Chapter 15
Chapter 15
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 15
Chapter Title: The Beginning of Collapse
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“Come in, my son.”
Wrinkled hands gripped the arms of the throne. Son. Asherad scoffed inwardly. It was a farce worthy of a village play. His tone was kindly enough, but this was the father who always received his supposedly beloved son seated on the throne in the audience chamber.
Fatherly affection? Even a stray dog would laugh at that. Emperor Belenus, cloaked in imperial authority, was always scheming to crush his son beneath his heel.
“I greet you, Father.”
Even so, Asherad bowed politely. His father wanted to play at family? Fine, he’d indulge him.
“Are your injuries healed?”
“Of course.”
The emperor only now recalled the wound from last season’s joust. The feigned warmth was so laughable it nearly brought tears to his eyes.
“Do you know why I summoned you?”
“Because I insulted the princess of Thalassa Kingdom, isn’t it?”
Asherad bowed his head as if fully aware of his crime. The emperor’s lips curved upward.
“Indeed. I want to hear the full story.”
The emperor fixed Asherad with a piercing gaze. Throughout history, more rulers had died not from wars or purges of rivals, but from usurpations by their own kin.
Even blood relations turned against them as time passed and the young, bearing their own blood, grew bold enough to challenge the throne. The man before him was a loathsome challenger first and a son second. The boy always acted the part of the dutiful offspring, but he had forever been wary of his brilliant son.
“It’s because that foolish girl insulted me.”
Asherad twisted his face in anger. Irritation was etched plainly across his features.
It was the look of someone who’d chewed on mud. Asherad glanced at his father, his face still flushed with barely contained rage, as if trying to calm himself.
“Father. That woman is unworthy of the empress’s station. I tried to look favorably on her for Mother’s sake, but how dare she insult you like that.”
“What?”
“To be frank, Father, I had taken an interest in Daphne.”
The emperor frowned. What was his son babbling about? No matter how little he cared, he knew his son’s temperament all too well despite himself.
He despised filth with a shudder and loathed anything base touching him. Just like himself.
“Isn’t she just some lowborn who deludes herself into thinking she shares our blood?”
Murderous intent overflowed from Asherad’s face.
The emperor regarded it impassively. Yes, that was it. He’d planned to bestow power on Beatrice’s daughter. He’d wanted to give everything to his beloved and their child.
Clever Sabrina and her son Asherad knew it well. And when the lie was exposed, Asherad had raged.
The emperor understood his son’s fury.
Just as the emperor was obsessively fixated on one side, so was Asherad on another.
Was he pleased that the boy’s sinister wrath so mirrored his own? The emperor found amusement in Asherad subtly crushing Daphne.
“I am the crown prince of this empire! I know everything!”
The fool seemed oblivious to the fact that he was under watch.
“And yet that princess had to rub it in my face that the girl isn’t of your blood. Do you think I didn’t know that?”
“…….”
“That’s all it was. I got angry.”
Asherad tapped the floor irritably, his displeasure still plain on his face.
The emperor’s expression softened at the sight of his son—so arrogant, so dismissive of others, so utterly foolish. Yet wariness lingered in his eyes.
“So you let the princess be and chased after her maid instead?”
Asherad let out a sigh.
“I… was reckless.”
“…….”
“I wanted to humiliate that Thalassan woman somehow. I am a crown prince of a nation. I’m no stranger to how the palace works, and teasing that girl was one of my little pastimes.”
At Asherad’s grumbling, the emperor adopted a stern paternal tone.
“Asherad, she is your aunt.”
“Yes. I know full well.”
Asherad bowed his head, softening his voice as he gauged his father’s reaction. The emperor smiled at his son’s quick submission to authority.
He was getting on in years and would one day claim the throne, but he lacked the cunning for outright usurpation. The fact that his youthful hot-bloodedness had led to this blunder proved it.
The irrational revealed their weaknesses. In that sense, such a fool served his filial duty through his stupidity alone.
“Apologize to the princess.”
“…….”
“She will be your stepmother. Blood or no, isn’t she still your aunt? I will overlook her shortcomings. No more rash actions.”
“Understood, Father.”
“Tsk tsk. You stayed quiet for a while, and now this….”
He clucked his tongue in a fatherly manner, scanning Asherad. The boy’s face showed clear reluctance to apologize, but the emperor found it almost humanizing.
What he truly guarded against was not such obvious petulance, but the cunning that hid it well.
There was no father-son bond between them. He’d once found the boy’s young face endearing, but every time he saw that face—so like Sabrina’s, utterly unlike his own—the emperor felt a chill.
It was only natural to bequeath the throne to his lover, whom he cherished more than the apple of his eye, and her daughter. Of course, her betrayal had stripped him of that choice.
“Still, Asherad. Refrain from taking it out on that girl. That is a command.”
Asherad’s face twisted in utter incomprehension at the emperor’s words. He merely gave a wry smile in response to the boy’s questioning stare.
“So keep your distance from her. There’s no need to punish her anymore. Just leave her be.”
“Why? Why is that?”
“Isn’t it time to decide that wench’s fate?”
“Ah, understood.”
Asherad bowed his head. The exaggerated expression faded from his face, his eyes cooling to ice.
* * *
“What are you doing?”
“Eek!”
Someone called out to Daphne as she stood idly. She whipped her head around in surprise to see Fabian standing there.
“What brings you here?”
“Shouldn’t I be asking you that?”
“No one’s given me any work.”
Daphne muttered glumly. Killing time in her room grew tiresome after a while, and the musty space felt stifling. Whenever she stepped outside, the servants always had some comment for her.
In the end, Daphne had slipped away from the maids and wandered out. Whenever she roamed aimlessly, she always ended up here.
“So you’re loitering around the Crown Prince Palace again?”
“…….”
Daphne said nothing. Fabian glanced at her and saw worry etched deeply into her features. Her eyes, brimming with melancholy, were lovely in themselves but seemed on the verge of shattering.
Fabian scanned the surroundings discreetly.
Sure enough, his long years in the palace had taught him well—this spot cleverly shielded them from prying eyes. He sat down beside her without hesitation.
“Why? His Highness didn’t summon you today either?”
“…….”
“He doesn’t like you anymore?”
Daphne shook her head desperately at his words. What kind of nonsense was that? Asherad was so kind.
“No.”
“…….”
“Absolutely not.”
“Then why do you think that?”
“He said he sees me as a little sister.”
“…….”
“Even after learning who I am. He showed me the same affection. He said he cherishes me, like a little sister….”
Daphne trailed off. Little sister. The meaning blurred for some reason.
Long ago, Daphne had gazed at Asherad and imagined he could be her big brother. But….
“Wow, you got friend-zoned.”
“What?!”
Daphne’s eyes widened. Fabian began spouting brutal truths with an innocent face.
“It’s true. Hearing ‘like a sister’ from someone you like.”
“…….”
“It means he doesn’t even see you as a romantic prospect.”
Daphne’s heart plummeted. It echoed the vague anxiety she’d harbored. Her lips trembled.
“Romantic prospect… I’d never dream of such impure thoughts toward His Highness!”
“Then why the long face? Always looking like you’re on death’s door.”
Fabian said with a guileless expression. Daphne panicked. Had she really looked that miserable? Was that how others saw her?
“And, Daphne.”
“…….”
“Is His Highness an idiot? I’ve heard the rumors too—do you think he didn’t know you’re that woman’s daughter?”
It wasn’t malicious meddling. That made it cut deeper. Her heart pounded wildly.
“How could I presume to know His Highness’s heart….”
Fabian muttered, staring at her face. But she only worked to steady her ragged breaths, her face pale.
“I… don’t know. When I look at you, it doesn’t seem like His Highness cherishes you much.”
“…….”
“If it were me, I’d have thrown out those rags and gotten you new clothes first thing.”
Fabian said as he stood. Daphne looked down at her outfit. The black fabric hid the wear, but it was threadbare and shabby.
She wanted to snap at him for talking nonsense, but Fabian had already walked off into the distance.
Daphne stared wide-eyed at his retreating back. Of course Asherad wasn’t like that. She rebuilt her crumbling trust in him, shoring it up firmly.
What she should cling to was Asherad’s pity for her, now relegated to the ‘little sister’ role—not his inscrutable indifference to her plight.
Yet at some point, a faint crack began to form.