Not long after Aurora had arrived, word about the Emperor's absence already began to spread around like wildfire. People made up all sorts of assumptions, none to favorable. It seemed like the more savory the rumors got, the better it spread.
Most of it revolved around one particular fact. The Emperor was done with his Empress. Since she failed to produce him an heir and lost it in her own homeland, the Emperor had not taken to it kindly and would soon dispose her off. The ones that never liked Aurora despite all her generosity began using this as a means to show Aurora was never a got choice as Empress to begin with. That it was the Gods plan to take away a child born out of Rovamerian blood.
But no one, not even most of the Palace staff knew what the true cause of the Emperor's absence was, except for a select few. One of those few being Gart, as he sighed in frustration while staring at the Emperor slumped on his bed, an empty bottle of liquor in his hand.
He was drunk. Again.
