The seal showing an ash-gray falcon on a red background was crude and sharp rather than noble. He thought of the Count’s young daughter. 

 There was only one child in that house whom he would call ‘daughter.’ Cesare called the chamberlain. 

 “Your Majesty.” 

 “Didn’t you say something happened to my fiancée?” 

 “However, between the Count’s two daughters……” 

 “There is only one child in that house whom the Count would call ‘daughter.'” 

 Cesare thought of the Count’s fake daughter who looked quite plain compared to his fiancée. The Count might think no one in the world knew about his marriage, but he did. Sometimes when he pondered the twins who didn’t resemble him at all, the Count’s lies were almost pitifully amusing. 

 He retied his cravat and put on his frock coat before setting out. Two chamberlains and two Royal Guard Knights followed behind him. 

 The Count’s mansion was as elegant and dignified as it was old. The classical mansion that didn’t follow trends had a long causeway centered around a square lake shining green. 

 Cesare grabbed his horse’s reins as he looked at the mansion’s roof gleaming deep blue. Though he could fly through the sky or teleport with his ability, it was broad daylight now. 

 The Count, who wasn’t very fond of his ability, wouldn’t welcome that kind of visit. Especially since the Count was already displeased about him jumping over his front gate last night to visit his daughter’s bedroom. 

 With four attendants in tow, he stood before the front gate after crossing the causeway. The Count’s servants must have been waiting for him, as they quickly opened the doors. 

 “Where is my chick?” 

 He asked as he dismounted and handed his horse to a servant. The servants, proper as befitting the Count’s household staff, guided him with formal courtesy. Cesare raised his head to confirm the owner of the gaze fixed upon him. The Count was looking down at him from the balcony.

Cesare stared at his feverish fiancée. Her face was pale and bloodless. Her hair was damp with sweat against the white pillowcase. He looked from the girl breathing heavily with fever to the Count’s composed face. 

 “When did this start?” 

 Cesare asked. His even question held no trace of anger or passion. 

 However, Khalil was a man who had known him since he was very young. He knew what face he made when truly angry. He tensed his mouth to keep from pulling his lips back. 

 It wasn’t that he had waited until Jeanne fell ill. He had called the physician as soon as he discovered the child’s wounds. The physician had wiped away the ointment clumsily applied by the maid and treated it properly, but perhaps infection had already set in through the wound site, as Jeanne began falling ill from midnight today. 

 After barely calming Elaine who was causing an uproar, crying and screaming that she would kill the tutor sent by the Empress Dowager, he personally wrote a letter to the Emperor. That his daughter was ill so today’s lesson could not proceed. 

 Though he said Sir Padre, his adjutant, would conduct the sparring lesson instead, the Emperor had read the meaning implied in his words. 

 “Since midnight today.” 

 “Was it that woman Solis’s doing?” 

 The Emperor’s gaze fell on his daughter’s legs, which he had deliberately exposed for him to see. Jeanne’s wounds were quite infected. The rough application of the maids’ ointment was part of the problem, along with her trying to take etiquette lessons on those legs. 

 “Answer me, Count.” 

 Cesare raised his head. His low voice was unlike a boy’s. He looked at his daughter’s threatening fiancé before touching the forehead of his daughter who had started whimpering. The Emperor furrowed his brow. 

 Since last night, Jeanne had been deliriously ill. Though fever medicine brought down her temperature, she remained unconscious. He held his frail daughter and cursed the Empress Dowager. They were a mother and son who had lost husband and father. No matter if they were enemies, he had no desire to create rifts between mother and child. 

 But the Empress Dowager provoked him like this. All he could do was use the Emperor to protect his daughter. 

 “……It seems my child struggled to keep up with the lessons.” 

 He barely held back from spitting out that his daughter had done nothing wrong. That the problem was his mother who treated his ‘baby’ — who could only be called a baby, so small and young — like a ‘wench.’ He swallowed his anger that burned like wildfire inside him. 

 He kissed the forehead of his daughter who had started sobbing in pain. 

 “……Your Majesty.” 

 Khalil opened his lips toward the boy who turned to leave without a word about exiting the bedroom. But Cesare did not respond. 

 He darkly watched the spot where the boy had stood before letting out a scoff. His daughter reached for him with tear-streaked face. He sat on the edge of the bed and lifted his young daughter. 

 “Shh— my baby…… It’s alright now. Your fiancé just left to take revenge for you. So you won’t be hurt again.” 

 Khalil whispered while patting his daughter’s thin back. Jeanne wandered through nightmares, not knowing what her father was whispering. 

 * * *

 “Your Majesty.” 

 Cesare dismounted and quickly climbed the stairs, ignoring the call of Countess Meteland, the Empress Dowager’s lady-in-waiting. Countess Meteland watched the shadow of the boy who was like a tall youth with a pale face and bit her lip. 

 Cesare headed for his mother’s reception room. The Empress Dowager saw her son who had come without notice. He threw open the door fiercely and was terrifyingly cold. Madam Solis sitting beside her trembled. She seemed to have forgotten how to pay proper respects. 

 The Empress Dowager glanced at the woman who had hurriedly packed and sought her palace as soon as she heard the Emperor had been received by Count Spetunia. 

 She had told her to subdue the girl, not beat her until she was bedridden. The woman had smiled when she spoke of her concerns about the low birth of her future daughter-in-law and her mother’s lack of propriety. 

 ‘Do not worry, Your Grace. They say her father Count Spetunia is clever, so she should understand with just a little instruction.’ 

 ‘Very well. I’ll trust in you.’ 

 The Empress Dowager had sent her to the Count’s mansion with a smile of trust. And yet…… 

 “Ahhh!” 

 Cesare strode in and grabbed the woman’s hair that was tied up neatly, slamming her to the floor. The Empress Dowager froze at this brutal act. 

 She had never experienced such blatant violence. Yet the perpetrator was none other than her son. She looked up at her inhuman son. Madam Solis sprawled on the floor and raised her head. A slap rang out sharply. 

 “Your, Your Majesty.” 

 “Drag her out.” 

 The woman clutched her reddened, swollen cheek and looked up at the Emperor in fear. The two guards behind Cesare grabbed her arms. She turned to look at the Empress Dowager, not expecting this. Her frightened face was just like a child’s. 

 “What are you doing, Your Majesty?” 

 Her teeth ground together. Indignation came before fear. The Empress Dowager asked with a hardened face. Cesare did not respond even to his mother’s low question. Only his slow gaze answered. 

 “Your Majesty.” 

 Watching Madam Solis being dragged away, the Empress Dowager called to her son again. Rough screams shook her ears. Her stomach churned. The Empress Dowager glared at her son with clenched fists. 

 “I asked what you are doing.” 

 “Just as you saw.” 

 “Cesare.” 

 “She abused the child who will be the Emperor’s wife. Since you studied law at the Academy in your maiden days, I think you know the Empire’s laws better than anyone. Moreover, you are the imperial family’s elder. You know how strict the imperial rules are.” 

 Cesare’s voice was colder than ever. Alisandra stared into her son’s purple eyes. Sometimes she discovered madness in those eyes. When those eyes that remained cold even when he strayed became wrapped in bizarre heat. 

 Eyes filled only with desire without a shred of reason. That damp and gloomy affection was directed only at Count Spetunia’s lowborn daughter. Alisandra could not understand these emotions. 

 The sticky desire that any normal person would not understand. Those black grains were all abnormal things possessed only by different species unlike her. So…… 

 “Solis did what she should as a teacher.” 

 “Whether that wench’s actions were teaching or education will be determined by the police.” 

 “Your Majesty!” 

 “I never ordered Mother to teach my fiancée.” 

 “Ha!” 

 Alisandra let out a laugh of disbelief. The Emperor did not even nod. Tears welled up. She had carried him for ten whole months and given birth with all her might. And yet what…? He never gave orders? 

 “……No matter if you are Adam, an Emperor cannot exist alone. I am the one who bore you.” 

 She meant for him not to forget who his mother was. But Cesare sneered at those words. He was scoffing. Her face burned terribly. Her whole body trembled. 

 “Your Majesty.” 

 “I am God’s will.” 

 “……” 

 “If not, how could Mother rather than Eve have carried me? If you haven’t forgotten the Empire’s laws, you know what Article 1 of the Great Code is.” 

 “……” 

 “Keep it in mind.” 

 Her eyes trembled finely. Cesare turned around after his cold rebuke. Alisandra stared blankly at where her son had left. Article 1 of the Great Code echoed in her mind. 

 ‘The Emperor is God’s will and his rule is the realization of God’s will on Riscarlo’s land.’ 

 * * *