My stomach churned. The surroundings blurred as if I could collapse any moment. Perhaps I had been pushing myself a bit lately; even my heart started beating irregularly.

“Are you okay?”

As soon as we reached the first floor, Ken hastily caught me when I staggered.

“I’m fine. You don’t have to hold me, Ken.”

“But it seems like you might collapse any moment. Can I carry you?”

“No.”

It must be temporary. Just a reaction to seeing such horrifying things, and the fact that I couldn’t sleep properly yesterday due to the vivid images. Isabella’s body was originally healthy. I awkwardly smiled at him.

“Yes…?”

“Hwangmyeong came down. I’m about to become the empress, so even if I’m called a guard, it wouldn’t be good to hear any good comments about being embraced by another man.”

“But still…”

“I’m a person with many shortcomings. I don’t want to let unnecessary words spread.”

Ken, who was holding my arm, let go of my hand.

“Understood, Mama. Let’s walk slowly instead.”

“Sure.”

“But still, I hope you don’t worry too much about the gaze of others.”

Instead of holding his hand, I started walking very slowly. People looking at me as if they were going to burn me with their eyes, probably because of the events from yesterday, made me feel uncomfortable.

“Empress Mama.”

“Yes.”

“I’ve been continuously looking for Ron lately, but he hasn’t come. I’ve asked him to come several times, but he seems to be stuck in the knight’s quarters and hasn’t come to the palace. I apologize. I can’t manage properly since becoming a brother.”

I looked at him, wondering why he suddenly brought up such a story.

“Because of the naive Ron, Mama has been troubled every time. He made people feel awkward from the first meeting.”

“It’s okay.”

“No, Mama. If I had known it would be like this, I should have prevented him from disobeying the orders of Peha and not coming.”

Ken, who was following me, had a serious expression.

“Did the Empress summon both of you together?”

“Yes. Her Majesty saved us, abandoned ones.”

“Abandoned?”

“Her Majesty also wishes that I wouldn’t care about the g
“Fortunately, they didn’t kill us but abandoned us. Regardless, we grew up in an orphanage. Whether it was an orphanage directly operated by the temple, we were able to grow up safely as ‘twins.'”

The cursed twins.

The troublesome twins causing problems.

All the criminals are twins. They must have grown up among such irrational sayings. It might be slightly better now, but already deeply rooted like a severe tradition, they naturally heard and grew up with such things.

“During that time, I was adopted first. My adoptive parents adopted me without knowing that I was a twin. Luckily, I adapted well there. Since they didn’t have children of their own, they treated me like their real son. Although they were a bit older, my adoptive parents genuinely cherished me, and thanks to them, I excelled in martial arts.”

He seemed to recall the moment he first held a sword, clenching and unclenching his hand, wearing a rather happy smile.

“My adoptive uncle, who was a famous knight in the past, personally taught me martial arts. He liked that I followed well. Then, when I turned ten, he visited the orphanage, saying that it was pitiful for me to grow up alone and brought a similar-aged child to adopt. That’s when I saw my younger brother there.”

“You didn’t know until then…”

“Yes, I didn’t know. So when he talked about my younger brother, I thought I would be kicked out. However, my adoptive parents said it was okay and adopted my younger brother as well, embracing both of us twins. So, we became the children of the marquis couple. At that time, they told us an old story, trying to comfort us who were afraid of being chased away because of the twin’s curse.”

Perhaps focusing on his story while walking, my body condition seemed to be gradually improving. My heart wasn’t beating irregularly, and my breathing became more manageable.

Meanwhile, he continued his story.

“They had a son before. However, one day, the son brought a woman, claiming she was the woman he loved. She seemed suspicious and was an orphan, but my adoptive parents reluctantly accepted her because she was pregnant with the child. Earlier, they didn’t have children…”

“Yes, they didn’t have children.”

“As time passed, the children were born, and they were twins. The parents considered it an omen of the curse, thinking twins bring bad luck. They felt uncomfortable with it, but ultimately, they adopted a distant place because they had to send the children far away to avoid them being killed or abandoned. After that day, the woman left, and the son died after suffering for a while. Later, they regretted it and went to find the children, but… due to the talk of twins bringing a curse… they were killed.”

In an instant, my heart sank.
“So, they cherished us more because we were twins. Naturally, they intended to pass on the family to us. And having heard all of that, Ron wanted to surpass me in every aspect from that moment.”

“Oh.”