Chapter 26: 26

“Is this for real…Elizabeth…Did the little girl wear something like this…?”

The queen’s voice was trembling. The walls of the spacious dressing room were hung with all gorgeous but uncomfortable dresses.

However, what she pointed to was not something like a heavy dress even for adults.

When the Duchess found the corset she had hurriedly removed from the fainted Elizabeth, she gave a light nod.

“You were just raising her, not educating her. How could you lock the child in a prison moulded like human body like that.”

Of all her comfortable clothes she had just found, except for her pajamas, there were only three of them were acceptable for the small child to wear.

They had a different sleeve length and were found slipped off a hanger or tucked away in a corner.

“Do you know what Elizabeth usually likes?”

The Duchess only bowed her head and stood quiet.

The Empress sighed deeply, rubbing her forehead.

“…jewels are not needed. If there is anything that the young lady has shown attachment to, even a little is fine, take it all.”

Elizabeth’s cherished items collected were only a few fairy tale books whose pages were missing as if someone had tore them on purpose, of course, except for the shoes and flower ring that Leon gave her.

There was not a single doll nor a favourite cozy blanket that a girl her age would usually have. The empress bit her lip and suppressed her anger at the bleak result. 

After a long time, once the carriage with the imperial crest on it had completely passed through the forest surrounding the Duchy, the Empress spat out.

“You kept your promise.”

“Promise?”

“You said there would be four when we come back.”

The Empress stared at the Emperor’s side, as he was staring out the window.

She could see the corner of his lips, which had been tightly shut, rising little by little.

“I am not the wind spirit beyond the window, Your Majesty.”

Only then did the Emperor turn his head and took the Empress’s hand in his.

The Empress rested her head on the Emperor’s shoulder and closed her eyes.

On the other side, Leonhardt and Elizabeth were asleep with their heads on each other’s.

Leonhardt’s eyes, which had been slightly opened, were shut again as a thought came to his mind.

‘It’s fortunate that Elizabeth is by my side.’

***

“Our family is now over. How did Elysium end up like this? How will I face my ancestors when I die?!”

The duke had been circling around the same spot for a while, veins around his neck.

“Damn it! To think I have suffered such humiliation. The royal family would not have come this far if the blood of Elysium had not been mixed in with the royal family for generations..””

The Duchess was in agony.

She was proud of her family, the representative for all her ancestors.She was confident that she was a good parent. Everything she did was for her daughter.

No matter how good-natured the Empress was, the imperial family was a place where a small mistake could gnaw a child like a bruised wound.

She did not want her to be found fault in such a place.

The child acted perfectly, hoping that she would receive only praise. There was supposed to be no dust on her child’s path until she sat safely in the Empress’s place that no one could surpass.

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Until now, the child had never once complained and followed her instructions completely.

Her daughter was a kind, sweet, understanding, and mature child who understood the saying, “It’s all for you.”

‘Why was the Empress so angry when I raised her so well?’

The Duchess could not understand the Empress’ words about her keeping her child in a prison.

***

Leonhardt, who had  awoken from sleep, stared for a long time at his father, who was looking out the window, maintaining an uncomfortable posture in case his mother, who had fallen asleep, woke up.

“Father.”

“What is it, son?”

“…Please be nice to mother.”

“Take care of your girl. I was thinking about canceling your engagement and everything, but I was holding in all these time, hoping that those morons would not catch the child.”

“If that ever happens, I will take Lizzy’s hand run away through the night.”

“Where else did you learn those words?”

“From a book.”

The Emperor’s well-shaped eyebrows slightly twitched.

The empress’s genes, which never manifested in his appearance, were perhaps revealed in his personality, but it must have been a whim of a moment for their son resembled his childhood self considerbly.

“Father.”

“What now, son?”

“Do you think mother is happy about this?”

Purple eyes like those of Leonhardt stared at him. The son was also staring straight back at his father.

The emperor felt that his son’s gaze somehow mirrored his.

It could have been thought as natural because he was his son. But the prince in front of him was only ten years old, he was too young to sit with such a pessimistic expression, as if it was saying he had seen everything he could in the world.

“…We are happy but at the same time we are cursed. The royal family is like that anyway. Being on top of everything isn’t necessarily a good thing. I hope your generation will be better by the time you marry her and take the crown…”

“For some reason, you are finally thinking like a ‘father’ just now.”

“It seems the Crown Prince is walking back to the Imperial Palace, so stop the carriage for a moment.”

“I’m sorry.”

The Emperor then shifted slightly so that the Empress could lean on him a little more comfortably.

That was the end of the father-son conversation.

Leonhardt and the Emperor looked out the window in the same posture as if each other’s reflections until they reached the Imperial Palace.

‘At least I’m not going to make rash decisions like father, or so I hope.’

Leonhardt glanced up and down at the Emperor.

‘I had a strange dream.’ Elizabeth slowly opened her eyes and thought.

Someone was holding her hand and begging for forgiveness. Fragmented words such as ‘please’, ‘another chance’, ‘qualification’, etc. swirled around in her head, were slowly dissipating like smoke.

Elizabeth’s eyes widened as she turned to her side, noticing that her own hand was wrapped in warmth.

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