By Zephyria 
Khalifa, who had been tearing me apart with his gaze, said, “My legs ache, bring me a chair.”
“I will escort you to the drawing-room.”
“Bring a chair. If I have to repeat myself, you will be punished.”
At those words, I turned and instructed a Servant to bring a chair. Eventually, Servants brought a chair and table to the middle of the hallway and set up a tea table.
When I gestured for all the Servants to leave, Khalifa took a sip of tea and said, “There was a large acacia tree in the training arena.”
“……”
“While fleeing after disobeying my brother’s orders, I took a moment to rest in the shade of the tree, but I was discovered before long. I could bear it the first time, but the second time was difficult.”
“……”
I couldn’t understand what he was talking about, so I lowered my gaze and stared at the tea.
“Why did my brother do that to me?”
“……”
“I was clearly enduring it well……”
Khalifa would often bring up Kalik, the previous Emperor and his brother, out of the blue. Was it because he couldn’t shake off the guilt of becoming Emperor through treason that he often acted like this?
It was ridiculous. If he was going to feel guilty, why did he do such a thing in the first place? If he was going to do it, he shouldn’t feel guilty.
He was a human being I couldn’t understand at all.
“When you annihilated the Duke’s family, why didn’t I punish you?”
“……”
“Do you know?”
Was he losing his mind? His words were incoherent. But even so, Khalifa’s eyes, flitting through past times without any order, were clear.
“Answer me.”
I don’t know, why do you keep asking? Surely it wasn’t because he was worried about me……? Was it just a whim? Of course, it was a serious matter to dismiss it as just a whim, but no matter how I thought about it, there was no other reason.
“Was it because I was blinded by affection for you, whom I cherished?”
Cherished, my foot…… A chill ran down my arm for a moment, but I didn’t show it and tried to think as hard as I could to answer.
“Your Majesty……”
“What about me?”
“I thought Your Majesty also believed that I had reason to do so and turned a blind eye.”
It was a bit much to say it was because of his whim, so I answered vaguely, and Khalifa closed his mouth. Was it the right answer, since he didn’t lash out?
“……”
“……”
Or was it not?
Just as I was about to ask if I could speak again, Khalifa opened his mouth in the heavy silence.
“Until when did Mahir give you sweets?”
“……He still gives them to me often.”
“Does he scold you when you do wrong?”
“Yes.”
“You said earlier that he doesn’t scold you.”
“He doesn’t scold me without a reason.”
I felt drained every time I answered.
“What do you say when you are scolded?”
“I beg for forgiveness and promise not to do it again.”
“Do you keep it?”
“I try to keep it.”
The seemingly meaningless questions and answers continued for a long time. Khalifa didn’t take his eyes off me for a moment. I felt like I was going to be stabbed to death by his gaze.
I maintained a blank expression, trying to paralyze the muscles in my face as much as possible.
“Has Mahir ever hit you?”
Ah…… I didn’t really want to talk about this. But I couldn’t lie, so I rolled my tongue in my mouth several times before answering with difficulty.
“I was spanked on the bottom when I was young.”
“Why?”
“……He always told me not to jump out of the window and to use the door, but I didn’t listen.”
“Why?”
I took a breath and answered a little late.
“Because it’s faster……”
“Hahahaha.”
The dry laughter that reached my ears made the hairs on my body stand on end. I could feel cold sweat running down my back, and I clenched my fists tightly.
“My brother used to scold me too.”
“……”
“I don’t remember why I was scolded.”
Khalifa, who had been motionless, raised his hand and began to stroke his chin. When I glanced up, he was staring blankly into the air with a dazed expression, as if he was thinking about something.
“……”
I silently swallowed my breath and frantically racked my brain. What was his intention in coming all the way here to say such things? It was definitely not just because he was bored.
Khalifa coming to visit his child and chat because he was bored? There was no chance of that happening, even if the world was going to end tomorrow.
Then why? He was in a relatively normal state compared to usual, which only made me more puzzled.
“The medicine……”
Then Khalifa, who had been pondering for a long time, muttered to himself.
“I was scolded because I had a fever from not taking my medicine.”
Good for you for being scolded. Very commendable.
Daring to scold Your Majesty without knowing your place, the late Emperor deserved to die.
Are you still upset about that?
So what do you want me to do? Would you be satisfied if I comforted you?
“……”
I considered several possible answers, but none of them seemed appropriate.
“Do you know how happy Mahir was when you were born?”
The topic changed again. Was he drunk? I felt like I was listening to a drunken rant.
“He was so happy to have a younger sibling……”
“……”
“I felt sorry for him, so I hit him a few times, and even as he fell, he didn’t drop you, who was just a baby, from his arms.”
When I was just born, Mahir was only ten years old. What was so great about hitting a child that he was rambling on like this……? Crazy bastard.
“Mahir’s coronation is not far off, if you have any complaints, speak up now.”
“I have no complaints at all.”
“Are you not tempted by the throne?”
“It was never mine to begin with. I swear on my life that I have never imagined it for a single moment, not even in my dreams.”
Could this be what he came to ask? Is this the purpose?
“What will you do if Mahir, once he becomes Emperor, issues an imperial order for you to marry?”
That wasn’t it either. The topic changed again in an instant. It was a completely useless question. Why was he asking me to imagine such absurd things?
I struggled to control my expression, which was gradually distorting, and bowed my head deeply.
“I will obey if it is an imperial order.”
“Didn’t you say earlier that it was already enough? That was a lie.”
Khalifa slammed the table with his palm with a bang. He didn’t hit it very hard, but the teacup shook and a little tea spilled. I quickly added, afraid that Khalifa would order a sword to be brought, “I will obey that as well if it is an imperial order.”
But perhaps it was because I answered too hastily. I couldn’t even manage my expression as I spoke. I don’t know what kind of expression I had on my face, but Khalifa, who was looking at me, let out a hollow laugh.
“Say you don’t like it if you don’t like it.”
“My will……”
Is it important?
I was startled and came to my senses as I was about to ask that. But the words had already come out of my mouth a little.
“Your will, what?”
“……My will is not important before an imperial order.”
I barely averted the crisis by slightly changing the sentence, but Khalifa’s expression did not improve. Feeling anxious because of his unpleasant face, I unknowingly bit the inside of my cheek.
I could taste blood, but I couldn’t frown.
“This is different.”
What’s suddenly different…… I hid my tired heart and lowered my gaze slightly.
“When I was young, I was very good at deceiving others. If I set my mind to it, no one could know my intentions. The same was true for my brother.”
“……”
I was about to listen with one ear and let it out with the other, as I had been doing, when I suddenly realized that there was a pattern to this conversation.
The fact that the stories of the late Emperor and Mahir were constantly coming up, and the fact that he seemed to be projecting his own image onto me to an unusual degree.
“……”
Whether it was because my suspicion had worsened, I wondered if there might have been some intention behind Khalifa’s telling me to marry. It was because he had suddenly brought up the story of marriage today, mentioning the imperial order out of the blue. Moreover, the person Khalifa had previously designated as my marriage partner was the princess of Calderia.
The Empress, who was Khalifa’s Royal Consort and Mahir’s mother, whose name is not even known now because all records have disappeared, died for some reason, and my mother, Bellein Calderia, became the second Royal Consort. She was also a princess of Calderia.
As expected, all records of my mother were also erased by Khalifa’s order, so even I, her son, did not know the detailed circumstances of why, how, when, and where she died.
I clearly knew that my mother was arranged to marry by the late Emperor Kalik…… No, wait a minute.
Khalifa, who married my mother at the age of sixteen, became Emperor by staging a rebellion at the age of nineteen. But how could someone else become the Royal Consort instead of my mother?
Isn’t the order a bit strange? It doesn’t seem to match the timing. Mahir was born not long after Khalifa ascended the throne……
A chill ran down my spine, and I stopped thinking and looked at Khalifa. He was staring blankly at the empty air with a dazed expression, then turned his head as if he sensed my gaze.
“……”
“……”
As I met his gaze and looked into his dark and murky eyes, an absurd thought came to my mind.
Could it be that Mahir is not his biological son?