Chapter 4

“That’s why I just found you, and you ran away as soon as I sent someone, so I had to search both North and East for two months.”

It was for that purpose.

It wasn’t a particularly big deal.

It was a simple task to go to the capital and sign a consent form in front of judges and priests.

That’s okay.

Theor will meets his grandfather in the middle and returns home first, Astelle only needs to go there alone.

Astelle quickly cleared up her thoughts, pretending to be sorry, and bowed her head well.

“I’m sorry, I thought it was my father’s order and I was scared.”

“Why would you scared for on your father’s order? Your father, now the only Duke of the Empire, said he didn’t even know if his daughter was alive or dead.”

Kaizen shed a cold ridicule.

Over the past six years, the great noble dukes lost his title.

Now the only duke left in the empire was her father, Duke Reston.

Astelle thought it would be great for his father to endure without losing his title until the end.

Duke Reston was originally a smart man.

He was trusted by the previous emperor and enjoyed the greatest power among the great nobles.

“I haven’t met my father in 6 years. I tought something happened to my family, so I thought I was punished too.”

Kaizen was not a compassionate emperor.

The family stigmatized for treason was confined to a monastery or chopped with their families.

Whenever he thought of some of the families that had been so ruined, Astelle got goosebumps.

If her father knew of Theor’s existence… if he had raised Theor and caused a rebellion, not only Astelle but also Theor would have died.

But Kaizen sighed briefly at Astelle’s words.

“I can’t punish you. No matter what your father has done, you…”

Kaizen blurs his words.

There seemed to be nothing to say in particular.

‘What do you have to say? We are no longer a couple.’

After a while Astelle broke the silence.

“I will follow Your Majesty’s command.”

It was something she couldn’t refuse anyway.

The emperor came to find her himself.

She finished quickly and was forced to get away from this man.

“Instead, I have conditions too.”

Kaizen had predicted that such words would come out of her mouth.

“What is that?”

“Please return the pension of my maternal grandfather.”

Her maternal grandfather, Marquis Carlenberg, lost his estate after being enslaved during the former emperor of Kaizen’s grandfather, and was deprived of his pension after Kaizen became emperor.

It was because of the reason that it was between relatives and the great lord of the North who caused the revolt.

Thanks to that, her maternal grandfather was living in poverty in retreat in an old mansion on the far eastern edge.

Astelle used the money she earned by embroidered or growing herbs to support her maternal grandfather.

“That’s nothing. I’ll take care of it right away.”

“And please send me and my nephew back when the empress dowager’s will is resolved.”

“I can’t do that, but I’ll give you a place to live in the capital, and I’ll give you a little estate, so you can live in the capital with the income…”

“No, we don’t need it, just let us go.”

If she is given a manor, she may have to keep meeting with this man.

In particular, staying in the capital was something she wanted to avoid even in her dreams.

So she just said that she didn’t need it, but Kaizen’s handsome face was hardened by Astelle’s refusal.

He seems to be angry because his offer to give her a manor was rejected.

However, Astelle had no time to consider his mood.

“Are you still blaming me?”

Kaizen asked with a frowned look.

“You agreed to divorce without saying a word.”

“……”

Old memories emerged from the opponent’s mouth.

Now, in the appearance of an imposing and strong emperor, Astelle was able to find the dark-haired boy who had given the necklace a long time ago around her neck, from that handsome face.

When with Astelle, Kaizen has always been a sweet and polite fiance.

By the time she reached her adulthood, there were rumors that Kaizen met other women several times.

But Astelle didn’t think seriously about it.

Because Kaizen, he was at least a faithful fiance in front of Astelle.

She sometimes prayed that Kaizen was a sincere prince who obeyed his father, the emperor, although he behaved at will.

She couldn’t even imagine that he would break the promised marriage from her childhood.

‘It was all a play.’

He just playing as an ordinary prince. After becoming emperor, he purge all of the great nobles, including Astelle’s father, Duke Reston.

In all of those plans, Astelle had no existential value to Kaizen.

She has lived her whole life as Kaizen’s fiancee, but Astelle was the dust of his life.

She is an insignificant existence that will always be easy to shake off.

As soon as Kaizen became emperor, Astelle realized that when he wanted the divorce.

So she said nothing and agreed to the divorce.

No matter what she said, she knew she couldn’t have any effect on Kaizen.

As the last consideration for the man she once loved, she wanted to disappear cleanly without taking his time.

Astelle said calmly again.

“Just promise me, if the work is resolved, Your Majesty will return my grandfather’s pension and send us over…”

There is no precedent for the emperor’s child to grow outside the imperial palace.

When her child is found to be a prince, she is forced to send him to the imperial palace.

In no time, Kaizen will either have a new empress from the daughters of another noble family, or have a child from her concubine.

Right now, he will take the child because he is a prince, but if his another woman gives birth later, Kaizen will not protect Theor and leave him alone.

A young prince who is the child of the divorced empress and who has no mother to support him will not survive for a month in the imperial palace.

Astelle grabbed her hand out of sight.

‘You should never know to the identity of my child.’

As his father lost his power, the danger disappeared, but it was the same that she had to hide the child even now.

“If you don’t promise that, I won’t go back to the capital.”

Kaizen didn’t answer easily.

Anger at first glanced at Astelle’s eyes.

“All right. I promise.”

Only a few minutes later Kaizen gave his answer.

“Instead, you promise me too. You won’t run away no matter what happens until the work is done.”

Anyway, she was in a position that she couldn’t escape until this matter was resolved.

Astelle spoke calmly, repressing the anxiety that arose on the underside of her chest.

“Okay.”

* * *

At the time of departure, the surroundings were immersed in a faint mist of water, but while going on the road, the day brightened on the moist and wet tree leaves.

As the rattled wagon crossed the end of the forest, Astelle watched the sunlight shining through the woods.

Theor fell asleep on Astelle’s knee.

Astelle pulled a warm blanket up to the child’s shoulders and covered it.

Upon accepting that she would go to the capital, Kaizen ordered her to leave immediately.

Astelle stopped by the store where she was staying and barely apologized to the owner and brought her luggage.

Even if it called luggage, it was all about a couple of clothes and a medicine box.

The emperor’s knights were seen from the window of the carriage.

Whenever she saw the the knights and the imperial pattern engraved on the flag, she felt anxious.

However, it is unavoidable. There was only way to solve it and finish it quickly.

Astelle pulled out a small vial that she had hidden in her arms.

A blue liquid with a sparkling light in a small glass bottle shook back and forth.

Kaizen was born with red eyes as the blood of royal family, and Astelle was born with pale green eyes.

On the other hand, her cousin, Sigmund had blue eyes.

After she divorced, it was unfortunate that she found a small house in the eastern woods.

Astelle became friends with the medicine priestess who lived there in the woods.

A young medicinal priestess named Gretel marveled at Astelle, who had moved to the uninhabited place, and was even more amazed when she learned that Astelle was a nobleman.

Gretel, who is said to have been a pharmacist from generation to generation, knew a lot of how to prepare a mysterious potion that Astelle had never heard of in the capital.

After she gave birth to Theor, Astelle asked Gretel if she could make medicine for her child.

“Is there any potion that can change the color of your eyes?”

“Well, there are some of my mother’s recipes…”

Gretel blurs his words with her unconfident face.

“My mother stopped doing research, so I needs time to research and experiment to make it now.”

Astelle immediately requested that she develop that medicine.

She sold her dress and all her remaining jewelry, gave money for research, and became a test subject of the potion.

How many times she put Gretel’s potions in her eyes to see if it worked and to see if there were any pain or side effects.

“… I guess it’s very important. If the noble lady did this…”

Seeing Astelle testing the potions with her own eyes, Gretel admired it as if she was sorry.

Astelle explained her situation to her calmly.

“If the child’s father sees Theor’s eyes, he will take him away.”

When Gretel heard that, she belatedly determined the resolution.

“Then, you can’t leave our Theor to him!”

Gretel worked hard to study potion because she couldn’t let a child who was so cute and sweet might be robbed by someone she don’t even know.

It was this potion that was made in that way.