“The wounds on your mother’s body were inflicted that way. She didn’t commit s*icide because she was suffering from what Duke Shaunt said. Rather, Duke Shaunt… apologized to her for his mistake and confessed his love the day before.”

“Emmerin.”

Her mother had a happy face.

While embracing Emmerin who was looking up at her with tears, she radiated the unique atmosphere of someone in love.

“Emmerin.”

The day before her mother passed away.

This was the scene where she had called her and spoken tenderly.

“Mulburn, your father is a kind person.”

Along with her mother’s bright smile that she hadn’t seen in a while, those words had firmly lodged in her heart.

Her mother smiled beautifully like wild roses blooming in full across a field.

“He appears cold on the outside, but inside he’s incredibly gentle… He just hides things that might hurt others.”

After saying that, her mother gently stroked Emmerin’s head.

“To Mulburn, you and I are extremely precious people. So precious that he wouldn’t want to lose us no matter what happens… Though he made a mistake due to momentary emotions, I know now. That Mulburn treasures us more than her.”

“Duke Shaunt… confessed his love to your mother.”

Unable to endure it any longer, Emmerin shed tears.

A dream. Moreover, even though it was in the past, today her body strangely moved on its own.

“He confessed to my mother, a foreign dancer, but after being rejected, she advised him not to confuse who was truly precious to him. Duke Shaunt accepted this directly and pondered what was most important to him. As a result, he realized that your mother and you were most precious to him, so he presented flowers and confessed his love again.”

Along with a vow never to look at another woman again.

Along with a love confession that his heart belonged only to Seira.

“Oh my… Emmerin, why are you crying? Did I hug you too tightly?”

When her mother asked with a worried face, Emmerin poured out tears while clinging to her neck. Unable to speak properly, she just shook her head, and her mother stroked Emmerin’s head with a pitying expression and patted her back.

She had missed that tender touch so much.

“Mother. Mother…”

Emmerin cried while clinging to her neck.

“Yes, Emmerin.”

“…Don’t you hate Father?”

Then her mother smiled gently.

“I don’t hate him.”

“Mother…!”

She smiled gently while stroking the child whose tears had burst forth.

She stroked Emmerin’s head with that warm touch.

The reason tears came from that gentleness was because her current mother existed in a past that could never return.

No matter what she did, it could never be changed.

“Emmerin. I don’t know if you’ll understand, but we were bound by a political marriage for the benefit of our families.”

“Mother…”

“Usually political marriages happen while leaving behind someone you love, so everyone casually has affairs. But neither Mulburn nor I had anyone we loved. Moreover, I had only seen Mulburn’s face once or twice, so we were awkward at first.”

Chuckle, her mother laughed lightly.

“But Mulburn never once had an affair. Except for confessing to that foreign dancer, he never once turned his gaze to anyone else. And Mulburn always listened to what I had to say. Even when I had clumsy parts, he understood me, and more than a close friend, more than a passionately loving lover, he cared for my heart.”

Even though he had confessed to the dancer.

That’s why he ultimately returned to her and Emmerin’s side.

“At first I was shocked that he confessed to her, but Mulburn apologized to me afterward. He presented gifts and told me that he would never turn his eyes to another woman again, that only I and Emmerin were precious to him. So even if I resented and disliked him, he would always do his best for me and you from now on.”

Her mother’s pink lips rose happily.

Emmerin could see her mother’s sweet smile even through her tear-blurred vision.

Her mother tapped Emmerin’s nose and smiled mischievously.

“So Emmerin… trust Mulburn, your father.”

“I will continue apologizing until your heart is at peace.”

“Whatever you want, I will bring it to you.”

“My life is dedicated solely to you and Emmerin.”

“That’s what he said. I… trust Mulburn who has been faithful only to me until now.”

“…Mother.”

Emmerin wailed and buried her face in her mother’s nape. At the same perfume scent that was exactly like the one her current father wore, Emmerin couldn’t stop her tears.

She realized that her father, Duke Shaunt… had been continuously using the same perfume that her mother had worn, missing her.

For over ten years, without missing a single day.

“So you too.”

Emmerin. Her mother called her so tenderly.

“Don’t hate Mulburn too much.”

After that. Pure white light enveloped Emmerin.

***

Emmerin blankly lifted her eyelids.

She could feel movement in her belly. The sensation of her heart beating inside her chest and the uniform thumping wrapped around Emmerin.

Like calling “Mama.”

“Are you awake, Emmerin?”

Warm hands slowly stroked Emmerin’s forehead. After a palm gently settled on her cheek, a light shadow fell. The sensation touching her lips so gently felt so good that Emmerin blankly looked up at him.

The arc drawn at Ibris’s lips was truly sweet. Like a sun god who descended to care for people under the sun. He was stroking her cheek with a truly tender smile. 

His hand slowly came down and gently caressed her round belly. Each time his fingers touched her protruding belly, the child kicked like responding. That sensation seemed to welcome her father, making Emmerin feel like tears would come.

“You know, Ibris.”

“Yes, Emmerin.”

Tears shimmered in Emmerin’s pink eyes.

Seeing this, Ibris’s gaze became clouded, and he soon made a pitying expression while wiping Emmerin’s eyes. But like that was a signal, when Emmerin’s eyelids closed once and opened again, water drops rolled down her cheeks pitifully.

“I thought until now that Father didn’t treasure me… until I learned the truth.”

“…”

“And even now. Even now that I know all the facts, I think the way Father loved me was wrong. Restricting my meals by relying only on what I said as a child, and instead of trying to find out better things… he was scared of making mistakes that would distance our hearts, so he made assumptions and educated me that way.”

Ibris quietly gazed into Emmerin’s eyes. Emotions of pity and understanding settled in her eyes filled with sadness, and he slowly bowed his head closer to her. Their foreheads touched. When his silver hair fell down, it seemed like warm fever flowed down along the skin.

“I agree with that too. Duke Shaunt’s method wasn’t right. He tried to protect you by isolating you from the world, but that ultimately made you dangerous. Even hiding my connection with my mother and my identity as the First Prince left room for the Second Prince to scheme… If Duke Shaunt had apologized to you and me and asked for help, it would have been quickly resolved, but he ended up nurturing it instead.”

Emmerin felt a tingling inside her chest and stroked Ibris’s cheek. While making eye contact, what was reflected in each other’s eyes was only one person. Looking quietly at the one who held the unique color in their world of two, Emmerin’s lips moved.

“But I can deeply feel that Father loved me.”

“…”

The silver-haired young man just quietly waited for his wife’s words and nodded. In that gentle silence, Emmerin gained even more courage and could pull out the end of this story that had been bubbling inside her.

“When the former Emperor saw me, who had just turned twenty, at the ball and talked about making me a concubine. If Father hadn’t immediately sent me to you, Ibris, I would have been trampled by the Emperor without any chance to bloom my love.”

“…Emmerin.”

Emmerin smiled slightly like a spring flower. Knowing well what path that smile had taken to bloom like this, Ibris kissed Emmerin’s lips lightly with a sorrowful expression. The sensation of those soft and warm lips touching felt so sweet that Emmerin grinned.

But her words continued.

“And perhaps… if Father hadn’t betrayed the former Emperor for my sake and pretended not to know about you and the Revolutionary Army. I might not be here now.”

“Emmerin…”

Ibris didn’t want to agree with those words, but not wanting to interrupt his wife’s words, he just called her name.

It was somewhat true.

The Revolutionary Army’s easy removal of the former Emperor from the throne… was also thanks to Duke Shaunt, a Sword Master and commander of the First Imperial Knight Order, not stopping the Revolutionary Army and just staying holed up in Duke Shaunt’s estate with Emmerin.

‘Moreover, Duke Shaunt had watched most of the First Knight Order defect to the Revolutionary Army at that time. He kept it secret without reporting to the Emperor. That’s why preparing the revolution was easy. We could draw most of the personnel guarding the palace into the revolutionary forces.’

“Father is a high noble to his bones. Such a person even made deals with you, Ibris, and overlooked the Revolutionary Army for my sake alone. Of course, at that time I didn’t know Father’s true feelings and thought he was just taking me hostage to protect the ducal house… But that wasn’t it. He was worried the Second Prince might approach, so he had so many servants at the mansion to monitor if anyone was approaching me.”

Emmerin shed a tear and lifted the corners of her lips. While listening to his wife’s delicate voice, Ibris stroked her cheek comfortingly.

Then he kissed her lips once more.

Emmerin closed her eyes and parted her lips. The smooth flesh heated to a burning temperature began to ravage inside Emmerin’s mouth. But the pace was slow, seemingly wanting to let her thoroughly taste the pleasure, so Emmerin trembled her shoulders breathlessly while feeling the pleasure of her mucous membranes being caressed.

Ibris’s tongue swept down Emmerin’s palate and entwined with her tongue, mysteriously pulling and rubbing from root to tip.

“Haah. Ibris. Mmh. Ibris…”

“Yes. Emmerin. My Emmerin.”

The tingling sadness slowly subsided.

Without realizing it, she felt the area between her thighs getting wet and closed her legs. His fingers explicitly pressed down on that wet area and slid his fingertips into her entrance. Welcoming that insertion, Emmerin let out a small m*an while looking up at Ibris earnestly with moist eyes.

“Ah. Haaah. Ib…”

Ibris chuckled at her eyes that clearly wanted his member’s insertion.

“Did you want to eat plenty of mine with your lower mouth, Emmerin?”