If I had been a child, I would have been shivering, but time has passed so much that I am used to it now.
“Can’t there be any more disgrace to the reputation of a duke who has already fallen to the ground?” Jeremy said, facing the duke staring at him with a glare.
“And stealing invitations. I just took what was in front of me. I’m sorry you got offended, Father.”
Father. This was the word the Duke hated the most. Because he hated the fact that I was his son. But, ironically, he had not yet abandoned his disgusting son as the only heir.
Seeing the Duke’s angry face at the word “father”, Jeremy opened his mouth with a deep smile.
“Don’t worry. No one will know who I am because I was born this way and my father hid it thoroughly.”
Who would consider a Dreuth prince who did not inherit the duke’s symbol? Jeremy continued. “Sleep tight. You always have to correct me. so I won’t have to go up there.”
“You! How dare you! Where!” The duke stumbles as he pointed his finger at him with a wild face.
Seeing the surprised butler support the Duke, Jeremy turned away from them with a cold face.
“You can’t be there!” he climbed the stairs quickly, ignoring the Duke’s voice.
Rang! closing his door tightly, Jeremy sighed deeply. “Ha, it’s always the worst.” It had only been a few minutes since he met the duke, but he was mentally exhausted.
What a terrible relationship between a child and a parent.
But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t even break this relationship. Even if he had abandoned the Duke, the Duke would not have given up on his one and only successor.
Even if you pour out all sorts of abusive language saying it’s heresy and it’s useless, you will never give up on losing the price of the dreuth.
Maybe my child will have the symbol of a dreuth, and even mate like a beast. Jeremy let out a deep sigh and threw himself on the bed.
He threw his gaze out the window because he hated seeing the black darkness, and the full moon, which illuminates the dawn sky, caught his eye.
The amber-colored eyes that contained the moon dimmed as if thinking of someone.
Silver hair and mysterious purple eyes that seem to be woven into the moonlight. Ellie Croft.
“Who the hell are you?” Over her horse-like face, asking him,
“Pretty. I’ve never seen such pretty eyes. It’s like a jewel.” The bright, bright face of a young child overlapped as it was.
I had expected that she won’t remember him. Because it was just an accidental meeting in the past for her. I thought it was natural that she didn’t remember, but I felt strange when I saw her not recognizing me.
Were you a little upset ·······? “I don’t know.” I couldn’t say anything.
At that moment, something in his chest just tingled.
Jeremy turned towards the moonlight window. Because today, like the snowy night, he needed a silvery warmth.
“Divorce.” I wanted you to live a happy life. Don’t be heartbroken and just smile. It was because of Ellie, who stopped by the marquis party that he was not interested in today.
Jeremy happened to hear a conversation between the Duke and the vassal yesterday.
Normally, I would have passed by indifferently, but I stopped at her name that came out of the duke’s mouth.
“Your Majesty seems to be hesitant to make the daughter of Marquis Sios the Empress. I saw that they were trying to make a fuss by inviting Croft to the party. Hmm, ······.”
“I’m sure the Marquis of Sios will have the son of Sios as a prince. As the empress has resigned from her position on her own, he does not want to miss this opportunity.”
“Everything will work out when the daughter of Marquis Sios becomes the Empress… Deliver this letter to Marquis Sios.”
Seeing the vassal leaving the office after receiving the duke’s order, he hurriedly hid himself and decided to go to the marquis party.
I couldn’t think of any reason why. It was because of her news that he returned to the Empire in the first place.
Jeremy, looking at the shining silver moon, remembered the lonely face of Ellie he had seen at the party. Her purple eyes as she watched the emperor moving away while holding another woman’s hand. And the emperor who couldn’t take his eyes off her. The relationship between the three of them was a complicated one, even considering the mysterious and dangerous atmosphere of Sios Young-ae.
“What can I do?” Jeremy’s bitter voice rang softly.
It was a bitter truth. Even if Ellie cared, there was nothing he could do. He’ll be leaving the empire again soon anyway and she’ll be here. It was Ellie who didn’t even remember him in the first place.
“You should stop doing useless meddling.” I still clearly remembered that the emperor’s sharp gaze was persistent on his back.
It is possible that his existence, which has been hidden by the duke, could be revealed. Then he will be stranded in the Empire forever.
Jeremy turned his gaze away from the full moon glimmering in the sky as if trying to block his thoughts.
At dawn, a white dove that flew through the window of the emperor’s sleeping quarters sat on the window sill.
tuk tuk ~ When the white dove knocked on the window three times with its beak, Raymond, who had been closing his eyes in the wide bed, opened his eyes.
Raymond got up from his bed and walked towards the window. The window was slightly opened and a white dove flapped its wings and entered the room.
When he reached out his arm toward the dove, the well-trained dove took a seat in his arm. Raymond stroked the pigeon’s head lightly and looked down at the pigeon’s legs. After unraveling the letter tied to his thin legs, he placed the pigeon in a cage on one side of the room.
Turning away from the bird that had been drinking and resting, he lit a candle and opened a rolled-up letter.
[It is true that Lizena Young-ae gave birth to a child in the Western Kingdom. It seems that the duke secretly sent a midwife to the kingdom to give birth to a child, and then secretly took the child out of the palace of the kingdom. I didn’t find anything strange in the process, but one thing that was strange was that the child was taken out of the Imperial Palace and then left unattended for a while. Shall we learn more about this?]
“Neglect…” Raymond narrowed his brow and set the letter on fire. He tossed away a handful of ashes and wrote a short command on a piece of white paper.
[Find out exactly when he had a child in Marquis.] Raymond tied the letter back to the resting pigeon and sent it back.
The dawn was breaking into the blue light of the cold dawn.
Returning from the marquis’ troubled party, I fell asleep while washing my mental fatigue. After getting up late and having a late breakfast, I visited my father’s office to discuss my departure to the Kingdom of Lund. Trying to knock on the door of the office, I paused at the voice coming from inside.
“The Marquis of Sios has been having frequent meetings with nobles from large and small families.”
“Hmm, it must have been a cornerstone to raise Lizena as Empress. But your Majesty hasn’t said anything yet…”
“Would you like to keep an eye on Marquis Sios?”
“No, it’s done. It’s not my business anymore.”
“More than that, what is the movement of the Duke of Dreuth?”
I paused as I reached for the doorknob at the name of Dreuth. Duke of Dreuth ·····. He was the most influential aristocrat who supported the former Crown Prince.
The Duke of Dreuth was the only noble family that had been in the line of fame since the first emperor of the Empire. Raymond, who carried out numerous purges, kept Duke Dreuth alive because they were loyal to the empire recognized by the first emperor.
And the Duke of Dreuth cleverly cut off his link with the former Crown Prince. In any case, the Duke of Dreuth was a place full of house chewing, but he missed a blood purge.
(TN: ‘full of house chewing’ must mean that someone who switches side that will benefit them)
“There is no major movement. The duke is still living in the mansion, and Prince is nowhere to be seen. It is often said that Prince Dreuth is dead.”
“He probably wouldn’t have died. He’s blindly obsessed with his family, so he’s probably hiding his only heir. Keep an eye on him. He’s quiet now, but he’s a dangerous person. we don’t know when he’ll change his attitude.”
Thinking about the duke, I didn’t hear the door open in the office. After opening the door of the Oval Office, Sir Artel, my father’s servant, looked embarrassed when he saw me standing at the door. I smiled awkwardly and stepped back.
“……Lady, it’s been a long time. How are you?”
“I’m always doing well thanks to the Duke’s virtue.”
When Lord Artel smiled at me, I heard my father’s voice in the Oval Office.
“Come in, lady.” Sir Artel shifted his body to the side.
“See you next time.” I greeted Sir Artel and entered the office.
As I entered, my father got up from his desk. My father, sitting on the sofa in the office, said to me. “You too, sit down.”
“Yes.” As I sat down, the butler set the teacup down on the table. I took a sip and smiled at the scent of my favorite herbal tea.