CH 29

“What?”

“Edmund asked His Majesty to taste the cookies.”

At Lisa’s words, the emperor’s gaze turned to Edmund.

A child with cookie crumbs around his mouth was staring at him now.

Sighing, Raymond forced a smile.

“I don’t want, eat it yourself.”

“Yes!”

He’s just a child.

A child who ate cookies and waved his legs back and forth while sitting on a chair.

When I saw this, I suddenly thought of this:

Would Ellie and my baby be as cute?

Now it was impossible to know if it was a boy or a girl, but it would be great if he looked more like Ellie regardless of gender.

Raymond narrowed his eyes. He himself did not even know why this came to his mind.

And why am I suddenly drawing in my head the image of a child who is not in the world?

Moreover, in addition, I thought that it would be nice for him to be like Ellie, but not me.

I’m crazy?

Mocking his crazy thoughts, he looked away from Edmund.

Otherwise, all these strange thoughts would have crept into his head again.

I turned my head thoughtfully, and this time I remembered how I met Ellie at a party.

Her unfeeling face as she looked at me. She danced, held the other man’s hand, and her gaze was firm.

All the details flashed through my head, even her words, and how she drew the line between the two of us.

I tried to forget Ellie, persuading myself that nothing more binds us. But it didn’t come out easy.

When I remembered her cold eyes, my heart throbbed strangely.

“Sire.”

Raymond, deep in thought of Ellie, turned to Lisa’s call.

“You seem to have a lot of worries. Let it be so, we can wait.”

Lisa looked at him with worried eyes. Raymond shook his head.

“No. I called you because I had something to say.”

“To say something?”

“That’s right.”

Raymond glanced at the butler, hinting at him to leave them alone.

Lisa tensed slightly.

“I think Edmund should go out too.”

Instead of answering, Raymond just put the cup on the table. Having drunk the already cold tea, he put down the cup with a stern face.

“Lisa. Whose decision it was to invite Ellie to the party that day?”

Raymond’s straightforward question shocked Lisa.

Lisa silently looked at Raymond.

She no longer saw that sweet look in his eyes as in the past.

“…It seems that you have already come to a conclusion. So why are you asking me, Your Majesty?  Would you believe me if I said I had no intention of inviting Lady Croft?”

Raymond said nothing to Lisa’s cold words.

This is because as she stated, he had already concluded that Lisa was involved in Ellie’s invitation.

Looking back at Lisa’s behavior, which secretly damaged Ellie’s honor at the party, I couldn’t think otherwise.

I was thinking of giving her one last warning.

Never touch Ellie again.

Just as Raymond tried to open his mouth, a sad voice rang out:

“You have changed a lot, sire.”

“What?”

“You trusted me in the past, no matter what I said. Even if I lied. “Now you don’t even believe the truth…”

“It looks like 7 years is a very long time.” But it doesn’t matter now.”

Lisa said, interrupting Raymond.

“His Majesty has changed. For my part, no. I still love His Majesty.”

Raymond’s face took on an animal grin at Lisa’s pitiful confession.

“I went to the Western Kingdom against my own will, but I have never forgotten His Majesty. I risked my life to give birth to Edmund there. It’s because it was His Majesty’s child. I knew that I would not be able to safely return to my native empire, but I wanted to protect the child, the only connection with his majesty.”

Lisa’s voice trembled.

“When I miraculously managed to get out… Even if His Majesty wasn’t happy to see me, I hoped that at least I would not be interrogated with passion. A lot of water has already flowed under the bridge, but I thought that you can understand my feelings related to the birth of a child and raising him alone and far from home. That was my desire, but it turned out that it was just an illusion.”

After that, Lisa closed her lips. Tears ran down her cheeks.

Raymond was unable to say anything because of Lisa’s tearful speech.

This was because the past she spoke of, and the seven years that she raised Edmund alone, were on his conscience.

“I summoned you not to accuse you. Just an empress… No, Ellie, we’re divorced now. She said that there was no connection at all between us.”

Raymond’s voice is much softer than before.

But, not as before, he didn’t reach out to wipe away her tears nor put his arms around her shoulders.

It would have been nice of him, but he drew an invisible line between them.

Lisa cleared her throat, wiping her tears with the back of her hand.

“That day… I didn’t expect that either. In the future, of course, I will make sure that this doesn’t happen. And of course, even if I wanted to invite her again, I could not do it.”

“…What does it mean?”

“I heard that Lady Croft is sailing overseas soon.”

“You said now… overseas?”

“That’s right, Your Majesty. I’ve heard the conversation between the servants that Duke Croft is preparing things for the long journey.”

“…That’s it.”

Lisa’s words clouded his thoughts again.

“It’s late, you better go.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

When Lisa left the living room, Raymond sighed and buried his face in the pillow.

Although Lisa left, the disgusting taste for some reason lingered.

Raymond roughly unbuttoned the button on his neck.

“Preparing for a long journey.”

His stiffness didn’t disappear, and the words spoken by Lisa stuck in his head.

Where is she going? If it’s a long trip, when does she think to come back?

“But it has nothing to do with me.”

Wherever she planned to go, he knew for sure that he could not interfere. But he could not understand what was so disturbing about this news.

You could say he was crazy, but now he wanted to visit Ellie if he could.

It’s a really crazy idea when the couple’s relationship has already ended.

Plus, Ellie doesn’t seem to want to know him anymore.

“It’s okay if Your Majesty doesn’t love me. I just want Your Majesty’s happiness.”

In retrospect, she has always been like this.

“I wish His Majesty was happy. If Your Majesty is happy, I will be happy too.”

“We can stay friends?” Raymond muttered soft words that somehow seemed strange to him because of the six years they had lived as a couple.

…Do I really want to be friends with her?

I couldn’t answer myself to a sudden question. The butler’s voice rang out in the living room.

“Sire. It’s already deep night. I think you’d better sleep.”

Raymond turned his head to the window.

When Lisa left, the twilight sky suddenly turned black.

I was lost in thought and lost track of time.

“I know.”

As his thoughts deepened, only an unknown thirst grew.

Raymond stood up.