CH 26

If this had happened in childhood, I would have immediately trembled and hid in a corner. But after so many years I got used to it.

“Is there still such a shame in this world that the duke did not experience?”

Jeremy spoke up as the Duke shot him a menacing look.

“And it wasn’t theft. I just took the invitation that came to my hand. I’m sorry if it pisses you off so much, father.”

“Ack!”

Father.

The Duke hated that word the most.

After all, he was a man whose soul was disgusted with the fact that I was his son.

But what was funnier for my taste was that he couldn’t give up on me. After all, his hideous son was his only successor.

Jeremy, looking into the face of the duke, who was angry with the words about ‘father’, opened his mouth with a smile:

“But don’t worry so much. I was born with the wrong eye color, and you hid my birth from the world. Nobody knows who I am. Who would have called me the heir of Drua if I had not inherited the main symbol of the duke? Go to sleep. You need to teach me how to live as in my childhood.”

“No, you! Damn you!”

The Duke pointed a finger at me and immediately grabbed his chest. It looks like his blood pressure has risen.

Seeing the surprised butler rushing to the duke’s aid, I turned away from them with a cold face.

“Don’t even think about staying here!”

I quickly go up the stairs, ignoring the Duke’s screams.

Bam.

I took a deep breath as I slammed the door.

“Yeah, that was always the worst.”

Not even a few minutes had elapsed since I met the Duke. But I already felt the energy leaving me.

The relationship between a child and a parent is such shit.

However, no matter how much I resisted, I couldn’t change it.

Even if I abandon the Drua family, the duke will not abandon his only successor.

Jeremy took a deep breath and fell back on the bed.

As he glanced out the window, his attention was drawn to the moon, which lit up the dawn sky.

Amber eyes dimmed, as if remembering someone.

Purple eyes and silvery hair like this moonlight.

Ellie Croft.

“Who are you?”

Her face when she asked this question.

So adorable. I’ve never seen such beautiful eyes. They are like precious stones.

I knew that she had already forgotten me.

It must have seemed like a coincidence to her.

I thought it was natural that she wouldn’t be able to remember me. But when I saw that she didn’t recognize me, I was still upset.

I don’t know why.

Something just stuck in my heart.

Jeremy turned to the window where the moonlight could be seen.

Your marriage has been dissolved.

I wish you happiness in life.

It was because of Ellie that he showed up at the Marquis’s party. The party itself didn’t interest him at all.

Jeremy overheard Duke’s conversation yesterday.

Usually he passed by, but you that time her name kept flying out of Duke’s lips.

“His Majesty, it seems, hesitates to register the daughter of the Marquis as an empress. Seeing this, she wants to make a fuss, invite everyone to a party…”

“The son of the young Lady Sios will be appointed crown prince, and the empress has filed for divorce, so I don’t think the daughter of Marquis Sios would want to let go of such bounties of fate.”

“If the Marquis’ daughter becomes the Empress, it will be in the hands of us… Send a letter to Marquis Sios.”

I decided to go to the Marquis’s party.

I don’t know why.

I returned to the empire primarily because I heard the news about it.

Jeremy looked up at the shining silver moon and remembered Ellie’s lonely figure at the party.

Her purple eyes as she watched the emperor walk away, holding another woman’s hand.

But the emperor at one time could not take his eyes off her.

I felt threatened by him. And the relationship between them was clearly complicated.

“What can I do.”

Jeremy’s voice rang out.

And that was the bitter truth.

In any case, he will soon leave the empire again, and Ellie will stay here.

The same Ellie who didn’t even remember him.

“I need to calm these stupid thoughts.”

I still remember how the emperor’s sharp gaze tenaciously looked at my back.

If I continue like this, my status as the son of the duke may be revealed.

Then I will be forever tied to the Empire.

Jeremy looked up at the full moon shining softly from the sky, as if trying to ward off his thoughts.

* * *

Early in the morning, when it was already daybreak, a white dove flew into the window of the imperial bedroom in the Sun Palace and sat on the windowsill.

When the white dove knocked on the window three times with its beak, Raymond, who was lying with his eyes closed on the spacious bed, got up.

He got out of bed and went to the window. When he opened the window, the white dove flapped its wings and entered the room.

When the emperor held out his hand to the dove, the trained dove busily settled on his hand.

Raymond patted it on the head and looked down at its paws.

Freeing the letter tied to its thin legs, he sent the dove into a cage on one of the walls of the room.

He drank the water and turned, leaving the bird to rest, lit a candle, and opened the folded letter.

[It is true that Mrs Sios gave birth to a child in the Western Kingdom. It seems that Marquis secretly sent a doctor there to ensure that his daughter could safely give birth to a child, and secretly took them out of the royal palace of the western kingdom.

In the process, I didn’t find anything strange, but one thing interested me. It turns out that Lady Sios seemed to have taken the child from the royal palace and hid him somewhere for a while. Should I learn more about this?]

“What a negligent attitude to work.”

Raymond furrowed his brows and burned the letter. He rubbed a handful of ashes in his hand and wrote a short errand on white paper.

[Find out exactly when the child was born.]

Raymond tied the letter to the resting dove and sent it off again.

* * *

After returning from a party full of anxiety, I immediately fell asleep.

Waking up late and having breakfast, I went to my father’s office to discuss my departure to the Lund Kingdom.

When I was about to knock on the door, I stopped, hearing voices from within.

“Marquis Sios these days often sees nobles from large and small families.”

“Hmm, I’m sure he’s laying the cornerstone right now to make Lisa empress. However, His Majesty hasn’t even said his word on this matter yet…”

“Shall we examine the Marquis’ steps?”

“No. I’m not going to get involved in this game.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Besides, how is Duke Drua doing today?”

When I reached for the doorknob, I heard Drua’s name and stopped.

Duke Drua… He was the most influential nobleman among the segment of the nobility who supported the former crown prince.

Drua was the only aristocratic family that stood from the time of the first emperor to the present day.

Raymond, although he carried out countless purges, nevertheless spared Duke Drua, because they were the family of the loyal Empire, were marked by the first emperor himself.

And Duke Drua deftly cut off his connection with the former crown prince.

“There are no big movements. They still live in a small mansion and their heir is out of sight. There are rumors that their heir is dead.”

“He didn’t die. The Duke is obsessed with his family, so he is probably hiding his only successor. Watch this. Even if he is sitting quietly now, he is a dangerous person who does not know when it is time to change his attitude.”

While I was thinking about the duke, the door opened.

Sir Artel, my father’s vassal, was confused when he saw me standing at the door.

I smiled awkwardly and stepped back.

“Lord Artel.”

“…Milady, I greet you. You haven’t been at the estate for a long time. How are you doing?”

“By the grace of the Duke, I am doing well now.”

When Lord Artel smiled at me, my father’s voice came from the study.

“Ellie, come in.”

“Come in, lady.”

Lord Artel stepped aside.

“See you next time.”

I said goodbye to Sir Artel and entered the study.

When I entered, my father sat down at the table.

“You sit down too.”

The butler put the cup down on the table.

I took a sip, smiling at the scent of my favorite herbal tea.