Finishing the afternoon schedule earlier than usual and wanting to see Kayan’s face,I went to the Crown Prince’s Palace, only to find the child playing while hugging some cat.
There were two of them: one was a fellow with orange fur,and the other was a young cat with white and black fur mottled together.
The orange-furred one hid under a corner table, warily watching its surroundings,while the smaller one innocently swung its front paws, engrossed in playing with Kayan.
Watching cat fur flutter and scatter in all directions, I was lost in thought, wondering how this came to be,when a nursemaid cautiously approached from the side, lowering her head as if ashamed.
“I’m sorry, Your Majesty the Empress. I told him it’s forbidden to keep animals in the palace,but he was so stubborn…”
“Where did those cats come from?”
“It was nice and sunny this afternoon, so we went for a walk.While passing near the tulip garden over there, we heard a cat meowing from under the flowerbed.When we checked, it seemed the mother had left her kittens,and only those two were left, rolling around on the dirt.”
“So Kayan decided to take them in and raise them.”
Kasallin let out a soft sigh. The nursemaid nodded, repeatedly apologizing.
Kasallin stepped over the threshold and approached Kayan.Hearing his mother’s footsteps, Kayan ran to her with a bright smile,burying his face in her skirt.
“Mother!”
“Crown Prince, I know you’re happy, but didn’t you learn that imperial etiquetterequires greeting your mother properly first?”
“Oh!”
After the gentle reprimand, Kayan seemed to remember, stepping backand bowing politely. But soon after, he began flailing his short arms,begging to be picked up.
Somehow, it felt like Kayan’s childishness was growing by the day,but deep down, she also felt pity for the child.
With barely an hour or two a day to see his parents,how happy he must feel to see a familiar face after spending all day with the nursemaid and court tutors.
Her heart softening once again, Kasallin reluctantly picked Kayan up gently.
Patting his small back and touching his soft cheeks, indulging his whims,the child burst into delighted giggles.
“But Crown Prince, what are those cats?”
Setting Kayan down and asking, the child, as if waiting for the question,scooped up the cats in both arms and scampered to Kasallin.
“They were abandoned in the garden. So I cleaned them up and gave them milk.”
Kayan seemed genuinely fond of his new animal friends, rubbing his face against them.
The yellow-furred cat flattened its ears and shuddered,while the other, with innocent blinking eyes, hung limply like wet laundry.
“Do you want to keep these cats?”
“I want to keep them. I’ve already named them. This yellow one is Molly,and this mottled one is Marie.”
Kasallin crouched down to meet Kayan’s eye level.
“Crown Prince, animals aren’t toys. They’re precious lives, just like you.Once you decide to raise them, you must take full responsibility to the end,like His Majesty, who works every day so the people of our Rennel Empire can eat well and live well.Can you really do that?”
Kayan stared at Kasallin’s face with eyes like the deep green of a summer forest.Wondering if he truly understood her words, she was half-doubting when he spoke.
“Father told me before that when I grow as tall as him, I’ll be a great person.To do that, I need to study hard and take good care of people.So I can take good care of Marie and Molly too.”
The child’s words were abstract and disjointed, but his gaze was more earnest than most adults.He seemed to be gradually understanding why people called him the Crown Prince and what it meant.
Seeing Kayan’s expression, it seemed there was no need to worry.Raising animals firsthand could be a good experience, and Parnes likely wouldn’t object either.
“Alright. Then you may keep them. But during study time,you’ll leave them to the servants and focus, can you promise that?”
A peach-blossom glow spread across Kayan’s face.He nodded vigorously, promising to keep his word,and raised both arms to grab Kasallin’s hand.
“Sleep with me tonight, with the cats too.”
“At the Crown Prince’s Palace?”
Kasallin smiled, slightly troubled. She needed to return to the Empress’s Palaceto review reports that had to be finished by tomorrow.
As Kasallin hesitated, the nursemaid, quietly standing in a corner, cautiously approached and said,
“Your Highness the Crown Prince, Her Majesty the Empress is very busy.Shouldn’t we let her return to the Empress’s Palace now?”
“I just want to sleep together tonight…”
Kayan mumbled in a small voice. He seemed to instinctively knowthat clinging to his busy mother wasn’t befitting a Crown Prince.
Looking down at Kayan’s dejected face, so much like looking in a mirror,Kasallin let out a light sigh.
“No helping it. Shall I sleep at the Crown Prince’s Palace just for tonight?”
“Really? Wow!”
The reports could be checked early tomorrow morning if she worked diligently.Holding Kayan’s hand and gathering the meowing, whining cats, Kasallin headed to the bedroom.
Parnes realized he was dreaming.
In a vast plain where a bleak wind swayed yellowed reeds,he walked leisurely somewhere, holding a long sword in one hand.
After walking for a while, what appeared was a man he had long forgotten.
A man with golden hair, a face he never wanted to see again, even in a dream,instantly filled his mind with displeasure.
He silently stared down at the man, who was suffering from an injured leg.
And the moment the sun in the sky hid precisely behind a cloud,he raised his blade toward the man’s neck without hesitation.
.
.
.
“…Ha.”
A suppressed groan slipped through his teeth, dissipating into the chilly air.
Parnes shifted his confused gaze back and forth,taking a moment to figure out who he was and where he was.
“Damn it.”
He touched his cold, sweat-soaked forehead and closed his eyes briefly.He stayed like that until his racing heart calmed, then slowly lifted his eyelids.
Beyond the half-drawn curtains, the evening sunset was fading, squeezing out its last light.
The study was growing dark, and the flame of the lamp on the desk flickered in a faint draft.
‘What an irritating dream.’
While dozing off amid reading a congratulatory letter from the Kan Kingdom for the Crown Prince’s investiture,he ended up seeing a disgusting face he had barely managed to forget.
Parnes irritably swept back his fallen bangs and looked around.Half-read documents were scattered messily on the desk.
He knew he had to finish them, but he wasn’t in the mood to look at words right now.
“Your Majesty, it’s Ludwig.”
A familiar voice came from outside. Ignoring it, exactly five minutes later,the door opened with the words, “Pardon my intrusion.”
Ludwig, observing Parnes’s face, quietly narrowed his eyes.
“Did you have a bad dream?”
Despite pretending nothing happened, it seemed age had sharpened Ludwig’s perceptiveness.He’d always been annoyingly observant, but not to this degree.
Feeling on edge, Parnes snapped at him to mind his own business and walked through several doors to the dressing room.
Dismissing the maids who came to attend to his clothing,he took out a freshly ironed shirt and put it on.
Ludwig, who had followed, spoke in a calm yet slightly cautious tone.
“Your Majesty, I don’t know what you dreamed, but please ease your mind. It’s all over.”
“…I know.”
Parnes, now neatly dressed, walked past the attendants and left the room.Ludwig asked where he was going at this hour, but Parnes didn’t answer, hurrying toward the Empress’s Palace.
But upon arriving, he was told by Lady Dawson that Kasallin was not there.
“She said she’d be sleeping at the Crown Prince’s Palace with His Highness the Crown Prince tonight.”
“With the Crown Prince?”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Since she usually stayed late in the study buried in documents, he hadn’t bothered to send word ahead.
Parnes turned and headed straight to the Crown Prince’s Palace.The nursemaid rushed out and bowed gracefully.
“I greet Your Majesty the Emperor.”
“I heard the Empress is here.”
“Yes, she entered the bedroom with His Highness the Crown Prince a short while ago.Shall I inform her of Your Majesty’s arrival?”
“No need. I’ll handle it. Step aside.”
Parnes strode up the stairs and entered Kayan’s bedroom.In the cozy room lit by a couple of lamps, two familiar figures were curled up on the large bed.
Parnes approached quietly, muffling his footsteps.
The mother and son, so alike, were curled up identically, fast asleep in sweet slumber.And between them, two cats lay sprawled on their backs.
“Well, look at this—four baby kittens sleeping together.”
He hesitated for a moment with one hand slightly raised,then carefully brushed aside the hair messily covering Kasallin’s cheek.
Her innocent face, breathing evenly, glowed pale in the moonlight.Seeing her serene, peaceful expression, Parnes let out a faint, wry chuckle.
He didn’t know exactly why he wanted to laugh.He only wished to hold this moment in his heart a little longer.
Why She Is Still Unmoved (Female-dominant)
One-line summary: He uses various methods to seek her affection, but she remains unmoved.
Synopsis:
Si Qingyu is a doctor who has saved countless lives and enjoys tranquility.
Luo Shaoxuan is ruthless, deeply scheming, and the top young master in the capital. He admires Si Qingyu.
Luo Shaoxuan: I want to be the only one in your eyes and heart.
Features a cold and calm female lead vs A noble and scheming male lead.
There will be both sweetness and torture towards the male after their marriage.
