Chapter 22

When Argen and Arien fell asleep, the emperor, who was thought to be asleep leaning on a chair, rose up.

He lowered his dark green eyes that were drowsy as if from when falling asleep and tilted his head. The water droplets that had not yet dried, flowed down from the neckline revealed through the black gown.

A stream of water drops ran across the white skin. (T/N: I don’t know how there is so much water left when its been more than 1 hr when Arien finally fell asleep lol)

He moved his steps quietly. The movement was so delicate that even trained knights could not notice it and it did not even show signs of his presence.

The destination was in front of his bed.

He never thought the bed was big, but it looked quite spacious when he saw his young children lying down.

“Five years old…….”

Five years old for the royal family was old enough. Even if he looked back on his past and his other sons, it was always like that.

“Is it because of the mixed commoner blood?”

In this world, bloodline was something that could not be changed forever unless God intervened. Isn’t the royal family enough proof? If it is not of a proper lineage, it has neither blond hair, excellent intelligence, nor physical ability.

his young children may have blond hair, but they do not seem to have excellent intelligence or physical abilities. He’d heard that they have better understanding and learning than their peers, but it was a small thing compared to the royal family who inherited the pure blood.

“It’s good their not dead.”

he mumbled low and frowned. The marks on the arms revealed as they moved, told him how many things that they had to endure. It reminded him again how weak and fragile these children are.

Additionally, he wasn’t the only one who knew this weakness. For this reason, something occured today.

There were forces that threatened or rebelled against the imperial family.

But the royal family had a ‘guardian,’ a gift from God. They were the biggest reason for being able to stand entirely at the height of power in addition to an outstanding body.

“Because they’re small with no guardian, so it’s worth looking into it.”

It’s difficult to start, but you don’t know how far the attack, once started, will spread.

His green eyes were filled with emotion. It was a deep, low emotion.

The children who slept quietly, unaware of what happened today, were unusually close. If they were not near each other, he could see how anxious they were. It was as if they could only rely on each other. Although he did not intend to forcibly separate them, it was strange to see them worry about it.

Unlike his other children, who grew so quickly that it was questionable whether they had a childhood, it seemed like he shouldn’t treat these small children carelessly.

He never had to care for anyone in his life, but these little children were terrified and hid at the slightest call, so knowing that, he was forced to speak softly in a small voice.

“They were fine in front of the knights with the sword…….”

They only widened their eyes when the sword-bearing knights were next to them, they became pale and trembled when he approached.

The proud spirit of the Imperial family was not found in these children.

Even today…….

“Argen even vomited a lot.”

He wrinkled his forehead as he stared down at the children sleeping on his bed. He might’ve been surprised by the unfamiliar voice, but he quietly spoke without turning his eyes.

“I told you not to come in recklessly.”

“Do you think I’ll listen to such words?”

A sarcastic voice rang out. Friendly words with no honorifics were followed, but the emperor frowned and did not take any other action.

“What are you so sorry for now, Have you ever felt sorry for your children?”

“How funny.”

Only then did the emperor slightly turn his head.

At the end of his gaze was a man with red hair. In some ways, it was a passionate color, and when viewed differently, it was a color that gave a feeling of red blood.

“Jason.”

The Emperor called his name once, and Jason tilted his head as if he had heard.

“So why did you kill the maid?”

“I’m sure you know.”

Jason laughed as he thought of Ishina in her old age.

“She’s very old and ambitious. But she takes care of my ‘owner’ better than you”

“They didn’t think that I know they were doing useless things because my children are illegitimate”

“I guess you did know.”

“I took a look, Ishina made a mistake when Eiji was a child. There is no forgiveness twice.”

At those words, Jason stood up from his seat and twirled his wrists.

“At least Argen and Arien wouldn’t think of you as a family.”

“…… You amuse me.”

“If you pretend to be a family now, do you think the children who are scared will think you’re a family? Children can’t forget shocking memories. Did you see the scars on their body? It must have hurt a lot…….”

Jason’s words sharpened his eyes. Even at the face of the emperor, who was the sun of the empire, he only twisted his lips.

“It’s not enough to bring them, but even if you bring them to the imperial palace, they are just going to get harassed…..”

“…….”

“It’s my lifelong regret that I couldn’t be there. I couldn’t be with them, but it wasn’t the case for you.”

Jason narrowed his eyes and continued to speak.

“If it weren’t for that excuse of ‘contract’, I wouldn’t be talking to you like this, who ignored my masters when they were in pain.”

The emperor swept up his hair with a low sigh.

“How unfortunate that my children’s guardian is such a wolf.”

“I was late, but……I’m a red wolf who is kind and friendly only to my owners.”

Jason smiled softly and kissed Arien on the cheek. Soon the emperor caught him by the back of the neck with his hand, and he had to fall off quickly.

******

What I saw when I opened my bare eyes was the grand ceiling, the surrounding drapes, and the bed that felt comfortable.

After belatedly grasping the situation, I shook Argen to wake him up and crawled over the bed to move the drapes. As I sat on the bed, I could see a couple of maids in the room who looked like they had ranks.

Seeing that we woke up, she brought a basin with water for us to wash our faces and a dry towel.

Instead of trying to confirm what time it was, I had no choice but to stop in front of the water. A towel was put under my chin like a child then, moderately warm water touched my face.

A delicate touch thoroughly applied the soap bubbles and wiped my face.

I was able to open my eyes only after washing my face with soap. The maids wiped the water droplets from my golden lashes with towels. Only then could I get out of the maids hands.

I sat in bed and I turned my head upward to look at the clock.

Unlike the worn-out clocks that barely manage to survive in the abandoned Derolina Castle, the clocks with diamonds embedded on the end of the hour hand with lions on both sides were definitely different.

“The meal will be prepared soon.”

She mentioned something but I didn’t pay attention as I rubbed my eyes to make sure the time pointed by the clock hand was real.

‘……Two o’clock.’

‘Not two in the morning.…….’

‘No……It’s not.’

‘What time did we go to bed last night?’

‘Around sunrise……?’

Argen and I remained silent. In other words,

We tried to look for Ishina, who would have woken us up, but all the people we saw were strangers, so we couldn’t say anything. Argen, who had just checked the time and thought about it, only blinked with a sleepy face.

“Your highness the imperial prince, Your highness the imperial princess. I’ll tell them to prepare your meals.”

The pink-haired woman quietly asked us if we didn’t need it then they could postpone it. Argen loosened his drowsy eyes and nodded.

“I will prepare soft food that is easy to eat. If you have anything you want to eat separately, please tell me.”

“……No thank you, it’s okay.”

I replied that I would also eat what was prepared for Argen, but at the end of the words, the maid gave me a troubled face and persuaded us nicely.

It was almost like a desperate appeal.

“Your highness, I’m sorry please don’t use honorifics.”

I nodded my head in a daze because there was a sense of desperation not to call her like that, but somehow I felt burdened to speak informally to those older than us.

Soon after, there were soups with chunks of vegetables that had been prepared in advance to fill our stomachs.

The green leaves were so thick that I thought they were grass, but when I looked closely, it was meat wrapped in vegetables.

We sat in front of the table thinking that it was enough to eat for the first meal, but the problem was from there after.

‘……Argen.’

‘I’m watching.’

As if that wasn’t the end, dozens of servants constantly came in carrying food was not an exaggeration.

‘How can I eat all that?’

‘Even if I taste one by one, I’m sure I can’t eat it all..….’

The place is the venue, I felt uncomfortable to eat everything, but after seeing the type of food, I felt even more relieved.

First of all, I was eating only the soup, but the mouth-watering smell was so strong that I ended up touching the dish.

As I took a bite of the delicious meat minced with sauce, the juices came out. The meat was so tender that it melted in my mouth so I didn’t know if I was chewing it or not and the fresh vegetables were crunchy.

Rather than feeling as burdensome as before, it tasted so amazing that I wondered why I only knew about this kind of food now.

‘Delicious?

‘Do you need to ask me that?”

‘No, I think I know just by looking at it.’

While I chewed the food in my mouth, Argen quietly picked one up and took a bite. There was no point in denying it so he immediately agreed.

“Does it fit your taste?”

No matter how much I thought about it, even if we treated the maids without honorifics, we couldn’t talk down to them like we’re dealing with someone below us.

I just nodded my head.

unoffended by the unanswered gesture, the maids filled the empty glass of water and spoke.

“It is the food his majesty enjoys. we’ll try to serve it more often in the future as you both like it.”

It’s all the emperor’s favorite food. He certainly only eats good things. Stating ‘more often in the future’ means we’ll continue to be longer. I grumbled inside and nodded.

When we finished eating, they brought us toys. They were just things that children our age would enjoy playing with like puzzles, dolls, wooden swords with iron cores, and so on.

One more thing that filled up part of the emperor’s room was a white and pristine doll house.

To be exact, it was miniature with a very high degree for detail, as if a castle had been shrunk.

We stared at a castle slightly taller than our heights.

After hesitating for a long time, I slightly touched it but quickly removed my hand because even the cold and hard texture was the same. There was a window and when I opened it to look inside, everything was set up as if someone decorated the room.

I gently swept my fingers through the carpet in the room.

It felt no different from the carpet I was stepping on now, so I almost thought that they had cut this out to make this without a doubt.

“It’s a gift for Your Highnesses from His Majesty.”

“Uh……Huh?”

When Argen pulled out a small chair, he was so surprised by what was said that he broke one leg.

He was holding a chair that had broken so easily, but the maid skillfully took it out of his hands. Rather than being blamed for it, we got permission while she took the broken one.

“In the future, he said you won’t be able to leave this room for the time being unless it’s for something special. I’ll prepare whatever you want, so just tell me.”

This isn’t like a toy. It even showed the quality of opening the lid. It was accompanied by a clear chandelier made of diamond and glass.

The maids also gave us a human-shaped doll. I made a stupid expression due to the surprise, but pretended to play like a girl who was looking forward to it.

I was very careful because I thought I wouldn’t be able to handle it if I destroyed the doll’s house.

Shortly thereafter, we placed the doll on the chair, picked out a 1000-piece puzzle, and laid it on the floor.

As I spread my hands to put the puzzle together, the maids came with a big picture frame. It’s as if they were going to hang it up.