Chapter 6

The 2nd prince’s birthday was over.

The moment that seemed like a dream at first sight, like a scene from a fairy tale, ended.

I couldn’t see the 2nd Prince’s birthday party this year, but there wasn’t much regret about it.

When I recall that we had a conversation with someone other than each other, my heart throbbed as if I were a real five-year-old child.

It was the same with Argen, so in the end, I talked about it to relieve the mood. The topic of conversation was what the 2nd prince, blessed by so many people that it was incomparable to our birthday, would be doing by now.

“They’ve been playing all day, so wouldn’t they be resting?”

“How do we know what the nobles are doing after the party?”

“That’s true.”

“Right?”

“Yes.”

We tried hard to change the subject, but the conversation was cut off as we each carried one sleeve of the heavy uniform.

There were so many accessories that I kept dragging it to the floor. Even though I had the strength to climb down the tree, it seemed that I had no strength to lift the clothes.

“What would the 2nd Prince look like?”

“Why all of a sudden?”

“I saw blonde hair earlier.”

Huh? When I didn’t understand, Argen beckoned to where the 2nd Prince’s castle was.

“By the time the party was almost over, I caught a glimpse of blond. I’m not sure because I only saw the hair.”

It was possible because our eyesight was tremendously good. Even if the average person wanted to see it from this distance, he wouldn’t be able to.

Suddenly, when Argen talked about the 2nd prince, I became curious.

In fact, it wasn’t just the 2nd Prince. It would be a lie to say that I didn’t have a little bit of curiosity about what my brothers looked like.

At least they have the same blood as us, but they didn’t have any interest in us or what we look like.

“What would the emperor look like.”

As if Argen shared the same thought as me, he muttered in a very small and low voice, and I fluttered my eyelashes.

“Wouldn’t he look like us?”

“You think so?”

“I’m sure.”

“Lulahel would love it very much if we resembled him.”

“We’ve been spared.”

Lulahel was the type who would do anything If it was about the emperor. When we were about 4 years old, Lulahel tried to kill Argen and I, but we survived because we had blond hair.

It was because we had blond hair that resembles the emperor. If it hadn’t been for this brilliant blonde, I would have died the day I was born due to the suspicion of our bloodline.

“….. Blond hair!”

“Huh?”

I grabbed my blonde hair fluttering before my eyes and looked at Argen in confusion. I was puzzled as to why Argen said that, when I looked at the blood hair in my hands.

“We showed him our blond hair earlier.”

Then, a chill wind suddenly passed.

Blonde hair was a symbol of the imperial imperial family.

It was right when Argen and I couldn’t say a word to each other and only our lips were flushed with embarrassment.

“Ahhh!”

A loud scream lifted our stiff shoulders. I turned my head in the direction of the sound.

With a chilling heart, I slowly headed towards the sound of ongoing whispering, where I saw familiar faces and a hectic scene.

I don’t know what happened, but the maids of the Derolina castle surrounded the pond. I caught them all palely shivering in my eyes.

I tried to ignore it, while thinking it must be related to Lulahel, but I had no choice but to get closer to the unusual atmosphere.

“Lady Lulahel! My lady!!”

“Let me go! Argh!”

Lulahel pulled out her arm that was tightly gripped by the maids who were trying to stop her. She seemed to have drank as much as usual.

It was a common occurrence, but what’s different from usual is that Lulahel had a knife in her hand and her left sleeve was stained with blood.

It was at the time we got little closer to figure out what was going on.

Lulahel, who lost her balance, staggered and struggled with her hands because her heel was caught on the stone of the pond.

Then she fell on the broken branches left uncleared.

Puck-

As if the flesh was stabbed by a skewer, I couldn’t let go of Argen’s hand and trembled.

I saw something I shouldn’t have seen.

“My lady!”

“Argh!”

I couldn’t believe it.

That day Lulahel died.

******

I can guarantee you, we didn’t know the day would come when the emperor was interested in us.

It wasn’t exactly an interest, but there was nothing we could do about the knights in golden armor that came in at dawn.

‘….. I’m suffocating.’

‘Just hang in there a little bit.’

Lulahel died yesterday.

Lulahel’s ‘suicide’ case reached the emperor’s palace sooner than expected. One of the servants visited the emperor to confess at the risk of his own life. It caused such a disturbance overnight.

For the first time in my life, I saw numerous knights invade Derolina castle.

We had never seen so many people since we were reborn.

All the knights looked huge because they were wearing large golden armor. They looked so big that I could die if they accidentally kicked me with their foot.

“Oh, no…”

Looking out the window at the knights invading, the two of us could only come up with the idea of running away.

No matter how bad Lulahel was, she was our protector, even though she only vented her anger out on us.

When I was younger, the maids said that it was a known fact illegitimate children were killed when they were born, but questioned why we with blond hair were still alive.

Due to the nature of the empire that regarded illegitimate children as a disgrace, I would have never thought that the emperor would save illegitimate children who could undermine the emperor’s authority and not anyone else.

Majority of the nobles did not know of our existence.

The reason is that we are the emperor’s illegitimate children. But what will happen if we reveal ourselves to this situation where our mother died? I heard that dozens of lives may come and go depending on the emperor’s mood.

I didn’t think we were going to survive.

‘If he’d just let us out, I’d know to live quietly.’

We decided to run away, but the only place we could hide was behind the frame hanging next to the bed, which we often used to hide from Lulahel.

There was no way they couldn’t find us if they were determined to search for us, but we hid and watched anyway.

As soon as we had just entered the frame, the door swung open and I could hear the sound of rugged armor.

‘Are you sick?

‘I feel like throwing up.’

It was because I saw a person die yesterday. I had a fever all night and had to hide early in the morning, so I was in a terrible condition.

Every time the sound knocked on my ear, it seemed to shackle my heart.

It was the same for Argen, who made eye contact with me with a sweaty face.

‘Let’s go out to see the situation in a little bit, just hang in there.’

‘………’

I didn’t even think of looking to see what the knights were doing in such a small gap. Even with that, we were terrified.

I even had a hard time keeping my head together because my condition was getting worse.

“I don’t think they’re here either!”

We were both wary of breathing, when one knight shouted out loudly.

At the same time, a low pitch voice was heard. In other words, the silence had settle down enough to hear the sound of the tongue clicking.

“I’m not saying it again. Find them on time.”

There was a cold voice, as if there was no mercy at all.

“Your Majesty….. I’ve looked around the castle, but the prince and princess are nowhere……”

“I said I wouldn’t say it again….”

Your…. Majesty?

His eyes, which had not opened as well, became round.

When I looked at Argen, his eyes opened so widely to the extent that I can see his red pupils.

‘….. He is the emperor, isn’t he?’

‘He is the emperor…’

‘Really?’

‘I guess it’s real.’

I’ve never had such a good day to have a conversation in my heart. My heart started to beat faster.

“As you command.”

The knight, who answered with a loud voice earlier, said politely. Once again, there was a metal rattling sound, it seemed that he roughly bent his knees in front of the strong and healthy emperor

“Your Majesty!”

I held my breath and raised my ears as they were about to leave the room again, but someone suddenly jumped in and called the emperor.

I don’t know why he’s coming in at this time or who it was, but I tightly bit my lips and carefully wiped away the sweat.

“I tried questioning the attendants and the maids who live here, but they seem to be unaware of the whereabouts of the two of them. Specifically, they say they haven’t seen them after having breakfast yesterday.”

I couldn’t hear it properly because his voice opened in the middle, but it was clearly heard that he ‘tortured’ the attendants and the maids. He held the handsaw in his fist, but he didn’t seem to care.

“You dare say that the servants who I sent to look after the prince and princess don’t even know the whereabouts of their masters…”

The knight opened his mouth as if he had more to say, but the emperor stopped him.

“Ridiculous.”

All the nobles seemed to have authority in every word they said to the extent that they all felt the same way. The man I saw last night felt similar.

I couldn’t believe that the knights in golden armor I saw outside the window were frozen at our father’s words.

The emperor, who held the imperial knights with such strong energy at once, was now 29 years old.

We also learned from the maids when we were younger, but I was really surprised to hear the age of the emperor, who already had five children.

He got married at the age of 16 when he entered the academy, and he saw his first child, the 1st prince, at the age of 18.

Therefore, it is said that the current age of the 1st prince is 11 years old, the 2nd prince is 10 years old, and the 3rd prince is 7 years old.

The woman who was the empress died while giving birth to the third prince.

And two years later, Lulahel gave birth to us.

I was afraid that one small act of the young emperor, who moved the knights with a few words, could extinguish our little lives right away.