Chapter 30

Argen tried to placate me, but I was pretending to be just as calm as he was.

I didn’t want to be a burden and tried not to be anxious…….But I thought I’d freeze up like a five-year-old child while crying out “Don’t kill me,” when the fishy smell of blood penetrated my nose and stabbed my lungs.

I could see Argen looking at the men in black masks with his body half raised. I tried to get up, but I couldn’t straighten my back because I had something pressing on my back.

It was a little exaggerated, but I complained about the throbbing pain as if a bone was broken.

“Please. Who would come to save you?”

I could hear a mocking snicker.

Argen seemed to be hilarious to him, but soon it became quiet again as if he realized that there was nothing interesting about us.

“This is a place where hundreds of assassins live. Who will come all the way here to save you who are not pure blood and have not fully inherited the blood of the royal family? you’ll only be a burden if you’re in the palace. If the Emperor is smart, he wouldn’t come to save you.”

The more I listened, the more my energy dropped. It really seemed hopeless.

“If some bastard came, would they even be able to hurt us? The Emperor or the First Prince wouldn’t know. But will the precious royal family come to your rescue? It can’t be true!”

Even If the emperor’s direct knights came, we’ll still be in big trouble. The man laughed while shaking his shoulders as if it really wouldn’t happen and soon tilted the glass that was on the table.

“I don’t really enjoy killing children, but what can I do? The man who asked us to kill you is a great big shot, and he wanted us to finish the job.”

I kept getting scared. When I was with Lulahel, I was so anxious to survive. To Lulahel, we were the target of venting, not killing.

But now it was different.

In fact…… I realized it was a situation where I could die right now.

Why is everyone so anxious to kill us when we did nothing wrong? Is it such a big mistake to be born as an illegitimate child? Is it so wrong to have vulgar blood that others talk about together with the blood of the imperial family? We didn’t even know.

No one’s ever told us or taught us anything.

“He left after confirming while you were unconscious, and now all we have to do is kill you and send him your bodies. It’s simple, isn’t it?”

In response, Argen lifted his body up close to me…… I was just angry at the gesture that blocked my way. As much as Argen wants to protect me, I want to protect Argen as well.

I can’t be beaten like this. I’ve been able to live so well in the abandoned Castle of Derolina, so I couldn’t believe I’m done in a place like this. It was something that was impossible, and it shouldn’t be like this.

…… Absolutely not.

“….. No.”

The moment the man’s face turned grotesque and laughed, I was nervous that the blood in my whole body was about to flow backwards. It was the moment I was about to scream at the untimely death. At the same time, an intruder entered the room. There was a loud noise like something exploding, then the wall cracked and collapsed in an instant. The two men were surprised and grabbed their swords, but it broke into ashes.

The whole situation happened in the blink of an eye. The scene where the wall broke and the blade of the sword turning into powder was so unrealistic.

Argen must have also been as nervous as I was, so we came a little closer to each other.

My heart was still pounding from the noise that came when the wall was broken down. A chill flowed through my whole body while my heart kept pounding as if I ran a lap around.

A man with dark green eyes walked in slowly through the open walls. Funnily enough, after recognizing the man, Argen and I felt relieved.

It was in that instant, when the man who we thought of as an enemy became our ally.

The emperor’s usually calm green eyes were ignited with heat. Somehow his blonde hair seemed to be gently fluttering.

The two assassins turned white when they saw the situation outside the broken wall. One trembled and the other fell to the floor while boldly pointing a finger at our father, the emperor.

The Emperor didn’t even care and looked at us as he dispersed the room.

He gazed at both of us and looked uneasy. As soon as The emperor confirmed it was me and Argen, his eyes blackened and his voice lowered at the same time. I tried to grope around, but I couldn’t raise my hand because I was tied up.

“You sneaked in like a rat.”

Left jaw-!

“Ahhhhhh!”

“Do you know who you dared to kidnap?”

“…..!!!”

There was a scream and a tear at the same time. I couldn’t see, but my ears were wide open. Argen kept whispering not to listen, but I couldn’t help but listen to the sound even if I didn’t want to.

“An Emperor moving to save lowly bastards! There’s no such thing as……Cough!”

“The children that you kidnapped are not lowborn children, but the prince and the princess. You don’t even know who you’re dealing with.”

“S…Stop.”

“These are the children I acknowledged. If you dare not acknowledge the imperial family recognized by the emperor….. Moreover, if you add the crime of kidnapping the imperial family.”

I heard something cracking again. The agonizing groans of the two men no longer rang. Hearing a rattling sound, I wiggled my feet and rubbed my forehead against Argen’s shoulder.

….. Acknowledge children.

Why would he say that when no one else acknowledged us?

Nobody recognizes us in the first place. The Emperor, who has been turning a blind eye to me and Argen, now comes and says that….. saying that…..

My heart kept pounding.

I absolutely didn’t know I’d be so happy when he said we were family. Absolutely not.

‘Arien, don’t cry.’

‘I’m not crying.’

Being born in the first place was hard work. From the moment I was born, and even now.

I refused and turned away saying that I hated the royal family, but it was true that it was nice to have a place to sleep.

I didn’t have to go hungry, I didn’t have to tremble in the cold, and I didn’t have to hear the painful cries of my other half.

When we told each other why we didn’t try to get out of the Imperial Palace, we actually made excuses because we were worried about one another

If we go outside, there is no way to live, so we worried about each other.

Me and Argen kept repeating it like that.

But…..In reality, fear was the answer.

We constantly said we didn’t like the imperial family, but they had never used violence against us.

If you know hunger, you will never go where you should starve. If you know the pain of the cold, you don’t want to go to a cold place even if you die. The pain of my whole body freezing is worse than dying.

We turned away and refused, but we weren’t smart enough to really have no feelings for the woman who continued to make us bleed. It was the same with the emperor.

We were only 5 years old. We were 18 years old just before we died. We were hungry for love and missed people.

I’d be lying if I said no……I was so scared of the warm affections that I closed my heart more and more tightly pretending it was nothing.

“They’re not worth sparing.”

My vision brightened again. My eyes were sore.

My eyes came into contact with the emperor while I was blinking. He was looking down at us while Argen and I were looking up at the emperor.

I couldn’t see the horrors in the room when he suddenly pulled the bed drapes.

“It’s all right.”

If he says that, It’ll make me think that he’s worried about us. When we were in the most difficult time, he turned away from everything.

He easily loosened the gag from my mouth and the string that tied my wrist.

If he was worried about us now, he should have been worried earlier.

He didn’t have a drop of blood on him. He held the two of us in his arms and obscured our view. It was enough to hold us both in each arm when he put his sword down.

I could see why Argen told me not to cry because my eyes were so sore. One part of my heart kept aching.

I was just sad that we were being treated like this. I seemed to have forgotten the cold sensation I had been accustomed to at Derolina castle while staying at the emperor’s palace for a long time.

I was turned away and ridiculed, If I said something that others hate, I would feel sad like a child.

We weren’t so stupid to not know what just happened. But now the Emperor was the one who saved us. I wasn’t scared. Rather, I could see that he was holding us in his arms and covering our eyes in case something could be seen through the translucent drapes.

Perhaps because of that, I kept feeling strange.

“Miello, are you listening?”

“Did you call me? Your Majesty.”

“The mastermind.”

“It’s as expected.”

“Is that so…..”

While having a conversation about the mastermind, the emperor raised his chin.

“You shouldn’t be in the imperial palace right now. Let’s go to Derolina Castle.”

The emperor quietly stroked me and Argen’s back, then told the knights that were removing something from behind the drapes. He moved his arms and even put ma and Argen’s face on his shoulders like a child.

The instant I was told to go to the Derolina castle, I grabbed the hem of the Emperor’s clothes. The moment I heard the name Derolina, I was so shocked that I stretched out my hand without realizing it.

“Oh……No.”

I really hated that place. It was a place where only bad memories that I didn’t want to go back to were left behind. There was a limit to begging the emperor, but only that place…..

I absolutely wanted to avoid it.