The emperor is displeased with everything these days. The one he appointed as crown prince is inadequate because his mother is not the empress, and the empress still has not opened her eyes.

“Perhaps the magical artifacts had some influence… No, that’s not it.”

The physician who was about to say something quickly closed his mouth at the emperor’s glare. The empress had collapsed in a room full of magical artifacts.

Usually, she couldn’t move an inch within the palace. The emperor strictly limited the empress’s range of movement. It was the typical behavior of a suspicious husband who couldn’t trust his betraying spouse.

But how did she even think of going to the room with magical artifacts? Everyone who attended to the empress was thoroughly interrogated, but no one could answer.

According to their testimonies, the empress suddenly disappeared with a “poof” and unexpectedly appeared with another “poof” in the secret room with magical artifacts, where she collapsed.

“She must have wanted to see her son. A mother’s heart longing to see her child is like that. She must have been so worried about the son kept far away.”

So she must have gone to the room with magical artifacts and looked into the mirror to find her son. That must surely be it.

The empress had always been agile and light on her feet since she was young, so she could have gone there without anyone knowing.

Even looking at her sleeping face now, it was hard to believe she was forty-nine. The empress had barely aged since giving birth to Peiron.

The emperor looked down at his own hands, which were starting to wrinkle. Only the emperor was aging. Seeing this as some kind of signal made him very angry. Yes. Nothing pleased him.

If there was anything that pleased him amidst all this, it was the chunk of gold sent by Duke Lycenford. The emperor had never seen such a large piece of pure gold before.

“She must have wanted to see her precious son who’s doing so well.”

Yes. That’s probably why she went to the room with magical artifacts. The emperor muttered to himself several times as if trying to convince himself, then left the empress’s bedside. He was starting to feel pain in various places.

His back hurt, or his shoulders hurt. While the empress remained young, the emperor alone was aging. Time cannot be held back, but knowing the reason for this made the emperor very upset.

Everything everywhere displeased him. The empire had stabilized as he killed off all the useless ones vying for the throne. There had been no incidents so far.

That evil dragon Ghasalante is bound by its own thousand-year-old promise and cannot use its power against the empire. The emperor reminded himself of this fact several times a day. The evil dragon cannot use any magic.

The heavy door opened silently, and the emperor took a step into the secret room where no one could enter carelessly. A pungent smoky smell seemed to be coming from somewhere.

“Open the door a bit. There’s a smell.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

The attendants and knights who were about to close the door bowed their heads. They hadn’t smelled anything, but since the emperor ordered it, they simply obeyed.

Should we ventilate more? The emperor frowned as he looked around at the magical artifacts. Drawers, mirrors, swords – the various magical artifacts were all blackened as if burned.

This place had never had a fire, but when the empress was found collapsed here, they were already like this.

There was no sign that the empress had started a fire. The floor, walls, and ceiling were perfectly fine, even clean. Only the magical artifacts were burned, which was truly strange.

Moreover, the problem was that the functions of the burned artifacts were not as good as before. The emperor glared at the mirrors, which were barely visible due to the smoke. All the mirrors were focused on Lycenford, but almost nothing could be seen.

It was maddening, but still, the duke had somehow discovered a gold mine and sent a huge chunk of gold.

After confirming several times that it was the largest chunk from the mine and the largest piece of gold the emperor had ever possessed, he felt somewhat relieved.

“…About Lycenford.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

There weren’t many in the emperor’s inner circle who could follow him to this secret place. They were people ready to answer and carry out the emperor’s words and orders immediately, anytime, anywhere.

“Those who spoke impertinently to the duchess. What was done to them again?”

“The main culprits were executed by the duke, and the head maid was mercifully exiled by the duchess.”

“Right. But what about the rest, besides those?”

How dare they disregard the emperor who arranged that marriage and nearly kill the duchess. The emperor thought they should all be swept up and killed.

“Most of them died in recent battles with foreign tribes, it seems.”

“Still, they should be punished. Disregarding rank and hierarchy is a crime that shakes the foundations of the empire.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

You are right, Your Majesty. Your words are just. Your judgment is wise.

Those meaninglessly echoing words somewhat soothed the emperor’s unpleasant mood. They were truly pleasing words to hear every time.

“Since the duke is doing well in his own way, tell him directly to thoroughly punish the remaining criminals as well.”

In Lycenford, there would also be distrust and antipathy towards the duke punishing local nobles by imperial order. The emperor was calculating even that.

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

But shouldn’t they be grateful that the emperor gave the right to punish? The emperor looked at Lycenford, which was barely visible through the many burned mirrors. Almost nothing could be seen.

What could be seen was, strangely, not Lycenford but the emperor’s gradually changing face.

He had aged. Yes. He had aged. Wrinkles were visible, and his once sharp facial lines were starting to collapse. The face he had maintained as much as possible with all sorts of magical artifacts, magic, and medicines was gradually aging.

Even the emperor couldn’t escape time, but the empress had escaped time. At this rate, he might not be able to hold onto the empress if he aged and died.

“Where are the magicians? Tell them to come and fix the magical artifacts quickly!”

Many magicians or sorcerers had already been brought in to fix the magical artifacts, but proper magicians were rare, and most were incompetent sorcerers who gave up without being able to fix them.

No matter how much they wiped, the soot remained. One mad sorcerer among them trembled and muttered an ancient thousand-year-old prophecy.

When the heart of the Golden City burns, the dragon will descend upon Kra’in.

Nonsense. The emperor laughed as he beheaded the sorcerer who dared to speak of the Golden City, Kra’in burning, saying it was nonsense.

Dragon? Dragons can’t even set foot in Kra’in. Even a dragon values its own son so much that it doesn’t dare to step on Lycenford. How dare it! It can only groan while dealing with a son it can’t even communicate with, how dare it!

The latter part of the prophecy, whose origin was unclear, clung to the fuming emperor.

When the dragon descends upon Kra’in, the sun will fall.

The emperor, hailed as the sun of the empire, once again exclaimed that it was nonsense. The dragon’s promise not to use magic against the empire was much stronger than that prophecy.

Moreover, besides those two sentences, the prophecy was full of various nonsensical additions, making it nothing more than an unreliable folklore with low credibility. They were all nothing but quacks.

“Who on earth can I trust to rule this country!”

The secret room briefly echoed with the shout, but no one answered. Even that shout wasn’t particularly loud, so it quickly subsided.

*

He tried not to run away. If you’ve committed a crime, you should face it squarely.

Just as Peiron dealt with criminals, he tried to deal with himself in the same way. He didn’t even want sympathy. Kaella’s sympathy was too precious to waste on someone like Peiron.

But facing the consequences was only possible if there was a will to punish. In front of the emaciated woman asking to be killed, let alone punishment or revenge, Peiron couldn’t maintain his sanity.

All the justice he believed in was destroyed, and common sense crumbled.

Just as he had sworn never to be treated like that again, he unconsciously believed that Kaella would have such determination too. He never imagined Kaella smiling and asking to be killed, having lost all will and desire.

“You said you’d grant any wish before we got married.”

His head was spinning. His knees were wobbling. Amidst labored breathing and ringing in his ears, Kaella’s clear, smiling words were distinctly audible.

“Even then, I was going to ask you to kill me painlessly.”

Painlessly. A person who could die well asked to be killed painlessly. He had heard that starving to death was a slow and terribly painful process.

“I, I can fix everything. I can do it. I can make sure nothing like that ever happens again.”

Then you can live, can’t you? You just need to live.

“I’m useless for anything.”

He apologized for making her say such things. He prostrated himself and apologized, but Kaella tilted her head as if she didn’t understand why he was doing so, since she was just stating the facts, not intentionally trying to hurt him.

“You must live, my lady. This time, I can do it painlessly. I can also never see you again for the rest of my life, forever, so you must live.”

Can’t you live then? Peiron desperately listed all the reasons to live, while Kaella, watching him, averted her gaze.

“What should I do? What would make you want to live? I can grant any wish.”

There was no answer to the question asked in a state of madness. Peiron realized that there was nothing he could do in front of a wife who wanted nothing but death. He couldn’t kill Kaella. He couldn’t kill her again.

“Your Highness?”

Peiron took a breath and stepped back. He groped at the air, groped at the darkness. This place is hell. Kaella’s puzzled voice grew distant. No, it had become distantly faint without him realizing when he had heard it.

Peiron.

Why did you do it? Why did you strip even the will to live from the young duchess who was just trying her best? Even if you were under all sorts of curses and brainwashed, you shouldn’t have done that.

Even if Kaella was going to sell out Lycenford, you should have doubted once and looked back again. You should have.

So Kaella was never happy even after the regression and wanted to die all along. Ah, yes. That’s how it was. She must have wanted to die every moment she was with him. How did she endure him, it must have been terrible. To think he touched her with these filthy hands. How dare he desire her.

Peiron!

At the majestic voice striking his brain, Peiron gasped and drew in a breath. The cold air struck his face. Suddenly coming to his senses, he looked around anew. It was a large cave untouched by human hands.

It looked like the cave he had discovered while wandering around Lycenford as a child, but he couldn’t remember at all how he had come here or why he had suddenly regained consciousness here. His clothes were covered in dirt. Kaella, where was Kaella?

Ah, I left her safe in the castle.

Pull yourself together!

The voice calling him was not scolding or lecturing, but full of sorrow and regret.

“…Father.”

His voice was cracked. It was almost unfamiliar, like someone else’s voice.

Yes, Peiron. It’s me. Are you coming to your senses?

The dragon, his heart melting for his mentally unstable son, called out anxiously.

Don’t stay there, come here if you have nowhere else to go. Come to me. Everything will be alright. Whatever happened, I…

“Father.”

Peiron stared blankly into space.

“How did you recognize me, Father?”

Peiron, who was already born in the imperial palace, was raised there all along and only came to Lycenford at the age of twelve. The small boy who came to Lycenford, barely holding out against the evil dragon Ghasalante, bravely confronted the dragon.

Not knowing it was his father, he only nurtured hostility. He lived swearing to kill his father someday. He always tried hard, not knowing that his father immediately withdrew the monsters and spirits whenever he saw his son.

He had lived a truly wretched life.

I knew from the beginning.

“When I came here…?”

Did you recognize me as your son at first sight then?

From the moment you were conceived.

Ghasalante knew well enough that it was fortunate just to be able to communicate with his son, who was wandering alone outside Lycenford in a state of mental breakdown.

He had to somehow continue the conversation to bring his son back to his senses and send him back, or rather bring him to his domain.

“Yes…, Mother said something like that too.”

Peiron, your dad knows you. He never abandoned you. From before you were born, your dad waited for you.

The emperor hardly allowed the empress to speak a word, so she mostly kept her mouth shut. But really secretly, whispering while holding her breath, she rarely spoke.

You have a dad. You have a dad who loves you. It sounded so much like the ravings of a mad woman that Peiron just listened silently but didn’t believe it.

“Dragons recognize their offspring from the moment they’re conceived, I see.”

Yes.

“But I didn’t know.”

The baby was in that small body, and despite being the cause, I comfortably knew nothing while confining that fragile and innocent woman.

“Why didn’t I know?”

Until the once proud and graceful lady came to belittle and beat herself down without a second thought, what exactly had he been doing? What exactly had he been doing while a pregnant woman carrying his child was starving to death?

It’s not your fault.

A bitter laugh escaped. The first words were “It’s not your fault.” Father knew too. Being a dragon, of course he would have recognized when another dragon, not yet awakened, was creating another dragon.

He had seen it all – his son who couldn’t even communicate, failing to awaken and creating his own child only to kill it. He had shown his father every disgraceful sight. He had thoroughly been both an unfilial son and a depraved person.

“I committed it.”

Does a child come into being alone? The child created by him, who had touched the emperor’s niece he found so terrible, did it come into being alone? Peiron looked down at himself, who had once again desired the woman who had been eroded, worn out, and broken by wounds, while he was still not in his right mind.

The terrible thing was right here.

“I did it.”

The dragon’s voice trying to dissuade him was no longer heard. The one who had become closer to being a dragon’s son than a human’s son had cut off his existence from his father.

Desire, the desire for Kaella, is still rising stiffly even now. He was a completely crazy bastard with no hope. That’s why that fragile young lady asks to be killed.

What on earth did he do to that small body? It must have hurt. It must have been terrible. She must have been disgusted to the point of shuddering and wanted to scream. It’s revolting. It was too revolting.

Peiron cut off his desire with no expression. This shouldn’t exist. It should be eliminated so Kaella would be less frightened. Blood splattered on the eerie face.

That face calmly tilted its head. Strange. He cut it off, but it grows anew. Why does it grow? It’s strange. This is not normal. Kaella is scared.

Then it must be removed until it disappears. Only then will Kaella not be scared. If she’s not scared, she’ll be able to live. Right?

He castrated the constantly growing desire, castrated it, and castrated it again.