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On the night of the princess’s kidnapping, Raphael sent a messenger to his mother, who was still in the capital.

The Gillian viscountcy was one of the pillars of the west. And, since he had decided to dismantle it, they had to plan how to take the most advantage from it.

‘We have to make a decision by today. Someone will surely act tomorrow, whether it is Gillian himself or the imperial palace.‘

Furthermore, the light in Prince Rezef’s eyes was not ordinary. The prince, who was rumored to be a ruffian, had to be suppressed before he acted unexpectedly.

That way, Cayena would be safe.

When Cayena fainted, he had clearly felt how thin and feeble she was. Raphael couldn’t leave her to struggle in the tumultuous waters of the imperial palace. He had to hurry and come up with an alternative.

The carriage stopped at the Kedrey villa. When Raphael got out of the carriage, his household staff bowed to him.

“Congratulations on your succession, Your Excellency!”

Raphael was rather indifferent to it. That was why he couldn’t understand how much his vassals had looked forward to this moment.

It was safe to say that Duchess Kedrey had been taking care of the duchy alone. It had been a long time since Duke Leo had let go of everything and left the western duchy. They had no real head of the family.

Raphael had helped to take care of the household as the successor. But his father was his father and Raphael was not very close to his mother, so he didn’t want to get involved with family matters.

The vassals had been troubled and had looked at the heir nervously.

Today was an auspicious day for them.

“Everyone, stand.”

But the occasion wasn’t really joyous for Raphael.

It wasn’t that he felt any particular regret by claiming his inheritance. It was because of Cayena.

“Today is a day when Her Highness was put in danger. Everyone should act more calmly.”

“Yes, Your Excellency!”

The vassals scattered. Baston, who had been guarding the house, quickly approached. Raphael entered the mansion and received a letter from Baston.

“It’s a message from the madam.”

「The Gillian viscountcy has just been waiting for the opportunity, so it doesn’t matter if you upset them. As for the rest, you are the master of the family. Take care of it well.」

Indeed, his mother was quick to grasp the situation. She handed over the authority to him as soon as she heard the news. She did the minimal steps required and left Raphael to do the rest.

Raphael burned the letter in the flame of a candle.

“Request a private audience with His Majesty the Emperor. I will see him tomorrow morning.”

“Yes, Your Excellency!”

Raphael knew that the cause of his parents’ conflict was infidelity.

His father had a woman he loved before marrying into the Kedrey family. He seemed unable to forget her and continued to meet with her.

Raphael once tried to find out who the lover was. However, someone had completely covered her tracks. Just by seeing that, Raphael figured out that his father’s lover must be formidable.

He had a feeling that it might be dangerous to dig deeper.

Since then, Raphael stopped trying to find out the identity of his father’s lover. In any case, the important fact was that his father was selfish and had greatly damaged the Kedrey family.

Raphael had stopped feeling affection for his father when he was ten. He felt sorry for his mother, but that was all.

Now everything would be done on his own terms. Raphael had no bonds with his family, and it was logical what he had to do.

He would sell out his father, whom the emperor hated very much.

“I greet Your Imperial Majesty.”

Raphael looked up at Emperor Esteban, who sat on his bed and leaned against the post.

Nobody else was in the bedchamber. It was just the emperor and Raphael. Luden, the chamberlain, had also been sent out.

“You saved the princess.”

“It was the right thing to do.”

The emperor wordlessly, gently closed his eyes for a moment.

“Do you have feelings for Cayena?”

Raphael never thought the emperor would ask a question like this. He hesitated, and the emperor smiled slightly. The smile seemed to imply that the emperor had already heard enough.

It was already clear to him that Raphael had come with the news that the Kedreys would no longer protect Raphael’s father, Leo.

“I have very few days left to live, Duke.”

When Esteban opened his eyes again, he spoke not as an emperor but as a father with a daughter, a human being.

“The imperial palace is truly a terrible place. People once filled this place, but they all turned into monsters.”

The emperor’s voice did not sound as strong as it did to Raphael before. It was quite different from just several months ago.

“I, too, was a monster, and I was stronger than anyone else. I thought my strength, my youth, would last forever. But they didn’t.”

Their eyes met.

“I am still stupid, and I’ve left my life in the hands of a poor decision I made in the past.”

“What do you mean?”

Emperor Esteban said calmly, “Prince Rezef is not my child.”

“…Pardon?”

Raphael couldn’t believe what he had heard.

If Prince Rezef wasn’t the emperor’s child… Whose child was he?

Raphael’s heartbeat accelerated.

Emperor Esteban spoke harshly, like an iron brand.

“He’s your father’s offspring.”

The emperor calmly continued his loathsome words.

“Your father was the lover of the late empress. She had gone down south for warmer climates to recuperate after giving birth to Cayena.”

In other words, that was when Rezef was conceived.

“I’ve already shut the mouths of most people who know this. Probably everyone other than your mother.”

Raphael wanted to sigh.

But as he couldn’t do that in front of the emperor, he swallowed it down. The sigh was as hot as a fireball, scorching the inside of his throat.

“I couldn’t forgive the empress. I couldn’t stand the fact that she made me a laughingstock.”

He said with an eerily low voice, “She just happened to be allergic to nuts.”

“……”

It was a gruesome story.

Raphael continued to listen to this violent tale with an expressionless face.

“Rezef was a product of the empress’s infidelity. I couldn’t admit it, so I changed it so he was known as my child. Fortunately or not, he doesn’t resemble the empress much.”

“…He looks like my father.”

Why hadn’t Raphael seen it before, when he saw Rezef’s round eyes and gentle impression?

“Do you detest me for telling the truth?”

Detest? Raphael wasn’t sure. His emotions were dull.

Still, at this moment, he was confused whether he felt heated or frozen.

“I brooded on this poison that I couldn’t raise as my own child, and it eventually poisoned this imperial family.”

The fact that Rezef had become like poison, everything that had happened to the imperial family—it was all Emperor Esteban’s fault.

“Cayena resembles the empress too much. So I didn’t really feel affection for that child, either.”

Raphael clenched his fist. It was a very familiar story.

Raphael also looked very much like his mother. They were both born with the black hair and red eyes characteristic of the Kedrey family.

His father, Leo, used to watch him wretchedly. Half of the blood in Raphael’s body was his father’s. Yet, Leo cast aside Raphael despite their relations because he didn’t love his wife.

“You have already heard of my feud with the Kedrey dukedom. I know that both Noa Kedrey and you are the victims. But I cannot say that I am sorry. I still believe my revenge is justified.”

Now Raphael understood why Leo acted like that.

He knew that the empress had died at the hands of the emperor.

When Raphael thought about it, he realized that his father’s depression and drinking coincided with the empress’s death.

“I have been thinking a lot since Cayena’s change, recently. I was looking at the child as being the same as that foolish empress. But that girl suddenly became brilliant.”

It was a change that Cayena made by herself. She couldn’t have survived or lived in peace without it.

“Cayena is affectionate and tenderly cares for Rezef. Perhaps she thinks he can change, like she did. Her little brother who poisoned her.”

“……”

“The poison Cayena drank at the last party was Rezef’s. I believe she is aware of that. And yet, she forgave him.”

This story was really the worst.

It was incredibly messy and terrible. In this nauseating place, Cayena had been calmly biding her time.

Alone, in this place.

It wasn’t hard to think about how desperate she would be without anyone to reach out to but himself.

Raphael couldn’t help but ask, “Aren’t you sorry for the princess?”

The emperor replied with words like a sigh. “I do feel regret.”

Then, he dryly added, “But that is the fate of the imperial family.”

A red flame sparked in Raphael’s eyes.

He wanted to grab the emperor’s collar right now and put a fist in that composed face.

‘Ah, this is why.’

This was why Cayena was struggling so hard to escape from here.

Nothing on this site would allow her to breathe. No, it wasn’t just the imperial palace.

‘It’s like this world was created to kill Cayena.’

Raphael looked dully at the emperor who had told him the whole truth.

“Why did you tell me this?”

The emperor laughed faintly.

“To finish my revenge.” He smiled. “I’m glad you fell in love with my daughter.”

A dirty and underhanded human–that was how Raphael thought of Emperor Esteban.

Finishing his revenge?

Yes, the emperor’s judgment was very accurate.

Raphael could not forgive Prince Rezef, and he would never allow the prince to use Cayena.

There was no law stating that someone who poisoned another once would not take their life the next time.

What Henverton Gillian had said rang in Raphael’s ears.

“This wasn’t because of me, it was because of Your Highness.”

“Do you think things like this will stop if I disappear?”

Now, Raphael fully understood why he said that.

As long as Rezef stayed by her side, Cayena would continue to be in danger again and again. The emperor intended to use Raphael’s power to suppress Rezef.

“Please listen to my request, Your Majesty.”

Esteban returned to his role as the empire’s master and faced him.

It was because Raphael wanted something. Since Raphael had made up his mind to sell out his father, this favor would not be a regular one.

“Speak it.”

Raphael slowly went down to the floor on one knee.

“Do not punish Prince Rezef, who disobeyed your orders and gathered the army for this abduction case.”

“And?”

“Do not make Her Highness your heir, but give her the power of the successor.”

If Cayena was named as heir, she would surely be attacked on both sides. However, if she held the authority of the heir without the title, both sides would want her.

That power would protect Cayena.

She was smart, so she would quickly learn how to use the power.

Raphael needed time to turn the tides. It was time to establish a new successor who was not Rezef.

The emperor smiled thinly.

“I shall grant your requests.”