Chapter 63 - Leave him to Enjoy it (4)

I ended up scolding him.

“Don’t you know that you’ll pee your pants at night if you play with fire?”

“……What?”

Sadie scowled as if what I said was preposterous. But I was the one who was in disbelief.

If he had something to say, he should have openly walked through the door during the daytime. Why the heck did he have to sneak in at night and cause a fire indoors?

‘Who taught you about respect? How can you call yourself the Imperial Prince?’

“I told you to come to my room if you needed help. I never said to treat my room as your room.”

– Knock knock.

There were some urgent knocks on the door at that moment. I quickly motioned to Sadie with my eyes.

I mouthed some words.

‘Hide under the bed.’

The only reaction the young boy showed was the tip of his eyebrows rising ever so slightly.

‘I know this punk understands what I am trying to say!’

“Your highness? Are you okay?”

I heard a concerned Ganael’s voice outside.

He must have heard me shout when I was putting out the fire.

He was concerned that I would not be able to sleep because of the heat when he left earlier, so knowing his personality, it was normal that he would have roamed around my bedroom.

“Yeah! I’m okay. It’s just……”

“Should I come in, your highness?”

Ganael quickly asked. We were moments away from getting caught.

I put Demy on the ground and ran over to Sadie.

I could see the child’s eyes opening wider.

What else could I do but personally hide this ‘I’m too important to hide under a bed’ punk?

“Just deal with it for a bit, huff.”

I raised the child into the air. He was lighter than I had expected.

‘I feel like Eunseo was heavier when she was this age.’

“You dare-”

“Shh!”

I quieted the kid and quickly moved to the balcony.

The young boy with a terrible personality was kicking me as I moved.

He was pretty strong. Enough so that I thought I would end up with bruises.

‘My poor life.’

– Click.

I could clearly see the doorknob turning. I closed the balcony curtains and urgently shouted.

“You don’t need to come in, Ganael! Umm, there was a mosquito!”

“A mosquito? My goodness… Should I catch it for you, your highness?”

“No, I caught it. I just caught it.”

I answered and turned my head to see the young boy’s orange eyes glaring at me as if he wanted to burn me to death.

I know I shouldn’t compliment myself, but it seemed like a great comparison.

He comes in and out as he pleases and sucks out my ether, so how was he any different from a mosquito?

‘Well, I guess I did give it to him voluntarily.’

“Go get some rest, Ganael. Sorry to inconvenience you like this.”

“I thought that you might have had another nightmare, your highness.”

“It’s nothing like that. There’s no need to worry.”

Sadie’s expression changed subtly after hearing the word, nightmare.

This punk probably got great nights of sleep thanks to my ether roaming around the Imperial Palace, so he probably never expected that I would have such terrible dreams.

“……Then I will be on my way now. Please call me if you need anything, your highness.”

“I will. Thank you.”

I quietly stood in place for another minute or so after Ganael left.

I raised my head, thinking that Ganael should have left by now, to see that the child, who had stopped kicking me, was now staring at me.

It was already hot, so getting riled up like this made me feel hotter.

I took some deep breaths and gently placed Sadie on the balcony chair.

Demy had come out at some point as well and had wrapped his tail around my ankle.

“Why are you acting all tough? What will you do if you get caught?”

“Why are you having nightmares?”

The young boy ignored me and said something else. I smiled bitterly.

“Priests can’t use healing power on themselves. It’s similar to that.”

“……”

I heard that everybody around here had had wonderful dreams and slept well since I got here.

Unfortunately, that effect did not work on me.

But it wasn’t as if I was having nightmares every night.

It was only what the average person might have, but there was one time when Benjamin and Ganael ran over in their pajamas because I was having a nightmare and screamed.

It was an embarrassing experience.

“How about you tell me what is wrong with you? Why…… Why are you lacking ether?”

I chose my words wisely.

I could not ask him why his body turned small when he had the Sword of Wisdom.

“I’ve seen this handwriting before.”

“Are you going to keep changing the subject like that? Wait, when did you take that?”

I became scared. Sadie had that suspicious letter in his hand.

I tried to take it away but my hand was too slow.

The child hid the letter in his pocket and instantly jumped onto the balcony railing.

‘Damn it!’

“Losna must be your middle name.”

I closed my mouth. I had the same assumption as well.

However, I could not be 100% certain, and even if it was, I did not want to let this punky Imperial Prince know.

Sadie’s eyes turned dark at that moment.

“Are you communicating with this Usil person?”

“Like hell I am.”

I quickly responded and then gulped.

The child in front of me was a kid that I took care of every so often, but he was also Imperial Prince Cédric.

It would not do me any good to earn unnecessary suspicions.

I looked at the young boy’s forehead,which was damp with cold sweat, and released my Holy Domain.

– Ooooooong!

The balcony started glowing radiantly with a gold light that was even brighter than the moon.

Demy squealed and grew some flowers that I didn’t recognize on top of the circle design.

“If you are communicating with the Holy Kingdom-”

[I never had nor do I have any plans to do so in the future.]

I sternly cut him off. Sadie seemed a bit shocked at the sudden loud voice.

[I am pretty much a dead person in the Holy Kingdom. I also died after coming here as well. I’m not going to do anything reckless when I am already in danger while simply living a quiet life.]

“……”

[I swear.]

– Shaaaaaaa-

I promised with my Divine Oracle and the Holy Domain lit up for a moment before releasing the silver and white ether.

I stood there as the ether poured over me as if I was taking a shower.

A light bright enough to make everything seem white seemed to hug me once with a general warmth before disappearing.

I opened my eyes to see the young boy barely standing still on the railing, looking down at me.

“You are giving me your word.”

The child started speaking.

His face was stoic but he seemed somewhat satisfied and happy? It gave me an ominous feeling.

“Is there a need for you to prove anything to the illegitimate child of the Imperial family?”

‘Damn it……’

I scowled as much as possible.

I was wondering why he didn’t bring that up but the words revealing my dark past made my ears turn hot from embarrassment.

I cut off the ether I was giving him and Demy and quickly deactivated my Holy Domain.

The balcony instantly turned dark as if I turned off the light.

– Screeeech

“Sorry, sorry. Let’s go to sleep now.”

I hugged the complaining Demy. The red panda tightly grabbed my shoulder with his black front paw.

“You should stop speaking nonsense and go back too.”

The young boy didn’t even blink at my stern order for him to get out.

‘Wow, he acts the same one hundred times out of one hundred. Why had I been so sure that he was the son? But isn’t it normal and rational to think that he is the son?’

I started walking toward the bedroom to push out these two opposing thoughts.

Thinking about it would only give me a headache.

At that moment…

“You will end up submitting first.”

The little punk said such words to my back. I became angry and quickly turned to look at the railing.

“Ah……”

However, there was nobody there.

The white moonlight, the darkness of the night, and the slowly blowing heatwave were the only things there.

‘I was already hot but getting angry made it even hotter.’

*

“You made the right decision, your highness! Leaving to avoid the heat is a wise decision!”

‘I feel like dying.’

“Marquis Duhem…… I’m sorry but could you please lower your voice?”

At this point, I might die from the heat instead of the war and log out.

“I understand. But your highness, her Majesty’s office is this way. You are headed toward the window and are about toplop to the ground.”

I struggled to focus through my dizziness and stumbled.

Benjamin and Ganael, who were following behind me, became shocked and helped support me by my arm and shoulder.

Thanks to the bag of ice that I had been holding against my forehead since early this morning, I was just barely able to maintain consciousness.

The Imperial Capital was like hell once the heatwave started blowing.

“You are very weak against the heat, your highness. To be honest with you, this isn’t that bad of a heatwave!”

“Please be quiet……”

I tried my best not to get annoyed at the person who came all the way here to give me my birthday present early in the morning at my request.

Neither Marquis Duhem nor the attendants were struggling much with the heat, so being the only one to suffer so badly felt unfair and made me hate the author.

What kind of webnovel supporting character suffers from heat during the night and ends up like this?

They usually cough up blood from using too much of their power, take a knife for the main character and faint, or something like that.

Even if it is painful or difficult, there is a reason behind it and they look cool……

‘Maybe it’s better to just suffer from the heat……’

“We’re here, your highness.”

The Marquis spoke as if to console me.

Laura, the Chief of Staff, had come out near the Empress’s office to greet us. She looked at me with quite the concerned gaze before knocking on the door.

– Knock knock.

“Your Majesty, Prince Jesse and Marquis François Duhem have arrived.”

“Send them in.”

I stood up straight and fixed my clothes.

I had no idea how my hands were moving, but what mattered was that I got it done.

I then took a step in as soon as the door opened.

“Jesse Venetiaan, Prince of the Holy Kingdom, greets the sun that has descended to the ground.”

“It looks worse than I heard about. He’s pretty much dead.”

Empress Frédérique responded cynically.

I somehow managed to bow before plopping down on the couch with someone’s hands guiding me.

The cool and dry leather against my skin made me feel a bit better.

I finally recognized that it was Cardinal Boutier who had guided me here.

Her beige-colored eyes were full of concern.

She touched my cheek with her cool hand. I felt as if all the strength was leaving my body as the couch tried to swallow me.

My head was throbbing and felt heavy.

“Your Eminence……”

“Frédérique, I think we need to send the little prince up north immediately. He’s going to pass out like this.”

“Didn’t you say that the prince can only use a portal once a day? How far would he be able to go with that body?”

The Empress clicked her tongue. I thought about Eunseo and my older brother as my mind blanked out.

‘Will I be able to go home if I die like this? I hope it doesn’t just make me start over from the beginning.’

“Your Majesty, Your Eminence. I will vouch for Prince Jesse’s identity. Please send him to the Summer Palace.”

“I’m good with it. Frédérique?”

The Marquis asked and the Cardinal immediately asked the Empress for her opinion.

I couldn’t see the look on her face very well because my eyes were half-closed.

The bag of ice kept dropping to my face.

“We cannot allow an outsider into Yvelines.”

“François said he would vouch for him. We will soon head up there too.”

“Aurélie……”

I couldn’t hear the conversation after that.

I either relaxed next to the Cardinal and momentarily fell asleep or fell unconscious.

However, I was certain that the Empress allowed me to head to the Summer Palace surprisingly quickly.

The mood was much better when I opened my eyes again.

“Laura, send a message to Duke Yvelines. Let him know that Prince Jesse will be traveling through the Imperial family’s portal today as well.”

“I understand, your Majesty.”

That was what I heard.

After hearing the name Yvelines… I thought that it must be the territory of Archduke Yvelines who wrote the < Kaboom! Yves’ Great Adventure > series.

The Archduke was probably part of the Imperial family, so it wasn’t weird that they had a palace over there.

Of course, my hypothesis could be completely off as the Empire had quite a lot of nobles, but……

Anyway, I was saved once again. This time, it was from this damn heat.

“Tell the prince’s attendants to come in. They need to take him out of here so that he can get onto the portal.”

The Empress gave the order. The Cardinal put a cup of ice water to my lips while that happened.

I did my best to smile and thanked her when Benjamin and Ganael entered the office, both completely pale.

The two of them showed their respects to the Empress first but she waved them off as if it was unnecessary.

She must have meant for them to quickly take care of me first.

“Excuse me, there is one more thing. There is something I wish to say, your Majesty……”

I barely sat up with Ganael’s help as I spoke.

The end of one of the Empress’s eyebrows lifted up.

I wondered who that damn Imperial Prince bastard had learned such an expression from, but apparently, it was his mother.

Having such useless thoughts made me feel as if my mind cleared for a moment.

I cleared my throat and looked right at the Empress.

“Your Majesty, you bestowed upon me a chance to ask for anything I want during the celebration not too long ago.”

“I did.”

“If you would allow it…… I wish to make that request right now.”

The Empress scoffed.

It made sense that she was in disbelief at the fact that the punk who had been half-unconscious until moments ago suddenly opened his eyes wide and said that he had something to request.

However, it was an issue of my survival in the future for me.

There was something I realized during my chat with that punk Sadie last night and right now was the time to make it happen.

The Cardinal closed my hand around a cold cup.

Benjamin and Ganael were looking at me with shock.

“I will allow it. Speak.”

The Empress had one hand supporting her temple and her cherry-colored eyes sparkled as she smiled.

I calmly started speaking.