Queen Marguerite answered in a voice kind, but with a face as emotionless as a porcelain doll.

“That depends on whether the King recognizes you as his son. Not now.”

Cesare, who didn’t immediately understand the implication of that, continued to stick to Queen Marguerite like a puppy going through puberty whenever he came to the Queen’s Palace.

One day, Cesare saw King Leo III, Queen Marguerite, and young Alfonso walking in the Queen’s Palace garden together.

Although the atmosphere between Queen Marguerite and Leo III was much colder than that between Rubina and his father, their attitude towards their son, who looked like a golden puppy, was as sweet as dripping honey.

“Our son! My heir!”

Queen Marguerite was looking at young, incompetent, chubby Alfonso with a face dripping with happiness. It was a type of gaze she didn’t share with Cesare.

Leo III, who was lifting Alfonso up and down, was the first to discover Cesare, who was watching them from hiding.

“⋯⋯!”

He handed Alfonso to Queen Marguerite, walked up to Cesare, and slapped him on the cheek.

Slap!

Cesare, who had been slapped out of the blue, looked at his father with surprised eyes.

“Dad⋯⋯.”

“How dare you come here, where do you think this is!”

Leo III scolded sternly.

“Go back to your mother right now!”

“I want to play with dad and mom too⋯⋯.”

“Who’s your mother! And who’s your father!”

King Leo III seemed quite surprised, worrying that young Cesare’s statement might upset Queen Margaret who was standing behind him, even though their relationship was not that bad at the time. He drove Cesare much harder.

“You don’t know your place because you babble on and on! You don’t understand the situation even though we are playing parentchild games! Get lost! This is not the place for you!”

Cesare looked at Queen Margaret in desperate hope that she would stop King Leo III. However, Queen Margaret was not even looking in Cesare’s direction.

Suddenly, young Alfonso started to whine. She was too busy consoling young Prince Alfonso, who was tearful from being suddenly handed over to his mother after having fun playing with his father.

“Whaaa!”

“Our son, you’re startled? Don’t cry, my dear little one.”

There was no warmth left to be shared with Cesare.

All of it belonged to that dazzling blonde baby. The kind mother and the affectionate father were all taken away by that plump golden bundle.

Since then, Cesare became a dutiful young son who complied with Rubina’s nonsensical demands. No matter how much his mother scolded him for no reason, his only ally was his mother. He never stepped into the queen’s palace.

Perhaps the reason he ventured towards the queen’s palace today was because enough time had passed for the scars of the past to heal. However, it seems that every time he arrived at the queen’s palace, he was destined to be filled with disappointment and frustration.

An elegant woman in a golden dress, wearing the mask he gifted, wearing the bracelet he gifted, and smiling affectionately with the man he hated most in the world, their palms touching.