“Father. I’ve arrived.”

“Cairo.”

In the Central Palace where his children had left, the emperor who lived there alone raised his head at his son’s call. Though Crown Prince Cairo helped a lot, there was still much for the emperor to do.

“What about Louis? Still don’t know where he is?”

“A letter arrived this morning, as it happens. He says not to look for him for a while. Something about seeing a mermaid in the Ludeta territory. He’s developed another useless interest. That guy really……”

At his son’s mention of a mermaid, the emperor’s face momentarily hardened. The increasing traces of different species—it was time for a systematic investigation.

But it wasn’t something he needed to discuss with his son right now, so Roshan simply nodded. Seeing his father’s reaction, Cairo immediately moved the conversation to the next topic.

“Preparations for Aisha’s debutante are progressing smoothly. Look, these are the items you instructed us to take care of.”

Roshan, who was about to skim through the documents his son presented, examined them carefully after noticing Cairo’s expression. Though there were some minor deficiencies, the documents were nearly perfect. Roshan smiled slightly and said to his son,

“Well done. There’s nothing to fix.”

Cairo’s face reddened slightly at his father’s praise, but then hardened when he caught a glimpse of his father’s expression. With a bitter face, he asked the emperor,

“……Will you go to the Ivory Palace today as well?”

Roshan affirmed by not responding to his son’s question. After Yerena’s death, he had occasionally visited the Ivory Palace, but since the princes turned fifteen and completed their coming-of-age ceremony, he had been visiting almost daily.

Cairo knew that the Ivory Palace remained exactly as it was when his mother was alive. And he also knew what face his father made in that place filled with traces of his mother.

“Father. May I ask you one thing?”

Cairo quietly observed his father before suddenly speaking. Roshan looked at his son who said he had something to ask.

“While you visit the Ivory Palace every day, why don’t you visit Mother’s grave?”

“……”

“You haven’t set foot there once since the funeral.”

A father who never visited his mother’s grave….. One might think him heartless, but neither Cairo nor any of his siblings thought so. After their mother’s death, their father’s appearance was that of someone alive but not living.

Looking at their father’s expression, mixed with sorrow and resignation, reminded them of a taxidermied animal or an empty seashell. He showed some life in his expression when looking at Cairo and his siblings, but Cairo couldn’t shake the feeling that even that was fabricated.

“I still don’t deserve it.”

“Pardon?”

Roshan spoke without pretense. But Cairo couldn’t understand his father’s words. Roshan looked at his son and smiled faintly.

“……But soon, perhaps. You prepare everything well, Cairo.”

“Father. What have you been saying all this time……”

“I know everything. That you’ve chosen a wife.”

At his father’s words, Cairo’s face turned much redder than when he had received praise earlier. How did he know? We’ve been meeting in secret.

But he also thought this was a good opportunity. Cairo said to the smiling emperor,

“……Are you giving permission for my relationship with Chloe?”

“I have no reason to object. Her family and father are good enough. And above all, she’s the girl you love.”

“……”

“Your mother would have gladly approved too.”

Excited by his father’s words, Cairo forgot his position as crown prince and jumped up as he used to do in front of his father when he was young. After saying thank you several times, he rushed off to deliver the good news to his lover.

The emperor watched his son’s retreating figure before turning his gaze back to the window. The sunlight was breaking into golden ripples. He muttered in a bitter voice,

“……I’m sorry to all of you.”

* * *

The princess’s debutante ended successfully. The emperor was busy for a while sorting through the marriage proposals pouring in for his beautiful daughter. The following year, he was busy with the crown prince’s wedding, and the year after that, trying to dissuade Prince Louis who wanted to go on an adventure far out to sea. The year after that, he spent hectic days dealing with a sudden invasion from another country.

Before heading to the battlefield, the emperor entrusted most of his duties and the imperial seal to the crown prince. People said he had entrusted the seal to the crown prince out of concern that he might die in battle.

But the emperor, who had gone to the battlefield after a long time, was no different from when he was known as the Reaper. The invasion war ended quickly. Upon his return, the emperor moved his residence from the Central Palace to the Ivory Palace. He then delegated all his remaining duties and imperial authority to the crown prince.

Louis and Aisha told their father that he was still young and should continue working. But Cairo, who sensed something, looked at his father with a stiff face. He deliberately avoided meeting with him.

Another year passed. By now, Louis and Aisha had also noticed their father’s intentions. The shocked princess tried to dissuade her father but was stopped by her brother.

“You’ve come.”

It was early summer, a day when lilies were blooming profusely in the Ivory Palace. Cairo, who had been desperately avoiding his father, sought him out first.

Cairo was surprised by his father’s face among the lilies. Despite looking too young for his age, his expression had always made him seem older somehow, but now he looked like a young man.

“Your child was born. Aisha is married too. As for Louis…… well, he’ll figure things out when the time comes.”

The emperor spoke, looking at his son who said nothing. And before his son could say anything, he ended the conversation with a brief statement,

“Thank you. And I’m sorry.”

Cairo couldn’t stop his father as he walked away. He could only shed tears, anticipating the news that would soon come.

A day passed, and as Cairo had expected, sad news spread throughout the palace.

His Majesty the Emperor has passed away. At his wife’s grave, surrounded by blooming white lilies.

* * *

The man knelt before the tombstone, extending his arm to aim a sword at his own chest.

“I kept my promise to the best of my ability. If you think I did well……”

The man muttered and moved his hand without hesitation. A sound of skin tearing and flesh piercing rang out in an instant.

With a thud, he collapsed to the side. Golden light swirled around him countless times, but unlike other times, it gradually faded and eventually disappeared.

Death approached. Unable to bring his dirty hands to the tombstone, he stroked the white flowers growing beside it and whispered his unfinished last words,

“……Please look back at me just once. Yerena.”

* * *

The Vistius Empire was once the most powerful in the old continent. If one were to name the most memorable emperor, this author would mention Roshan Vistius, the 37th emperor.

Born as the legitimate son of the previous emperor, he lost the throne for some reason and roamed battlefields at a young age. At that time, he was said to have possessed such outstanding martial prowess that he was called the Reaper.

With each swing of Roshan Vistius’s sword, a hundred enemies would fall amid golden light. This author speculates that he might have been blessed by Anyasha, the Goddess of Light. Since Emperor Roshan Vistius lived during a time when some gods’ powers still remained in the old continent, this is probably an accurate assumption.

Perhaps because of Anyasha’s power, he succeeded in reclaiming the throne. Soon after his accession, he took Yerena Rockzenta, the second daughter of Marquis Rockzenta, as his empress, and many interesting anecdotes remain about this.

Among them, this author focused on records suggesting that Empress Yerena Vistius was not actually the daughter of House Rockzenta but a woman of prisoner origin. Given various circumstances, this seems highly likely.

Love with a prisoner. It sounds romantic. However, examining further records of the prisoner presumed to be Empress Yerena, one wonders if it can truly be called romantic. After all, it was her husband, Emperor Roshan Vistius, who invaded her country and killed her family.

Whatever happened between them, it seems certain that the emperor loved the empress dearly. They had three children together. This author speculates that the empress must have accepted and adapted to her cruel fate.

Emperor Roshan Vistius’s death is also deeply connected to Empress Yerena. After his wife’s death, Emperor Roshan Vistius entrusted his duties to Crown Prince Cairo Vistius, and after the invasion of the Kingdom of Anasia, he transferred most of the emperor’s authority to the crown prince. Not long after, Emperor Roshan Vistius met his death.

More accurately, it would be right to say he chose it.

Emperor Roshan Vistius took his own life in front of Empress Yerena’s grave. He precisely drove a sword into his heart…… It is said that the blood that flowed from the emperor’s heart along the sword was black.

From Chapter 14 of the History of the Old Continent.