Could this be a dream?

Leticia was silent for a while after Chamuka’s unexpected answer, then finally gathered her thoughts and spoke.

“Then yesterday, yesterday that… saying you wanted to become lovers…”

“Because I want to have the constraints and protection that lovers can have.”

That’s not what lovers means. Aren’t lovers usually people who love each other?

“Romantic feelings usually refer to desires for marriage and reproduction, but I’ve never felt that for you yet.”

“….”

Leticia decided to erase the moment when she had thought, ‘What if Chamuka is sincere?’

“To begin with, marriage and reproduction are impossible between men, so how could one desire something impossible?”

Why are you asking me that? You’re the one who confessed wanting to be lovers with a man…

Finally, Leticia couldn’t hold back and asked.

“Then what would you want to do if you became lovers with me?”

“Be together all day.”

“…So Chamuka wants to become lovers because you want to be with me all day?”

“Yes.”

Where should she even begin to correct him?

Leticia was certain that the relationship Chamuka wanted with her was not actually a romantic one.

I thought there would at least be a kiss or something, but what’s this about just being together?

Even a five-year-old’s first love would seem more like love than this.

Isn’t this similar to the possessiveness children have toward their friends?

Thinking she had worried and tensed up for nothing, Leticia relaxed her body and leaned back in her chair. Then she laughed slightly in disbelief.

“I don’t think that means you want to be lovers with me.”

“…Why?”

Chamuka, who had been momentarily entranced by Leticia’s relaxed, smiling face, belatedly asked.

If Leticia had seen Chamuka’s pupils, half-dilated and expanded from watching her, she would have tensed up again in horror, but Leticia, shaking her head with a chuckle, didn’t notice anything as she spoke.

“Well, friends and family can be together too.”

“Friends and family don’t stay together all day.”

“On birthdays or such days, they would be together all day.”

Leticia replied casually.

“I don’t want to do that for just one day.”

“If you’re really together all day, every day, you’ll get tired of it. You’re saying this now because you haven’t experienced it.”

“No.”

Even a year ago, when they were together all day except for sleeping, Chamuka had felt it wasn’t enough.

But whatever Chamuka said, Leticia had already reached her conclusion.

“Think about your confession yesterday again. I don’t think you actually want to be lovers with me.”

“I…”

Chamuka, who was about to reply that he had thought about it for a year, caught sight of Leticia’s curved eyes.

As she met his gaze without avoiding it and even smiled, he stopped what he was about to say.

“…Right.”

His answer seemed to be what Leticia wanted, as her smile became more comfortable.

He had already spent a year thinking about it, so there was no harm in thinking more.

And didn’t Astrid say that it’s better for Basilintes not to think with their own heads?

Chamuka calmed his mind, which had gone wild the moment he saw Leticia’s forearm.

Now, Leticia was by his side, not avoiding him, and he had a reason to drive away others who approached.

With the conditions met for him to be in his right mind, Chamuka could act as calmly as a normal person.

Indeed, a peaceful atmosphere continued for about three days afterward.

The surveillance remained.

During that time, Leticia didn’t even attempt to draw blood.

Nevertheless, she couldn’t help but feel quite perplexed by the unrelenting surveillance.

Finally, two days later, Leticia visited Kalia’s room with Tan, using the excuse of playing with Kalia.

And she watched for an opportunity to wound herself.

***

Among the emperors throughout history, it was common for them to shave themselves rather than entrusting it to attendants, like Yurik did.

If an attendant holding a razor had other intentions, it could be disastrous.

In any case, a razor was still a blade. One wrong move could easily cut flesh.

And for the first time in a while, Yurik accidentally cut his chin with the razor.

“Tsk.”

He put the bloodied razor into the washbasin. With a plop, faint blood spread through the water.

As he roughly wiped his chin and pulled the bell cord, a servant entered and turned pale upon seeing the Emperor’s chin.

“I will call a physician, Your Majesty.”

The current Emperor was not particularly benevolent and could be quite cruel to his subordinates if his mood soured.

The servant quietly approached and removed the washbasin.

Yurik, who had been irritably wiping his chin, suddenly narrowed his eyes at the washbasin the servant was carrying out.

“Wait.”

When the servant froze at the Emperor’s words, he beckoned with his hand.

“Come here.”

The servant intuitively held out the washbasin before Yurik.

Looking into it, Yurik muttered to himself.

“It’s clear.”

The water in the washbasin, which had been stained with blood, was inexplicably clear. Despite the bloodied razor still being inside.

Yurik pulled the razor out of the water – it was perfectly clean, as if nothing had ever been on it.

And as he stared at the part where blood had been, he fell into thought.

“Why?”

Almost no mages are born in the Herta Imperial Family. Despite the many purple eyes that are born.

No one on the continent, not even the Magic Tower, knew the reason.

They only speculated that perhaps the peaceful lives of the imperial family prevented the awakening of magical power.

But Yurik knew the reason.

For the past three hundred years, only the Emperors of Herta had known.

That the talent of the Herta Imperial Family was bound by the curse of Basilinte.

“Could the curse be breaking?”

That shouldn’t be possible.

Yurik’s purple eyes narrowed.

According to the information he had gathered, no matter how great a mage the death row inmate sent in place of the prince had become, the curse of Basilinte couldn’t be broken.

What was needed to break that curse wasn’t a great mage.

And it certainly wasn’t a prince of Herta.

“…I’ll have to take some measures.”

It was a mutter filled with obvious annoyance.

Truly, this was merely a somewhat bothersome matter for Yurik.

A very simple and annoying task that could be easily handled with just one of his orders.

***

For a four-year-old, Kalia was excessively intelligent.

Intelligent enough to express clearly what she wanted even at that age.

“I wish Tan wasn’t here. I want to be alone with Leti.”

The child’s appearance, with hands on her hips and speaking clearly, combined with Basilinte’s distinctive beauty, was extremely cute, but unfortunately, it didn’t work on Tan.

“That’s not possible.”

Kalia, who had been glaring at Tan after his flat refusal, looked at Leticia.

Leticia bent down to meet Kalia’s eyes and whispered kindly.

“That’s right, Kalia. I also want to be alone with you today, but Tan is being too harsh. Isn’t he?”

“It’s still not possible, Leti.”

Kalia hit Tan’s leg with her tiny fist, but Tan just smiled brightly and sat down in the room.

Seeing Tan’s attitude, which showed no intention of leaving, Leticia gave up on driving him out and played with Kalia to her heart’s content until late at night.

Until Kalia’s cheeks, who didn’t usually show much emotion, turned bright red.

Kalia, nestled in Leticia’s arms, rubbed her chubby cheeks against Leticia’s chest and smiled.

“Leti. Love you. Like you. Stay together. Don’t go.”