Chapter 10

With those words he opened the door, giving us no time to prepare. When the door opened, I couldn’t go inside easily because I felt overwhelmed by the scent and atmosphere that stimulated the taste buds.

Ishina spoke in a small voice from behind Argen and I, who couldn’t get in despite neither of our feet were stuck to the floor.

“You can go in and say ‘greetings to our father the emperor.’”

At the same time as she said that, I came to my senses and walked. The time I entered the dining room felt longer than the time I walked from room to here.

The door closed behind our backs as we entered. I walked beside a table so high that only his legs could be seen and when I headed to the upper seat, there was a man with blond hair and green eyes sitting there.

The emperor looked down at us and we greeted him as Ishina told us a step later.

“G…reetings to our father the emperor.”

“Greetings to our father the emperor.”

Our father the emperor….. Argen and I had similar ideas to that title.

If I had said, ‘Greetings to his Majesty the Emperor,’ instead I would have been able to speak without stammering.

“Sit down.”

Cold green eyes moved past the two of us. Seeing us stiff and nervous in front of him, the emperor said nothing else.

Like in the room, there stood a large number of servants and maids by the walls of the dining room. When the servant approached, he sat us on a chair that was much taller than us and put a white cloth around our neck.

I glanced down at the young children’s bib-like appearance compared to when they were eating something, and looked carefully at the emperor’s eyes.

Unlike when we usually eat, I glanced down at what looked like a bib that young children wore and made contact with the emperor’s eyes.

We moved our eyes over the table and stayed still as the emperor did not start his meal.

I think there was something like eating etiquettes. Should I start with the one on the outside first? I was thinking about having table etiquettes in advance, but then the emperor looked at the table and spoked to us, who were still stiff.

“You can tell the servants the food you want.”

With the emperor, Neither Argen or I ate half of the food.

There was no way I could eat anything comfortably in front of the emperor, not anyone else.

Still, it seemed like he was telling us to eat quickly, so I carefully went for the nearest meal and put the food that the maid gave me in my mouth and senselessly chewed it.

It was amazing that I couldn’t taste anything even though it was obviously delicious.

My throat, which had suddenly subsided a little, seems to have swollen up even more.

The emperor looked down at us with nothing in his mouth, lifting up his glass to drink.

He probably doesn’t know how burdensome his gaze is.

I mechanically emptied my plate and ate the whole meal at once. I should have eaten a little slower, but while I was trying to choose the second dish, the emperor opened his mouth through the silence.

“What’s wrong there?”

The more I ate, the more I felt, the more I drank, the more I drank water. He said something he didn’t know where the emperor was referring to.

The more I ate and I drank, the more I felt while I was drinking water with my eyes on the food. I did not know what the emperor was referring to.

I was just eating and wondering if it was okay to finish, but when the emperor’s gaze touched us, Argen and I turned pale.

Argen quickly rolled down his sleeves to hide the long scar from the wrist to the back of the hand, and before I could think about it, my body moved first and I jumped from my seat.

The tableware I dropped while I was moving rolled on the floor.

*******

The emperor, sitting in a place sprinkled with so much blood, couldn’t be easily swayed by any emotion.

And it was the same for my own flesh and blood.

It was foolish to have Lulahel as the empress in order not to put my children under the name of illegitimate children.

If Lulahel becomes the empress there will be internal strife because there are so many people who oppose it and Lulahel would continue to live in luxury, which would certainly spread bad rumors. Considering the damage the other princes would suffer, it was a better choice to kill the children born.

Additionally, the secrets of a woman named Lulahel has….. become a big problem.

It was a time when I was preparing for war with other countries, so there was no desire to do more troublesome work.

Killing an illegitimate child was better suited to the imperial social customs than saving them and was politically beneficial.

The day I first saw the children in person, I thought about killing them like that. Seeing blonde, a symbol of the imperial family, I decided to keep them alive.

But that was all. It was to hide the twins’ identity from being exposed to danger while giving their names without killing them.

Besides that, there were a lot of things going on because of the ‘contract’ with Lulahel, but it was right to not reveal the existence of the two children to the world even if everything was set aside.

And five years later, Lulahel, who had always been addicted to alcohol and drugs, died.

I said that even if the empire collapsed, she would live alone, but then I received such a perfect message that she greeted death.

After Lulahel died, I told the chief of staff to prepare a maid to take care of the children properly.

Nothing changed much after Lulahel died. Except for the end of the ‘contract’ with Lulahel.

I just had a ‘contract’ with Lulahel, but my children, who had been kept alive on a whim, were not important enough to violate the ‘contract’.

It was just that much of a relationship.

So that’s why I saw my young children when they just turned five.

Looking at children who are so small, unlike the other princes, they were likely to break if held wrong.

I did the right thing as an emperor, but I thought it was the right thing only for the emperor.

*******

It was natural for me to turn pale with Argen trying to hide his scar.

It wasn’t because of the ‘value’ that Ishina said.

I hated the Emperor, who left us in hell and no one else, talking as if he didn’t know about the wounds of Argen and I.

And we didn’t want to show our wounds to anyone.

It isn’t a wound on the body, but an unwashable wound inscribed onto our chest…..

It was just so.

I jumped up, but suddenly I felt nauseous and my eyes shook once.

It was obvious that Argen was clenching his teeth while covering the back of his hand. Please, I hoped that the emperor’s temper did not go against us.

‘….. Be careful.’

Argen was talking to me in the midst of it and I realized that he was thinking of me first, just as I thought of him first.

Fortunately, Argen brought me back by speaking in a calm voice. I could see that the strange feeling had subsided, so I felt relieved for a moment.

My actions might have encountered the emperor’s temper, but I could bet it would have been better than the expression he would have when pointing out the scars of Argen.

“Did Lulahel do that?”

The emperor looked at us with his teacup down.

I couldn’t bear to look up at him.

A cold sweat fell and my brain thundered with dizziness.

“……”

I couldn’t answer anything, and I was urgently looking for Argen while trembling.

It was like yesterday evening when I had to feel helpless and discouraged. The tip of my mouth trembled at the unknown gaze surrounding my body that I couldn’t see, touch, or hear.

It happened at the same time that my body was relaxed.

It was never intentional, but the moment I felt I was out of something, I couldn’t control my body at will.

“Argen.”

As soon as the emperor called Argen, the emotions Argen felt could be fully understood.

His immediate opponent was the emperor. Not anyone else, but an emperor who can strangle our necks.

Argent’s lips clenched, receiving his gaze intact.

“This is…… The servants.”

I must have been about three years old. A piece of glass that was deliberately broken cut Argen’s wrist and left a wound.

It was a sign that he was punished and couldn’t even use his hands properly for several days.

“Well, that sort of thing…”

I grasped Argen’s hand tightly.

Staggering and breathing in, I barely had luck with the feeling that I was really crazy.

“Don’t ask us that.”

I don’t know why he’s revealing our wounds.

I gritted my teeth and said it with a poor pronunciation.

“Argen at that time… At that time the amount I…”

“Arien!”

My body staggered back and forth, and Argen tried to reach out in a hurry to cover my mouth, but I fell first.

******

I escaped from the emperor.

That was exactly what I thought when I woke up from my cold sweaty body on the bed.

There was a wet towel on one side, but the two maids who were grumbling next to each other scrambled and coughed when our eyes met.

I looked back at Argen because there was something wiggling next to me.

I tried to wake him up by touching him, but the maids pulled me up and got me off the bed while I blinked my eyes

Come to think of it, I heard that all the maids who serve the royal family were aristocrats.

The maid with a good scent in her body, put me down on the floor of the bedroom and wiped me with a wet towel then changed my clothes.

“Hack!”

When I coughed in the middle, I saw that she even avoided it explicitly, so I sighed.

Looking at the time, it was already night.

When I didn’t get up, they must have been very upset so their hands were rough.

At the age of five, I looked a little immature, so they seemed to treat be freely, but I didn’t say anything because I knew my situation.

It wasn’t until the time I had such a rough appearance, that the other girls stepped out and left me alone with Argen.

“Argen.”

“…..”

As I went unsuccessfully over the bed and hit Argen with the hand as small as a black cat paw, I could see that his eyes were wide open.

“What should I do…”

I held on to Argen who had just woken up, and hung my body down in regret.

Argen rubbed his eyes and looked at my depressed face and murmured as if he had guessed what I felt inside.

“It’s all right.”

“…..??”

“The Emperor let us go without saying anything.”

“Then are we all right?”

At that remark, Argen narrowed his eyes and sighed loudly as if  for me to listen.

“What you did was dangerous.”

“….. But.”

As if telling me not to say it, Argen wrapped his arms around my neck and pulled me to the bed.

It was obvious that he was sleepy so I patted him on the back.

With a sigh of relief, I drew the blanket and stared at the ceiling.

I don’t know if it’s because I’ve been sleeping a while ago, but…..

I couldn’t sleep well.