Chapter 16

Vellian came down the stairs and found Astelle standing at the end of the corridor.

Astelle was having a conversation with the emperor’s servant.

Since it was far away, he could only see the side view, but her calm and elegant face was creepy and pale.

Vellian approached in surprise.

“Lady Astelle?”

As he approached and called to see what had happened, Astelle turned around one breath late.

Astelle smiled calmly at Vellian.

“Oh, Count. Nice to meet you again.”

The face looking back slowly wasn’t different from usual.

It wasn’t pale and it wasn’t solid white.

‘Did I see it wrong?’

As he turned to the servant, the middle-aged servant quickly explained the situation.

“His Majesty took Young Master Theor to the hunting lodge, and I was talking about it to Lady Astelle now.”

“What?”

‘The child? Why?’

The hunting lodge was a remote place in the middle of the forest.

The forest was so wide that it was the villa that was built in case the emperor couldn’t return to the castle while hunting.

Even if he thought about it roughly, it wasn’t a good place to go with a child.

Besides, Kaizen wasn’t particularly fond of children.

‘Why did you do such a weird thing all of a sudden?’

Vellian, feeling the doubt, looked at Astelle standing quietly and found the answer.

‘No way, is it because of this person?’

Astelle, standing silent, asked Vellian in a plain tone.

“Count, how long does the hunting lodge take from here?”

“If you go on horseback as soon as possible, you will get there in an hour.”

One hour.

If I leave right now, can I be on time?

Even if she went as quickly as possible, the medicinal effect will drop immeadiately.

The tip of her finger trembled.

Astelle hid her trembling fingers under the hem of her long cuffs and turned back to Vellian.

You should never show embarrassment in front of this man.

Astelle did not show a tense appearance and tried hard to maintain a calm expression.

Don’t panic.

I’m not sure what will happen yet.

“As I said before, the child got sick of the flu some time ago…”

Astelle spoke calmly with an unshakable smile.

“He should taking medicine on time. So I brought a box of pills.”

“Oh yeah, you said it before.”

When young children are ill, they sometimes continue to take physical supplements or nutritional supplements for a month to two months.

It was a spontaneous excuse to remember that there was a nutritional supplement made for the child in the medicine box.

It was a hard excuse, but other than that, there was no other reason to complain that she would suddenly go to find the child.

“I’m not in a hurry, but can I follow along and give him some medicines?”

Vellian looked at Astelle with a little surprise.

Outside, it was an atmosphere of rain at any moment.

In this situation, she is going to go to the hunting lodge and give the child a medicine.

It wasn’t really a lot of devotion.

Vellian thought that even his real mother wouldn’t be able to take care of her child like this.

Or is it because she can’t believe His Majesty?

Are you afraid to lose the child?

Although Kaizen was a competent emperor who ruled the country well, of course he was not a man who could take care of a child.

He didn’t even like children.

Still, there must be knights and attendants in the hunting lodge, but it was a bit unusual.

‘Well, I don’t have to refuse.’

Vellian wanted to maintain a good relationship with this dignified former empress.

To him, the young emperor seemed to be interested in her.

“Sure. Because the rain has just stopped. Let’s go to the hunting lodge at this time. Prepare a wagon right now…”

“No, I would like to ride a horse after a long time rather than a carriage.”

Astelle intercepted Vellian, who was trying to order the servant, and asked with a smile.

It wasn’t a particularly strange request, but Vellian felt a little weird.

He didn’t known the former empress for a long time, but as far as he observed, Astelle wasn’t a person who wanted to go horseback riding in this situation.

Why are you doing this all of a sudden?

Do you have to go to the child so urgently?

He looked closely at Astelle.

But Astelle’s smiling face did not reveal any suspicious signs.

There was no urgency or an impatient quiver.

Vellian nodded after a brief silence.

“Yes, Lady.”

* * *

The cold rain struck the window without fail.

It was good until he arrived at the villa, but as soon as he went inside, heavy rain poured out as if the sky had been opened.

Kaizen and the entourage had to be lodged inside the villa upon his arrival.

“It’s raining again…”

Theor hung from the window and muttered without energy.

The little child’s small hand left a dry handprint on the white frosted glass.

Kaizen, sitting in the study room of the villa and looking out the window, laughed as he looked at the drooping descent without energy.

“Shall I show you the bear here?”

“Is the bear here?”

As soon as he said that, he approached with twinkling eyes.

Kaizen smiled and woke up from his seat.

“Sure, there is one.”

With a feeling of hoping, Theor followed Kaizen to the hall used as a dinner table.

The banquet hall in the middle of the villa was full of various ornaments.

Kaizen took the child in front of a large ornament standing on one wall.

Under the wall decorated with crossbows and hunting guns, there was a bear tall enough to reach the ceiling.

To be precise, a stuffed bear over 2m with thick brown fur and sharp claws.

“Is this a bear…?”

Theor stared at the bear blankly.

The bear stood with it palm as large as a plate.

In its large mouth, he saw sharp fangs.

The bear that Theor thought was not like this.

A little more fluffy, dongle, and cute smile… he thought it was like a bear doll.

Far from being fluffy, it was like a terrifying and threatening beast.

Theor turned to Kaizen with a suspicious face.

“Is this… a bear?”

“Yes, is this your first time to see a real bear?”

This is a real bear.

It was very different from what he imagined, but Theor approached the bear with caution.

How big the bear was, even if Theor reached out his hand, his fingertips were barely struck by the bear’s waist.

Theor grabbed the bear’s leg with both hands.

Stiff brown hair touched his hand.

Carefully pushed the bear’s leg, but the leg caught between the fur did not move.

He whine again and pushed with both hands, but the leg still didn’t move.

The bear stood still like a stone statue with its arms out and its mouth open.

Theor removed his hand from the bear and asked Kaizen again.

“Why the bear doesn’t move?”

“Of course it doesn’t.”

“Why?”

Theor blinked his blue eyes with an innocent face.

Kaizen did not know how his words would affect this child.

So he replied without thinking.

“Because its was dead.”

Theor was astonished and could not breathe and looked up at Kaizen.

With his eyes wide open and his mouth open a little, he solidified like a stone statue.

The child’s blue eyes shook greatly. His little lips trembling.

At this point, Kaizen was also a little embarrassed.

Theor asked as he looked up at Kaizen with a look as if the world had collapsed.

The child’s voice was trembling with shock.

“… Bear… why did its die?”

“……”

Kaizen was a sobering monarch who led the war at the age of 20, and led to victory.

He was also a powerful emperor with dignity that would never be dazzled even in front of several great nobles.

But when he faced a young child who was shocked and trembling with his tearful face, Kaizen couldn’t have the courage to tell him, ‘I caught the bear’.

“Oh… oh, yeah, here’s the hunting gun that my grandfather used.”

Embarrassed, Kaizen pointed to a long hunting gun hung behind the bear to distract the subject.

“It’s an old fashioned firearms gun. It broke down a long time ago, so I removed the detonator inside and left only the outer shape.”

He never dealt with a child, but maybe this young boy would like a weapon or something.

He explained as hard as he could to get the child to turn his attention.

“I’ll drop it off, so can you touch it? I can’t put a bullet inside anyway, so you can play with it.”

There was nothing to be dangerous even if the child played with it, which is only used as decoration.

“……”

But the answer didn’t come back.

Even though he pointed at the gun on the wall and explained this and that, Theor vaguely opened his mouth and looked at Kaizen.

Kaizen realized it belatedly.

This little kid does not understand what it means, whether it is a hunting gun or a bullet or anything, and has no desire to know.

That means that.

The child was still in shock, chewing over only one fact.

That this surprisingly large bear is dead.

Thanks to this, even if Kaizen said he would show him a rare hunting gun, he didn’t show any interest, far from being happy.

He just looked up at him.

The blue eyes that were shaking began to get faintly wet.

Now, the child seemed to cry.