“Honestly, I was jealous. That happy appearance of his made him seem noble from birth, completely different from me. So I pushed that thirteen-year-old boy onto the battlefield.”

I swallowed my shock. Most people thought the Emperor had pushed young Assel to the battlefield for political restraint.

But glimpsing this quite different reality gave me a strange feeling.

“In fact, pushing a thirteen-year-old onto the battlefield alone is a course of action worthy of condemnation, but that wasn’t all. I injected countless things that would gnaw at that child’s soul.”

On one hand, I couldn’t understand. This Emperor revealing his shameful past to me completely. What thoughts did he have in saying such things?

That question was resolved not long after.

“Then one day I met a priest. And I realized how foolish my actions had been, that I had virtually murdered someone’s soul. I suddenly thought it was better that she chose your father instead of me. Especially as I realized that I might have been the one who killed her.”

I opened my eyes wide. I finally understood what the Emperor had been telling me earlier.

His words that neither blamed my mother nor seemed to check Assel.

‘Did he meet a priest and turn his life around?’

But even if that was the case, I was opening my eyes wide, wondering if it was possible for a person to change this much.

“And I became sorry to your husband, Assel.”

I was certain my prediction was correct. But perhaps because of his gloomy eyes at that moment, I couldn’t rashly say anything.

I could only silently listen to his story, as I had been doing until now.

“I wanted to apologize with my whole life, but that child had grown up too much, and I am the Emperor who must shoulder and lead this country. I felt the rift deepening as time passed, but I couldn’t bring myself to speak. Then through this incident, I became certain. What would be the way to ask forgiveness from her and that child.”

“The way…?”

Just as I asked curiously, he nodded with a benevolent smile.

“It’s a method I couldn’t have chosen if not for your decision, but you chose a good option.”

“……Me?”

As I asked skeptically, suddenly the memory from earlier flashed through my mind.

“Then, I’ll give up the position of family head.”

“If the position of family head is not enough to appease Your Majesty’s anger, I will give up all the property I inherited from Father, except for my trading company.”

“So please, just tell me where he is.”

Could it be because of those words…?

I had just followed what my heart told me, but the fact that it came across as a good choice to the Emperor, could it be.

“I’ll ask again. You truly love that child, don’t you?”

The Emperor’s words felt like an opportunity that wouldn’t come again, so I nodded.

“Yes, though I realized it too late.”

He smiled gently and then nodded. His eyes, looking at me as if seeing a praiseworthy daughter, somehow made my heart ache. Because Father would sometimes look at me with such eyes too.

After looking at me with such eyes for a while, the Emperor began heavily,

“……You two suit each other well. That Assel, though he lacks some manly courage, is a kind and solid fellow in his own way. I know because I’ve watched him.”

“That means……”

“Go to him.”

Saying this, the Emperor searched inside his garment and then took out a white envelope from within and handed it to me.

“……!”

Then I realized. That my prediction was correct.

The Emperor had been testing me.

Originally telling me about my mother’s records, pretending to hold a grudge against me because of my mother’s affairs, all of it…

‘It was to test my sincerity.’

But I couldn’t understand. Why?

As I received the envelope and stared at him with puzzled eyes, perhaps noticing this, he chuckled.

“A doubtful look. I just wanted to repay a debt, that’s all.”

“Debt…?”

“Your mother, and that child Assel. I hope this repays even a tenth of the debt I owe to both of them.”

“……”

“Then I’ll be going now. It seems my role is finished with this.”

Saying this, the Emperor rose from his seat, and before I could ask anything more, he turned his back.

Just as I thought he was leaving like that, he stopped at the doorway, turned his body as if he had forgotten something, and said to me,

“And a debt is a debt, a decision is a decision, so I’ll temporarily entrust your position as family head to someone reliable.”

“Ah……”

A sigh escaped at the Emperor’s words, but I soon nodded. After all, it wasn’t a position I had gained with my own strength.

“I understand.”

“……However, I’m not permanently taking away the opportunity, so try to convince people well with your own strength.”

“……”

“By the way, I think it’s about time for the world to change.”

“……!”

Though he spoke indirectly, it meant he was willing to support me. At the Emperor’s words, I bowed my head, and soon the door opened, and he stepped out of the reception room.

❀❀❀

“Dad, aren’t we going home?”

Elysion was depressed. The first day was good because they had come on a trip, but as each day passed, it became less fun.

“What’s wrong, Sion?”

Assel, lying on a sun bed, looked down with worried eyes and asked.

Elysion spoke with a tearful face,

“Because… I’ve made too many sand castles so it’s not fun anymore… and playing in the water isn’t fun anymore either……”

Elysion turned away as if not caring whether the sand castle he was making was hit by waves or not.

“And, Mom isn’t here either……”

Assel spoke in a deliberately stern voice,

“Didn’t I tell you that Mom is busy with work, so we wouldn’t be able to see her even if we went home?”

“But… then, when are we going home?”

“That……”

Assel fell into contemplation.

He was troubled about how to explain this.

‘I can’t tell the child all the circumstances.’

Though he was actually his nephew, after adopting him, Elysion was a precious son to Assel. Seeing his depressed appearance pained his heart too, but he couldn’t just reveal everything about this situation.

Rather, that would only shock the child more.

Nevertheless, he had to tell the story someday, so he fell into contemplation.

Just as he was about to open his mouth with a good idea that suddenly came to mind,

“Oh, isn’t that Mom over there?”

At Elysion’s sudden words, Assel tilted his head.

“Mom?”

Is he talking about Levedi? But he had asked the Emperor to keep his whereabouts strictly secret.

How could Levedi know and come here… he thought.

Soon, seeing a silver-haired woman running from afar, he was certain his thoughts were wrong.

‘Could it really be Levedi?’

Certainly, silver hair wasn’t a common color, but it wasn’t completely non-existent either, so he tried to calm his heart.

“It can’t be Mom.”

And at that very moment when he spoke calmly,

“Mommyyy…!”

Assel turned his head toward the sound. Elysion, already quite far away, was running toward the silver-haired woman.

“Sion, this kid…!”

Truly, a child is like a ball that you never know when or where it will bounce.

He got up from the sun bed, bearing the pain in the back of his neck, and followed Elysion like lightning.

And soon he realized. That he could maintain his composure only until just now.

The moment he discovered himself reflected in those amethyst-like purple eyes, Assel froze.

“How did you come here……”

❀❀❀

The envelope the Emperor handed me contained, as he said, information about Assel’s whereabouts.

“Leontaine Territory Diamond Hotel”

However, I hadn’t expected that location…

‘Leontaine Territory.’

It was the place where Assel and I first met. The very place where I had saved him from drowning.

Perhaps that’s why. I found it a bit unexpected.

I thought he couldn’t stand the sight of me, yet he was staying at a place filled with memories of our first meeting.

‘Maybe it wasn’t as bad as I thought.’

Such a thought flashed by, but soon I chuckled. Because I realized it was a futile hope.

The Diamond Hotel in Leontaine Territory is famous for being the largest and most beautiful among the hotels Assel owns. Enough that there would be no difficulty for Assel and Elysion, the two of them, to live there.

So it’s highly likely that he went there without any particular intention.

“I can no longer trust you.”

Perhaps he chose a place as far from the capital as possible.

But even if that was the case, while I might feel a bit bitter about it, I had no major regrets.

After all, going to Assel was more like a desperate struggle than an act done with any special confidence.

A desperate struggle to hold onto him one last time.

So I boarded a carriage heading to Leontaine without hesitation.

Just thinking that I could see him, I didn’t even pack spare clothes or money, and gave the driver a necklace I was wearing as the carriage fare.

Lest he disappear like afternoon fog on a rainy day while I stopped by home before going there.

I think I realized it then.

Actually, it was a lie that I had no major regrets.

I was desperate. Afraid that the opportunity to hold onto him would disappear forever.

❀❀❀

Now, a month after the day I recklessly boarded a carriage after meeting with the Emperor.

Having arrived in Leontaine Territory by carriage, I diligently searched for him, and at the end, I was able to meet him.

Seeing me, Assel seemed quite surprised.

“How did you come here……”

But perhaps because I hadn’t thought he would welcome me in the first place, I was grateful just that he wasn’t rejecting me adamantly with disgust.

No, in fact, just the fact that he was standing in front of me made something well up from within me.

He stared at me for a while, either surprised or for some other reason.

Just as I was beginning to wonder if something was on my face, his lips opened,

“More importantly, what’s with that appearance……”

“Ah.”

So that was it. The reason he was staring at me.

He was shocked by my appearance. I hadn’t looked in a mirror for three days, so I didn’t know exactly, but… I could guess it was quite serious.

“Ah, I’m sorry… Was it unpleasant?”

“……Not quite unpleasant.”

“I, well… I just got on any carriage I could see from the capital.”

Having traveled by carriage almost non-stop for a month, perhaps because I wasn’t in my right mind, words just came out as they came to mind.

But the highlight was what came next.

Growl!

A sound that suddenly echoed. At first I was flustered, but after belatedly realizing the source of the sound, my face turned red.

I wasn’t the only one flustered. Assel also looked me over with surprised eyes and then opened his mouth,

“You didn’t… eat either?”

“Well……”

I felt ashamed that my stomach clock had rung in front of him. Especially considering our relationship. Nevertheless, I added with a seemingly calm smile,

“……I’m on a diet.”

While traveling by carriage, I had disposed of all the accessories on my body, even my uniform. Originally, as for accessories, I only had a necklace I wore out of habit and a cheap silver ring.

Excessive accessories didn’t match the uniform.

‘If I had known, I would have worn something more expensive.’

I regretted it, but the money was already gone. Thanks to that, I hadn’t been able to stop at an inn for nearly three days.

So by now, I would look like a beggar to anyone.

“……”

I couldn’t bring myself to say it was a forced diet, but looking at Assel’s eyes, he seemed to have a rough idea.

“Just what……”

Just as he seemed about to say something,

“Mommyyy!”

At the voice that suddenly rang out, I lowered my head toward the direction of the sound. There was Elysion looking up at me.

Seeing Elysion after a long time, something hot welled up from within me.

“Sion……”

I wanted to hug the small child tightly.

But I am no longer that child’s mother or anything. As my hand, which had lost its qualification, hovered in the air, Elysion’s lips opened,

“You didn’t eat?”

Just as I was about to be flustered by such a primal question, for some reason, Elysion’s eyes looking at me sparkled.

“……Huh?”

But at my blank response, Elysion murmured in a dejected voice,

“Your stomach… made a sound……”

“Ah.”

“If you didn’t eat… eat with us!”

But what situation is this now? Elysion said that while hugging me tightly.

At the same time, Assel’s eyes widened greatly, and a complicated gaze was directed at me.

“……”

I couldn’t properly meet his gaze.

❀❀❀

It seemed Assel hadn’t told the still young Elysion about our divorce.

And does he still not intend to tell him now?

In the end, unbelievably, Assel, Elysion, and I ended up sitting at the same table.

Honestly, if I had any self-respect, I should have refused that seat, and Assel seemed to have expected this inwardly.

But contrary to my complicated mind, my body was unbearably honest.

Growl.

At the sound that rang out once more, both of their gazes turned to me. Assel soon turned his head and seemed to focus on his food, but then he asked indifferently with a coldly hardened face,

“……Did you come here to eat?”

At a glance, it was a question asking if I had come here to eat, but the meaning contained within wasn’t so simple.

He was deeply puzzled about why I was sitting at this uncomfortable table sharing a meal with them, and why I had come here. Despite his polite indirect questioning, his cold expression and the coldness in his voice were clear, so it wasn’t difficult to grasp his meaning.

However, Elysion was sitting next to me. Elysion, slurping soup with a small spoon, seemed quite hungry and showed no interest in our conversation.

Nevertheless, he didn’t have deaf ears, so I couldn’t easily give an answer. After contemplating for a long time, I began heavily,

“I’m a bit hungry, so could we talk about why I came all this way after eating?”

However, unlike my long contemplation, the words that came out of my mouth were the truth without a shred of falsehood. In fact, I am now in an extremely hungry state.

“I haven’t eaten properly for three days.”

With those words, I picked up a spoon. And at that very moment, I felt as if I had met Assel’s sharp gaze, but I deliberately ignored it and took a big spoonful of soup.

Was it because I was eating after three days? Despite it being just a mushroom soup, if I were to express its taste, it was like a fantastic harmony resonating in my stomach.

They say even nobles would starve after three days, and that’s undoubtedly true, I thought as I focused on the meal while trying my best not to meet Assel’s eyes.

❀❀❀

After the meal, custard pudding with caramel syrup of appropriate consistency was served for dessert. But before I could even take a bite with my spoon, a cool voice dug into my ears,

“……Are you done eating?”

His eyes looking at me as he said this contained no emotion, as if mercilessly. Instead, from his attitude of brushing up his bangs as if tired, I could only infer that he was finding me bothersome.

Feeling that it wouldn’t be right to be greedy for pudding in this situation, I answered in confusion,

“Ah… yes.”

He replied as if he had been waiting,

“Then let’s talk for a moment.”

But perhaps I wasn’t the only one who heard his voice as cold,

“Are Mom and Dad fighting?!”

Elysion, who had been watching this scene, suddenly asked. Assel glanced at Elysion and, unlike how he dealt with me, spoke in a fairly gentle voice,

“It’s not like that.”

With that one sentence from Assel, Elysion soon quieted down.

“We just have something to talk about briefly, so go play with the maids. Understand?”

But there was a curious fact. Assel had always maintained a formal speech pattern with Elysion. I remember asking once and hearing that it was to raise him strongly as a successor.

In contrast, he was now speaking informally to Elysion like any other father.

Why? But I didn’t have time to think about that for long.

It was because of his hand grabbing my wrist and leading me out of the room.

In that moment of strong leading force, I was almost pulled out of the dining room like a magnet meeting an opposite pole.