Not only was Keitel a beauty among beauties, but he was also the most powerful man with the highest status. So, it goes without saying that countless women were aiming for him. Of course, behind each and every woman was the shadow of a powerful political party.
âWell, I guess even if the guy is a crazy bastard, an Emperor is an Emperor after all.
Itâs good to be King, I guess.
I mean, what can you not do if you want to claw your way up and win the right to stand by his side?
Obviously taking off your clothes and waiting to jump him naked in his bedroom is par for course. Seducing him like a common whore? No problem! There is nothing too low these ladies wouldnât stoop down to come out on top!â
Therefore, several of these women got knocked up, but alas! No one was actually able to give birth to a child. Getting pregnant was a piece of cake but becoming a mother was a different matter.
Everyone who tried to use their belly against him ended tragically. After thinking about this, I scrunched up my face.
âAh, You crazy bastard!â
I guess this bastard had always been the type of guy who lacked affection even towards his own flesh and blood. So when a woman tried to use his child against him as blackmail, instead of giving in to her demands⊠Well, their ending was so pitiful I couldnât even bring myself to say it. I honestly couldnât imagine how he could do all those things until I met the actual guy. âYup, that bastard can definitively do all those things. In fact, that guy can probably do even worse things.â
âSleep well.â
âShhh, she will wake upâ
âTsk!â
Yeah, so since he was that kind of bastard, everyone was surprised when I was born. It was a real wonder since even I was surprised that I was able to be born too.
When I opened my eyes after napping, the ceiling light shone into my eyes. I heard that a babyâs vision isnât developed fully, but I still wondered at this girlâs complete obliviousness towards a babyâs discomfort. I mean, thereâs not much difference in being noisy and shining a light directly at my face, you know?
âDid you wake up again?â
Nanny smiled despite the fact that the first thing I did after waking up was whine. Seriously, Cerera was such a pretty lady â according to my standards, of course. Unfortunately, this country had a much higher standard towardâs beauty than me.
âBut she really is so cute.â
I saw a cute round face. Elaine shoved her face out from the side.
âThat face belongs to the motor mouth!â
Since I could recognize her just by hearing her voice I wasnât happy to see her at all.
âI hate you.â
âAhhh⊠Youâre so cute.â
âCan you move that hand?!â
Seeing my face scrunched up in displeasure, Nanny slapped her hand away from my face.
Elaine shriveled up and removed her hand.
âPrincess hates only me.â
Thatâs because you are so noisy! I wanted to answer her but my mouth could only make gagging sounds. I couldnât even talk. âAh. Being a baby is so uncomfortable. I wish I can get some teeth soon so that I could at least say simple words.â I prayed earnestly for that day to arrive as soon as possible.
âSheâs still so pretty. I envy her.â
âShe takes after her father completely.â
âThatâs true. Who knew that she would inherit his hair color as well?â
Elaineâs face peeked at me from behind Nannyâs back. I want to push that face away, but since that would make her cry I decided to leave her alone for now. *Snort* âThis is all because I have a very large heart. Okay.â
âAhhh⊠So cute.â
âDonât be impolite to the Princess.â
âSheâs only a baby.â
Nanny furrowed her eyebrows at Elaineâs laughter.
âIf I have to be honest, I like the compliments on my looksâŠI mean she saying Iâm âcuteâ. Iâm âprettyâ. I dislike gossip, but I like compliments.â After smiling cheerfully at her, Elaine smiled back.
âYes, yes thanks to your gossip I found out my dad was crazy, so I will forgive all that chattering you made so far.â However, I still scrunched up my face when she tried to touch my cheek.
Suddenly, the door opened and a bunch of people came in.
âHUH?â
Since I was lying down, my vision was narrow, so I assumed that numerous people just came in. I could only imagine how shocked Nanny and Elaine were since they could see everything clearly. They just stood there completely frozen. Of course, Nanny immediately picked me up but seeing both of their pale faces did not feel good.
âWhat is it?
Oh, Did my crazy father give a royal order for execution?â
âWhat is going on?â
Cereraâs voice was seriously sharp and frightening. However, her voice was soon covered up by a screeching noise. I tried to turn my head around to see who came in.
âIf itâs a screeching noise is it the sound of metal? Is it someone wearing armor?
Wah!â
Since my head was buried in my nannyâs chest I couldnât see who came in with my own eyes.
âIt is his Majestyâs command.â
âCommand?â
âAh. I was just born and now my life is already overâŠâ While I was mourned for myself uselessly, I heard the knightâs voice clearly with my own ears.
âHis Majesty wishes Princess Aridana to stay in the Soleil Palace.â
Soleil Palace was, simply speaking, the Emperorâs palace. If you wish for more details, itâs where the Emperorâs bedroom, private study, and all his personal suites are. Itâs also where all the major political decisions are made. This was the palace where people moved the country.
Soleil was too enormous to be considered a simple palace but was rather a little town. It was that important and astounding. It seemed to mean something for me to move there.
âI guess the Emperor has finally decided to accept the princess.â
Elaine said something serious. I just peered at her with a slit gaze while wrapped up in clothes and a blanket. Her face that had always seemed lighthearted was now dispirited. Even if she was a notorious gossip she was only an 18-year-old girl. I guess even she was scared of that crazy bastard. I personally found this fact fascinating. I also pitied her since she was seriously frightened.
âShh, Donât say anything thoughtlessly anymore. This is not the previous palace, Ethelon.â
âYesâŠâ
I closed my eyes once again as Elaineâs voice trailed off. Ethelon was the name of the palace I was previously staying in. I donât know what the purpose of that palace was, but I do know one thing. That palace was shoved into the comer and looked pathetic. Also, thatâs where my mother lived.
âPrincess Zerina was so pitiful.â
âDidnât I say not to talk carelessly?â
Elaine bit her lips at Cereraâs sharp rebuke. I could tell that she felt Cereraâs steely gaze upon her so, after observing her discomfort, I grabbed my nurseâs hair. Cerera looked down. Her blue eyes that gazed into my own were quite refreshing to see.
âItâs going to be fine. Donât be afraid.â
âWhen did I say I was scared?â I just gazed at her with the eyes of a dead fish and bit on my lips, but the nurse just laughed sorrowfully. I thought this before, but seriously, Cerera had such a melancholic air about her. No matter what she did it was an always sorrowful, heart-rending and there was always something tragic about her in the air. âThatâs some skill you have there.â
âHis Majesty would never do something as terrible as kill you. Yes, surelyâŠâ
âNo, if he does kill me, thatâs not just being crazy. Thatâs being a son of a bitch. To kill off a baby⊠What kind of crazy fuck-
Ah. I just remembered hearing something similar in the past when he went to sweep up this one kingdom in the north killing every man, woman, and childâŠHe just cornered them and burn them all up together.
So, he is a son of a bitch. Just your everyday, regular piece of shit.
âŠâŠ..My life is already ruined.â
âIt is not that room.â
âHuh? Itâs not this room?â
We were chased away from the room our group found ourselves naturally in by a knight to a different room. I could hear from their voices that both of them were surprised. I donât know exactly what going on, but I can figure out that instead of the room I was supposed to be in the crazy fucker was going to toss me in a different room.
âLook, I donât even care about the room, I want to go to my crib. I want to rest!â
âSleepy?â
âUuugh.â
âOh no! She seems tired.â
She seemed taken aback by my whining. I could feel her discomfort all the way over here. Everyone awkwardly hurried back and forth in my hazy vision.
âAh. My eyes hurt.
Were a babyâs eyes always this delicate?â I could feel that my eyes were already tired out. I decided to close my eyes for now and feel the movement of my body. It was comfortable in my nurseâs embrace after all.
As I grow up, she wouldnât be able to hold me like this anymore. In my previous life, Iâm sure my mom must have held me like this when I was young. The fact that I couldnât remember it made me just a bit sad.
âNow, Princess we are here.â
When I barely opened my eyes, Cerera was smiling. Since the feeling on my back is new this must be a new bassinet. I began to whine.
âNo, not this one. Not this one. The old one!â
âPrincess, this is a better one. Itâs much bigger.â
âThe previous one was more comfortable!â
âTsk, Tsk. No. This one is way more comfortable. See, if I do this, it feels better right?â
Nannyâs hands are magic hands. After she did something with her hands I really did feel more comfortable like she said. âWow. how mysterious!â She laughed as my mouth drop opened. Seeing her colored cheeks made me smile back.
âHow adorable.â
The hand that touched my forehead felt warm. This must be called the warmth of a family because it put me right back to sleep.
âIâm sleepy. Sleep just keeps pouring over meâŠ
I donât remember what dream I was having, but it felt like I was floating on clouds.â Only that sensation remained.
âYes, if I walked on clouds it would be this feeling.â Fluffy and like cotton candy. âFluffy, fluffyâŠâ The fluffy feeling induced a flossy feeling, making my body move here and there.
âIt tickles.â I giggled unintentionally.
Then suddenly, the roomâs atmosphere became heavy.
âUghâŠâ
The feeling of something on my chest. âItâs heavy.â It was hard to breathe. I opened my heavy eyes whining.
Once my eyes were free from darkness. I caught two eyes looking down at me. We gazed at each other at the same time.
â-Kk! It freaked me out.â
I almost cried out. Even I could see my chest going up and down roughly. Rolling my big eyes, I could see it was sometime in the night.
âWhy wasnât he sleeping at night? Whatâs the point of coming here?â
I looked at him, piqued. We stared into each other eyes. Our vision entangled with each other.
I pondered. âIs that what people call crimson?â
The deep color messed up my vision and his fierce glare cornered me, making me feel even more anxious.
âIs it killing intent or a friendly gesture? I canât tell from his eyes. I guess he couldnât tell how I felt by my eyes too.â He laughed as if air was escaping. It was a pretty empty looking smile.
âI felt this earlierâŠâ
As I just laid there in my crib, his cool hand touched my cheek. Rather, it was cold, not cool. It felt like it was covered in dry ice.
âYou donât cry.â
Just one sentence.
I guess he felt it was odd that I never cry.
Well, itâs no wonder, even I find it odd I donât cry. âWell, I do want to cry like other babies. In fact, the urge is there, the problem is the fact he will mercilessly cut my head off if I do.â
I didnât even entertain the thought that he would cut my head because I was noisy. I just figured he was simply crazy and I didnât want to do anything that would trigger him.
âThe Princess is very mild-mannered.â
âAh. Nanny is here. I thought you were gone.â
I moved my head towards the sound of her voice. I could see that she was standing while clasping both hands. Her pale face was even paler than usual. She kept fidgeting.
She was afraid that the Emperor would finish me off, so she didnât know what to do.
Just because she let out her voice, Keitel turned his head and stared at her. It looks incredibly burdensome.
âNo. it was a pretty heavy burden on me too.â
The good news was seeing Cerera trying not to breathe under his glance made him lose all interest in her. He once again turned toward me.
âStillâŠâ
His cold finger caressed my cheek. To be honest, it felt creepy as hell.
His hand eventually made its way to my neck.
âDid this guy have some shady hobby I didnât know about?
Why does he keep touching my neck?â
âShe must have felt the killing intent towards her.â
âYup. I definitely felt that.â
I want to nod my head in agreement, but the hand on my neck was so cold, I couldnât.
âAh. If he does kill me, I will probably be choked to death with those hands.â
He laughed, like a cross between a sigh and a lament. I couldnât tell. It wasnât exactly laughter, but closer to a sneer.
âThis daughter sure is defenseless.â
âIâm your blood daughter you moron. Donât call me as if you were talking about someone elseâs daughter.â
He lifted my chin towards him. His looming body shadowed me. This wasnât the brightest of rooms, but since he covered the light the whole world look dark. With his luminous red eyes, it was pretty horrifying.
âUnfortunately, she doesnât take after her mother.â
âDo you even remember how my mother looks like?â
I looked at him with dead eyes and suddenly, for no reason, he laughed. He didnât just laugh, but he laughed like a man whoâs gone mad. Even his head was tilted backward while laughing.
âMom, thereâs a crazy fucker here!â
I tried to suppress my desire to call 911 and just looked up at him.
He placed his hand on my forehead.
â-curseâŠâ
âCurse?â I widened my eyes.
âThatâs pretty good.â
âDid this guy eat something bad? Why is he talking nonsense all of a sudden?â
âI look forward to what kind of curse you will bring me.â
Even his lips on my forehead were cold. In that instant, I saw something flicker in those red eyes.