Chapter 12.3

Unprecedented Debut Party (Part 1) (from Cermiane’s perspective)

“You are a prince too.”

Her Majesty the Emperor and Her Imperial Highness told us many times. But when Their Majesties returned, my mother would glare at me and say: “You are not a Prince. You must not be mistaken. It is unacceptable that you should be treated on the same level as Her Majesty’s children”.

When His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince, my elder brother, came to play with me, I was so happy that I jumped on him and played happily, being thrown and rolled around. My mother got angry.

“It is disrespectful to jump on His Highness the Crown Prince. You are not his brother!”

Saying this, she slapped me on the cheek.

By the time I was ten years old, I was forced to behave as a subject to Their Majesties the Emperor and the Crown Prince. Until then, I had called His Majesty the Emperor “Father”, Her Majesty the Empress “Mother”, and His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince “Big Brother”, but I was corrected to address them as “Your Majesty” and “Your Highness”. Their Majesties and His Imperial Highness were saddened by this, but there was nothing they could do because of my mother’s anger.

I once caught a glimpse of my mother’s complicated feelings. After seeing Their Majesties and His imperial Highness off, my mother muttered to herself as she watched the carriage drive away.

“They are carrying the Empire on their shoulders. They kill themselves, put aside their personal feelings and devote everything to God Almighty and the Empire. That’s what being royalty is all about.”

Then, smiling sadly, she patted my head.

“I don’t want to do that to you, my Dear.”

My mother died before I was 12, that is, before I had reached adulthood. She died of an illness and passed away in just a few weeks of illness, and by the time the Emperor and the Queen heard of her critical condition and rushed to her, she had already passed away.

Both His Majesty the Emperor and Her Majesty the Queen were crying. It was the first time I had ever seen the two of them cry. They embraced me in turn and broke down crying while they called my mother’s name.

My mother’s funeral was arranged by the Emperor’s Majesty and went off without a hitch. I was then invited to the imperial palace. And I was welcomed with smiles by Their Majesties, just in time for my coming-of-age announcement. I was told that I would be announced as a prince.

They wanted to make me the prince as they said there was only His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince as a prince in the Imperial Family. If I were recognized as a prince, undoubtedly the future uncertainty of the Imperial Family would be considerably alleviated. They wanted to give me the second place in the line of imperial succession as their adopted son.

Upon hearing this, I felt a chill down my spine. My mother had only just passed away. His Majesty the Emperor and Her Majesty the Empress, who had mourned my mother’s death so much, were now completely disregarding her wishes and trying to make me a prince. They both knew full well that my mother did not want me to become a prince.

To my surprise, Their Majesties said, Right now, the Imperial Family has only one imperial child, His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince. If I, who am unquestionably the Emperor’s child, am recognised as the Imperial Son, the uncertainty about the future of the Imperial Family will be considerably relieved. As their adopted son, I would be given the second rank in the line of succession to the Imperial Throne.

My mother had said that this was the sacrifice for the empire and abandoning personal feelings. The figure of the two people who had come to my mother’s house and loved both me and my mother was not there, but the figures of the emperor and empress were there, prioritizing the empire and the future of the imperial family over everything else.

However, now that I think about it, Their Majesties were not trying to make me a member of the Imperial Family completely devoid of personal feelings, but because they took pity on me, who was left alone in the world after my mother died (she had cut ties with her family when she became a  Concubine, not wanting to cause trouble for the Emperor), and wanted to welcome me into the family.  It was just that my judgment, weakened by the shock of my mother’s sudden loss, was biased in its reception.

For that reason, I declined the offer. I insisted that I would be knighted as my mother had wished. Their Majesties were surprised and saddened and urged me to change my mind many times, but in the end they respected my wishes. However, His Imperial Majesty told me that if the Crown Prince could not have children, he wanted me to return to the Imperial Family. His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince had not had a wife since his wife died in a childbirth accident, and he had no children. However, His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince was still young. His Majesty the Emperor was also in good health and it was too early to consider a successor. However, His Majesty the Emperor said that if I could not accept these conditions, he would immediately make me a member of the imperial family, even if he had to force me to do so. I had no choice but to agree.

I became a knight and was given a silver ring. Knights do not attend an unveiling ceremony. It was just handed to me by the Knight Commander. However, the Knight Commander knew about me from the Crown Prince, and he had a complicated look on his face.

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince laughed a lot when he heard the whole story. Then he said, “It’s useless”. Then he said, “If you are a knight, you must be strong” and started to train me as a knight. The Crown Prince participated in the knight order’s training once a day, training promising knights. Although I was envied, I didn’t find it strange and was able to interact with the Crown Prince.

I heard that the Emperor was a fierce general, but His Highness, the Crown prince was also a very strong knight and the admiration of young knights. I was also mercilessly beaten, but somehow I was happy because it brought back memories of playing with him when I was a child. One day I said,

“Your Highness is strong. It’s amazing.”

His Highness turned what was always a cheerful smile into a slightly bitter laugh and said.

“To be an emperor, though, it is not enough to be strong.”

At that time I had no way of knowing what His Highness was thinking.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know via our discord so we can fix it as soon as possible.