Chapter 61
What words had this bastard whispered in her ear? Had he sneered, saying she was no match for her mother? Had he spit on her, or pummeled her until her delicate face was unrecognizable?
However. However. However…
If only there had been another way!
He felt as if bile was rising like blood in his throat, and he clutched his neck as the Emperor’s casual words dropped down onto him like a stone.
“What are you doing there? Why don’t you just leave?”
I’m tired, he muttered, as if exhausted from his ‘efforts’, and with that, he brushed past Kainri, acting as though nothing had happened. Kainri couldn’t lift his head. Or rather, he couldn’t bring himself to. He simply knelt there in silence.
“My lord, please, let it go and return home.”
“……”
“I beg of you, as an old man asking with all his heart.”
Marquis Elva was one of the few high-ranking nobles holding the empire together in these chaotic times.
He wasn’t someone who could afford to lose his life to the mad Emperor’s whims, and the elderly chamberlain’s heart sank, afraid of crossing a line from which they couldn’t return, especially now that the rebels, quelled years ago, were beginning to stir once more. He, too, fell to his knees, pleading for Kainri to leave.
Yet Kainri couldn’t stand. Too many thoughts weighed him down, pressing on his shoulders with the names of regret and despair.
He should have forced his way in earlier. When Louisa screamed, he should have thrown caution to the wind and barged in. At least then, he might have saved her life, instead of standing here, helpless and numb…!
As he pressed his forehead to the floor, endlessly berating himself, a young yet steady voice echoed through the room.
“What are you all doing? Go retrieve the young lady’s body.”
It was a voice that carried weight beyond its years. Slowly, he lifted his head, and standing there was a boy with golden hair and blue eyes—the traditional symbols of the Imperial Family.
It was Crown Prince Schvachen. Though only nine, he carried himself with a dignity that belied his father’s monstrous behavior. Despite his young age, he bore the knowledge of duty and responsibility, cleaning up the mess left by the beast of an Emperor.
The boy approached quietly and knelt, ignoring the imperial protocol forbidding royals from lowering themselves. He lifted Kainri, meeting his gaze with somber, cracked words.
“The lady’s precious life cannot be restored, but in my father’s place, I apologize to you.”
“……”
“With the Count and Countess of Kloze gone, I hope you will accept my apologies on their behalf.”
Those with imperial blood bowed to no one. But that applied only in human affairs. With his father having abandoned humanity, it was only fitting that the crimes of a beast should be answered for.
“Marquis, I…”
The Crown Prince’s voice faltered, his gaze dropping as if the reality before him was too horrific to face.
His expression was deeply troubled, bearing a weight no child his age should ever know. He genuinely despised his father. He was repulsed by his father’s cruelty, loathed the tyranny, yet was too young to change the world around him.
“In my place, and in the name of the Imperial Family…”
He attempted to take responsibility for the failures of the empire, but Marquis Elva gently placed a hand on his, shaking his head in silence.
There’s no place in the world where a child as young as nine should bear the burdens left by adults. Even if the Crown Prince were to become a young Emperor with a regent, such words would be unimaginable.
“This is not Your Highness’s sin to bear.”
In a calm, steady voice, he reminded him that he was too young to be crushed by such weight, too young to let it consume him.
“We have Your Highness by our side.”
“……”
“And so, it’s all right.”
Yes, it was solely because of the Crown Prince standing before them that they managed to keep bearing the weight of this corrupt Imperial Family. From birth, his clear gaze had never wavered, and as long as he stood firm, they believed that one day he would cut away the rot and restore the empire.
The Crown Prince seemed to feel the support in their clasped hands, and he looked up briefly, about to speak, but then only offered a faint, sad smile and nodded. Though he didn’t voice his thoughts, he didn’t cry. It was as if he thought he didn’t deserve to.
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