/
Lakius, standing behind the warriors, blurted out, “Ah, yes. I’m here.”
Tatiana smiled at him in surprise.
“Is the Prince visiting as well?”
“Ah, yes,” Lakius said as he strode to Tatiana’s bedside.
A tiny hand reached out and clasped his fingers. His fingers were so warm. The light blue eyes looking up at him were too good to be true.
“…….”
Somehow, Lakius felt like he’d been stabbed deep in the chest.
“Will you be coming over…… to see Tati?”
“Yes, of course I will.”
“Hehe.”
Tatiana smiled brightly, then fell back to sleep, still clutching Lakius’s finger. He couldn’t bear to take his finger out of her small fist.
Lakius stood by Tatiana’s bedside for a long time.
And as he watched, the three warriors felt a subtle sense of deprivation.
‘When did the First Prince and Miss Tatiana become so close?’
‘The little kid’s still a baby.’
‘He may be a prince, but he is not worthy of our Tatiana.’
These were thoughts that Tatiana might not like if she knew, but for now she slept peacefully.
The peace in the guest chamber would continue.
* * *
That night.
Tatiana returned to the townhouse in Orleans.
Lakius leaned against the windowsill and watched from the window as the Orleans carriage drove out of the castle.
‘Tatiana.’
Lakius repeated the name to himself.
It was the first time.
To have someone wrap their arms around him, to have someone to defend his injustice.
No one had ever stood up for him.
Not even his family…….
‘No, on the contrary, they had been the first to turn on me.’ Lakius smiled bitterly.
The emperor had always pretended not to know what was going on with him and his mother. His sense of debt to the Carolingians, who had been destroyed for the sake of the Empire. The constant resentment of the Carolingians who were now part of the Empire.
In fact, discontent was bound to build.
After all, the Empire had been subtly discriminating between the mainland and the former Carolingian regions.
Although the Empress tried her best to advocate for the rights of the Carolingians, the Emperor constantly ignored her requests.
In the end, the Empress suffered a mental breakdown and died prematurely.
After her death, the Queen, who came from a powerful family in the empire, grew more and more powerful.
Finally, she began to plot to have her son, Rudolph, take the throne. And the Emperor turned a blind eye to the fact that the queen was openly opposing Lakius.
But–
‘Why did Miss Tatiana take my side?’
Pink bobbed hair as fluffy as cotton candy. Light blue eyes that were as clear as the sky without rain.
The boy’s expression softened, if only for a moment, as he recalled that lovely appearance.
‘Perhaps…… because you don’t know me properly.’
The red eyes quickly turned cold.
‘I’ve been forced to bear the brunt of the backlash from the old Carolingians.’
The Emperor Descartes’s worthless minion. An imperial liability.
That’s where Lakius currently stands.
Ignored by the Emperor, shunned by the queen and his half-brother. A stranger who would never belong anywhere for the rest of his life.
Perhaps the more the child learned about Lakius, the more she would distance herself from him.
He knew he shouldn’t have had any hope that she would continue to show him favor. Every hope he’s ever had has been so relentlessly betrayed.
“…….”
Lakius gritted his teeth impatiently.
“Still……..I promised to go visit her.”
He was just trying to honor that promise.
Lakius leapt down from the window sill, trampling over the expectations that were unwillingly rising in him.
He disappeared familiarly into the dark shadows of the palace.
Only the pale moonlight shining through the window silently watched the boy’s lonely retreat.
* * *
A few days later.
I recovered perfectly.
Except my ears were being tormented endlessly, and the only thing that was healthy was my body…….
“Baby. A kitten. Said. To. the. doctor. I’m…….”
Siegfried read the story, his face all serious, almost robotically, syllable by syllable.
‘……What in the world is going on?’
I was sitting between the three warriors, listening to a storybook read by Siegfried with an expression of utter bewilderment on my face.
Could I even call this reading? Wouldn’t it be more accurate to call it noise pollution?
Just then, Kirios snatched the storybook from Siegfried’s grasp.
“Hey, who reads children’s books like that? I can’t listen to this!”
Confidently opening the book, Kirios began to read the story at a breakneck pace.
“The teacher said, kitten, that’s not how you do a paw print, you use a lot of star ink…….”
Excuse me, but that’s a rap, not a storybook reading, right? Is he even breathing right now?
My eyes blurred.
Cesar shook his head and covered my ears with both hands.
“For the sake of Miss Tatiana’s eardrums, you’d better not listen to those idiots read.”
The reason for all this fuss was something Bernice had said without thinking.
‘You’re only four years old, dear, and it’s normal for your pronunciation to be unclear. Children develop at different rates.’
‘Still, is there anything we can do to help her?’
‘Well, if you’d like to help her improve her pronunciation, you could try…… Ah, yes.’
Bernice clapped her hands together and looked back at them both.
“How about reading a story?”
At the unassuming suggestion, my three guardians looked at each other with a twinkle in their eyes.
What followed was a battle to read me a storybook…….
‘Bernice, why on earth did you do this!’
I glared in frustration, and Bernice coughed briefly and stood up from her seat.
“Well, happy reading, then.”
Then she stormed out of the room.
‘No, not like that!’
You know, I didn’t sign up for this infernal children’s book reading!
But then.
Nora entered the room.
“His Highness the First Prince has arrived.”
“Really?!”
I exclaimed, jumping up and down on the couch.
Finally, the long awaited Lakius had arrived!
Looking at the three warriors with their eyes lit up and reading children’s books, you might mistakenly think that the reason for gathering today is a reading meeting.
The actual purpose is to welcome Lakius to the Orleans Townhouse to express his condolences over my illness.
Honestly, even if he was the sole surviving member of the Carolingian Empire, there was no need for the three warriors who defended humanity to entertain him.
‘How can I leave the kid alone with a strange guy?!’ Kirios fumed.
‘Tatiana, you should be wary of all men.’ Siegfried turned to me, narrowing his eyes,
‘I couldn’t agree more.’ Cesar chuckled softly, agreeing with their nonsense.
No. He’s just a lonely boy.
Lakius is a mere eight-year-old boy, remember?
But there was no way I could make such a commonsense plea in the face of a group of warriors.
And so it came to pass that three warriors gathered to greet Lakius!
‘Anyway, my brilliant male lead, your timing is excellent!’
Just for getting me out of that hellish storybook reading, I was more than happy to show Lakius some hospitality!
“What brings you here, Prince?” I asked as I approached the prince’s side. Lakius appeared to be startled by my approach.
“Are you sure you don’t mind wandering around like this already?”
Aw, he was worried about me?
All I could think about was the look on Lakius’s face, as I was about to fall after coughing up blood the other day…….
I looked at Lakius sympathetically, and then nodded quickly.
“Yes! Tati’s all better!”
“I’m so glad.”
At my reply, Lakius looked genuinely relieved. But only for a moment.
Lakius looked at me with guilty eyes, and then bowed his head deeply.
“I apologize. As for the incident at the victory celebration party……, I really don’t have anything to say.”
Ugh, why all of a sudden?
I was dumbfounded and turned to face Lakius.
“What?”
“Miss Tatiana suffered great embarrassment at that time, and it’s all my fault.”
A dark shade fell over his beautiful face.
And I…….
“Why is that your fault, Prince?” I asked, not understanding what Lakius was saying. I shook my head. “It was the second prince who wronged me, not the first.”
For a moment, Lakius looked dumbfounded.
“Besides, it’s not like the First Prince forced me to help him, I just did it because I wanted to and because I felt like it. Why are you apologizing?”
“……that.”
“Not everything in the world happens because of you, so you don’t have to apologize.”
At my firm reply, Lakius blinked in confusion.