At the End of the Shattered Remains of Pure Love - Chapter 17

Suddenly a fork approached her mouth. Surprised Jeanne raised her head.

The Emperor was holding out a fork with turkey meat cut into bite-sized pieces. When she glanced around with a red nose bridge, he laughed saying his hand might drop. Jeanne reluctantly opened her mouth. The turkey dish topped with ham and cheese sauce was very tender from being smoked.

“Is it delicious?”

He asked. Jeanne nodded. Suddenly her stomach growled. It was like a signal asking for more. She was embarrassed. Her nose bridge felt like it was stinging again. However, the Emperor only pinched her cheek as if she was cute without coldly narrowing his eyes.

“It’s alright. Babies naturally can’t eat well by themselves. Right? Count.”

The Emperor asked the Count, her father, while cutting the turkey into bite-sized pieces and holding it out to Jeanne. Khalil who had been watching the two eating side by side like a young couple focused his gaze on him. The Emperor seemed to find everything his daughter did lovely.

Even though they hadn’t even held the imperial wedding yet, seeing him cherish her this much, he clearly couldn’t care about face or dignity in front of his daughter’s loveliness. Though it didn’t matter either way, truthfully his heart wasn’t at ease.

During her time away from the mansion, Jeanne hadn’t learned everything she needed to learn before entering the palace. Though her clumsiness appeared lovely in front of her father and fiancé the Emperor, in front of her mother-in-law the Empress Dowager it would merely be the behavior of an uneducated girl. Moreover……

“As she is my daughter, I will take care of her myself. Your Majesty should focus on eating.”

Taking care of Jeanne was his job. Though she was the Emperor’s fiancée, she was still his unmarried daughter and this was his house. Apart from feeling uncomfortable, he didn’t feel good. It felt exactly like something being taken away.

Instead of furrowing his brows, he pulled his lips softly and murmured. The Emperor turned his gaze at the suggestion to hand over his fiancée. Though his eyes were spread with round and gentle energy, it wasn’t enough to hide the innate coldness of his nature.

Khalil looked at him darkly before looking down at his young daughter who was like a lovely flower. Jeanne was smiling brightly, apparently fond of her fiancé whom she had only met last night.

Though he was a boy, he was an Emperor not much different in build from himself. The muscles that seemed hand-crafted and the firmness connecting each joint was no less than any young man. His height and frame……

Though he was lean and slender as a boy who hadn’t finished growing, since he strongly inherited the blood of his ancestor known as the Indomitable Knight King, his chest would soon thicken and show the masculinity of the Riscaltheon men.

Even Clodas who was far from being a knight had naturally excellent physique. So……

“Jeanne, come here so His Majesty can finish his meal.”

Jeanne, who had been receiving bites of red trout flesh from the Emperor’s hand, looked at him. It was trout grilled with butter and saffron sauce. The Emperor seemed unconcerned by Khalil’s murmur toward his fiancée as he picked up a napkin to wipe the saffron sauce that had gotten on her small lips.

Jeanne didn’t seem to mind such gestures from the Emperor as she quietly looked back and forth between her fiancé and him. His daughter who had been nibbling her white round cheeks like a squirrel hopped down to the floor her feet couldn’t reach. She looked cute putting strength into her maple leaf-like hands as if wanting to drag the chair beside him.

Khalil lifted such a daughter and sat her on his thigh before holding her firmly. Surprised Jeanne looked up at him. Khalil smiled gently while lightly pinching his daughter’s cheek. Suddenly he felt the Emperor’s chilly gaze.

An ordinary man might have flinched at that gaze. Though young, the other party was the Emperor and their sovereign. His piercing gaze would be quite frightening for a ‘child’ who didn’t seem like a ‘child’. However, Khalil was his teacher and a great noble of the West. He had a higher position than most high officials in the capital.

Above all, the jealousy of a fourteen-year-old boy was merely laughable. Khalil held his daughter in his arms without minding the Emperor’s gaze. Though the gazes of the twins including Isabeau flew to him, he ignored those as well.

He had no intention of living while being mindful of Isabeau just because he married her. The same went for Elaine. Elaine was his concubine, not Isabeau’s maid. There was no way he would leave his wife and daughter like that in his house of all places.

“Honey, it seems somewhat presumptuous to act this way before His Majesty. Above all, His Majesty seems displeased.”

Isabeau, who had been watching Jeanne opening her mouth like a baby bird in her birth father’s arms, glanced at Elaine before parting her thin lips. Khalil who had been holding and doting on his daughter like a doll looked at her. Unlike the Emperor, Isabeau wasn’t showing even a hint of jealousy.

“Is that so? Your Majesty.”

Khalil turned to him. The Emperor who had immediately erased his emotions and was maintaining an indifferent face stared at him. The Emperor had no response. Khalil wiped the bread crumbs from his daughter’s mouth without considering his mood at all. Then he continued cheerfully.

“Please understand with a broad mind. It won’t be long before she’s sent to Your Majesty. Since the Empress Dowager wishes my daughter to enter the palace even before coming of age, it won’t be long before Your Majesty has exclusive possession of my daughter.”

A knife-like smile hung on his lips at the end of his proper murmur. Cesare looked at the man who spat poison without a single distortion before lowering his gaze to look at his fiancée. 

 * * *

 Time passed. Jeanne had been receiving empress education for a week. Although the Empress Dowager had not promised Jeanne the Empress’s investiture or any title equivalent to Empress as the Emperor’s official consort, she insisted that some instruction was necessary since Jeanne would be the Emperor’s primary wife and, at least nominally, his successor. Moreover, the ceremony Jeanne would preside over in two months was as significant as a coronation—it was, after all, the Emperor’s wedding.

“His Majesty the Emperor is the guardian of Riscarlo and rightful sovereign of the Kartos and Bot peoples as descendant of the great prophets and King of the Last Ones. He is also the lord of Count Spetunia, Jeanne’s father. Jeanne, where is the Red Sea?”

The woman asked. Jeanne traced the blue part of the map with her index finger. Then she pointed to one of the blue seas. The teacher said ‘Correct.’ Jeanne withdrew her extended hand with her heart pounding. The woman’s voice was solemn as she pointed at the spread-out map. 

 Jeanne swallowed dryly while looking at the straight, thin conducting baton. As expected of a tutor sent by the Empress Dowager, she was proper and sharp. Jeanne sat with her back straight and paid attention to what she was saying. 

 Khalil, watching them from afar, slowly turned his steps while recalling his recent meeting with the Emperor’s mother. 

 ‘No matter what status the Count’s daughter may have, what His Majesty Maximilian, my father-in-law and the former Emperor, decided cannot be changed. Therefore, the ceremony your illegitimate daughter will hold is indeed an imperial wedding.’ 

 The Empress Dowager slightly furrowed her brows. She pronounced ‘imperial wedding’ clearly and properly in her characteristically neat voice. Though her face showed shame at having those words on her tongue, she seemed to have no intention of retracting what she said. 

 Khalil looked at the wife of the man who was once his friend. 

 After becoming acquainted with Clodas, she was more ‘a friend’s wife’ than ‘the lord’s wife’ to Khalil. That was because Clodas was his friend. The two were well-matched companions despite their incompatible personalities. 

 Clodas was someone who disliked putting on airs just because he was of imperial blood. Though he was often cautioned by his father Emperor Maximilian about his light behavior and attitude as Crown Prince, Khalil liked the unpretentious and witty Clodas. 

 So if it hadn’t been for that night…… 

 ‘My daughter cannot become Empress. As Your Highness well knows, it is because she is my illegitimate daughter, not my legitimate one. Yet you still maintain that she needs education befitting an Empress.’ 

 Elaine is now not even a commoner but a slave. Though she was originally of humble status as a tenant farmer’s daughter, the past incident degraded her to the status of a slave. 

 Initially, Elaine and Khalil’s marriage was between noble and commoner. By imperial law, nobles and commoners could not marry. Even marriages between commoners and slaves were rare in the Empire of Riscarlo. 

 In such circumstances, he took Elaine as his wife. If not for the imperial command, they could not have faced each other as husband and wife. Even if Jeanne was born, she would have been merely an illegitimate child. 

 Moreover, by imperial law, children born between nobles and commoners or nobles and slaves had their status determined by following the parent of humble status, regardless of which parent was noble. Therefore, Jeanne’s current status is that of a slave. Nevertheless, the Empress Dowager said the past promise was still valid. 

 ‘The Count’s daughter will be the mother of imperial descendants in the future. Moreover, she is currently the Emperor’s only primary wife. That child was the Empire’s long-cherished wish as much as His Majesty. I too find that night regrettable, Count.’