Chapter 14
2. Memory
Inside the conservatory the bright white afternoon sunlight poured down.
Sitting alone at the table, Annerose quietly sipped her rose tea. When she set down her teacup, she turned the red jewel Iver had given her over in her fingers, lost in thought.
* * *
Iver Dio Costeria.
A man with ruby-red eyes and hair the color of the night sky.
His solid, muscular body had been honed into a form beautiful enough to stir desire in any woman, while his large hands always gave off a sense of warmth and comfort.
Despite his tall, broad frame, his face, with its red lips, was handsome enough to make the word ‘beautiful’ come naturally to mind.
There was nothing about him that did not inspire the thought that he was ‘perfect,’ and his position as Crown Prince only reinforced that perfection.
Iver was the only legitimate child born to the Empress, but under ordinary circumstances, his position would have made it difficult for him to survive as Crown Prince. The Emperor had many capable children with his concubines, while Iver’s gentle temperament was ill-suited to the imperial family of Costeria, where competition was prized above all else.
Emperor Hirhita had declared that ability mattered more than bloodline, and despite holding the position of Crown Prince, Iver had gradually begun to lose ground.
To him, being ‘Crown Prince’ was a precarious position, one that could be taken away at any moment.
And Iver had lived his life within that uncertainty.
That was as far as Annerose’s memories of Iver’s childhood went.
The boy who had grown up timid and cautious under the torment of his siblings had visited the Parozera Kingdom, once an enemy nation, in an effort to strengthen their diplomatic ties. He had gone there alongside the children of his father’s consorts, who despised him.
Even during diplomatic occasions, the young boy had been constantly kept in check by his siblings. One day, he lost his way and wandered into the detached palace. That was how he found Annerose, the woman known as the “Monster of the Summer Palace,” and became her kind companion.
“Lady Annerose, you really are as beautiful as a rose.”
Annerose remembered Iver as he had been in those days.
The boy who had quietly shared tea parties with her.
Whenever she talked with young Iver, the time that usually crawled by seemed to pass in an instant. Though it had lasted barely a month, those moments had been incredibly precious to her.
Watching the small, timid-looking boy grow a little more each day and gradually become comfortable enough to speak freely with her had filled her with warmth.
Though he was still a child, he sometimes spoke with such an oddly mature air that Annerose would forget his age and happily chat with him for hours.
The Iver Annerose remembered had been a fragile child. That was why she had thought that even if he lost his position as Crown Prince, he would be given some other title and entrusted with a small territory to govern.
She had hoped that, as long as he survived, they might someday have another tea party together.
But the Iver she met again had changed.
There was a strength in him that she had never seen before, and his eyes belonged to someone who had risen from the very bottom after staining his hands with countless lives.
“Don’t you wonder how someone who was once at the very bottom of this imperial palace is still the Crown Prince? I wanted to become stronger for you. I wanted to become stronger for you, to protect you. I always thought of you.”
Iver had said it with a smile when he brought Annerose to the greenhouse in the garden.
Only after stepping into the greenhouse did she realize that, apart from one younger half-brother, there were no other candidates left for the imperial throne. There had been so many siblings who, long ago, had pushed the young and fragile Iver into the room of the woman they called a monster.
Iver had killed every one of them and was now preparing to inherit the Costerian Empire.
“My brothers and sisters? I’m still grateful to them. If they hadn’t sent me to the detached palace, I never would have met Annerose, would I?”
The boy who had once listened to her stories with such innocent eyes had become an adult touched by madness.
He had done it to survive.
To survive long enough to meet Annerose again.
“So I showed them mercy at the end and let them go without pain. My brothers and sisters, every one of them. You ask why I killed them? Because if I hadn’t, I would have died instead. Now I’ve eliminated everything that could threaten me, so don’t worry. I’ll get rid of anything that threatens Annerose, too.”
How many sacrifices had Iver made to hold on to the position of Crown Prince?
He so often said the words, ‘for Annerose.’ And hearing them made her heart ache even more.
‘Did that child change because of me? Did I really ruin Iver?’
As guilt welled up inside her again, Annerose took out the ruby that resembled the color of Iver’s eyes. She carefully enclosed it in her hand and lowered her face into a sorrowful expression.
If young Iver had never met her, if he had never grown attached to her, if she had never made him desire the imperial throne… Would he have lived a more peaceful life?
Perhaps he could have tended a small estate, traveling from time to time with his partner and living a quiet, ordinary life.
She regretted it, but she knew there was no way to turn back now.
“…I’m sorry, Iver. Because of me….”
Annerose spoke in a very small voice before closing her eyes.
Ever since she had first met Iver long ago, the life she had lived began to unfold, one memory after another.
With startling clarity.
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