Chapter 12
“…What do you mean all of a sudden?”
Aaron tilted his head.
The look in his eyes clearly said, are you trying to stall for time with more nonsense?
This insolent bastard.
Artius glared at Aaron with murderous eyes for a moment, then opened his mouth.
“If children usually don’t call their father ‘father,’ is that an intelligence-related issue?”
“…If you’re referring to the princess, the problem is that Your Majesty has no conscience.”
“Do you want to die?”
“I’m just stating the facts.”
It was a truly irrelevant answer.
Aaron’s harsh words laden with heavy facts didn’t stop there.
“When the princess was born, you didn’t even hold her, and when you went to see her after six months, you said you wouldn’t consider her your daughter.”
“That was… right after the war, and also—”
“But it’s true that you said you wouldn’t consider her your daughter.”
Artius couldn’t say a word.
Seizing the opportunity, Aaron fired away.
“Moreover, even now, you don’t think of the princess as anything more than a successor, so why would she want to call you dad at this point? You really have big dreams. If the princess turns out twisted or runs away, it will all be Your Majesty’s fault.”
“…Insolent. Who said I wanted to be called that? I’m just suspicious that she might have an intelligence issue since she’s not saying what she should. Wouldn’t it be a big problem if the child who will become emperor is stupid?”
“Yes, yes, you may think so. However, it’s true that there is no problem with the princess’ intelligence. Rather, according to Lady Fortrun, she seems incomparably more precocious than Your Majesty was as a child, so there’s no need to worry.”
“…Are you done talking?”
“Actually, there’s more left, but since it doesn’t seem like it will end in one chapter, I’ll stop here for now. Let’s go, please! We’re late for the meeting!”
Aaron pushed Artius’ back with both hands.
Artius moved his feet sluggishly with a face that had been hit hard by the facts.
It wasn’t that he wanted to be called dad.
But it was way too different from what he had studied.
Before Elonia was born, Artius had looked up parenting books and asked nobles with children how to raise a child in between battles.
And Artius’ parenting mentor had said:
“Bonding with the child is important. Most nobles leave childcare in the hands of others, but that shouldn’t be done. It’s useless to try to get close later on.”
“But according to this book, children instinctively recognize their parents.”
“That’s when they’re newborns. If you don’t get involved in parenting and then tell the grown child that you’re their parent, the child will only agree outwardly but won’t accept it inwardly.”
So was that why?
‘But the princess is still young.’
No matter how you look at it, it’s unreasonable to say she’s all grown up at this age.
Besides, although he couldn’t see her for the first 6 months after she was born, after that, he had consistently visited Elonia in his own way.
But Elonia mocked Artius, calling him an idiot, and seemed to hate calling him dad so much that she made wordplays starting with “ba.”
After her brain had grown to some extent, she must have judged that she could no longer pretend to be a baby, so she started calling him “Your Majesty.”
‘It’s definitely not an intelligence issue.’
How could she be stupid when she’s this cunning?
If you look closely, her skill at getting under people’s skin is no joke.
She’s also very particular about people.
She acts so friendly toward her aunt Sarah, who isn’t even blood-related, saying “Sarah, I like you” repeatedly, while her gaze toward her biological father is exceptionally insolent.
Moreover, after the day she was shown the executions, she even threw her pillow and rattle.
‘…I guess that was understandable.’
He thought he had gone too far then, but he only did what had to be done.
Anyway, even taking that into account, it was incomprehensible.
Elonia sometimes looks at his neck with eerie eyes as if she wants to sever it.
‘Who would see a normal baby with those eyes?’
Not stopping at that conclusion, Artius even made an absurd assumption.
‘Maybe Cheron’s ghost is possessing Elonia.’
Why, wasn’t the trace of magic 4 years ago too similar to Cheron’s?
Moreover, despite being a baby, she didn’t cry even when people died and instead killed someone with magic without batting an eye.
Of course, at that time, for some reason, she was afraid of his hands, but now there’s no such indication at all.
There’s no way a baby whose head isn’t even dry would really know everything and act accordingly.
So Cheron’s ghost must be tormenting Artius, who broke his last will.
If someone heard this, they would say the tyrant had finally gone completely mad and was even having delusions, but it was a sufficient possibility.
‘…Come to think of it, idiot.’
For the first time, Artius recalled the title Elonia had called him.
No one dared to call the emperor an idiot.
Until now, only those two had called Artius an idiot.
“That’s not why I’m sad now, Artius. You idiot. Stupid Your Majesty.”
“Is this an idiot? So this is why Ravanta’s soldiers are stupid.”
At first, Artius clearly visited the child to look for traces of Empress Philemia or Princess Cheron in Elonia.
But whenever he faced that child, for some reason, a corner of his heart felt unpleasant, and as if it was the same for her, Elonia also kept her distance from him.
The actions and words that child used to distance herself from him reminded him of those women one by one, constantly digging at Artius’ deep wounds.
There were countless other things Elonia had in common with those women.
The habit of pressing her temple with a pen while contemplating, then gleefully twirling the pen when it was resolved, and the habit of swinging her legs when eating something delicious constantly reminded him of Philemia.
Her flat yet biting manner of speech somehow resembled Princess Cheron.
‘Why does she resemble Cheron when she’s Philia’s and my child?’
Ah, that’s right.
Cheron’s ghost must have really possessed her.
He had to get that ghost out of Elonia somehow.
He felt like he could only live if he got rid of that child who kept invading his memories.
The Asta ducal family suddenly came to mind.
The second child of the Asta family would be around Elonia’s age.
‘They say young children are easily influenced by their peers.’
Artius hoped that as Elonia was influenced by other children, she would shed the image of Philemia and Cheron that she had.
A child who doesn’t resemble Philemia.
And a child who has been freed from Cheron’s ghost.
A child in whom not a single lovable quality remains.
If such a child called him father…
‘…It would be truly ridiculous.’
Yes.
It’s ridiculous just thinking about it.
If that happened, it seemed like he would finally be able to detach himself from Elonia.
* * *
Elonia blankly stared at the fluffy pink cotton candy-haired boy sitting in front of her.
In his arms was the book Elonia had left in the back garden while running away earlier.
Recognizing the book, Sarah also asked:
“Oh my. Excuse me, young master. That book…”
“Huh? You know the owner of this book?”
“Yes. That’s the book the princess was carrying earlier, so why do you have it, young master…?”
Sarah trailed off.
Then the naive pink-haired boy spoke with a face full of dissatisfaction.
“I went out to the back garden earlier and picked it up. More importantly, do you know where the palace maid who was there earlier is? She dared to throw me to the ground and ran away.”
“Pardon? Such an insolent person…! I’m truly sorry, young master. Please give us a description. We will find her.”
“She had long brown hair and was tall. And she had purple eyes.”
“…Excuse me, young master. There is no such person in the Princess Palace.”
“What? Lies! I definitely saw her!”
‘Sigh.’
Elonia inwardly sighed.
Although she looks expressionless on the outside, Elonia is actually the most tense she has been recently.
Because the insolent palace maid that pink-haired young master is talking about is none other than Elonia.
‘Why did this happen?’
Elonia regretted using magic for nothing.
As for how this happened, we need to go back 3 hours.
* * *
Elonia happily went out to the back garden of the Princess Palace.
Past the lavishly decorated garden, there is a place where trees are harmoniously dense, and this is Elonia’s stress relief spot.
But today, she didn’t come to stretch her body.
It was because she was in a good mood from not seeing Artius’ face all day.
“Whew.”
Elonia plopped down under the biggest tree.
Seeing the clear sky under the large shade made her mood even better.
‘How nice would it be if every day were like today?’
Growing up like this, severing Artius’ neck, and then escaping the palace herself.
A true happy ending.
It was a shame she couldn’t achieve it right now.
Elonia stretched with the thought that time heals all wounds and opened the book she brought.
When she was almost done reading the book that was neither too thick nor too thin, she heard a rustling sound nearby.
“…?”
Naturally, the back garden of the Princess Palace belongs to Elonia, and it’s off-limits to everyone except the maids and the emperor.
But the footsteps she heard just now were definitely those of a young child.
‘Who is it?’
Elonia took out the dagger hidden under her skirt just in case and used magic to transform into a maid of the Princess Palace.
It was a difficult magic to use at this age, but it was better than causing an uproar again for the princess using magic.
By the way, the dagger was swiped from a knight of the Princess Palace.
Rustle. Thud.
The child who had been busily pushing through the bushes finally came out, and Elonia quickly caught and subdued him, pointing a sword made of mana at him.
“Ahhh!”
“Who are you?”
“Wha-what! Who are you!”
“I asked who you are. How dare you set foot here, knowing where this is?”
The boy, dangling from Elonia who had transformed into a maid, flailed and shouted:
“How dare you lay a hand on me, how impudent!”
“I don’t want to hear that from a ruffian who dared to intrude into the Princess Palace.”
“Ruffian! How dare you call the young master of the Asta ducal family a ruffian!”
“What business does a child of the Asta family have in daring to enter the Princess Palace? I haven’t heard of it.”
“His Majesty called me to be Princess’ playmate, what are you talking about! Such a stupid palace maid, ahhh!”
The conversation that seemed like it would be an endless string of “how dare you”s ended with a single sentence from the boy.
Elonia was so surprised that she dropped the boy.
The boy gracelessly fell on his bottom in the bushes.
‘Artius? Why would that guy…?’
Elonia’s face turned serious.
Seeing that, the child became triumphant, patted his bottom as he got up, and pointed his finger.
“Hmph, now you get it! How greatly you have offended me!”
“…But as long as there was no notice delivered to the Princess Palace, I can’t trust you.”
“It’s true! And don’t speak informally to me!”
No matter how loudly the child shouted, Elonia didn’t hear him.
If he was around that age from the Asta family, he would be the second young master.
His name was Llewellyn Asta, 10 years old.
Pink curly hair and golden eyes.
‘The description is clear, but…’
But she had never heard that the Asta young master was really coming.
Moreover, a playmate?
There was no way Artius would have given Elonia such a thing.
‘I’ll have to go back and check.’
Elonia hastily turned around.
“Huh? Hey, where are you going! Apologize before you go!”
But a child’s body couldn’t catch up to Elonia, who had taken on an adult’s appearance.
Elonia quickly dashed into the Princess Palace.