Chapter 18

After chasing Lyle out, Ethea couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling.  

What a cowardly man. 

Sneaking in while she slept, then even falling asleep next to the child. That could be the start of Lyle’s repeated visits.  

She kept worrying. She should have known this would happen once she started accepting child support from him.  

Speaking of child support, Ethea no longer needed to rely on Javir for living expenses. She sent him a letter about it, but for some reason, Javir didn’t reply. He should have asked where the money was coming from or what was happening, but there was no reaction at all.  

He was always taciturn and she knew he disliked his daughter, but this wasn’t right. She might need to visit him soon.  

Ethea muttered in her troubled mood,  

“That’s disappointing.”  

“What is, Mom?”  

“No, nothing, Gin. Go to sleep. Tomorrow we’re visiting Lily and Lily’s grandmother’s house, remember?”  

“Wait. I need to write a letter to His Majesty. I’ve already sent three, but he hasn’t replied. I want to thank him for the bracelet.”  

“……”  

“His Majesty must be busy, right? That’s probably why he hasn’t replied.”  

“Of course, of course! So don’t be upset if he’s late or doesn’t reply.”  

In a way, it was a relief—it would ease her father’s burden.  

Now Javir could save money without worrying about Ethea and Gin’s living expenses, and he could have plenty of shares in the palladium mine he wanted so much.  

Ethea felt at ease about that.  

***

Ethea busily replaced the furniture. To some, this might seem extravagant, but it was better to change the furniture in her house whenever possible.  

The headboard and footboard of the bed had mold, one leg of the dining table was broken and propped up with books to keep it level, and the desk’s wooden boards were so gapped that pens often fell through. All of them were things she’d gotten from someone or picked up outside, barely making up a proper set, so their condition was poor. It was a miracle they’d lasted this long.  

For physical and mental health, you should spend generously when you have money.  

“I can move the stools myself. Please leave the wheat box to the left of the kitchen door. Thank you.”  

The delivery workers left.  

It was her first time using a delivery service, and it was fun to watch. Maybe they used magic, since they floated the furniture through the air as they moved it around. For Ethea, who only knew alchemy, it was fascinating.  

“Just by changing the furniture, our house looks pretty nice.”  

Feeling good, Ethea started cleaning and organizing.  

She was alone at home today. Gin was at Solei’s mother’s house. Actually, Lily had begged to go, so Gin had to follow, but Ethea thought Gin found Lily’s pestering kind of cute.  

Anyway, Gin would like the new furniture when he came back tonight, right? He used to say the moldy bed was scary. She felt so bad she couldn’t change it sooner.  

Knock knock.  

Suddenly, someone knocked. Thinking the furniture store people had forgotten something, Ethea went to the door.  

“Who is it?”  

“It’s me.”  

She stopped at the familiar voice from beyond the door. Lyle requested,  

“Could you open up for a moment?”  

She was angry. How could he just show up here? Luckily Gin wasn’t home, but still….  

Ethea asked without opening the door,  

“What do you want?”  

Then she realized her mistake.  

Lyle was the Emperor. If he had someone with him, her behavior wouldn’t be appropriate. She didn’t want to admit it, but Lyle had imperial dignity.  

“So annoying. Such a nuisance.”  

Ethea bit her lower lip and muttered quietly as she opened the door.  

Fortunately, Lyle was alone. But…  

‘Ugh, what is that…’  

He was alone, but his outfit was nothing to look at. What’s the point of a handsome face if his clothes lower his dignity?  

Even as a prince, Lyle always wore clothes out of sync with fashion and sense, but now he looked even worse. Did the imperial wardrobe staff have a problem?  

In an era when men wore tight pants, he was in loose trousers and a black turtleneck knit—if you saw him walking by, you’d ask if he was from Drenai’s era rather than the Emperor.  

Pfft.  

Ethea summed up all her thoughts in a mocking laugh.  

Pfft, pfft.  

Lyle glanced around the house behind Ethea and, noticing the changes, smiled as well. Ethea could guess what that smile meant: ‘You changed everything with the child support I gave you. I’m proud. Satisfying.’  

He ignored her for six years, and now, just because he gave a lot of child support, he felt proud—Ethea found it very irritating.  

“Hi, Etty.”  

Lyle finally greeted her, using the old nickname.  

Then, switching the order, he repeated,  

“Etty, hi. Hello.”  

“……”  

“Can’t you say hello with me, Etty?”  

“……”  

“Etty?”  

Stop with the nickname already. 

It felt strange. She didn’t like her heart fluttering just because of a nickname.  

Ethea forced a blank expression to shake off her troubled feelings, then asked without meeting his eyes,  

“I asked what you wanted.”  

He bent down to look at her face and forced her to meet his gaze.  

She avoided it.  

Swish.  

Still, his eyes followed hers.  

Swish.  

She avoided his gaze again.  

Swish.  

Again, his eyes followed hers.  

Swish.  

Ugh. He’s so childish. 

Even as she thought that, Ethea stubbornly resolved not to meet his eyes—a childish determination.  

Let’s do this.

Ethea closed her eyes and smiled, blocking the gaze. It meant: stop bothering me.  

It seemed to work, as his face finally moved away.  

She opened her eyes, but—  

Swish.  

His face and eyes were right there again.  

Even with the rustic clothes, Lyle’s signature lavender perfume was still subtly present.  

“Etty.”  

“…What.”  

“Don’t you have something you did wrong to me?”  

‘What kind of weird question is that? He’s the one who did wrong, and he’s asking if I did?’  

“Think about it, you must’ve done something really wrong to me recently.”  

“I don’t know what you mean.”  

“Sigh. Is it okay to steal someone’s letter or not?”  

“Let…ter.”  

“Who told you to steal someone’s letter? Hm? Isn’t that bad? Who told you to do such a terrible thing?”  

From Lyle’s persistent questioning, Ethea felt a strange familiarity.  

Wait. That kind of questioning—wasn’t it what she usually said to Gin when he caused little trouble?  

Ethea stared at him in disbelief.  

How did he know Gin wrote a letter to the Emperor, and how did he know she intercepted it?  

And now his eyes were moist and red, as if he might cry. Ethea was startled.  

He suddenly backed away and looked at the sky. Sweeping his silver hair back with both hands, maybe he didn’t want her to see the tears in his eyes. His deep, rough voice was slightly damp.  

“I almost missed it.”  

“What, what?”  

“How beautifully my son writes, how correctly he forms sentences, how… lovable my son is.”  

Ethea stopped him.  

“Hey, you keep saying son, son…”  

He lowered his head and looked straight at Ethea. Seeing the tears on his cheek, Ethea unconsciously lowered her voice.  

“You didn’t even raise him, so you shouldn’t say that.”  

“He’s my son because he has my blood.”  

“I don’t accept that.”  

“And he’s your son because he has your blood, so in the end, he’s our son. Our, son.”  

Anyone overhearing would think they were a married couple. Ethea wanted to retort.  

“And from now on, I’ll really start raising Gin myself.”  

“What?”  

“Did you really think just paying child support meant my relationship with Gin was over? I’ll raise Gin.”  

“Lyle!”  

Ethea’s breathing became rough. Saying he’d raise Gin sounded like he was going to take Gin away from her.  

Watching her get worked up, Lyle teased her more.  

“Why? Should I raise you too? How come you haven’t grown? Still a little kid—I should raise you…”  

Unable to listen any longer, she slapped his cheek.  

Smack!  

His increasingly shameless attitude made her snap.  

“Go back.”  

“No.”  

“Do you want to get thrown out?”  

“Apologize.”  

“For what?”  

“For stealing the letter. Apologize.”  

Lyle didn’t look like he’d leave anytime soon, and Ethea felt annoyed but couldn’t push him out further.  

“Fine. I’m sorry for stealing the letter, but, but…”  

“When you apologize, just apologize. Don’t add excuses.”  

“Oh, don’t add excuses? So, Your Majesty, you committed a huge mistake and apologized without any excuses or explanations?”  

“……”  

“Let’s say you received the letter properly. What would you write back to Gin? ‘I’m your dad, you were born through alchemy’—would you say something like that?”  

That was Ethea’s worry.  

Just having Lyle around was unsettling, but she didn’t want him confusing Gin with unnecessary words.  

Gin should grow up as a normal child. Living quietly and peacefully, just as he had so far, was best for him. If he started exchanging letters with the Emperor and became close, becoming the Emperor’s child—it was too dreadful. The palace was always a turbulent place, and would remain so.  

Ethea feared Gin would belong to a world she couldn’t reach. She didn’t want him to grow up under a man who killed nineteen siblings to become Emperor. Was it just her selfishness?