Chapter 69

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“Hopewell is being chased. It sounds like he has already escaped not only Meyer, but also Central. We think he might be heading South. And this.”

Peter explained and held out a few maps. While Alexis looked at it, Peter looked at the knights lined up behind his half-brother. Most of them were the ones who escorted the Empress until recently. He had vaguely predicted it, but he did not know that he had taken control of the Imperial Palace in earnest.

‘My mother didn’t know either.’

In the first place, the thought of trying to kill her brother with his army was absurd.

“The structure and military layout of the northern fortress. Where did this come from?”

“We have testimonies that Miss Isabella Winston visited the palace with Hopewell. I think they are probably collaborators.”

“They were going to make the northern military march on Meyer.”

It seemed to have been prepared in anticipation of Meyer’s military being unable to move as there were many who served under the Duke of Walten. However, no one would have expected that it would be suppressed before the news reached the North.

“Miss Winston has been imprisoned in the dungeon. After determining to what extent she has been involved in His Majesty’s assassination, she will be given the appropriate punishment.”

“She should be executed for taking part in a civil war and treason. She was trying to move the military privately, so the punishment must be extreme.”

“……..Yes. She should.”

Without the slightest hesitation, Peter bit his chapped lips. The taste of fishy blood helped him come to his senses.

“And I, as the cause of treason, cannot escape responsibility either.”

Peter held out the box containing the Crown Prince’s seal that he had placed next to him.

“What are you going to do?”

“I’ll let go of the Crown Prince’s seat. Brother, ascend the throne.”

Despite Peter’s determined words, Alexis just looked down at him indifferently. As the silence continued, it was Count Schenberg and Viscount Rylent who became rather anxious behind them.

Alexis spoke after a while. The box was still not received.

“I have no intention of doing that.”

“If I had done this from the beginning, His Majesty would never have died. I’m trying to correct it, even if it’s too late, brother.”

“Why don’t you prepare for the earthquakes instead of needlessly floundering with useless emotions?”

He said insensitively as he looked down at his half-brother.

“Isn’t that the right order of resolving things? Besides, there must be a lot of work to prepare the Empire.”

“Brother.”

“If you are the Crown Prince, don’t try to avoid it.”

While Peter, who was speechless from crying, was unable to respond, Alexis continued.

“You know the cause of the treason very well so you must be aware of how to deal with it. It’s not enough to be just quick so face reality and don’t act like a child.”

Alexis stood up without hesitation and left with his lieutenant and imperial knights. If he wanted to, he could detain the Crown Prince and sit on the throne, but he didn’t.

“I don’t think Alexis really has any interest in the Emperor’s seat.”

Count Schenberg picked up the box containing the seal that had fallen from Peter’s hand onto the carpet and placed it on the table.

“………Yes.”

Peter replied bitterly.

“It seems so.”

He didn’t do it, even though he could have used an escort knight to kill her and become the Crown Prince himself at any time if he had made up his mind. On the other hand, she only thought of resigning in the name of atonement for something that she was not aware of, her mother’s plan to kill her brother and father.

Peter took the seal out of the box, grabbed it, and stood up. As he said, so far he had been running away, but he no longer should.

The Duke of Walten cannot kill the Empress unless she had planned treason. So, as her child, she had no choice but to punish her.

“Are you all right?”

Count Schenberg asked Peter who was busy looking at the resolution of the treason case as well as the progress of the state affairs that had been raised from the court meeting.

“The doctor said you needed to get some more rest.”

“I won’t die from this.”

“Still.”

“If you’re going to keep talking, get out. If you want to help me as an aide, then stay still.”

“What can I do to help?”

Peter silently handed him the papers about the preparations for the national prize. The Count Schenberg took his quill and sat down, glancing at the prince, who was immersed in her work.

The only thing he could see now was her white, slender fingers and skinny shoulders, that was unlike men of her age who had just completed their coming-of-age ceremony. Previously, he saw her as the child of a decrepit emperor and his wife who had her late. He did not pay her much attention because she was someone who grew up handsomely.

‘What was the point?’

The fact that the Crown Prince was a woman was rather a weakness that he had to grasp and shake.

As he made up his mind, he turned his gaze and began to review the documents.

***

Alexis hurriedly returned to the duke’s residence. He promised to return soon, but his return had already been delayed for several days.

He looked for her as soon as he entered the main building. Even though he knew that she returned safely, he was worried that she might have disappeared.

“Kathleen.”

As he opened her bedroom door, Kathleen, who was drinking tea, turned to him with a surprised face.

“Duke?”

“I’m sorry. I wanted to come back sooner, but something unexpected happened and I’m late……”

Alexis, who was in a hurry to explain the situation, suddenly stopped because he was stunned by Kathleen who approached and hugged him.

“It’s okay.”

She was so kind that it was hard to believe that it was real. The subtle tea scent and the warm body that hugged him relieved his fatigue at once. Alexis hugged her small body tightly enough to crush it.

“You weren’t hurt were you?”

“Hmm.”

“That’s good then.”

Is this a dream?

It was unfamiliar to him because it was the first time she had smiled while looking up at him with her big eyes bent sweetly. But it was exhilarating. He patted Kathleen’s cheek and found her bruised ear.

His heart suddenly pounded.

“Why are you like this?”

“I was hurt a little, but it’s nothing. I have already been treated.”

She seemed fine but she gently covered his hand as if telling him not to touch it because it hurt.

“Now that you’re back, you need to rest.”

“Seeing you is rest.”

“Please change your clothes and wash. Otherwise, I won’t let you come by my side.”

He pretended to be defeated and let her lead him back to his bedroom then entered the bathroom.

“Wash up and come out. I’ll tell them to prepare a meal.”

Kathleen, who disappeared after closing the bathroom door with her own hands, caught a glimpse of her former self. She had the same face from that time when he confessed his love for her and hugged her.

‘Can I be forgiven?’

It was too early to expect, but when he saw Kathleen smiling at him and hugging him first, his heart soared uncontrollably. Even the scent in the bathroom and the clothes to change into were all touched by her.

He couldn’t be more satisfied. To the point where he dared to feel happy. If he had to choose the position of the emperor and now, he would choose the latter without hesitation.

Even while he was washing, the light blue eyes that held and smiled at him kept glimmering, delaying the time. When Alexis changed his clothes and went down to the dining room, Kathleen was waiting for him.

“I don’t think you were able to eat properly in the Imperial Palace.”

She greeted him with her fresh and unchanging smile. She also wasn’t wrong.

“Go up and rest.”

“I’ll go up after watching you eat.”

In fact, he didn’t feel any hunger at all, but since she wanted him to, he forced himself to swallow the food. Meanwhile she was looking at him with her right hand on her chin.

“Peter is safe.”

Kathleen’s eyes widened at those words.

“I thought you might be curious.”

“Ah… I’m glad. You have to take care of the empire and many other things, so I hope you don’t overdo it.”

“I grew up as a prince so I am able to handle these kinds of things.”

“Yes. Because you are a responsible person.” 

“Any more questions?”

Kathleen answered calmly.

“None.”

Seeing the carriage broken, the magic stone would have exploded. Didn’t you see it?

“Really?”

“Is there anything else I should know?”

Alexis put down the tableware and confessed.

“I put a magic stone in the carriage to protect you. To explode when threatened.”

“……”

“So the carriage burned itself down.”

“I see.”

The expression on her face didn’t change much. He thought she would be surprised or puzzled, but she didn’t ask anything.

“Thank you, I didn’t expect you to be so attentive.”

She even went so far as to say thank you. At that moment he thought it was a relief that she now knew. Kathleen said.

“Because it’s safer to be under your protection than to go out on my own. Right, Alexis?”

He wanted to answer no, but became speechless from her addressing him by his name.

It reminded him of that time when they got lost in the Carmine Mountains, and realized that it was not an auditory hallucination.

“Can’t I call you like that?”

As she asked, she had the face of forgiveness that Alexis had longed for. A rush of joy filled his whole body. He hurriedly got up from his seat and walked over to her. As he wrapped her little body in his arms, and as if in response to him, she slid her arms around his waist. It was maddeningly good. To the point where he wanted to stay like that for the rest of their lives.

“Call me Alec.”

“…Alec.”

“Call me that, as much as you want.”

His real name, which no one had called but his birth mother.

His name, which flowed down the lips of the woman he loved, was so enchanting that he craved for life again. So Alexis didn’t see it.

The smile of his wife in his arms soon disappeared without a trace.

***