Chapter 169
Perhaps, after some more time, Clois would realize her mistake and call him back to reclaim the position of Crown Prince.
He was a man who had grown up holding everything in the Empire in his hands, destined to be the future emperor.
Intelligent, arrogant, accustomed to enjoying only the best.
Even if he now found happiness hiding away in the countryside with the trivial joys of first love, he would soon realize what he had lost and come to reclaim it.
If that happened, he would surely need him.
But to the very end, Clois never sought him out.
Not only that, she began preparing to sever all ties with the imperial palace completely.
She had truly decided to live a meaningless life in some rural corner, married to an insignificant commoner.
Siren scoffed at him. Yet the anger coiled inside him did not dissipate.
Clois had never needed him.
That fact alone remained in Siren’s mind.
So, when the retired emperor began to view his superior younger sibling with caution, Siren whispered in his ear:
That Clois must be killed to eliminate all future troubles.
The retired emperor issued the order immediately. From that moment, Clois began to move.
As Clois rebelled and began to counterattack, Siren felt a sense of pleasure.
The one who had always ignored him was finally acknowledging his existence and facing him properly.
From then on, Siren’s goal changed to inflicting pain upon Clois.
Because the person he wanted recognition from now hated him, resented him, and acknowledged his existence.
So when he succeeded in brutally killing Clois’s wife and child, Siren felt unparalleled joy.
Even more so when he heard that Clois had held the corpses of his loved ones and cried out in despair.
“This is the result of you not choosing me.”
Siren felt immense satisfaction knowing he had left the deepest wound in Clois’s life.
That feeling never waned, not even while the retired emperor died at Clois’s hand and Siren himself was being hunted.
No—in fact, the fact that Clois refused to abandon his pursuit of Siren only fueled him further.
Even while living as a fugitive, Siren constantly wondered:
How could he make Clois suffer even more?
How could he make Clois regret, down to his very bones, that he had rejected him?
The end of that agonizing contemplation was finally approaching.
Siren readjusted the dagger in his hand.
It was a small knife, so inflicting real suffering would take time, but imagining Clois crying out made the effort worthwhile.
And yet—the child he had been chasing, grinning, turned out to be someone else.
The wave of disappointment quickly turned into deep anger.
Siren stepped closer to Ivi.
The rising light of the sky reflected off the steel-blue blade of his dagger.
“Such a pity. I should have started with your fingers.”
Despite all opposition, Clois had insisted on remaining this child’s guardian.
It must mean she cared that much.
If he had sent a single small finger each day, the child would surely have suffered more.
Regret gnawed at him for sending only insignificant strands of hair in an attempt to prolong the torment.
But now, it was all over.
Siren raised his hand above his shoulder.
Your portion is pain, and Clois’s portion is despair.
The child’s green eyes shook wildly.
Perhaps they didn’t even realize that Siren was smiling.
Siren brought the dagger down toward the helpless child.
Ivi looked at the approaching Siren.
There was nowhere left to run.
She had no strength left to flee.
“This is the end.”
Ivi remembered the phantoms she had seen in the forest.
Souls wandering the forest aimlessly after death.
Soon, she would join them.
She wanted to scream in fear, to cry, but her unfamiliar face couldn’t even manage proper tears in that moment.
Siren raised his hand. Once it came down, everything would be over.
Ivi’s throat tightened as she stared at the steel-blue blade.
“Did Eve safely meet His Majesty?”
Since she had been dragged here by Siren, she surely had.
Ivi imagined the scene in her mind.
Eve must have run to the emperor, calling him “Father.”
“I… wanted to call him that too…”
Ivi stared blankly at Siren.
A flash of light moved quickly.
Ivi squeezed her eyes shut and raised her arms to cover her face.
And with her last breath, she shouted the words she had wanted to call out continuously:
“Father!”
The first and last time she would call that name.
The voice vanished into the echo of the mountain, reaching no one.
Biting her lips in anticipation of the terrible pain to come, at that very moment—
A blinding golden light filled the dark forest with the wind.
Clang!
At the same time, Siren’s dagger swung down toward Ivi with a sharp sound but was deflected skyward.
“What… what is this?!”
Siren couldn’t even think to grasp his dagger again, staring at the scene before him.
Ivi was equally stunned.
A beautiful golden light enveloped her.
As she stared blankly at it, she felt warmth on the back of her hand.
She slowly turned her hand and looked.
On the back of her hand, a mark appeared more vivid than ever before—a mark faintly remembered from childhood.
Both Ivi and Siren stared at the mark, speechless.
A royal mark, unmistakable to anyone who saw it.
“This….”
Ivi touched the mark on her hand, unable to believe it.
The mark seemed to glow even brighter, as if responding.
“I… I have it too…”
She had envied Eve so much after seeing the mark on her hand.
I had it too.
I could have called His Majesty “Father” if I had it…
She had even tried to trace the mark on her hand with a pen, erasing it in the bathroom, over and over, until her skin was raw.
What she had wished for so much now appeared vividly on her hand.
“W-what… is this…”
Siren also stared at the golden light in disbelief.
Then he clutched his stomach and laughed madly.
“My goodness! She really… truly survived! The child Sabina lost off the cliff—she really lived!”
He laughed as if he were insane.
“Yes! I thought Clois cherished her in a special way! Truly! You! Foolish child! Right before my eyes, and he didn’t even recognize my daughter!”
He laughed until tears streamed down his face, then bent down and picked up the dagger she had dropped.
“Child, thank you. Truly, thank you.”
Siren knew more than anyone about royal marks to use Ivi effectively.
He also knew this power had limits.
He struck with all his might, golden light shooting from his blade.
Clang!
Once again, sparks flew from the blade.
Ivi squeezed her eyes shut again.
The light still enveloped her, but it was clearly weakening.
“As expected.”
Siren smiled knowingly, repeatedly striking the light with his blade.
Clang! Crack! Clang! Crack!
The light weakened further.
Ivi hugged her hands, facing Siren ready to stab her at any moment.
The situation was terrifying and confusing.
The faint light that protected her—once from wolves following her as a child—had finally disappeared.
Ivi pressed her hands against her back, feeling the certainty of Siren’s words:
“I… am…”
Her father’s daughter.
Tears streamed down her face with overwhelming joy.
Ivi remembered being trapped alone in the museum.
The beautiful person watching her.
Though just a painting, somehow it felt protective, and she wasn’t scared that night.
“Mother…”
That person was her mother.
And the one who had always been beside her, protecting and cherishing her, was her father.
She had finally found both parents.
But…
Ivi wiped her tears and lifted her head.
“If only I had known sooner…”
Then she could have called them “Mom” and “Dad” at least once.
Just once.
Just one time.
If only she could have heard them call her back when she called, like other children did…
Ivi sniffled and looked at the sky.
The sunrise painted the sky in beautiful colors.
“If I shout here…”
Could Father hear her?
“Father…”
She finally managed to speak.
She had practiced this word hundreds, even thousands of times, thinking she could call it at the season’s festival.
Meanwhile, Siren still frantically stabbed the light.
Determined to erase it and kill Ivi.
“Father.”
Ivi’s voice grew louder.
The light weakened further, yet faintly remained, still wrapping around her.
As if repaying everything it had failed to protect until now, at this very moment.
But the end finally came.
Clang!
Siren struck with all his might, shattering the light completely.
Now nothing remained to protect Ivi.
“Finally.”
Siren, with a grotesque smile, raised the dagger with both hands.
Just as he was about to strike Ivi—
“Mother! Father!”
Ivi’s voice echoed through the forest.
“…!”
Siren, about to mock and strike her, suddenly realized his hand was being held back.
Ivi and Siren simultaneously turned their eyes to the same point.
“Huh…?”
Ivi’s eyes widened in surprise. A branch from a nearby tree had firmly wrapped around Siren’s hand.
Stunned, both remained silent.
“Ivi! Close your eyes!”
Clois’s voice sounded right beside her.
Without question or doubt, Ivi obeyed.
Father. He’s here.
Next came a dull, chilling sound.
A sword piercing through something.
A grinding, agonized sound followed.
Ivi shut her eyes tight and covered her ears.
Moments later.
“Ivi.”
A warm hand grasped hers.
Ivi slowly opened her eyes.
The person she had longed for most was before her.
She looked at Clois and cried.
“Father…”
Tears streamed down her face.
She didn’t know how to cry, but her lips trembled, letting out the first sounds of her life.
“Ah… Father…”
He’s my dad. I’m my father’s daughter.
“Father, I… I have this too.”
Ivi trembled as she held out her hand.
The mark on her hand was vivid, as if determined never to disappear.
“So… I can… call you Father too… I can…”
Clois stared at her hand in disbelief.
Tears ran down his face as well.
He pulled her into a strong embrace.
He remembered Lilian’s letter asking him to recognize Ivi.
“Ivi.”
The child whose eyes he had constantly followed since the first meeting.
The child he couldn’t stop worrying about, wanting to help and protect whenever she struggled.
Clois thought:
Even without the mark, Ivi already…
He patted the sweat-drenched child’s head, crying and laughing, speaking in a loving voice:
“My daughter.”
Tears overflowed from Ivi’s eyes.
“Father, Father…”
For the first time in her life, Ivi cried loudly in someone’s arms.
She cried out her sorrow and her joy, in the arms of someone who would hear it.
Without worry.
Happily.
The rising sun warmly shone on the father and daughter reunited at last.
The wind, full of warmth, enveloped them.
Finally, finally, they met.
