By Zephyria 
“I can’t exactly smash the Emperor, can I?”
“What?”I was originally going to destroy the castle at first, but I thought someone else might get hurt, so after a few days of contemplation, I had no choice but to break the statue.” I’ve never done lightning before, so I didn’t know it would make such a loud noise.”
“……”
He was giving reasons in his own way, but none of it made any sense.
“Why did you suddenly want to smash the Emperor?”
I decided to ask about the most fundamental cause first.
“He gave you poison.”
I had a feeling it would be something like this… I couldn’t decide whether to be happy or not.
“You don’t like the Emperor either, do you?”
Aska asked as I pressed my temples, feeling a throbbing headache. Did he do this to mess with him because he hates him? Is he simple, brave, or just stupid…?
But I had done something similar to Aska when I was young and was scolded by Mahir, so it wasn’t anything new.
“I don’t like him. But doing it this way isn’t good.”
“Why? Are you afraid of getting caught? Or is it because it’s something you shouldn’t do?”
All of that was true, but there was something I needed to understand first.
“My brother thinks the succession to the throne should be done in the most traditional way possible. So until then, the Emperor can’t die, and he can’t go completely insane.”
“Traditionally?”
I nodded, seeing Aska ask back as if he didn’t understand.
“Khalifa killed the previous Emperor and ascended to the throne. If this succession process goes wrong too, there will definitely be trouble.”
Aska still looked like he didn’t understand. There was no need to understand, so I summarized it simply.
“Tormenting him is something my brother wants you to do after he inherits the throne. I don’t know if he’ll be alive by then, though.”
“……”
When I was young, I was always filled with murderous intent to kill Khalifa, but now it felt like a distant past. It still makes me angry when I think about it, but I’m not desperate to kill him anymore.
Is it because he looks like he’s going to die anyway if left alone? Khalifa certainly looked like he didn’t have much time left. Because of his usual personality, I thought he would be killed by someone before he lived out his days…
Maybe he’ll die from drug addiction or a mental breakdown caused by it, rampaging and collapsing on his own?
While I was imagining Khalifa’s end, I suddenly felt a stinging gaze. When I turned my head, Aska was staring blankly at me.
“Why?”
“I just thought it was easy for you to say such things, even though the Emperor is your father. Not that it’s my place to say…”
He had a complicated expression. It was understandable. Originally, most parents in the world loved their children, and children respected their parents.
But coincidentally, we were both children who didn’t have such parents.
I looked at Aska quietly and smiled.
“Why are you laughing?”
“It’s funny. The fact that we’re having this conversation.”
Aska, who was watching me continue to laugh weakly, eventually laughed in disbelief.
¸.•¨•¸.•¨•¸.•¨•¸
While drinking tea and chatting leisurely, we returned to Talim. Following the familiar garden path, we basked in the sunlight, smelled the grass and trees, admired the flowers, and then stopped walking.
“Why?”
Aska, who was walking next to me, asked with a puzzled expression. I had a bad feeling. Even though I hadn’t entered the castle, it felt strangely chaotic.
“Go to your room first.”
“Kyle!”
As soon as I finished speaking, I heard someone calling me from afar and reflexively turned my head. It was only a brief moment, but when I turned my head back, no one was next to me.
“Your Majesty… Your Majesty just came and…”
The Servant announced, panting, that the Emperor had come to Talim. It was so unexpected that my mind went blank for a moment.
The first thought that came to mind was whether Aska’s actions had finally caught up with him. If so, Aska would definitely not survive today.
What should I do? Should I evacuate him now? But then I would be in danger too? Should we run away together then? Would Mahir worry? But I need to save Aska first…
My head throbbed with the thoughts that were rushing through my mind, so I closed my eyes and shook my head lightly.
“Where is Your Majesty?”
“He’s still moving… He was in the Training arena until just now.”
“…The Training arena?”
Why there? And what does it mean that he’s still moving? Does it mean he’s touring Talim? There’s no way I’ll get an answer by worrying alone, so I quickly moved towards where Khalifa was.
As I walked quickly, I gradually began to calm down.
When Aska dropped the lightning, he clearly said that there was no one around. If Aska didn’t sense anyone, then no one directly witnessed the scene.
So if they pointed to Aska, there would have to be some evidence, but logically, they couldn’t identify the culprit this quickly. If it’s not because of Aska, what sudden wind blew him to come here himself?
No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t figure out the reason.
“Your Majesty.”
I found Khalifa in the middle of the hallway leading from the Training arena to my room, knelt down, and pressed my forehead to the floor.
“I greet the Sun God Rahan.”
I closed my mouth, took a deep breath through my nose, slowly exhaled, and quickly stabilized my breathing. But no matter how long I waited, Khalifa didn’t say anything.
He’s not standing there sleeping, is he?
I couldn’t raise my head as I pleased, nor could I stand up, so I just stayed like that, and then I heard a hoarse voice belatedly.
“Kyle.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“There was a large shittim tree near the Training arena, did you cut it down?”
“……”
What is he suddenly talking about? How would I know what kind of tree is near the Training arena?
No matter how much I racked my brain, I couldn’t remember any particularly large trees, so I couldn’t answer. Then Khalifa muttered to himself.
“I used to rest in its shade.”
“……”
So he rested under the shade of a large shittim tree near the Training arena in Talim?
As soon as I sorted out his rambling words, I realized that this wasn’t something that had happened recently. Khalifa often talked without distinguishing between the present and the past, whether it was because of drugs or something else.
“Then my brother would scold me.”
“……”
“Kyle.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Does Mahir scold you often?”
His mental state didn’t seem normal. There were about a dozen attendants that Khalifa had brought with him, and no small number of servants behind me. Everyone was kneeling and pressing their foreheads to the floor, so I couldn’t see their expressions, but they must have been bewildered.
Or maybe they were just terrified and sweating, no matter what Khalifa was babbling about.
Either way, it wasn’t a good situation.
“My brother doesn’t scold me.”
“But Mahir says you cause a lot of trouble.”
Would Mahir really say that? There was no way.
“That was when I was young and immature.”
“Are you mature now?”
“……”
It was a difficult question to answer. It was strange for me to say that I was mature, but it was also strange to say that I wasn’t. More than that, I couldn’t understand why he was asking such useless things, regardless of whether I was mature or not.
“Are you mature?”
“Yes.”
“To be mature means that you have grown older. Since you have grown, you must have more thoughts, and there must be many things you can do with your own strength.”
“……”
I couldn’t even count how many times I had been at a loss for words. It was always like this whenever I had an audience, but it was particularly bad today.
“Kyle.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“How old are you this year?”
“Nineteen.”
“Nineteen…”
As soon as I heard Khalifa muttering softly, I felt a strange sense of déjà vu.
“Nineteen, huh…”
“……”
“You’re at the age to get married too.”
I raised my head without permission and looked at Khalifa. He was a little thinner, so he looked smaller than I remembered. His eyes were hollow, but his gaze wasn’t dim.
He doesn’t seem to be drunk on drugs or alcohol, so does he really have dementia?
“Why don’t you answer? Do you not like it?”
“Your Majesty, I already had a state marriage three years ago.”
“You can do it one more time.”
“……”
I had nothing to say.
“Do you not like it?”
I hesitated for a moment and then answered.
“Yes.”
“You don’t like it?”
“Yes. It’s already enough.”
Whether my answer was unexpected or he was holding back his anger, Khalifa closed his mouth for a moment and glared at me.