to be psychologically protected too. Therefore it was only fair that he could indulge in leisure persuits and the joys of the flesh from time to time. He did it rarely enough.


    He especially enjoyed taking moonlit baths with the Empress in their private gardens. They made love there, talked to each other, and renewed their spirit and energy. All while the Valkyries watched over them. Even in these intimate moments.


    Yes, it was moments like these where true wealth manifested. Seraphina was happy. The love she felt for her Emperor was not just indoctrinated. It was real, but abstract. Her own body had stopped yearning for the joy of the flesh a long time ago. All that mattered to her was that the Emperor and his family was well, and secure.