About 25 years ago, a resounding baby’s cry echoed through the Renel Imperial Palace.

A white flag was raised atop the highest tower of the palace, flowers were scattered throughout the city to celebrate the prince’s birth, and people cheered, filled with anticipation for the new era to come.

“Margarita, look. Our first son.”

“He looks just like Your Majesty. Silver hair and eyes like the sun…”

“You’ve endured much through childbirth. I’d like you to name the child.”

Summer, among the four seasons. The crown prince, born at noon when the sun blazed most fiercely, was named Parnes Escalo. In ancient Hismarian, it meant ‘radiance.’

It was commonly thought that imperial families were rarely harmonious and often had unhappy histories.

But in his childhood, Parnes could not understand such notions. Of course, as the crown prince destined to succeed his father as emperor, he bore many burdens. Yet, he spent a relatively happy and affluent youth.

Resembling his father in striking appearance and exceptional physical ability, and inheriting his mother’s keen intellect and perseverance, he was truly the perfect crown prince.

He firmly believed, as he always had, that his life would continue smoothly without incident.

Upon reaching adulthood, he would inherit the throne, govern his people with care, dedicate himself to studies, marry a suitable bride, build a stable family, and pass the legacy to the next generation.

But it seemed the gods deemed he had been given too much.

“Peter is like a brother to me. Why can’t I even send him a letter?”

“A brother? Who in the world kisses and promises marriage to someone like a brother?”

“That again? Haven’t I explained countless times that it’s all in the past?”

Parnes’s mother, Margarita, had once been promised to another man.

A childhood friend from her hometown, a common man with a simple name, born the son of a poor rural farmer.

Even after becoming empress, Margarita often missed Peter. She occasionally sent letters to check on him and once met him in person.

This fueled the late emperor’s obsessive jealousy, ultimately leading him to confine Margarita in the Crescent Palace.

A stifling court life where she could not breathe freely for a single moment. The nobles’ harsh scrutiny and her husband’s obsession.

All of it piled up until Margarita, losing her reason in a moment of collapse, took her husband’s life with her own hands.

Of course, the late emperor was a strong man. He could have resisted his wife, yet he willingly accepted her touch and met his end.

And Parnes, then just a young boy, witnessed it all firsthand.

Parnes neither screamed nor cried. With a pale face, he stood as if nailed to the spot, quietly cleaning the scattered bloodstains.

At dawn, he announced his father’s passing.

“From today, I, Parnes Escalo, am the emperor of the Renel Empire.”

There was no time to stagger in shock.

He had to isolate his mother, who had gone mad after killing her husband, in a separate palace, conduct the funeral, and immediately begin the succession process to stabilize the chaotic nation.

Parnes knew that a moment’s lapse could lead to his throne being usurped by other forces.

Though naturally clever, he was too young, and both his parents were as good as dead.

He had to stay constantly vigilant against those with rebellious intentions, tirelessly honing his abilities to become the perfect monarch.

Assassination threats were routine. Unable to sleep soundly for even a moment, he deliberately consumed poison over years to build immunity. His habit of shallow sleep began then.

He had to bear everything alone to protect what was his. Relying on others was unthinkable.

Living each day with the belief that a single moment of weakness would mean death, he tightly guarded himself.

“Could it be that His Majesty Parnes… on that day, the late emperor…”

Regarding the Crescent Palace incident, people whispered while fearing Parnes.

His terrifyingly composed demeanor in all matters fueled their fear.

Had he wept bitterly at his father’s grave or acted spoiled in Duke Ludwig’s arms, such rumors might not have spread.

Of course, if he wished, he could have easily clarified that it had nothing to do with him.

But Parnes let people suspect him. Explaining would shift suspicion to Dowager Empress Margarita.

“Is Mother still showing no signs of recovery?”

No matter how busy, he visited his mother weekly to check on her.

But she saw her husband in her son. Eventually, she grew wary and aggressive, even lashing out violently at him, as Parnes resembled his father’s younger self strikingly.

Parnes quietly took the blows each time, believing it might ease her heart even slightly.

After visiting his mother, Parnes would often lie blankly in the flower garden.

There, the great Emperor Parnes, ruler of the Western Continent, could groan over nightmares without being seen.

But one day.

“Good heavens. Your flesh is torn. How can you act as if such wounds are nothing…?”

A rabbit boldly hopped into the tiger’s den. A reckless, fearless creature who put on every show of strength.

She entered a place she shouldn’t have, saw what she shouldn’t have, and he considered eliminating her.

But when she showed no fear or flattery despite knowing his identity, a strange curiosity stirred within him.

She seemed entertaining enough to keep around. Though he thought he’d tire of her eventually, his gaze always drifted to her.

And it irritated him.

Whenever she forced composure, eyes straining to hold back tears from others’ wounds, it drove him mad with frustration.

He became obsessed with making her smile, habitually tracing her cat-like eyes and small lips with his gaze.

At some point, Parnes felt a hot, sticky lump rising from deep within his chest.

Each time that unfamiliar sensation engulfed him, he was seized by an intense urge to shield Kasallin from the world.

It was a simple matter, he thought.

Behead the king and queen of Kan, take revenge on her behalf, place her in a lavish palace, and lay treasures at her feet. Then, perhaps, she would smile brightly.

Then, one day, Parnes saw himself in the mirror, resembling his late father more and more.

Even after marrying Kasallin and becoming one as husband and wife, his desire only grew, never easily subsiding.

So he tried to keep his distance.

By consciously drawing a line between them, he believed he could avoid breaking her if he never crossed it.

But he knew from the start. Pretending not to love her was impossible.

He had reached his limit. Ignoring her occasional glances or suppressing the urge to hold her tightly was too much.

Parnes lost confidence in resisting it all. So he resolved to confess his feelings.

Even if she no longer looked at him the same way, he wanted to tell her how much he loved Kasallin.

A father who sought to possess his wife with twisted affection. A mother who, closing her heart to such a husband, eventually lost herself completely.

A childhood forced to bear the responsibilities of an heir to the throne, with no time to wander amidst such tragedy.

Parnes recounted his story, never before shared, in a calm tone, without the slightest lie or embellishment.

“But it’s all in the past. I don’t particularly grieve now, nor am I the type to dwell on such emotions.”

Kasallin wanted to hug him tightly as he casually concluded, as if truly fine.

So, in that moment, she gave in to her impulse.

Stepping softly on the grass, she approached him and, without hesitation, opened her arms to embrace his large frame.

He inhaled sharply, all movement freezing.

With her face buried in his chest, Kasallin heard his heartbeat grow fiercer with time.

“Kasallin?”

“It wouldn’t have faded, no matter how much time passed. It must have been unbearably painful, and you must hate yourself for still clinging to the past. I know. I’m your wife. So it’s okay to be a little honest with me.”

“…”

“Thank you for sharing your story. I’m truly happy.”

His hands, trembling and wandering in the air, gently settled on her back.

For a moment, a faint smile escaped at his overly cautious touch, as if handling fragile glass.

Then, he gradually tightened his arms, embracing her fiercely as if he could no longer hold back.

“Kasallin.”

A suppressed voice tickled her ear from above. Tilting her head slightly, she asked what was wrong.

Parnes stroked and caressed her back for a long while, then drew a slow, trembling breath.

“I don’t want to hide it anymore. I can’t bear not telling you… how much I love you.”