“Ha! You seem to frequently forget that I am the emperor of this empire.”

“I’m, I’m sorry, Your Majesty. Please forgive my rudeness.”

“Oh, oh my! Your, Your Majesty! Please… please forgive……”

Bestia immediately bowed her head. It was shameless to ask for forgiveness after what she had done, but she had to. Her body trembled. Duke, who had been standing far away, rushed over in surprise.

“Chancellor, can’t you see my expression?”

“Ah… I, I certainly can. Your displeased look clearly says to withdraw immediately, doesn’t it?”

“No. I’m considering simply throwing this woman in prison.”

“Eek… Be-Betty… Hurry…!”

Caenian smiled gently at Duke. His soft voice was even more chilling. Duke bowed, trembling even more than Bestia. Caenian looked down at the two people prostrated on the floor. One eyebrow twitched momentarily before returning to its place.

“Your Majesty, I apologize. I will be more careful in the future. This was my grave mistake.”

“Your mouth seems to always be the problem—will you be careful in the future? It’s not like you’ll stop speaking until you die?”

The woman whose boldness had completely vanished pressed her forehead to the floor. She had to do so now. This was a moment when she could be executed rather than imprisoned, and she would have no right to complain.

“Your Majesty, what should I do to improve your mood after my disrespectful remarks? Please… please show mercy just this once more……”

The tips of her fingers on the floor turned white. Bestia squeezed her eyes shut.

「Duck beastman extinct from persecution.

The last bloodline closes its eyes in the imperial palace!」

A line that would adorn her tombstone flashed through her mind. Garnet and Aesop stood before it. The mere thought was horrifying.

“Your Majesty!”

“……?”

Bestia jerked her head up. Tears immediately welled in her eyes.

“If you give me one more chance, I will never… truly, sincerely, unconditionally……!”

“I want to see her tomorrow.”

“…What?”

“Not twice a week but four times.”

“…What?”

Something seems off?

Bestia tilted her head at Caenian’s unexpected words.

“Perhaps I should sew her mouth shut… Servant. Go fetch thread and needle.”

“Gasp… Four times! Fine! Four times, absolutely! I’ll bring Betty tomorrow too, Your Majesty!”

But there was no need to think further. She nodded immediately, thinking only of avoiding danger. Only then did Caenian’s face brighten. Something was very strange.

“Servant. Bring a new agreement instead of thread and needle.”

“It’s ready here, Your Majesty.”

Moreover, the servant’s action of immediately handing over two sheets of paper seemed very natural, and…

Now she could see Potters trying to hold back his laughter…

Feeling suspicious, Bestia looked at Duke.

Grandpa Chancellor. Don’t I seem to have been tricked just now?

Tricked how?

Counterattack. It was a complete reversal.

Anxious glances were quickly exchanged.

“Your Majesty, when did you take acting lessons?”

Potters followed behind Caenian as they left the audience chamber. As someone who always followed him like a shadow, it wasn’t awkward.

“What are you talking about, Sir Potters.”

“Your acting was so impressive that even the Chancellor was completely fooled.”

It was the first time he had given a thumbs-up, forgetting his position. Potters was amazed. He felt like he had just watched a play.

“No matter how much she pretends, she’s still sixteen.”

“You struck at her vulnerability by understanding the characteristics of that age group.”

“It’s not about characteristics but teenage rebellion.”

“Did Your Majesty also go through puberty?”

Footsteps mixed with voices echoed through the magnificent corridor. Caenian paused briefly as he passed the imperial palace.

“I did. For quite… a long time.”

“Really? I never noticed.”

He stood before what used to be his old residence, the crown prince’s palace. The well-polished marble path branched into two directions from there.

One led back to the imperial palace. The other toward the Emerald Palace where the late empress had stayed until her final breath.

“Since I’ve known Your Majesty from my youth, you’ve always been dignified and mature……”

“I wish to walk alone.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Caenian’s gaze deepened as he looked into the distance. Potters, failing to notice this, chattered away despite his imposing stature. Caenian cut him off. At that authoritative command, Potters immediately stepped back. He bowed his head slightly in respect.

Caenian slowly moved forward. His heavy footsteps continued along the marble path.

“The sunset… is beautiful……”

At the end of the marble path. His languid gaze reached the green building.

True to its name, the Emerald Palace was constructed entirely of malachite and gold. The palace, embraced warmly by the red sunset glow, remained quiet. And clean.

“Open the door.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Despite the guard’s surprise at the emperor’s sudden visit, not a speck of dust rose when he opened the heavy door.

“This place remains unchanged.”

Though its owner had departed, no trace of time had accumulated to greet those who remained. Everything was exactly as it had been before, as if she might open the door of that chamber and come out at any moment.

“Mother, why aren’t you here……”

In front of the high windows with colored glass following the arched ceiling, the son bowed his head. The late empress Estina had loved this time of day the most.

The time when natural light shone upon her who had lost her own light.

“I… gave you such a hard time, didn’t I?”

The bed was the same too. Caenian stood before it where no one lay. Again, he muttered to himself.

He unnecessarily straightened the elaborately embroidered pillow. He slipped his hand into the blanket rich with lace.

‘Son, why are your hands so cold?’

Hoping Estina would hold his hand.

His mother, who always worried about him despite having a colder body temperature than his own, who always had a pale complexion.

“If I could go back to that time, I wouldn’t speak such harsh words to you, Mother.”

No matter how deep he pushed his hand into the blanket, no one was there to hold it.

Caenian withdrew his hand with a bitter expression. He sat on the bed and carefully examined the room. A fragment of memory sparkled in the corner. A hallucination unfolded before his eyes of the door he had just opened bursting open again.

* * *

“Mother!”

Crown Prince Caenian rushed in. He was sixteen years old. His eyes were bloodshot.

“My son, why are you angry again today?”

“Mother! Father said he’s going to kill the ape I rescued and have been raising!”

“…Son, you keep bringing animals from somewhere.”

“The empire has no shortage of injured animals. You know the reason why.”

Caenian’s eyes were swollen, veins bulging in his neck. Estina raised her arms with difficulty.

“Caenian… my good son.”

Her hand trembled as it rose toward her son’s cheek. But her snow-white hand fell before it could wipe his eyes.

“…Mother.”

The boy who longed for her touch had slightly wavering pupils. But that was only for a moment.

“If they forcibly take my ape away, I won’t just stand by this time.”

“What will you do if you don’t stand by…”

“I’ll fight.”

His eyes now burned with rage. Thousands, tens of thousands of lives had been lost under the pretext of protecting him. He wondered what meaning there was in climbing over the corpses of the wronged.

“Oh, Caenian. What are you saying?”

“Father is going mad. No, he’s already mad. You know that too, Mother.”

“Caenian, His Majesty is both your father and the emperor of the empire.”

“So what? Is he doing such crazy things because he’s afraid I’ll be too stupid to inherit his position?”

His pride was deeply wounded. He had been educated by the best teachers and learned swordsmanship from the best swordsmen.

Everyone praised him until their lips went dry. It was praise he deserved. After all, he had developed his abilities by cutting back on eating and sleeping.

“Caenian, His Majesty is doing this for you—”

“That cowardly excuse! I’m sick of it! I’m sixteen now. I can take care of myself!”

But to his father, he seemed to be just an inadequate son. For some reason his father didn’t trust him and tried to solve everything himself.

“Son… His Majesty simply loves and cherishes you, that’s why he acts this way. Please try to understand his feelings.”

Estina stretched both arms upward this time. Unlike before, Caenian took a step back. He ignored her fingertips trembling in the air. His heart ached, but he gritted his teeth and endured.

“Mother, do you know? The person who claims to love me doesn’t know a single thing about what I like or what I’m good at.”

Every moment had been lonely. He learned about parental love from books. There were many days when he secretly watched children in the capital playing with wooden swords with their fathers, then wiped away tears.

“Father spends all his time on false, vain prophecies.”

Caenian closed his eyes tightly, then opened them and sneered.

“He doesn’t even come to see you lying here like this, does he?”

“…Caenian.”

“That’s the kind of person Father is. He’s mad. I’m ashamed that he’s my father.”

As soon as Caenian finished speaking, he turned around. He ignored Estina’s strained voice calling him. That was the last time. The thoughtless child’s harsh words became poison, taking the life of his fragile mother the following year.

“Ah… Mother……!”

By the time Caenian wept with regret, it was already too late.

* * *