Chapter 53
…No, it’s still not certain that their relationship is like that.
Deciding to stop making hasty assumptions, Hyperion focused on listening to the conversation between mother and daughter.
“How about Maia?”
As if she had said enough about her own mother’s health, Lavina shifted the topic.
Lady Hansberg lowered her gaze and replied,
“…She wasn’t happy to see me. Must you really take her?”
“It is His Majesty the Emperor’s command.”
Lavina answered crisply.
“Though it wasn’t a formal decree, if we go against his will, there’s no telling what might happen.”
“…I see. I’ve made preparations in advance. Will you be leaving without even staying the night?”
“Time is short. I plan to stop by the capital to meet His Majesty, bring Maia back here, and stay for about a week before leaving.”
The mother and daughter’s conversation continued, cold and clipped. Hyperion narrowed his eyes.
What was with this family? No matter how much you dig, there was always something else buried underneath.
“Bring Maia here.”
“Yes, madam.”
Hyperion leaned comfortably against the trunk of a tree. The handsome youth’s expression grew languid as his eyelids drooped.
What should he do? Was there really any reason to secretly follow them?
The mismatched sense of pity that had risen within him some time ago wasn’t enough to make him trouble himself out of real concern.
Her mother would be with her, and perhaps this would be a good opportunity for her to learn her true origins.
Above all, Sahar…
Half-lidded golden eyes glinted with a cold light.
If he knew how disgraceful and despised being an illegitimate child was in this empire, he would never claim the daughter of the woman he supposedly cherished so much as his own illegitimate child.
Not that she was his child in the first place.
Hyperion closed his eyes, then opened them again. In that brief instant, the faint trace of a chilling emotion—one that all living beings instinctively feared—vanished without a trace.
Light, hurried footsteps approached. Hyperion tilted his head slightly to glance down.
“M-Mother…”
A child appeared, clutching a small travel bag tightly in her hands, hesitantly calling out for her mother.
Hyperion cast a sidelong look at Lavina.
“…”
Her face was as expressionless as ever, but her faintly trembling eyelids did not escape Hyperion’s notice.
So she wasn’t completely indifferent after all.
With that conclusion, Hyperion let his body relax again.
“It’s been a while. Have you been well?”
“…Yes.”
“Made many friends?”
“…”
As if proving she was indeed a shy child, instead of just saying “yes” to get it over with, she stayed silent.
Hyperion couldn’t quite understand her, but he lowered his gaze.
That was why she was a child who inevitably inspired pity.
“There isn’t much time. His Majesty only wished to see you. There’s nothing for you to fear.”
Lavina extended a gloved hand and quietly looked down at her young daughter.
“Let’s go.”
Maia glanced up at her grandmother, then awkwardly took Lavina’s hand.
The two walked silently to the carriage and climbed inside.
The coachman cracked the whip, and the wheels quickly rolled away.
Left alone in the quiet, empty estate, Hyperion closed his eyes, deliberately turning away from the tangle of thoughts in his mind.
He could use some sleep.
Maia thought of the white-flowered branch she had brought in her bag, suppressing the tremor in her heart.
The journey was wrapped in silence.
She loved her mother, but the weight of that love was matched by the difficulty of being around her.
Her mother, Lavina, was always in the capital on business for the trading company, and for reasons unknown, she had left Maia—who at the time hadn’t even learned to speak—living with her own mother in a rural village far from the capital.
So Maia had never been scolded by her mother like other children her age, never eaten food her mother had cooked, never heard the words “I love you” from her.
To Maia, Lavina existed only as the person who filled the role of “mother.”
On rare occasions she would smile, but like starlight flickering in a cloudy sky, that smile would vanish quickly for reasons Maia couldn’t understand.
And now, traveling with such a mother—especially on the way to meet the Emperor, the very person who was the subject of the rumors that had tormented Maia—was suffocating and unbearably difficult.
“…”
Maia stiffened, staring up at the impossibly high ceiling above her.
They were in the Imperial Palace.
The most exalted place in the empire founded by the great Adelstein—something Maia had only read about in books.
“Maia, come here.”
Lavina beckoned to her young daughter.
Startled, Maia quickly followed after her mother.
Sharp gazes pierced her from all directions.
The unfamiliar scrutiny made Maia shrink into herself.
She reached out, thinking she could find some comfort in clutching her mother’s skirts, but her hand fell short and dropped back down.
Maia looked up at her mother.
With her short hair—which others sneered at as vulgar—proudly on display, and dressed in an elegant violet gown, her mother looked… truly, truly…
Beautiful.
So free from constraint, so dignified in her posture—it was a beauty that seemed noble beyond compare.
Even more beautiful than Princess Seiya from the founding legends.
That was what Maia thought, in the simplicity of her young heart.
Her mother, Lavina, was the person she respected most in the world, the person she wanted to become one day.
“…Lady Hansberg.”
“Please announce me to His Majesty.”
The chamberlain looked displeased as he regarded Lavina.
But Lavina’s eyes and expression remained as immovable as stone.
Reluctantly, the man turned his gaze elsewhere—only to suddenly notice a small girl peeking out from behind Lavina.
“And this child is…?”
“My daughter.”
The chamberlain’s mustache twitched as he scrutinized the small girl whose eyelids trembled.
Black hair, rare in the empire, and facial features that mirrored Lavina Hansberg’s perfectly.
Her expression was softer than that cold woman’s, but…
She must be His Majesty’s child!
The chamberlain’s gaze fixed on Maia’s black hair as he reached his own conclusion.
Your Majesty the Empress…
He opened the door to the inner chamber with teary eyes, his mind wandering to useless thoughts about whether a storm of blood would soon sweep through the palace.
Unlike the audience hall where the Emperor heard petitions from his officials, this was a chamber attached to his private quarters, used to receive only his closest confidants.
Arched pillars passed by as they walked.
Translucent curtains swayed gently beside Maia.
How long had they been walking through this quiet, almost dreamlike space?
“Your Majesty, Lady Hansberg requests an audience.”
The chamberlain knelt, his voice steeped in reverence.
…Your Majesty.
Maia’s small heart pounded violently.
A low laugh, like a breath escaping, brushed her ears.
She stepped out from behind her mother and moved slowly forward.
Standing at her mother’s side, she could finally see the Emperor.
He was ten paces away, seated on what appeared to be a throne—though plain and modest in design—yet from Maia’s height, she could see only his legs and lower body.
He wore pure white garments, likely court robes.
The folds of fabric draped down to his feet. Maia’s gaze lingered there before she slowly raised her head.
“So you are Lavina’s daughter.”
A gentle voice, inexplicably warm, reached her ears.
“…!”
Maia gasped when she met a pair of brilliantly crimson eyes.
History books that recounted the time before and just after the founding of the empire described the First Emperor, Adelstein, as a man with gleaming golden curls and red eyes, so beautiful in his features that he was sometimes mistaken for a woman.
But the man before her seemed better suited to the word “bewitching.”
Though he revealed nothing more than his neck and collarbone, an air of decadence wrapped around him.
And yet, when he smiled faintly, the shimmering red of his eyes and the soft sway of his black hair gave him a beauty that was pure and ethereal—the complete opposite of her earlier impression.
Of course, Maia was still just a child, so all she thought was that this Emperor was the most handsome man she had ever seen.
“Maia.”
His intelligent voice called her name.
Startled, Maia’s lips trembled. She hurriedly lifted her skirts and bent her knees.
“I-I greet Your Majesty the Emperor. I am Maia of the Hansbergs.”
“So polite and well-mannered, even at such a young age.”
The Emperor smiled faintly, his voice almost a sigh. A new wave of questions stirred within her.
Maia lifted her trembling eyes to look at her mother.
“Maia. Maia, was it? I have wanted to meet you for a very, very long time.”
“…Pardon?”
The Emperor’s words pierced her ears as she glanced uncertainly at her mother.
