The moment Kaela saw her own cheek turn bright red from slapping it so hard, all of Peon’s thoughts stopped.

To see her, who was always bright and cheerful, strike her fair cheek with an expressionless face, making a loud slapping sound. It was such a strong force that anyone would think it must be very painful. In fact, Kaela felt the pain.

It hurts. Her cheek stung so much it made her mind clear. Just one slap wasn’t enough to forgive herself for the emotion she had dared to feel just now. So she had to slap again. She swung her hand hard.

“Kaela.”

With a low, powerful voice, Peon grabbed her wrist to stop her.

“Why are you suddenly doing this?”

Dreams are cruel. The stinging cheek, and the large gloved hand and firm strength wrapping around her wrist were too cruel. The urgent voice asking and the surprised gaze looking at her seemed just like he was worried.

‘Crazy girl.’

Kaela muttered, reproaching herself.

“I couldn’t wake up.”

She was still speaking formally. Peon felt uncomfortable more because of her way of speaking than her answer. Even though they had become close enough to meet only once or twice a year, at this time Kaela always called him “elder brother” and treated him familiarly like when they were young.

Even when others grew up and distanced themselves from him after learning about the complicated imperial circumstances, Kaela was different.

Even Kaela, who had lost everything and was forced to marry him, initially always smiled at him and acted as if their relationship hadn’t changed in private.

The fact that her manner of speaking and attitude could change bothered Peon because he missed Kaela’s previous attitude very much. Apparently much more than he had expected.

Didn’t you learn about noble titles? Address me properly. You usually pretend to be well-educated, but what logic is there in ignoring etiquette as you please?

The one who eliminated Kaela’s familiar attitude, which had remained unchanged even after losing her father and being forced into marriage, was none other than him. The person who completely erased the joyful memories of childhood, whether it was taboo or whatever, was also him.

The young duchess, who had no one to rely on and tried hard to do well with her familiar elder brother and husband, lost her smile, lost her words, and was only concerned with strictly maintaining the manners he told her to.

“You can just sleep.”

“No, I can’t do that when Her Majesty the Empress has collapsed.”

The tiresome emperor who nitpicked even trivial things was likely to rage if she dared to fall asleep when the empress had collapsed. Having experienced so much, Kaela’s street smarts tended to work well in that direction.

Always maintain dignity, be patient, and treat others kindly, and someday there will be a reward. This was the virtue Kaela had learned.

She had tried hard, believing that virtue would work in Lyssenford too, but the result was only a miserable death.

Dignity and patience? Kindness? It’s all nonsense. What was left for Kaela who diligently practiced those virtues? She didn’t just die, she died miserably and horribly.

So instead of maintaining dignity, she had to use her brain, instead of being patient, she had to act first before being harmed, and instead of being kind, she had to be infinitely selfish to barely survive. No, even then, the chances of surviving in this brutal imperial palace were slim.

“I can stay awake instead. Why did you do that, it must hurt.”

The Grand Duke, the man who had been her husband, kept examining her cheek.

Oh, such a worried look. If she wasn’t his wife but just a familiar younger sister, she could easily receive such concern. Is this a divine prank? Or an illusion? Or a nightmare? Whatever it is, it’s cruel.

‘Why did the person who helped kill Dad save him this time?’

It doesn’t make sense. Kaela, who still hadn’t come to her senses and habitually relied on Peon, and even slapped her own trembling cheek, tried to gather her thoughts. Think coldly. Coldly.

“Yes, why did you do that when it hurts? Don’t ever do that again.”

Adeo, who was surprised that his daughter had slapped her cheek, also spoke firmly and strongly.

“Yes.”

Kaela answered halfheartedly and thought. She didn’t know why or how she, who had died in the northern tower, was here now, whether it was the dragon Ghasalante’s prank or the emperor playing with magical tools, but she had to be careful.

‘Just because Dad is alive doesn’t mean everything is fine.’

As long as the emperor was still there, she had to live with her heart in her mouth, not knowing when she might die.

The emperor continued to covet Ostein, the golden territory directly bestowed by the previous emperor. Aren’t they gathered here now, watching the emperor’s mood? Thinking about it made her tired again.

‘Was I not supposed to just die?’

For Kaela, who was already exhausted to the limit, living painfully again itself was a painful thing. So she just hoped that this vivid moment was merely a dream.

“Bring a basin and towel.”

While Peon was ordering, the Duke of Ostein took his daughter’s hand in disbelief. Her palm was also red and swollen from how fiercely she had struck her cheek.

“If you’re sleepy, you should sleep. If you want to drive away sleep, walk around. What is this? Don’t ever do this again.”

But Kaela instantly forgot her tired feelings at the kind voice. Her father’s rough hand wrapping around her wrist was warm, and his scolding voice was full of affection.

Somehow her eyes got hot belatedly, and Kaela lowered her head. So this is what it means to be alive. Affection and attention that she hadn’t received for so long were pouring down on her again as if it were natural.

“Yes.”

Her voice was choked up, so Kaela quickly swallowed her tears.

Her father, whom she met again, made her happy and glad enough to forget even the thought of wanting to avoid all this through death. This might be an overwhelming opportunity. Maybe God took pity on her and brought her back to life.

“Kaela.”

A gruff voice called her. As she instinctively turned her head, a cold wet towel touched her cheek. When she flinched in surprise, Peon lowered his voice even more.

“Keep it there. It’s very swollen.”

“Give it to me please.”

When Kaela quickly took the wet towel, Peon silently soaked another towel in the basin, wrung it out tightly, and placed it on her red and swollen palm as well.

“I’ll take care of this too. Thank you.”

“Open your palm.”

She tried to quickly pull her hand away too, but the authoritative tone didn’t let her go. The man’s tone, accustomed to giving orders, was difficult to refuse.

It was even harder since she had tried to please him more over the past 4 years. He placed the cold towel on her reddened palm and accurately repositioned the towel on her face that Kaela had only roughly placed since she couldn’t see herself in a mirror.

This man is absolutely not such a kind person. Unable to even make eye contact, she lowered her gaze and was already wandering through that cold Lyssenford.

There, Kaela was often in pain. Colds and flu were common, and breaking a bone after slipping on frozen stairs was probably the worst injury. She fell and got hurt right in front of the Grand Duke.

“I can do it myself.”

Your Highness, it seems the Duchess has suffered a fracture.

She remembered that time vividly. The stone stairs that had become slippery from repeated freezing and thawing and were even more dangerous, the tremendous pain, the people whispering and staring, and likewise, the Grand Duke of Lyssenford who only looked down coldly.

At the time, they were about to attend a banquet, so the two of them were in a position where they had to enter together. Although she was in so much pain that cold sweat was running down, he just made a dismissive gesture as if annoyed.

Let her in.

It was a gesture that meant to get rid of her. There wasn’t even a word to call a doctor. As always, he didn’t even look at her once as she groaned in pain with a broken bone.

In Lyssenford, being sick was one’s own loss. From the cold gazes of the maids who cared for her half-heartedly, to the neglect of her husband who would personally visit the stables when a horse gave birth or was injured but didn’t even glance at his wife, everything was poison to Kaela.

Even if she hadn’t died after being framed as a spy, it was a place where she wouldn’t have lived long anyway. There, Kaela was a being not even worth a warhorse or a hunting dog.

“Give it to me.”

In other words, if they hadn’t been forced to marry, they could have been close enough to take care of each other affectionately. Even though it was over since she had died, and even though the current Peon had nothing to do with the husband she knew, the sadness of not being respected welled up.

“Kaela.”

Peon called her quietly.

“Did I do something wrong?”

Kaela’s blue eyes widened. She looked at Peon as if seeing some strange creature. Why is this person acting like this?

“Or is it because we haven’t seen each other in a long time?”

He forced a smile. It was hard to properly meet her eyes that were not dark blue but so bright they were almost dazzling. It seems he still had that much conscience left.

“Why are you suddenly speaking formally?”

“That’s right. You used to call me elder brother so well before.”

At twenty-one, before Adeo died, Kaela should have used informal speech with Peon and called him elder brother instead of Your Highness, as she had always done since childhood.

It was natural since they had been playmates since they were very young. From then on, he was just brother Peon.

“Have you decided to be formal now that you’ve grown up?”

Kaela was very flustered at her father’s words as he chuckled.

“Ah.”

She had completely forgotten. That’s right, there was a time like that.

The moment she became the Grand Duchess, her status changed, and the immature girl who used to follow her favorite elder brother around was erased in the face of the sense of duty to strictly observe the laws in Lyssenford.

It was a past that was too old for Kaela to recall, or one that had completely disappeared because it had no meaning.

“Tell me if I did something wrong. I won’t do it again.”

Peon took the wet towel that Kaela couldn’t even grip properly because she was so surprised, and placed it back on her cheek.

“So treat me like you used to.”

He didn’t come all the way back here to hear the stiff speech of the Grand Duchess of Lyssenford from Kaela’s mouth, who hadn’t lost anything yet.

‘…It must be because we haven’t seen each other in a long time.’

Yes. That’s why Kaela is speaking formally awkwardly, there can’t be any other reason. Peon unconsciously gripped the wet towel tightly with trembling fingers.

*

Not only the doctors belonging to the imperial palace, but also renowned doctors affiliated with academic societies began to be summoned to the palace. However, even now, on the third day since the Empress collapsed, everyone was in a state of anxiety as they couldn’t find a clear cause.

“I’m deeply disappointed.”

Although his tone was well-packaged, the Emperor was extremely irritated, drying up the blood of the doctors and palace employees, and furthermore, making the palace tremble with anxiety.

The palace, where people couldn’t even breathe properly due to the Emperor’s suspiciousness and persistence, became like thin ice when the Empress, the Emperor’s only love, collapsed.

“How can you not know why a person collapsed! Whether they ate something wrong, or something went wrong somewhere, there should be a clear reason!”

The maids who served the Empress were arrested one after another without knowing why. However, the Empress didn’t collapse in front of the maids, but was found unconscious alone in a deep part of the Soleil Palace where the Emperor stays.

That place was the Emperor’s private domain, so no one knew how the Empress had gone there.

The fact that the Empress, who was under thorough protection, in other words, thorough surveillance, had slipped out of the Emperor’s grasp for a moment was enough to make the Emperor go into a frenzy.

The Emperor, who had been raging with bloodshot eyes for three days, noticed a new person standing quietly at the doorway.

“Hyperion?”

“I see the eternal sun of the empire. May you live a thousand years.”

The Emperor, who had been in an uproar for three days without eating or sleeping properly, was fifty years old, and showed signs of fatigue. However, he was famous for looking younger than his age and being healthier than any young person.

“You must have been worried about your mother too.”

If he had appeared earlier, he would have been scolded, “Who are you, a lowly person, to poke your nose in?” If he had appeared later, he would have raged, “A green boy doesn’t even worry about the mother who gave birth to him.” The Emperor’s whims were difficult to please.

The Grand Duke of Lyssenford, Peon, glanced at the four-poster bed with curtains drawn, then approached the Emperor.

“Your Majesty, three days have passed. You need to eat and rest.”

Just one glance. Although that gaze was full of concern, one glance was all the attention Peon was allowed regarding his mother.

Any more than that, and the Emperor would find some excuse to rage again. After all, it was his hobby to bully and abuse Peon at every opportunity.

“Heartless boy, how can you tell me to eat when your mother has collapsed like this!”

“Your Majesty is the sun ruling over the entire Krania Empire. The whole empire knows your love and care for Her Majesty the Empress, but it’s impossible to care for and nurture without health and strength. Many members of the imperial family are already worried.”

Peon, without batting an eye, expressed concern to this hateful enemy who had tightened his noose and oppressed and tormented his mother.

“You need to eat and get some rest, even if just for a moment.”

At his blunt words, the Emperor reluctantly rose from his seat. Having only burst out in anger without eating anything, Peon immediately supported the Emperor as he staggered upon standing.

“Are you alright?”

“Ah, I’m fine, I’m fine. …You were in Altein Palace, weren’t you?”

The Emperor’s eyes are all over the imperial palace. No, not just the entire palace, but the whole empire.

Every move of Peon and everyone else is in the palm of the Emperor’s hand. The Emperor maliciously enjoyed the reactions of those who knew this fact and feared it.

“Yes. I was with the Duke and Duchess of Ostein.”

It was fine to omit mentioning that he had been on standby due to the Empress’s condition. The Emperor might view it negatively if he tried to bring attention to his own merit.

“Ah, yes. That child Kaela brought news of the Empress. …Why did she enter the palace?”

Although the mouth of the servant who delivered the news of the Empress had already been shut, the Emperor remembered and questioned even the tiniest details suspiciously.

“The Duke of Ostein forgot to take his medicine, it seems.”

So Peon had already perfectly matched his story for this part as well.

“How can he forget such things already? That guy has gotten old too.”

The Emperor looked back once more at the bed where the Empress lay. His eyes were full of one-sided obsession that he alone believed to be affection. Peon hid his disgust under a face devoid of expression.

“Did you come alone?”

“Yes.”

“Why don’t the other guys even look in?”

Those were all words with weight behind them. The Emperor, unable to have more heirs from the Empress who had only given birth to Peon, or using that as an excuse, had touched this woman and that woman, resulting in quite a few illegitimate children.

But as people whispered in places unseen, it seemed as if the Emperor ‘lacked the ability to have healthy heirs’.

Most of the children born didn’t survive past infancy, and among the illegitimate children who did survive, none surpassed Peon.

That’s why the Emperor threw more tantrums every time he saw Peon. Peon was proof that the Emperor’s reproductive ability was the problem, not the Empress.

“Were only three of you in Altein Palace?”

“Yes.”

“Useless things.”

The sound he spat out was harsh and sharp. Since it concerned the Empress, everyone should have been more careful.

This one incident could bring about a big change in the uncertain situation of who would become the successor. Of course, it was none of Peon’s business. He was just the Empress’s illegitimate child, not mixed with the imperial bloodline at all.

Time spent with the Emperor is terrible. It was even worse since his senses had become dimensionally more sensitive and sharp after his regression.

Still, Peon, now free from all taboos, had developed a knack for enduring. He made a merciless self-evaluation.

‘I have no shame and a thick skin.’

You are of lowly and dirty birth, so strive to be polite, loyal, and grow up properly. He had heard those words to the point of nausea.

Those words were right. He was a shameless and unscrupulous person. To take comfort in the fact that a woman he had killed – no, starved to death – with his own hands was alive. To be happy just from exchanging a few words with her.

Rather, if only he had acknowledged this sordid and base desire when they were married. Brainwashed, he had thoroughly avoided eye contact and, like someone with obsessive-compulsive disorder, didn’t even exchange words.

Because the Grand Duke didn’t treat her as a Grand Duchess, others treated her the same way, so she couldn’t even receive proper food.

If he had met her gaze, looked into those blue eyes and started talking, heard her soft voice, then eventually the brainwashing…

“By the way, I heard you chased someone out of Altein Palace.”

The Emperor, who had finally started eating properly after several days, asked. He was asking despite knowing everything.

“Isn’t Beatrice Lavalle your childhood friend and also a child the Empress was fond of?”

Peon cherished his acquaintances very much, given how few people were around him. He especially cared for his mother in Kraine and Beatrice, who had grown up close to him since childhood.

So the people Peon cared about were good chess pieces for the Emperor to handle. By using them as hostages to shake Peon, even if Peon wanted to resist, he had to endure. The Emperor had tamed Peon in this way.

And without Peon knowing, he had even placed a taboo on him using Beatrice. The Emperor, who always knew everything about Peon’s human relationships, seemed strange as he was testing him.

For the Emperor, Peon must have a great attachment to Beatrice and the Empress. That’s what made Peon easy to handle.

“…Isn’t Altein Palace a place where only royalty can reside?”

Of course, Peon was nominally included in the imperial family. Because he was the son of the Empress whom the Emperor loved so much.

“It goes against etiquette and order.”

“Didn’t you care less about etiquette and order?”

The Emperor, who had often pointed fingers at him for being an ill-mannered guy, didn’t let it slide this time either. Care less? It was etiquette he had kept as if measured with a ruler, perfectly aligned to the angles, like someone with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

‘No, if I had wanted to keep it, I should have kept my vows to my married wife.’

Instead, he had persisted in saying his love was only for Beatrice, thinking it was the greatest rebellion against the Emperor, but now that he thought about it, it was such a futile and petty brainwashing.

Even if he had been under a spell, the very fact that he had done so was shameful enough.

“If I’ve learned it, I should try, shouldn’t I?”

“Ah.”

The Emperor, who wouldn’t have even listened to his words before, was now nodding his head anxiously with trembling hands as the Empress had fallen into a coma. Peon, like a son, looked after the Emperor’s meals, and even his bedding, before quietly withdrawing.

In this cesspool, his mother had rather become free, and the Duke of Ostein had survived. And Beatrice Lavalle was none of his business.

Peon’s leash had been completely removed.