Chapter 8.2

Cermiane’s Secret (2)

His Majesty and Her Majesty had no intention of separating with Her Highness Felianne, and they came to visit Her Highness Felianne over and over again at her mansion. Of course, in secret. Since he was a child, Cermiane was showered with affection from both His Majesty and Her Majesty, and his half-brother, His Highness the Crown Prince, also treated him well. But, Her Highness Felianne always told Cermiane:

“Even though you have His Majesty’s blood in your veins, you are not an imperial prince. Don’t ever dream of it, and don’t ever misunderstand it. As one of the Empire’s knights, support His Majesty with your entire life.”

Cermaine was strictly raised and educated to never act like a prince, and when he turned ten years old, he was forced to behave as a loyal subject when interacting with His Highness the Crown Prince. She enforced this to the extent of being paranoid about it, and if Cermiane ever behaved familiarly with the imperial family, he was severely punished — even whipped at times.

Once Cermiane learned about his circumstances, he also thought that announcing he was a member of the imperial family would not be good. That was because if word got out that His Highness the Crown Prince had a younger brother born from a different mother, that could cause a possible conflict of succession. Of course, His Highness the Crown Prince was a lot older and was healthy at that time, but the Crown Princess, whom he married when he was eighteen, unfortunately had a stillbirth with her first child and passed away. Since then, he did not have another wife, and of course, there was no child either. It could not be said that there was no possibility that Cermiane, who was eight years younger, could become the next Emperor.

Or rather, His Highness the Crown Prince, who did not remarry after losing his Crown Princess, had implicitly indicated his support for Cermiane becoming the next Emperor by stating, “There is always Cermiane below me.” His Highness the Crown Prince trained Cermiane as a knight, and requested the Commander-in-Chief of the Knight Order, who knew about Cermiane’s circumstances, to train him especially strictly.

Cermiane, by both his mother’s wishes and his own decision, resolved to live not as a member of the imperial family, but as a knight. Amidst this, when Cermiane was twelve, Her Highness Felianne passed away due to illness. His Majesty and Her Majesty were so grief-stricken that they hugged Cermiane and wept for days. His Majesty and Her Majesty wanted to adopt Cermiane and officially name him a prince, but Cermiane firmly declined. He then strongly requested that when he turned thirteen and attended the debut, he would be treated as a knight. His Majesty couldn’t win against Cermiane’s maternally-inherited stubbornness, and agreed to treat him as a knight.

However, His Majesty made Cermiane promise one thing.

The promise was that if the imperial bloodline was in danger of ending, Cermiane would return to being a member of the imperial family. This was insurance not for if His Highness the Crown Prince were to pass away, but rather, if His Highness the Crown Prince did not have a child. If His Highness the Crown Prince did not have a child, the imperial family’s pure bloodline would end. That was certainly a big deal and Cermiane also did not wish for such a future. As such, Cermiane accepted. However, at that time, His Highness the Crown Prince was very healthy and young, and Cermiane had predicted that after he was able to move on from his Crown Princess’s passing, he would remarry. In reality, many marriage proposals were sent his way, so Cermiane had believed that the time for him to fulfill his part of the promise would never come.

But, last winter, His Highness the Crown Prince became unwell. Cermiane was worried, but he didn’t think that his condition would become that bad. No wonder his face became very pale when he read His Majesty’s letter regarding His Highness the Crown Prince. Regardless, he had indeed made a promise to His Majesty. That was why he agreed to enter the imperial family.

…After listening to this much of his story, I was taken back. I had to give it to him, it was pretty impressive that he was able to keep all of this hidden from me all this time. Well, putting aside the fact that I’m pretty oblivious to these sorts of things… Until yesterday, Cermiane’s lifestyle and behavior were that of a knight, to the point that it was kind of like a commoner’s. Since we were troubled with our household finances, we wore commoner clothing when going to the plaza, and when we went out to hunt together. But, that’s that, and this is this. I was getting pretty angry.

“…And why did you only decide to tell me all of this now?”

I’m his wife. His partner. I knew too little about my own husband. And that was because he decided to keep everything a secret. What the heck was with keeping secrets from your own wife? Did he think trust between a husband and wife was a joke? I glared at Cermiane. He maintained eye contact with me and said gravely:

“That was because I had planned on keeping all of this a secret for life. I had planned on taking these secrets with me to my grave.”

…What a firm resolve he had. If he was hiding this from his beloved wife, he definitely had no intention of revealing this to anyone. In the first place, if he had disclosed that he was a member of the imperial family, Father would have fainted, but he would have easily approved of his marriage proposal. However, he did not do this. Even though he persistently pursued me and almost emptied his entire finances to propose to me, he did not use his true status to his advantage. Just from this fact alone, I could understand that he truly meant to hide his status from everyone, including me.