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~Chapter 19~
The grand conference hall inside the royal palace.
Perhaps because most of the chattering crowd had already dispersed, the few remaining seats felt hollow and empty.
Carlos slowly opened and closed his eyes.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that this hall had been designed without much concern for the number of attendees—a structure of grandiose architecture, imposing and vast.
And that design was Solio’s doing.
Carlos’s half-brother possessed a warm heart, naturally inclined to extend kindness for the sake of convenience or the greater good.
Carlos was not unaware of this.
Memories of his brother lay buried deep in the past, carefully tucked away, and he had lived solely for himself, striving not to dig them up.
Carlos had deliberately chosen to forget.
If he didn’t, he feared he might waver.
The truth was undeniable.
Solio’s mother had caused him harm.
After the horrific events, Carlos could no longer treat him as he once had.
Solio likely didn’t know the full extent, but Carlos remembered everything vividly.
And so, he had hated Solio.
He had resolved that he must.
Yet why now…? Why was he admitting the truth to himself?
I don’t hate him.
In fact, he wanted to have a good relationship with his brother.
Carlos felt a sense of liberation, as if he had finally found an escape from a long-blocked path.
The reason was elusive, but one certainty remained: Rose Lutiens had, once again, left her mark on his domain, influencing him in ways he hadn’t anticipated.
…And he found he wanted more.
Unconsciously, Carlos swallowed hard.
His dry mouth felt parched and thick, as if craving an oasis of eternity—an unrelenting, gnawing thirst.
Suddenly, the image of a woman flitted through his mind, leaving him dazed.
The longing he had once felt only grew sharper with time.
“Good to see you looking well.”
A gentle voice drifted from somewhere, breaking his reverie.
Carlos opened his eyes.
Solio stood on the dais, his expression relaxed as he looked down at Carlos.
He smiled softly.
“It’s been a while, brother.”
“….”
“You’ve been well, I hope? No aches or pains?”
Solio’s cheeks flushed with excitement as the questions he’d long kept inside spilled out, a trace of the eagerness he had wanted to express for years.
There was a pitiful innocence in his eyes, a yearning for brotherly affection.
Though he was about to reach adulthood this year, Solio still carried that youthful air.
He had always been the younger brother who hung on Carlos’s every word.
Carlos, in turn, was no different.
His hatred toward those associated with Solio had kept them apart.
Yet in his own way, he had cared for his half-brother all along.
Had the seed of hatred not consumed him, it might have been simple.
“Even if you resented me, it wouldn’t have mattered. Someone would have tried to check you, the first prince, regardless of me.”
The sharp, biting voice pierced his mind, accompanied by a trembling smile and delicate hands.
“Why… why do you look at me like that? You think I’m pathetic too?!”
Cherylene Lazar, the woman who bore Solio.
Carlos remembered her eyes, brimming with jealousy, as clearly now as he had fourteen years ago.
She had always sought the center of attention, gnawing at handkerchiefs with obsessive intensity, her pupils a terrifying shade of deep red.
She was a fearful woman.
Fear had overflowed from her chest, spilling outward, ultimately causing harm even to herself—a selfish, dangerous woman.
“Ugh….”
“Remember this: I am always on Solio’s side, my child.”
Back when she was inexperienced with her abilities, Cherylene had poisoned Carlos directly. She had smiled that chilling, twisted smile.
Under the same sun, she had muttered madly that there could be only one heir to Deloard.
It must have been around that time.
That was when strange rumors about Carlos began circulating within the palace.
What kind of vicious gossip could have instantly stripped him of his position as crown prince, leaving him as the neglected younger prince?
He had been just an eight-year-old child, powerless to do anything.
The only truth was known to Carlos and Cherylene alone.
“Don’t even breathe a word about today. Your place is here, Carlos. In this secluded, shadowed wing of the palace. Isn’t it lovely?”
“You… how can you still be… ugh…”
“Haha. What? You think I’ll let you get away with it? Hahaha!”
Smack!
“How dare you!”
“….”
Carlos closed his eyes tightly, reliving the pain of that day.
Turning his head, body burning from the poison, collapsed in a corner, clutching his chest, struggling in vain as no one came to help.
The king had gone on a patrol, leaving Cherylene free to seal the prince’s residence.
The feeling of blood rushing backward into his head.
By the time he began recalling, his once-steady heartbeat quickened.
A past he never wanted to relive.
And yet… I.
If her cruel interference had not existed, perhaps his relationship with Solio could have remained that of inseparable brothers.
Carlos had long wondered.
Whenever the flow of his own extensive abilities destabilized, and he was confined indoors, he found targets for his resentment one by one.
First his stepmother, Cherylene. Then Solio, barely four at the time.
And the palace staff who had failed to come to his aid…
Carlos’s distance from Solio had been simple.
His rage was unending, spanning decades.
He didn’t want his innocent younger brother caught in this filth.
In the end, he hadn’t hated him.
It had simply been the circumstances.
Today, realizing that truth, Carlos spoke it honestly for the first time.
“Rio.”
Solio, leaning against a distant wall, straightened his posture.
Hearing the familiar name, he flinched, shoulders rising.
“Brother?”
“….”
“You… I didn’t mishear, right? You really said ‘Rio’…”
Carlos’s expression remained neutral.
Even during their childhood play, or now, grown and facing each other once more, a single affectionate nickname carried immense weight for Solio.
For a bond once thought lost forever, there was now a glimpse of possibility.
“Yes, Rio.”
Carlos pushed back his chair, rose, and walked forward slowly.
The darkness and pallor of his expression were gone.
His inner conflict had finally ended.
Rose Lutiens’s words had proven true.
“Someone once said, it’s all a matter of timing.”
Those words had left him speechless.
“They say what’s done can’t be undone, but within it lies the chance to make things right. Of course, if you miss the timing, it may be lost forever.”
He knew it. Solio had done nothing wrong.
Step by step, Carlos dismantled the walls he had built between himself and the innocent Solio.
It was necessary.
It was the right thing to do.
“I must have been very late. Thank you for waiting.”
That was the right thing to say.
“And you… you’ve been well? It’s been so long, there must be so much for us to share.”
Carlos spoke, a faint smile touching his lips.
His circle of kindness, once limited to Rose Lutiens alone, had expanded—an act of great courage.
Solio froze on the spot, disbelief written all over him.
“My goodness… what… what has happened all this time, brother?”
Carlos didn’t answer in detail.
Instead, he approached Solio without hesitation and embraced him firmly.
The little brother who had once barely reached his chest now stood nearly equal in height.
Solio’s keen perception recognized the growth, even as Carlos smiled quietly.
“You said I looked happy.”
Solio nodded obediently, truth in his eyes.
Carlos continued, gazing off into the distance.
“I don’t yet know if I’m happy… but I’m certain I will be.”
Though cryptic, it marked a sufficient life milestone for him.
“I think… I’ve finally found the light.”
Even when he tried to extinguish it, the light only grew brighter—troublesome, yet refreshingly vivid.
Carlos recalled all that had happened that day, swallowing his laughter.
“There’s no turning back on this light.”
As he had said before, there would be no regrets about his choice.
