/
“I don’t know, I don’t remember. Besides, what does hugging mean?”
“Meaning? A lot. It means you’re giving me permission.”
‘Permission to take one more step inside the barrier Dorothea was always building. To become a relationship that is a little more understandable and acceptable.’
For Ray, that was more important than anything else.
“If you give me one hug, I will really convince His Majesty, Dorothea. Are you going to give up on this plan like this?”
Rey changed his strategy and began to persuade her rationally.
After all this hard work, she shouldn’t give up just because she couldn’t give a hug.
“Can’t I do something else?”
“Something else? How about a kiss on my cheek?”
“Ugh
”
Dorothea’s face wrinkled as soon as Ray made the suggestion with a wide smile.
“Look at that. A hug is the cheapest.”
Ray clenched her chin and leaned her head over the table, staring intently at Dorothea.
‘Come on, accept the offer. I passed a very low price!’
Dorothea saw Ray like that and thought he had grown a lot. He knew how to offer a deal like this.
“Okay
”
Dorothea’s eyes narrowed as she replied. At the same time, Ray’s face turned as bright as spring.
“Really?”
“However, you pay in advance.”
Dorothea drew a line firmly, looking at Ray who was excited as if he was about to rush into her arms at any moment.
“I pay in advance?”
“Receive His Majesty’s permission.”
“Then you’re not hugging me now?”
“Don’t do it, If you don’t like it.”
Ray shook her head hurriedly as if Dorothea was about to close the deal.
“No! Wait, Dorothea. I’ll get permission in a few days.”
* * *
A dreadful Episteme exam was just around the corner, but Ray was in a good mood.
‘Cute, Dorothea.’
Ray thought Dorothea was adorable, even when she was grumbling and sighing and giving him a pat on the back.
The way her eyebrows would furrow whenever he mentioned hugs and asked Dorothea to call him brother, the way she’d fiddle with her pen, the way she’d say, ‘Ray!’
‘But Dorothea seems to have opened up a lot more than she used to, doesn’t she?’
He walked out of Dorothea’s room and smiled happily alone.
‘I didn’t expect you to accept this offer.’
Ray, who was contemplating his offers with Dorothea, abruptly stopped walking.
In front of him hung a portrait of a woman.
Empress Alice, mother of him and Dorothea. Ray thought that as time went on, Dorothea’s face began to resemble that of this portrait.
Ray had vivid memories of when his mother died. Even though he was only three years old at the time.
‘I didn’t see the scene where he died because the adults blocked me from entering, but the pure white mother’s face, lying in the glass coffin, seemed to be visible when I closed my eyes.’
Rey’s first memory.
And new memories that follow those memories. Her younger sister, Dorothea Milanaire, comes to her mother’s place.
‘My precious family.’
Dorothea was very special to Ray, who lost his mother. The newborn Dorothea was small and fragile. His mother died and Ray was Dorothea’s older brother.
‘I don’t want to lose my family member again like I lost my mother.’
‘As her big brother, it was my job to protect her.’
However, contrary to Ray’s wishes, Dorothea grew up exceptionally quickly and closed the door of her heart as quickly as possible.
Ray tried to knock on the door several times, but Dorothea didn’t open it easily.
Dorothea would flare up when he least expected it, and she would walk away coldly from situations where she would have smiled.
Ray tried to get closer to Dorothea but failed every time. If Dorothea had been like any other child her age, he would have cuddled up to her and held out her favorite candy.
‘Would it have been different if His Majesty had taken care of Dorothea even a little? If I had told him a little more about Dorothy
’
After the Empress’s death, Ray also had a hard time dealing with Carnan.
After the Empress’s death, Ray also found it difficult to deal with Carnan. It became taboo to bring up the day’s events in his presence, and naturally, he was wary of mentioning Dorothea, who was born that day.
Even for Ray, Carnan was difficult to get close to. Just because he was a prince, he had to follow the path set by Carnan.
The day Ray cried and studied for the entrance to the Episteme. Carnan’s harshly piercing voice. The qualifications, responsibilities, and duties that the Crown Prince should possess.
For Ray, who preferred to whistle and catch cicadas, the shackles of authority were a burden. At the same time, he was terrified of his strict father, who enforced it.
‘When I was young, every time I had dinner with my father, my stomach hurt.’
Strangely enough, whenever he dug into His meals, His stomach would sick.
‘It’s not a gimmick, it really hurts.’
Luckily, as he grew older, that strange symptom gradually got better.
As the Crown Prince, he received a bigger gift than anyone else on his birthday and received a grand congratulations, but even that was forced upon him.
‘Shouldn’t I be allowed to do whatever I want on my birthday?’
‘But why do I have to attend certain events, receive dazzling congratulations in front of people, and keep boring seats
’
Ray wants to plant seedlings in the garden, observe insects, and play with the soil. When he gets hungry, he wants to pick strawberries that he has grown himself.
‘I wish Dorothea was the Crown Prince.’
Ray thinks Dorothea has all the qualities of a crown prince.
Smarter and kinder.
It would have been better if Dorothea knew how to deal with the Spirit of Light.
‘Then I’d quickly hand over the crown to Dorothea and run away like Dorothea to a corner country like Dorothea!’
‘Look today! She prepared the work very carefully.’
Dorothea’s planning was as systematic as if she had taken on such a large project several times before.
‘After all, Dorothea is a genius. How did she manage to organize something like that in just a few days?’
A smile returned to Ray’s face, who had just sighed.
‘There is no sister in the world greater than Dorothea.’
Ray looked at the portrait of Empress Alice with a smile. The eyes of the portrait, who were always staring at the same place, were looking at Ray.
“It’s a long way from a harmonious family, but I think it’s a lot better than it used to be. Compared to when she was young, Dorothea is kinder now. Isn’t it?”
Ray said as a joke.
The Empress’s portrait responded with the same faint smile.
* * *
“A support center for the disabled?”
Carnan, who had kept his eyes on the desk all the time, raised his head.
Rey stood up straight in front of him. There was not a single smile on Ray’s face.
“Yes, Your Majesty. Ordinary people don’t want to let people with disabilities do what they can. Therefore, even if they have the ability, they are marginalized from society.”
“It is natural. It’s natural to use people who don’t have problems rather than people with disabilities.”
“That’s why the imperial family should step in.”
“Are you going to spend the imperial budget on things that aren’t that important?”
“It will be important to them, Your Majesty.”
“It’s inefficient. It’s inefficient. That’s what we call extravagance, Raymond.”
Beyond inefficient, it’s damaging. Carnan could not lend his imperial name to such a thing.
“Since childhood, you have been easily swayed by sympathy and emotions. Focus on the more valuable things, Raymond.”
‘If you want to become an emperor, you have to be able to do those calculations quickly.’
Carnan warned sternly.
In order to win the support of the nobles and run the empire, one must not work with such an easygoing attitude.
“Isn’t it more worthwhile to support those who are struggling right now than to give money to merchants who already have no problem making a living?”
“What’s left to support them, Raymond?”
A deep wrinkle wrinkled Carnan’s forehead.
Ray stared at Karnan without wavering, even though Carnan would have killed him.
“The lives of the people will remain,” Ray answered.
He was one of those who could understand why Dorothea would do this.
But Carnan didn’t.
“You can’t run a country on abstract, platitudinous words, Raymond.”
“Even if you give permission. The budget will be enough to keep the flowers in the vases in the palace fresh every day, and Dorothea and I will take care of the rest.”
“Dorothea? She persuaded you to do this?”
Carnan’s eyes narrowed at the name Dorothea.
“What do you mean, Persuaded?”
“She doesn’t think of ‘Milanaire’. No, she just wants to take down Milanaire.”
“That’s because Your Majesty didn’t ask for Dorothea’s will
!”
“Raymond.”
Carnan called Ray’s name quietly, swallowing his anger.
‘Should the emperor act by asking the little girl’s will?’
Ray kept his mouth shut at the pressure of silence.
“Don’t take Milanaire’s name lightly, Raymond.”
“I never took it lightly. I said this because I know it’s heavy. Because only that weight can be a strength to help someone
!”
‘Because Milanaire can do things that other people can’t.’
At Ray’s insistence, Carnan put his pen down completely, as if he were angry. It was almost the first time Ray had ever made Carnan this angry.
Ray doesn’t like to argue with anyone, and neither does his relationship with Carnan.
Even if he wanted to complain that he didn’t want to study, if he wanted to go against Carnan’s will, he shut his mouth and sat down at the desk with tears falling down.
“Raymond Milanaire. Are you still not aware of the imperial crisis?”
Ray kept his mouth shut and  Carnan continued.
“You know that Dorothea can’t handle spirits, right?”
A dazzling light began to gather around Karnan who spoke those words. They were the spirits of light that were summoned by Karnan’s call.
“You probably know what it means if Milanaire can’t cast spirits.”
“But–!”
“Your children could be born as incompetent Milanaire as Dorothea.”
“Dorothea is not incompetent, Father!”
“It’s incompetent for Milanaire!”
As Ray raised his voice and countered, Carnan shouted harshly.