Chapter 111

Kaizen opened his eyes in the room where the sunlight was shining.

Theor was sleeping soundly on his arm.

With messy black hair on his forehead and plump cheeks, sleeping Theor was as cute as an angel.

‘Your sleeping face looks like Astelle.’

His calm and lovely appearance was just like Astelle.

Although Kaizen had only seen Astelle sleeping once.

Seeing Theor sleeping soundly, the memories of last night came to mind.

***

After a brief dinner and bath, Theor changed into his pajamas with Hannah’s help and returned to Kaizen’s room.

Theor got into bed with the old teddy bear in his arms and lay down next to Kaizen.

Blynn, who followed Theor, quickly lay down on its stomach on the cushion next to the bed.

“Have a peaceful night, Your Majesty, Prince.”

Hannah bowed her head politely and backed away.

Theor waved his hand out of the blanket.

“Good night, Hannah.”

The door closed and the two were left alone. The emperor’s bedroom is spacious and warm.

The light from the fireplace added warm energy to the room.

Theor covered himself with a thick blanket and ruffled the teddy bear with his little hands.

This was the first time Kaizen had a child sleeping next to him.

He never thought he would like a child.

Looking at Theor who was buried in the soft blanket, Kaizen asked, “Is there anything else you need?”

At those words, Theor pulled the hem of his shirt as if waiting.

“Tell me about the old story!”

“Old story?”

“It’s a story from a fairy tale book.”

‘A fairy tale.’

When he was as young as Theor, he liked it too. But that was more than twenty years ago.

He can’t remember any fairy tales now.

Kaizen began to be educated as a future emperor by the time he was six or seven years old.

As he read boring thick books, all the cute old stories were erased from his head.

“I do not know any fairy tales……”

“Why?”

Theor looked at him in disbelief. As if asking how one could not know fairy tales.

“Because as I grow up, I forget about it.”

Theor tilted his head, not understanding.

“My mom remembers everything. Grandpa, too.”

“……”

“Even my bad grandfather told me old stories.”

“Who did what?”

Theor always called the Duke of Reston that way.

“My bad grandfather told me an old story. The story of the old emperor.”

“It must be about my father.”

Kaizen didn’t really like the Duke of Reston, who continued to approach Theor.

Before marriage, Astelle asked him to leave the Duke to her, as she would take care of him herself.

It was a promise he made when he married her, so he had no choice but to keep it.

Even though he still wanted to get rid of the Duke and cover it up as an incident.

“Okay, I’ll tell you a fairy tale.”

He racked his memory to recall the contents of the fairy tale books he had read as a child.

All kinds of stories such as bears, rabbits, princes, princesses, dragons, etc. were all mixed up in his head.

This story was like that story, and that story was like this story.

‘I can’t help it.’

I guess I have to combine these and other things to make a story or something.

Theor was only five years old, so if he made up a story and told it to him, he would listen intently and sleep.

The moment he decided to improvise a fairy tale, Theor, who had been waiting quietly, pulled the blanket up to his chin.

He said, “Then tell me about Your Majesty and my mom.”

“Astelle and I? What kind of story do you want to know about us?”

“Umm……”

Theor tilted his head.

Then his eyes shone brightly.

“Since when did you and my mom start to like each other?”

Theor seems curious about when and how the two met.

It was an innocent child’s question.

“Hmm.”

Kaizen recalled his first meeting with Astelle.

“I met Astelle on……”

Their first official meeting was on the Duke’s ball day.

But Kaizen had met Astell before that.

The Duke of Reston brought Astelle to the imperial palace to give her greetings to the empress dowager.

Perhaps the empress dowager wanted to see if she was qualified to be the Crown Prince’s fiancée.

Kaizen, who was riding a horse in the garden of the empress dowager, found a little girl by the pond in the garden.

There was Astelle in a light purple dress.

Platinum blonde hair reaching up to her waist, and light green eyes like flower buds.

Little Astelle was like a lovely fairy.

‘She was really cute.’

He only met briefly, but Kaizen remembered Astelle well.

However, the moment he found out that Astelle was the daughter of the Duke of Reston, his interest disappeared without a trace.

Young Kaizen hated the duke so much, so he hated Astelle as well.

After some time, Kaizen was forcibly taken to the Duke’s ball.

And there he proposed to Astelle—according to the script—while putting the blue jewel, the treasure of the imperial family, around her neck.

“Did you ask my mom to marry you?”

“I did. I proposed to her.”

Upon hearing the answer, Theor asked again with curious eyes.

“What would have happened if my mom said no?”‘

“She wouldn’t……”

Their engagement had already been set.

Kaizen remembers Astelle pretending to be happy with a nervous face.

Just as Kaizen proposed to her on the emperor’s orders, Astelle only showed a happy appearance as ordered by the elders.

‘Our relationship went wrong from the beginning.’

Kaizen felt a bitter sentiment again.

On the other hand, Theor, who listened carefully to his story, found it interesting to hear about his proposal.

“Please tell me more when you proposed to my mom.”

“Do you like this story?”

“I can’t imagine when Your Majesty and my mom were young, but I love this story. It’s like a fairy tale.”

Kaizen repeated the story when he proposed to Astelle at the Duke’s ball once again.

Of course, everything that Theor didn’t need to know was taken out.

Theor listened intently to Kaizen’s story, but his eyes gradually closed.

Kaizen covered Theor with a blanket and patted him on the back.

“You have to sleep now.”

“Your Majesty.”

Theor muttered, resting his face on the pillow and closing his eyes.

“My mom wouldn’t have said no. My mom liked Your Majesty a lot.”

“Who said that?”

“Grandpa.”

The ‘grandpa’ he was referring to was Astelle’s maternal grandfather.

“Hm…… I’ll sleep now.”

After saying those words, Theor closed his eyes and fell asleep.

‘Did Astelle like me?’

Kaizen thought it was ridiculous.

‘It was probably just something the old Marquis said to little Theor.’

If Astelle liked him, she wouldn’t have accepted the divorce so easily.

Even after seeing each other again, Astelle was still cold to him.

Kaizen thought Astelle couldn’t possibly have any romantic feelings for him, as she must have had a hard time living as the prince’s fiancée.

‘Astelle did her best, but I unilaterally left her.’

So it wasn’t surprising that Astelle didn’t put her trust in him.

The moonlight shone through the bedroom through the blue curtains of the windows.

Suddenly, he remembered the blue gem necklace, which he put around Astelle’s neck when he was ten.

On the day of the divorce, Astelle left the necklace in the Crown Prince’s bedroom, where the two had spent their first night.

Kaizen had ordered that the gem that lost its owner should be put back into the treasury.

‘……’

Kaizen has not been able to return it to Astelle.

He even proposed to her half-forcefully and held a grand wedding under the pretext of a contract, but he wasn’t brazen enough to give the gem to her again.

Nevertheless, he could not give up on Astelle.

But Kaizen also realized that the way he had done so far was wrong.

It wasn’t right for him to force his heart on Astelle.

***

Astelle woke up early in the morning.

She was restless all night because Theor wasn’t with her.

Although Hannah was with him, it still bothered her.

As usual, after waking up, she took a bath and dressed up, and started working in the empress’ palace.

“Your Majesty, the Prince has returned.”

Fortunately, Theor returned early.

“Mom!”

“Theor! Did you sleep well?”

Astelle hugged Theor and smiled brightly, but it disappeared in an instant.

This was because Kaizen came in.

“Did you sleep well, Your Majesty?”

Kaizen nodded without saying a word. Hannah came in too.

She, like Astelle, had a gloomy expression as she had been on edge all night.

Theor said happily, “I slept with His Majesty.”

“I see. You must have had fun.”

Astelle hid her uncomfortable feelings and smiled kindly.

“Theor, go to your grandfather now. He has been waiting for you.”

“Yes!”

After Theor left, Astelle said to Hannah, “You must be tired, Hannah. Take a rest today.”

Hannah bowed and walked out.

The other maids who were waiting followed her along.

“Your Majesty.”

Astelle and Kaizen were the only two left in the room.

Astelle looked straight at Kaizen and said, “Your Majesty is the lord of the empire, and you have the right to do whatever you please.”

She wanted to speak as calmly as she could, but her anger made her voice tremble.

“But it is my responsibility to take care of the prince. In the future, please let me know in advance before taking the prince anywhere else.”

Taking Theor to his palace to show that he is angry.

She couldn’t forgive him for using Theor in their emotional fight.

Even though he is the emperor of the empire, she will not let this go.

“I am sorry.”

Kaizen apologized in a calm voice.