At the End of the Shattered Remains of Pure Love - Chapter 16

Khalil turned to the Emperor with a hardened face. The Emperor noticeably stiffened, apparently displeased that his fiancée had left his side. He who had smiled slyly even when roughly pushed away by Elaine.

“Ho…… Elaine. Return the child.”

Khalil parted his lips. Elaine, who had been kissing her sniffling daughter’s forehead with her head down, stopped moving. Jeanne, unaware of what expression her fiancé was making, sniffled as she burrowed into her mother’s embrace.

It was unclear how many days it had been since she had seen her mother. Though her father was caring, he was incomprehensibly stubborn when it came to her mother. Instead of challenging him, Jeanne prayed to the goddess every night. To let her meet her mother…… promising she wouldn’t wonder about her father anymore.

She didn’t need to live in this splendid mansion, just return her mother to her. After all, her father wasn’t just her father anymore. He had a wife, a beautiful daughter, and a clever son. Jeanne didn’t want to become part of their family.

In fact, she knew she didn’t qualify as family. She was an illegitimate daughter. Though Jeanne was eight years old, she wasn’t foolish enough not to know what being illegitimate meant. An illegitimate daughter was just that. Though she had the unexpected fortune of being elevated from a bastard to an illegitimate daughter officially acknowledged by her father, when her father found her, she wasn’t sure if it was a good thing.

“Ellen.”

“No!”

Jeanne turned her head. After shouting outright, she shook her head. The child’s wet voice echoed off the high ceiling. Her round face, flushed with anger, was like an apple ripened in the spring sun. Jeanne shouted while holding onto her mother’s neck.

“I want to go home. Mama! Let’s go home. I hate it here……”

She wiggled her bottom as she pleaded with her mother. Though slender white hands patted her back, she couldn’t calm down. The frustration she had been suppressing since daytime burst forth like a broken dam.

“Don’t cry, baby. Mama is fine.”

An affectionate voice resonated in her ear. However, it only made her more upset rather than calming her. Jeanne wailed, her face red. Suddenly, she heard soft footsteps. Through her blurry vision, she saw neat shoes. Jeanne burrowed deeper into her mother’s embrace.

“Jeanne.”

It was a gentle resonance. Though she didn’t want to raise her head, a cool breeze touched her hair. The strange and peculiar sensation reminded her of last night.

Jeanne, who had been rubbing her nose against her mother’s soft embrace, slowly raised her face. His bright face, where fractured sunlight slid across, was beautiful. Though his features were stern and sharp, the fresh energy blooming in his faint smile was incredibly refreshing.

Enough to stop even an eight-year-old girl’s crying who knew nothing…… Jeanne looked up at him while hiccuping.

He opened his arms. She reached out to him without realizing it. The Emperor embraced his young fiancée.

Jeanne buried her face in his shoulder. His firm and warm embrace felt reliable. As her tense body gradually thawed, her tears that wouldn’t stop seemed to slowly subside. It was strange. Suddenly, the Emperor who was holding her opened his lips.

“Let’s leave for a moment.” 

 * * *

 The Emperor’s destination after leaving the dining room was the balcony. Jeanne remained buried in his firm chest while holding his neck. Though her fiancé the Emperor’s embrace was vastly different from her mother’s soft, tender one, it was strangely comforting for that very reason. Jeanne quietly raised her head and blinked her wet eyes.

Elegant and calm fingers stroked her back. Jeanne carefully lifted her gaze.

They said he was the Emperor. Jeanne knew about princes but didn’t know what an Emperor was. That’s because Emperors didn’t appear in the fairy tales her mother read to her.

But even her father was extremely cautious around him. Jeanne fidgeted with her fingers and bit her lip.

“Done crying?”

Just as she was choosing her words while reflecting on last night, he asked. Jeanne only smiled with her plump lips without answering. Though she wanted to say something, nothing came out as if thorns were stuck in her throat.

“Jeanne.”

Her nose bridge turned red. A strange warmth seemed to spread from her pounding heart. It was a strange feeling. Ticklish and nauseating. Her heart felt like flower petals swaying in the spring breeze. She kept her gaze down as she recalled the midnight that had passed.

The beautiful contours revealed between the scattered dark energy of the moonlight were dreamy and mysterious enough to blur one’s soul. So much that it hardly felt real…… Hence Jeanne thought perhaps it was all a dream.

No. It must have been a dream. Her father’s mansion was as tall as a fortress standing on a steep cliff. Her father’s guards were also such terrifying men that no one could climb through the windows. So it must have been a dream. However……

‘Is it you? My little chick?’

Though everything felt dreamlike, that affectionate resonance alone was as clear as reality. The face repeatedly hidden and revealed by the curtains fluttering in the wind…… The mischievous smile and amethyst eyes shining with curiosity.

The boy, as enchanting as a night deity, gazed down at her intently. Jeanne looked up at him, forgetting even to breathe. The fleeting moment felt like eternity.

“When you cry, it makes it difficult for me to return to the palace.”

“……What does ‘return to the palace’ mean?”

The Emperor burst into laughter at Jeanne who blinked her large eyes, not knowing the words ‘return to palace.’ She stared blankly at the boy before blushing. Though his refreshing laugh was cheerful, she felt embarrassed as it seemed like he was laughing at her inadequacy.

“It means going back to the palace.”

“The palace? Why do you have to go back? Can’t you not go back?”

Her tongue, which had seemed frozen like bitter medicine, moved quickly at the mention of returning. Jeanne clutched his chest.

The boy who had been smoothly pulling at the corner of his lips lifted Jeanne’s hand that was gripping his chest. His red lips touched the back of her hand. Her heart, which had been like flower petals swaying in the spring breeze, felt like it was bursting.

“Mmm……”

Her fingers where his lips touched felt ticklish. Jeanne whimpered at this first-time experience. The Emperor’s eyes showed interest. He asked ‘Don’t you like it?’ Jeanne stared at him intently before shaking her head vigorously. Beyond like or dislike, she didn’t want to hurt him.

“Jeanne.”

“……I don’t know.”

Jeanne finally let her tears fall. She couldn’t get her bearings from the heat that warmed her.

Her heart was already pounding painfully enough. Her heart that had been thumping just from meeting his gaze now swayed helplessly like gentle waves. The heat filling her from head to toe, this ticklish sensation…… These were emotions too difficult for Jeanne to handle.

“It’s strange.”

Jeanne, who lowered her head deeply to avoid his gaze, moved her lips. His words about returning to the palace made her feel disappointed yet she wanted to be apart from him. She wanted to cling to his neck and act spoiled while also wanting to imitate Antonia and act like a mature lady. What kind of feeling was this? What did she want to do with the boy?

“That’s because you’re a baby.”

He laughed softly. Jeanne, who had been cooling her wet eyes with her head lowered, looked up at him distantly. His smile shining like small pieces of summer sunlight was beautiful. Her eyelashes trembled. The boy pressed his lips to her round forehead. Jeanne closed her eyes and felt her fiancé’s sweet breath. 

 * * *

 Upon returning to the dining room, the Emperor seated Jeanne beside him before picking up his knife. The foods abundantly filling the long table were the richest and most luxurious foods Jeanne had ever eaten. Though such abundance was natural for Jeanne until she was two years old, since she had no memory of it, everything laid out before her eyes was unfamiliar and fascinating.

“It seems sister doesn’t like the food.”

Just as she was barely tearing small pieces of bread to put in her mouth, Antonia, who had been cutting flat turkey with a silver knife, opened her lips. Though her gentle smile and kind manner of asking was childishly mild and lovely, it wasn’t difficult to find the thorns in her words.

Elaine, who had been moving her knife with a tired face, raised her head to stare at her daughter. Perhaps flustered by the gaze pouring down, her daughter seated at a higher position than herself, blushed. Antonia straightened her back even more at that reaction and moved her knife with elegant posture.

Elaine narrowed her brows. If she could have seated her beside herself, she could have cut the food into bite-sized pieces to feed her, but that wasn’t possible. She looked at Khalil with a stifled heart. At that gaze, Khalil who had been quietly eating spoke kindly to his daughter who had her head deeply lowered.

“It seems Jeanne is having trouble handling the utensils.”

Jeanne didn’t answer. It wasn’t that she wasn’t hungry. It wasn’t that she didn’t like the food. Since she wasn’t one to eat breakfast well, Jeanne was always hungry around this time. Today too, she had only had a warm glass of milk for breakfast.

Though the maid acting as her nanny had persuaded her that she must finish all the food served for breakfast, perhaps due to the unfamiliar environment, hardly anything went down. On top of that, she was very hungry after crying until exhausted. However……

“Ah—”