As if the excitement of being able to see the Emperor in person hadn’t been there before, Arhen was quiet again. In particular, the castle forgot the hustle and bustle of a few days ago. All the servants, who had been nervous and complained of fatigue all the time, worried that they would make a mistake and offend the Emperor while he was in town, all looked relieved.
It was the same with Leah. Leah couldn’t remember how each day had passed during the last few days the Emperor had been there.
Erhart had been secretly provoking the Emperor, hiding thorns in his soft words. It was a sly play on words, hard to pick apart, but there was no way the Emperor couldn’t have noticed.
After preparing a party on board for Erhart’s birthday, which he had never cared about before, Erhart almost drowned in the sea. It was really a time where everyone was nervous. To the extent that such a quiet peace is welcomed.
‘Madame. Please take good care of Erich.’
Before leaving, Olivia’s request bothered her for some reason, but she thought it was just a courtesy. She brushed off the discomfort and enjoyed peace. Her trivial concern these days was definitely Erhart.
“…”
Sitting on the ledge by the window where the sun was shining brightly, Erhart stared into the distance and was lost in thought. He’s been like this for a while now. That is, after the Emperor’s party returned.
After the attempted poisoning incident, he had been busy inviting people to the castle, or accepting their invitations with an air of annoyance, but since the Emperor’s party had left, he had neither accepted nor called on anyone. Those who requested to visit him were also refused by him, promising to do so in the future.
Did he have a change of heart again?
“Your Highness.”
He certainly seemed a bit moody lately. He looked at the bracelet on his wrist, partly annoyed, partly relieved, but he didn’t answer as if he couldn’t hear when he called.
“Your Highness.”
“Ah.”
Even now, she had to call over and over again to get a response. It wasn’t like Erhart, who was sensitive and reacted quickly to the sound of an approaching sign.
“What were you thinking?”
“Nothing much.”
“It is time to eat. Shall we prepare the dining room? Or should I bring it to the room?”
“It doesn’t matter where, so take care of it yourself.”
“Then we should set it up in the greenhouse. The flowers bloomed beautifully. There is no better place to freshen up.”
Unfortunately, Erhart did not grow up to be a man who gets sentimental by looking at flowers, but if he was in the middle of fresh greens, he would be relieved.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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Thud.
Leah disappeared through the closed door. Erhart turned his gaze outside again.
He had a lot on his mind. To the extent that he had no energy to devote to his social activities. Neils Canavan had sent several whining letters about playing chess, but he burned them in the fireplace without regret.
The reasons were many, and they were as complicated as a thread. Olivia’s meaningful words, as well as the thing with Rayan, in the meantime, there was no news from Rayan again. It could be because he told him not to come until he got better.
He was worried, but he rationalized on the one hand that it’s a good thing. He needed time to organize his thoughts.
He assumed that Rayan would agree to leave as well, so he hypothesized several cases, but he could not come up with a way to get him to Djerba. Moving was a problem. Even if he used a magic circle, it was impossible to get to Djerba in three hours, and even if he used magic himself, it was impossible.
As the weight leaned towards impossible, Olivia’s words remained in his mind and could not be shaken off.
‘I wish you a peaceful life.’
She had said that. ‘I don’t want you to have to fight a long, hard battle with no prospects.’
Even if he gradually gathered power and increased his influence, his attempt to usurp the Emperor was treason of the highest order, and it would take a long time. He didn’t mind losing, but it was going to be a disorganized fight.
Besides, Olivia knew why Erhart wanted the position. Not because he was greedy, but because he wanted to live. The surest way to continue his life was to get rid of the one who held the power of life and death.
That was it. So, Olivia was willing to support his cause.
But now he had been thinking about it again and again.
Was that the only way to continue life? No. It wasn’t. It was just a safer and surer way. Exile or whatever, as long as he lives, the Emperor would continue to seek his life. ‘You try to break me, I’ll break you first.’
Then why did he want to live on?
Burning the fire of anger, on the one hand, he did not dig into the thought that he wanted to live, but in a way, this was the most important and most fundamental question. Because he had never sought his life even once in the decades since he was born.
Why. Why did he suddenly want to live? Even when he first set foot in Arhen, he had no regrets about life enough to jump off a cliff. In the past, it may have taken a long time to find the answer.
But now that his feelings had become clear, the answer appeared in front of him very clearly and concisely.
“… Rayan.”
Erhart made the reason for his life into a form and called it out with a sigh.
He was the reason for his life. It was the reason he didn’t want to die. It was the source of life that made him do nonsense for two years. Then, without Rayan, coveting anything now was meaningless. Even the position of Emperor was not very attractive.
As the vagueness became clear, the thought that had been tedious for several days was gradually refined into a clear shape.
Tak-tak!
Not only Leah, who knew that Erhart wasn’t usually sensitive, but even the attendants tended to keep their footsteps quiet in front of his bedroom, but the sound was much louder and looked urgent.
It couldn’t have been about the meal. Erhart’s expression hardened. As he straightened his back, the door swung open. There was no call, not even a knock. Leah didn’t seem to lack any sense of urgency.
Showing how impatient she was, her clothes weren’t as straight as usual, and her breath was steady. As expected, the most eye-catching thing was the red eyes.
“Your Highness…!”
“What the hell is going on?”
It hadn’t even been thirty minutes since Leah had left. In the meanwhile, what could have happened in that time to bring her to tears? Erhart stood up. He was there to support her in case she collapsed. But Leah’s trembling steps were faster than his.
“There is a letter from Djerba.”
What about it? The words to go to the port if anything happened, the small note secretly slipped into his hand, and Olivia’s expression, swallowing her words and smiling faintly, came to mind clearly.
“Her… Her Highness Olivia is in critical condition.”
“She may not be able to make it past a few days”, Leah handed over a letter and shed tears at the end. Erhart studied the crumpled letter for a long time.
* * *
It was immediately decided to go to Djerba. He didn’t even have time to leave any notes for Rayan. The Luggage was also quickly packed and the wagon hurriedly pulled towards the moving magic circle was completely silent.
“She looked tired, but she didn’t look critical…”
Leah wiped the tears with her handkerchief. Her tears wouldn’t dry up. Meanwhile, Olivia’s son, Erhart, was calm. Even knowing that this road was not to visit Olivia in the hospital, but to watch over her deathbed.
Of course, it wasn’t that calm inside.
As Leah said, Olivia had looked pale and skinny, but she didn’t look serious enough to pass away the next day. Her condition was premature and unsettling.
“Leah.”
Erhart, who had been looking at the scenery outside for a long time with a silent gaze, called out to Leah, who kept weeping.
“After my mother’s funeral, stop following me and go to Marielle’s palace.”
“Your Highness. What are you talking about?”
Leah forgot that she was even in grief, and in her astonishment she called out to him.
“Because you are my nanny, and my mother cherished you, so it won’t be too difficult to get into Marielle’s palace. Marielle likes you too.”
“Are you telling me to leave Your Highness now?”
“In many ways, it is better to be in Djerba than to be in a periphery that is Arhen.”
“Your Highness!”
“I am-.”
‘I’m not leaving Arhen’… No, he had to leave because of Rayan, but he couldn’t bear to tell Leah that he would leave soon.
He would leave.
With Rayan. Wherever the sea touches. A small island wouldn’t be bad, and settling down in another neighboring country would be fine. Any place where he could be with the reason of his life was good.
Since his portrait has never been known, who would be able to find out if he was the prince of Hesseles if he lived his life hiding this blond hair? Rayan, who liked his hair that was like the sun, may be sad, but he could just break the magic when the two of them were together.
Maybe Olivia also wanted this kind of peace. Marielle was a child who looked exactly like Olivia, and the Emperor was fond of her, so she had nothing to worry about.
“Your Highness. I will never leave you. Where can I go?”
Leah, who did not know his true intentions, was adamant. Erhart said nothing more. Just as she was firm, Erhart was also firm in his will. He just didn’t bother revealing it.
In a different way than before, the inside of the carriage became quiet. Erhart felt out of breath. He pulled down the tight cravat. Then, all of a sudden, he could sense that the carriage had slowed down. It took half a day to reach the magic circle. Besides, it was still too early for the horse to rest from exhaustion.
At the same time as he was on edge with a sense of incongruity, something penetrated the window frame.
“Y- Your Highness!”
It was a sharp edged sword.
Looks like they’ve run into some “bandits”.
».. as if he couldn’t hear when he called.« when she
».. and her breath was steady.« unsteady (I guess)
So my suspicion became true. The king got rid of his beloved wife earlier than I thought. Or that letter was a trap from the beginning or a mix of both.
Thx for the ch (ㅅ˘ㅂ˘)