Edan Dietrich. The emperor’s illegitimate child. On his 6th birthday.

Confined to the most remote corner of the imperial palace, an overgrown place untouched by human feet.

Abandoned as soon as his mother, the emperor’s concubine, died. A life destined to be trapped like that forever until death.

“Y-Your Highness…!”

At 13, he gained an unwanted power.

“Prince Edan has manifested his power?”

“Y-Yes. And…”

When the news reached the emperor, the palace was turned upside down.

It had only been a month since Prince Killian, who awakened his ability at 15, was appointed as the crown prince. And now, the forgotten illegitimate prince, who had been all but abandoned, had manifested his power.

Of course, this wouldn’t cause the crown prince’s position to be overturned or lead to any major changes, but the problem lay elsewhere.

“Forgive my impertinence… but it’s a much stronger ability than Prince Killian’s…”

The servant’s head bowed to the floor as if he were a criminal just for delivering the news, his voice trailing off. The long, elegantly manicured nails of the empress standing beside the emperor trembled slightly.

The empire had been struggling with monsters that wouldn’t diminish no matter how much they fought.

In an era where knights with abilities were plentiful but those with outstanding talents were rare.

The imperial family’s prestige had already risen when Crown Prince Killian manifested an exceptional ability.

But now, an even stronger ability?

The emperor’s eyes gleamed as he firmly stroked the black diamond embedded in his scepter.

Then he shouted excitedly.

“Summon the prince to the palace immediately!”

From that day on, Edan, who had been living as little more than an orphan in all but name, became a true prince receiving proper treatment once again.

Thanks to his impossibly powerful ability and beautiful appearance, people in the palace naturally began to look up to Edan.

In reality, Edan was suffering from the pain of his ability.

Amidst the complex circumstances of the palace filled with jealousy and envy, Edan had to endure relying solely on his own strength.

And even that was part of the empress’s sinister plan behind Edan’s life as a prince.

‘Send that child to the battlefield. With such an ability, it would be too wasteful not to use it. Since he has dirty blood mixed in, he should at least do this to help the imperial family. What greater honor could there be than dying a painful death fighting for the empire?’

For the young Edan, it was like telling him to die painfully while using his ability.

Because Killian’s birth mother, the empress, came from the most powerful ducal family in the empire, the emperor couldn’t protect Edan. From the age of 15, Edan had to go out to subjugate monsters.

It was the result of following the empress’s words that it would be better for Edan to bear that pain than for Killian to suffer.

At 18, Edan became the youngest Grand Duke of the North. That too was not an honor.

It was to guard the unbreakable wall of the North.

Edan silently continued the fight against monsters from his position. Downing potions sent from the temple to the point of nausea.

“Your Grace. Why don’t you receive direct healing instead?”

“I don’t want to.”

“Prince Killian and others are all doing so. Even those with far less impressive abilities than you are doing it. So…”

“Ruben, don’t make me say I don’t want to multiple times.”

“…I apologize.”

In the past, Edan had tried such healing once.

He just held hands. Though not a strong healing power, the pain slowly subsided, and Edan began to gradually absorb the power of the saint candidate. But an unpleasant feeling of nausea came over him, and at that moment, the saint candidate threw herself at Edan.

The saint’s power, focused on pleasure rather than healing – he had never felt anything dirtier than that sensation. From the beginning, that saint candidate had applied not for the purpose of healing, but because she was crazy about Edan’s appearance. From then on, Edan refused direct healing that involved physical contact.

Meanwhile, upon reaching adulthood, an incident occurred that caused friction with his half-brother Killian.

As Killian’s faction, backed by the empress’s family, had grown as powerful as the emperor’s, that incident made it difficult for Edan to even receive potions from the temple.

The only fortunate thing was that his father, the emperor, still sent potions directly from the temple, considering him a son. However, half of those potions were fake.

“How could they do this! I’ll go and confront them myself!”

“Don’t bother. It’s useless.”

But he still needed them, even if they were fake. Because there was nothing else to rely on.

As time passed, the frequency of monsters appearing in the North increased, and Edan began to suffer from severe headaches for most of his waking hours.

To the point where it was hard to remember a day without pain.

“Shut up! I told you it’s noisy!”

Crash! The glass he habitually threw flew and shattered into pieces.

By the time he had become a madman sensitive to even the slightest movements of those around him due to his frayed nerves, Ruben purchased a castle in the East.

“Your Grace. Why don’t you rest alone during the day?”

Edan agreed, knowing he was going mad.

It was painful. The increasing amount of potions. The persistent, nauseating throb of headaches that seemed to disappear only to return.

Now it felt like he could do any dirty deed if only he could get rid of this irritating pounding.

That’s when a new saint candidate appeared.

“This is a potion with 100% of the saint’s power.”

One of the priests planted in the temple brought a potion containing her healing power.

It was the deepest red healing power he had ever seen among all the potions.

Edan drank it without hesitation.

He felt the headache subsiding. Almost, mostly. But somehow a slight uncomfortable sensation remained.

“Ivy Violet, is this woman to be appointed as the next Grand Saint?”

“Yes. How is the effect?”

Edan tossed the empty potion bottle aside.

“Not bad.”

But it wasn’t as cleanly refreshing as he had expected either.

“Um… then how about receiving direct healing from Saint Ivy who has just arrived?”

“If that were possible, I would have done so already.”

Of course, if he were willing, there was nothing stopping him from storming into the temple, but that would be no different from completely shattering his relationship with Crown Prince Killian.

It could easily become treason if things went wrong.

After the death of the previous saint, the temple’s laws had become more stringent in many ways.

Edan, momentarily relieved by the subsided headache, loosely tilted his head back against the chair.

Then the priest provided some unexpected information.

“I overheard Saint Ivy making a request to Prince Killian.”

“What was it?”

“On her way to the temple, her friend fell from the carriage in an accident. She was like family, so she wants to find her.”

“…A friend?”

“Yes. She was originally a saint candidate who was also supposed to come to the temple.”

At those words, Edan, who had been thinking for a moment, slowly raised his head and straightened his posture.

“Does this friend also possess strong healing powers?”

“That doesn’t seem to be the case… From what I hear, the friend’s healing power didn’t seem very useful.”

Seeing the priest’s calm response, a sneer spread across Edan’s lips.

“How ridiculous. Then she’ll die.”

“T-That’s…”

“Bringing a friend she considers family to the temple where death is highly likely. Does Saint Ivy not know this, or did she say it knowing?”

The priest, who hadn’t thought that far because all the talk at the temple was centered around Ivy, became flustered.

“I think she probably didn’t know and that’s why she made such a request…”

Edan chuckled.

“So what did she offer in return for finding her friend?”

“Herself, as the Grand Saint.”

At that moment, his cold red eyes flickered with heat.

“A hostage, you mean?”

“I think it would be of great help to you, Your Grace.”

Edan rested his chin on his hand and said,

“I’ll provide sufficient gold coins. So, what’s the information on this friend?”

“Actually, I was momentarily distracted and didn’t hear her name clearly… but she has hair the color of light cherry blossoms. I-I’ll find out her name again.”

Cherry blossom colored hair…

If he brought the friend to the saint before Killian, he could receive her healing whenever he wanted. Edan’s lips slowly twisted up as he looked at the empty potion bottle with a few drops of ruby-colored liquid remaining.

Unlike when he was young, Edan was no longer in a position to hold back anything.

If he could just escape this irritating headache, if he could just avoid the pain to come, he could do anything now.

After finishing his conversation with the priest, Edan went into battle that day as well, and the headache inevitably returned.

As Edan was about to open a portal to return to the castle, Ruben called out to him.

“Your Grace.”

“Ruben, good work. Go rest.”

“I wanted to let you know in case you might be surprised.”

“What is it?”

“I hired a maid.”

It was absurd. After obtaining a castle where no one was around because he had become sensitive to people, now a maid?

“You need to have proper meals at least. If you keep skipping meals like this…”

“I got it.”

He nodded halfheartedly, not wanting to continue the conversation.

But when Edan returned to his room at dawn, there was a tray of food placed in front of it.

‘Tsk.’

Clicking his tongue in annoyance, Edan opened the silver dome, and for a brief moment, his eyes lit up with curiosity.

The fried egg had a face drawn on it with eyes, nose, and mouth.

He had opened it intending to throw it away, but seeing that suddenly reminded him of his childhood.

When he was trapped in a cramped room crawling with mice and insects, there was a day he had lost his appetite due to a cold. Ruben had brought his mother’s lunchbox and shared it with him. There was a sausage with a face drawn on it then too. Recalling the memory, he lightly cut off the edge of the egg with his fork and took a bite.

That was all.

“…What?”

Surprisingly, the headache completely subsided. It was a sensation he had never felt before.

The terrible pain in his head, constantly stabbing with sharp thorns, was gone.

As if… he had returned to the time before manifesting his power. It felt like he had regained his free body.

And a few hours later, Edan, leaning against the window frame gazing outside, spotted cherry blossom-colored hair stretching in the garden.

For the first time in a very long while, a bright smile broke out on Edan’s face.

“Ha.”

The cherry blossom was in the palm of my hand.