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Chapter 5
Inside the glass bottle, green and red liquids were intertwined, glowing brightly.
Much like the Emperor’s insatiable greed to somehow get the Great Archmage into his hands.
Would he really treat his own child as nothing more than a tool if it served his desires?
They were all the same kind of people. The Emperor, the Empress, and the humans who had abused the child.
Reina silently gazed at the light.
“Your Majesty.”
“Speak.”
The Heteroben Rebellion broke out.
Kevenriak was the first to cut off the Emperor’s head.
“I won’t drink it.”
It was a warm room furnished with wooden furniture and decorated with a few plants.
Kevenriak was sitting on a desk where the sunlight streamed in.
It was the spot where he could see the flower vases on the windowsill best.
“Prince, aren’t you glad to be clean?”
Early that morning.
He had thought it would be an ordinary night, passing just like any other.
Just endure a little longer, and I’ll be going back.
Days when he was beaten and then forced to bathe were harder than usual.
Still, compared to the good thing that had happened the day before, this was nothing.
The child gazed at the moon rippling across the cold bathwater.
The color reminded him of Reina’s eyes, and he remembered the gentle smile she had given him.
That was when it happened.
“P-please, save me…!”
Something unbelievable happened.
In the surreal situation, Kevenriak couldn’t take his eyes off Reina as she walked toward him.
As she approached, the surrounding noise seemed to fade away.
Reina had done something he had always thought that he, the monster, would have to do someday.
She cried after finding him outside the bathtub.
Silent tears flowed from eyes that resembled a tranquil moon.
Kevenriak realized that what she was feeling was sadness, but that was as far as his understanding went.
I don’t want her to cry.
But he didn’t know how to make that happen.
Reina, holding the bewildered Kevenriak in her arms, whispered,
“I’ll make it that way.”
He didn’t understand what she meant or how she intended to do it, but if it was something Reina was doing, he felt that he would be happy with anything.
Kevenriak followed Reina out of the detached palace just like that.
The place they arrived at was where Kevenriak was now—the room that belonged to Reina.
They slept in the same bed and ate breakfast together.
Afterward, Reina left the room, saying she had something she needed to do.
Although he was left alone in the room, Kevenriak was in an exceptionally good mood.
‘The flowers I gave her…’
The flowers he had placed in the basket were in Reina’s room.
And they hadn’t been thrown away. They had been carefully placed in a vase.
With both knees and palms resting on the desk, Kevenriak stared at the flowers sitting on the windowsill.
Near his detached palace, there was a tree that bloomed in the shade during early winter.
Since the Fourth Prince’s detached palace was the only place in the Imperial Palace that received no sunlight throughout the year, the tree bloomed there every year.
Kevenriak counted the years by watching those flowers.
The white flowers blooming in the darkness seemed almost like a sacred being.
That was why he only looked at them.
He was afraid that if he, a monster, touched them, the flowers would wither instantly.
Even when he picked the flowers to give to Reina, he carefully held only the stems with his hands wrapped in cloth before breaking them off.
‘Will I be able to give Reina flowers next year, too?’
Kevenriak withdrew the hand he had reached toward the flower.
If the petals were damaged by the touch of a monster’s hand, Reina would be sad.
Knock, knock.
At that moment, someone knocked on the door.
Kevenriak’s head snapped around in surprise.
His reaction was a mixture of wariness toward whoever was knocking and the hope that perhaps it might be Reina.
“……”
Kevenriak stared intently at the closed door.
At the detached palace, no one ever asked for Kevenriak’s permission before entering his room, so he thought the door would open soon.
But even after waiting for a long time, it didn’t.
Knock, knock.
Instead, there was another knock.
Why aren’t they coming in?
‘Can’t they open the door?’
Perhaps Reina couldn’t open the door and was asking him for help.
Kevenriak hopped down from the desk and walked toward the door.
Carefully, he turned the doorknob and opened the door inward.
“His Highness the Fourth Prince.”
It was the voice of an unfamiliar man.
And behind him stood several adults.
Startled, Kevenriak froze while gripping the doorknob.
A man who appeared to be of high status looked down at the child with a rigid expression.
That afternoon.
Kevenriak’s life suddenly became busier than it had ever been.
Strangers had come looking for Reina’s room.
“His Highness the Fourth Prince, His Majesty the Emperor has sent us.”
The man who appeared to be of high status bowed to Kevenriak.
Claiming to have been sent by the Emperor, he directed the servants who had come with him to begin cleaning the Fourth Prince’s detached palace.
Dirty things were thrown away, while clean and expensive items were brought into the palace.
The furniture and bedding were replaced, and the musty castle soon felt fresh and pleasant.
Even the unsightly exterior walls were given a new coat of paint, and the garden trees that had been growing wildly were trimmed into neat shapes.
Everything happened within just a few hours.
“His Majesty also instructed us to take care of His Highness’s appearance.”
The changes did not stop at Kevenriak himself.
A bathtub filled with warm water awaited him.
“……”
“Your Highness, there’s nothing to be afraid of.”
The maid gently tried to reassure the stiffly standing Kevenriak.
Led by the maid, the child slowly placed one foot into the bathtub.
The moment his toes touched the water, Kevenriak was startled by the warmth he had never experienced before and fled from the bathroom.
“Ah! Y-Your Highness! Please come back!”
And then he collided with Reina, who had come to the detached palace.
“Oh my. Be careful.”
“……Reina!”
The child’s face brightened the moment he realized who he had bumped into.
Reina glanced between the wide-open bathroom and Kevenriak, who was wearing only a cloth around his waist, then gently patted his head.
“It looks like you were taking a bath. How about we have a meal together once you’re finished?”
“……!”
Kevenriak’s eyes sparkled.
He nodded enthusiastically before scurrying back into the bathroom.
‘A kitten…’
Reina watched the child, who was still extremely wary as he climbed into the bathtub, for a moment before walking away.
She needed somewhere to be alone because there was something she needed to think about.
The conversation she had with the Emperor that morning.
‘According to Reina Hart’s memories, the effect of the subjugation potion is that the person who drinks it offers their heart to the master to whom they swear loyalty.’
So the Emperor had been demanding her loyalty with her heart as collateral.
‘What a load of bullshit.’
Reina had decided that it would be best not to antagonize the Emperor as much as possible, but she had no intention of obediently accepting such an outrageous demand.
Instead of accepting the Emperor’s proposal, Reina played one of her own cards.
“Twelve years from now. Though I sincerely hope it doesn’t happen, Your Majesty will die.”
“……What are you talking about?”
The smile disappeared from the Emperor’s face, and his expression hardened ominously.
“You don’t have to believe me. But I know when, where, and how Your Majesty will die.”
“Reina Hart, are you threatening to assassinate me? How dare you!”
“I am not the one who will assassinate you.”
Reina looked at the enraged Emperor.
“If Your Majesty wants my loyalty, then don’t force me to do anything. If you do that, I will protect Your Majesty on the day I saw in my vision.”
In the original story, Kevenriak was destined to assassinate his own father, the Emperor.
But Reina had no intention of turning the child into a tyrant.
‘I absolutely won’t raise him into a villain. So you mustn’t die by that child’s sword, either.’
I’ll protect you on that day.
But I can’t guarantee anything about the days after that.
The Emperor frowned at Reina’s words.
It wasn’t something he could simply dismiss.
Reina Hart’s prophetic abilities were not something that could be ignored.
The Great Archmage’s power of foresight was famous throughout the Empire, after all.
“……Are you asking me to give you the Fourth Prince in exchange for my life?”
“If you do, I certainly won’t refuse.”
The Emperor remained silent in the suffocating atmosphere.
He seemed to be weighing his options—whether to back down as she had requested, or whether it would be better to use the Fourth Prince as leverage against Reina once more.
‘That’s what you get for trying to threaten me with a child.’
A short while later, the Emperor told Reina to leave, saying that he would consider her proposal.
As Reina rose from her seat, she said,
“As for the reward you promised me, I’d like to request an improvement in His Highness the Fourth Prince’s living conditions. Please raise them to a level similar to that of Your Majesty’s other children.”
‘I don’t think you’re planning to give me the position of teacher as a reward anyway. I’ll take that separately as payment for your life.’
She swallowed the rest of the thought, but there was no doubt that the Emperor had understood it.
Just before she left the room, she heard what sounded like the Emperor grinding his teeth.
‘He looked so furious. I thought he would just ignore me.’
But judging by how quickly he had sent servants, it seemed the prospect of his death had really gotten under his skin.
Reina chuckled as she looked down the freshly cleaned corridor.
After basking in the sunlight on the terrace, she leisurely walked around the detached palace.
Then, when she went to the dining room, she found Kevenriak sitting at the table waiting for her.
“Your Highness?”
Reina looked surprised at the sight of the freshly groomed child.
His shaggy hair, which had previously hung down to the bridge of his nose, had apparently been cut and was now neatly trimmed.
After being thoroughly washed and dressed in royal clothes, he looked completely transformed.
His bright blue eyes, now fully visible beneath his black hair, sparkled when he spotted Reina.
“Reina!”
Reina pulled out the chair opposite Kevenriak and spoke to him.
“Wow, who is this?”
“M-me…”
Had he failed to recognize her?
Kevenriak flusteredly pressed down his bangs with his hand.
It seemed as though he was trying to show Reina what he had looked like with his messy hair.
How cute.
Reina smiled warmly.
“I’m joking. Do you really think I wouldn’t recognize Your Highness? I said that because you’ve become so handsome.”
It wasn’t an empty compliment.
Once cleaned up, Kevenriak really was a beautiful child.
Perhaps there was a reason the novel said that the only thing he had inherited from the Second Empress was her beauty.
Reina watched the awkward child fiddling with his cutlery, feeling quite pleased.
I don’t know who will take him away someday, but whoever it is will be blessed.
“His Highness the Fourth Prince, Lady Hart. I shall serve the meal now.”
Meanwhile, the prepared dishes filled the dining table.
Delicious-looking food, glistening with oil, was spread out before them.
Reina cut the meat into appropriately sized pieces and placed them on the child’s plate.
“Pick it up with the fork and eat.”
“Yes.”
It was a small consideration for Kevenriak, who might have been sitting at a dining table like this for the first time.
She had even imagined him grabbing the food with his hands like an animal, but fortunately, the child ate with an awkward grip on the fork.
‘Then I can eat now, too.’
Reina turned her attention to the table.
Kevenriak was eating something delicious, and the translucent window hadn’t appeared either.
It seemed she could finally enjoy a meal without worrying for once.
‘How long has it been since I could eat without feeling guilty?’
Just as she eagerly reached for a beautifully roasted chicken wing—
The child was eating a rice ball mixed with sand.
Cough.
Reina let out a dry cough.
