10.
“Stop.”
In that heartbeat, the air stilled. Eustis bent down, bringing his eyes level with Philomel’s. He reached out, his thumb brushing away the tears tracking down her small, pale cheek.
“You are not a liar.”
“……!”
“If you are a liar, then I am one, too. I heard it as well.”
“Y-Your Majesty!”
In an instant, the Marchioness’s composed mask shattered, her face turning deathly pale. Logan, grasping the lethal gravity of the situation, threw himself prostrate against the ground.
“……I have committed a crime worthy of death! I spoke out of a misguided concern for my imprudent younger brother!”
“Bro—brother?”
Liam stumbled backward, bewildered. “Why are you saying that? Everyone said so! They said even Your Majesty had marked you as the successor……”
“Shut up!”
*Thwack!*
Logan struck his brother across the head.
“How dare you hit me, brother! Sob, huuu……”
Liam began to wail. It was absolute chaos.
“Your Majesty, what my brother said is a fabrication. My parents and I have never whispered such things to him.”
“Th-that’s right! My son has such an overactive imagination that he must have mistaken his fever dreams for reality.”
The two who had once branded Philomel a liar now cast Liam into the fire to save themselves. Liam looked utterly broken, the family he trusted having turned on him in a heartbeat.
“Enough.”
The commotion died instantly, strangled by a voice as cold as glacial ice.
“I have been too inattentive. To think that treason was being plotted right under my nose.”
The garden remained bathed in warm sunlight, yet the temperature seemed to plummet. If the atmosphere were this suffocating for a bystander, one could only imagine the terror seizing the Eross family.
“Th-that is, well……”
The Marchioness Eross could not even string a sentence together; she trembled violently. Logan, who had prided himself on his intellect, turned waxen, his lips sealed as if by a curse.
“Silvia, the only reason I haven’t moved against you until now is that you weren’t worth the effort of dirtying my hands.”
“Eu—Eustis……”
The Marchioness Eross collapsed to the floor. It was a pathetic sight—the former Princess Sylvia, cowering before her half-brother.
“If you do not want your heads to roll here, take your children and vanish from my sight. I have no desire to stain this ground with blood today.”
And just like that, the three of them were gone.
I heard later that the Eross family’s titles and property were confiscated, and the names of Sylvia and her two sons were scrubbed from the imperial records. Those erased must live as commoners under constant surveillance, their divine power permanently sealed.
It was a lenient punishment for treason, but everyone knew the truth: the Eross family hadn’t actually plotted a coup—they had simply failed to muzzle a fool.
Later, I learned they continued to act with haughty entitlement even in their exile, eventually becoming so ostracized by their neighbors that they couldn’t even scrounge a bowl of soup.
But that was a story for another time. For now, the intentions of the man walking away with heavy, measured strides were far more important to me.
‘……It’s terrifying.’
If he is that cold to his own blood, how much more indifferent must he be toward a fake daughter?
Just then, the Emperor turned his head with supernatural speed.
“Are you not walking?”
“……Y-yes?”
“The walk. Didn’t you say you wanted to take one?”
Right. The walk!
I had completely forgotten, distracted by the spectacle.
Philomel trotted along behind the Emperor, chattering nervously about her studies and how her instructors showered her with praise. Eustis offered only short replies—“I see,” “Is that so,” “Not bad”—but Philomel clung to them, grateful that he was answering at all.
As the walk drew to a close, Philomel gauged his mood and asked,
“Your Majesty, do you perhaps dislike these walks?”
“I don’t particularly enjoy them. But since I’ve purged the pests who were pestering me, it seems necessary to step out occasionally.”
‘By pests, he must mean the Marchioness and her sons.’
Philomel carefully continued.
“Then, would you be willing to walk with me occasionally in the future?”
“……With me?”
“Yes!”
“It will be boring.”
“I don’t mind.”
Surely, “boring” didn’t mean it would be hazardous to my health, right?
Whether or not he understood my silent distress, the Emperor answered quietly.
“Understood.”
“Wow!”
Wait, that was too informal. Philomel composed herself and bowed politely.
“Thank you for granting my request.”
“……You may speak as you usually do.”
“Pardon? I’m sorry, I didn’t quite catch that. Could you say it once more……?”
“Never mind. Do as you like.”
Eustis added nothing more and paced onward in silence. Philomel followed, stealing glances at the beautiful garden.
***
From that day on, it became my daily routine to storm into the Emperor’s bedroom the morning after he had been drinking, armed with a thermos of “Special Sansal Herb Tea.”
Count Polan, eager to fix the Emperor’s drinking habits, became my silent co-conspirator.
Even while glaring at the Count, Eustis would drain every drop of the bitter infusion. Afterward, we would take a quiet walk through the garden.
“My composition teacher said I’m the most brilliant student he’s ever taught!”
“That’s good.”
“Is he just saying that because I’m a princess?”
“He was my teacher, too. He isn’t the type to flatter.”
“Even so, I’m not really that…… Whoa!”
While rushing along with quick, short steps, I tripped over my own feet and tumbled.
“Ouch…….”
My knee was scraped raw. It stung as if the skin had been flayed, and tears welled up unbidden.
‘I shouldn’t be doing this. I have to get up…….’
If I lingered, he would surely leave me behind. Or worse, he would look at me with that chilling indifference, finding my tears pathetic.
“Are you alright?”
But Eustis had stopped. He had even turned back to ask.
“It’s nothing!”
I scrambled to my feet, trying to hide the limp. He watched me, his gaze sharpening. Before I could protest, the world tilted—my body floated into the air. Eustis had caught me by the waist and lifted me up!
“Y-Your Majesty!”
Flustered, I squirmed.
“Stay still.”
“B-but……!”
“Only royalty is permitted in these gardens, so there is no one else here to carry you.”
“But…… it’s a burden for you.”
“A burden? You seem to view me as a corpse on the verge of death.”
Eustis adjusted his hold, finding a comfortable position, and resumed his pace. I went stiff, finding the situation suffocatingly intimate.
“Bear with it even if it’s uncomfortable.”
‘How can I possibly bear this!’
Beyond the physical tension of his rigid embrace, the emotional strain was agonizing.
“If you hate it that much, just go to sleep.”
It was impossible to sleep in such a state, yet, strangely enough, I did.
When Countess Deles discovered the Emperor carrying the sleeping Princess, she hurried over, her eyes wide.
“My, she must be exhausted. She always wakes up before dawn on the days she visits you, Your Majesty.”
“…….”
“I believe she wanted to have the tea ready the moment you woke.”
“……I see.”
Countess Deles swallowed hard. She knew how hard Philomel worked. Watching such a small child exert herself for a crumb of attention, it was only natural to feel protective. Seeing the expression on the Emperor’s face as he held her, the Countess felt a flicker of hope.
Summoning her courage, she ventured,
“I heard that Empress Isabella also enjoyed these garden walks.”
“……She liked looking at the flowers.”
When the reply came, the Countess beamed.
“It seems the Princess resembles the late Empress. Waking up early, just to walk with you……”
His blue eyes, lost in the past, sank into the memory.
“When Isabella walked with me, she mostly watched the scenery. I was the one who watched the face of the person beside me.”
Eustis quietly looked down at the child in his arms.
“So, perhaps this child resembles me more than she does Isabella.”
At that moment, an oriole chirped from a nearby branch. The bird’s song swallowed the Emperor’s words, leaving the Countess uncertain of what he had said about the Empress. But she heard the final part clearly: the Princess resembled him.
To be honest, having watched the Princess for months, she couldn’t see the resemblance. Yet, she knew it was a positive shift in their father-daughter bond. And for now, that was enough.