Chapter 78
Dian looked as if he had expected this when he saw Seizar and Duke Liam Yuspoff come to find him.
From the moment he witnessed the Yuspoff heir being attacked, he had already guessed that the Yuspoff ducal house would never forgive the Imperial Family that had betrayed them.
“Your Highness.”
Liam Yuspoff greeted him with proper decorum. Dian slowly nodded.
“I have come on a matter of business. Would you be willing to hear me out?”
“The Duke is accommodating my convenience, so I suppose I should hear him out….”
Dian replied in a languid tone. Liam Yuspoff cleared his throat briefly and composed his voice.
“The Yuspoff ducal house will serve Your Highness. So that Your Highness may complete your revenge and ascend to the imperial throne.”
“…The imperial throne?”
Dian’s expression was somewhat indifferent. He had never been interested in the throne to begin with.
Rather than the throne, his life had been one sustained by revenge. Seeing Dian’s bored expression, Liam looked as though he had expected that reaction. The Prince had clearly stated before that he had no interest in the throne.
“I remember what you said previously about having no interest in the throne. However, if after you take your revenge the Emperor steps down, and Your Highness does not inherit the throne, then only Princess Isabella will remain.”
“My sister is a good person. It would be fine if she does it.”
“Yes, it would be good if Princess Isabella became Emperor. But… if that happens, how do you plan to live after taking your revenge?”
“…….”
When Dian said nothing, Liam continued as if he had been waiting.
“Do you intend to remain merely as a prince who drove out the Emperor yet did not take the throne?”
“…I don’t particularly mind.”
“I do mind.”
Liam Yuspoff said something that could, in a way, be considered somewhat presumptuous. At that, Dian’s eyes gleamed with interest.
“What do you mean by that?”
“The Yuspoff family has realized something clearly this time. We devoted our loyalty, yet all that returned to us was betrayal. We were disappointed. However, if the Imperial Family becomes firmly bound with our house and moves forward based on the trust we have built thus far… then the Yuspoff ducal house will once again give its utmost to the Imperial Family. The Yuspoff ducal house will protect the Imperial Family in order to protect the Empire.”
“…So what you’re saying is.”
“Do you not like my daughter?”
…?!
At those words, Seizar was even more startled.
‘H-How did Father know?!’
No one had said anything, yet Liam Yuspoff knew that Dian liked Asha.
Liam was not the type to be as oblivious as his son.
While staying at the ducal residence, he had quickly realized it from the way Dian looked at Asha when they were together. His beloved daughter’s charm had even melted that blunt and emotionless Prince.
Moreover, his daughter also looked as though she liked the Prince to death. Of course, whenever he saw his still-young-looking daughter with another man, anger would surge up unexpectedly—but if Asha was happy, then so was he. His daughter’s happiness came first.
So if the two were to fall in love and marry, Liam had no intention of stopping them. Besides, it was a way to resolve political matters as well.
‘This is something I cannot miss.’
Liam’s quickly turning mind had ultimately delivered a decisive blow to Dian.
A look of having been struck appeared on Dian’s face as well.
“…The Duke is quite perceptive.”
“If I cannot even perceive my own daughter’s feelings, I would not be qualified to be her father.”
‘It took me quite some time to realize this one feeling myself,’ Dian thought as he lifted the corner of his mouth helplessly while looking at Liam.
“If I must become Emperor for you to give your daughter to me?”
“…It is presumptuous of me to say so, but yes.”
“Then I shall do it.”
Dian was sincere. If he could be with Asha, he was willing to accomplish anything, no matter how difficult. Becoming Emperor was nothing more than something to be done.
“Thank you.”
Seeing Dian accept his proposal so cleanly, Liam was inwardly a little surprised.
‘Not even the slightest hesitation.’
He had expected at least a small moment of consideration, but it seemed the Prince truly intended to do anything to be with Asha. He appeared to have fallen for her completely.
‘Asha is remarkable as well.’
For that seemingly emotionless Prince to be so utterly smitten. Liam found himself seeing his daughter anew.
At that moment, as Dian quietly watched Liam’s pleased expression, he added a word.
“However, Duke.”
“…Yes?”
Though slow, his voice clearly carried more dignity than anyone else in the room. It was the relaxed yet oppressive tone possessed only by one who stands at the very top of the food chain. Liam flinched and looked at him.
Dian’s ash-gray eyes stared directly into Liam’s green ones.
“Even if, by chance, I do not become Emperor, I have no intention of letting the young lady go.”
“…….”
“Make sure you know that.”
With that, Dian leaned back against the sofa in a relaxed posture.
Liam and Seizar could not say a word.
They had been startled by the intense possessiveness reflected in his eyes.
After the battle ended, Haiden delivered to Seizar even the man who appeared to be the one behind controlling the demonic beasts, then immediately returned to the Magic Tower with Alius.
The summoning magic embedded in Asha’s dagger had activated by chance, which was why he had gone there—but he had intended to go anyway.
The Marquess Valentin’s final words kept bothering him, like a thorn stuck in his throat.
So although he had done his utmost in battle, he still could not properly face Seizar.
In a way, Seizar and he might be people standing on opposite sides of good and evil.
The Yuspoff family, who devoted their entire bodies to working for righteousness, and his own family, who felt no guilt committing evil deeds for wealth and honor.
“Why didn’t you follow that knight order? You used to trail after the Yuspoff ducal house like you were obsessed.”
Alius groaned as he sat down in a rocking chair.
“I have no face to see them.”
“You say the strangest things. Do you know how much help they’ve received from you?”
They say blood is thicker than water. To Alius, Haiden was like a son, so no matter what or how much Haiden might have done wrong toward them, he could only be on his side.
At those words, Haiden let out a faint laugh. Seeing the Magic Tower Master clench his fist and thump around his aching shoulder was reassuring.
“Hearing you say that, I suppose that’s how I’ve managed to stay alive until now.”
“Being soft-hearted should have its limits. In this harsh world, you can afford to be more shameless and put on a thicker face.”
Alius spoke from the heart. That boy, who had been soft-hearted since childhood, would always carry in one corner of his heart the wrongs committed by his father and apologize in his stead.
Even though no one had ever told him to do so. No matter how many times they told Haiden it wasn’t his fault, he was always sorry.
To grow up under wrong parents yet live with upright thoughts was in itself something remarkable, something deserving of praise.
‘Pitiful child.’
His sky-blue head, lowered deeply, looked drooped as though soaked in rain.
‘Why is it that all the ones around me are nothing but pitiful children?’
Every child he encountered was pitiable. Abandoned by someone, wounded by someone, forced only to long for someone—innocent children.
Alius sincerely wished that at least Haiden, one of them, would be happy.
“Haiden. I know it’s because of your father’s deeds. Haven’t I told you again and again? Stop being swayed by it any longer. No matter what you heard, none of it is your fault. Whatever it may be. You have no reason to be criticized by anyone—if they knew how hard you’ve tried.”
“…Sometimes I think that. Who do I think I am, daring to associate with them?”
Self-reproach eats away at oneself. Only when it reaches the point where there is nothing left to consume does one finally realize what it means to be unnecessary.
The guilt he had carried since childhood had swelled as much as it could. To the point where it could grow no more.
Even he felt that way. He had reached his limit.
Alius quietly gazed at those wavering pale sky-blue eyes. His heart ached at the weariness he sensed in them.
That young one was still tender. He ought to have grown strong by now.
‘What an unfair world.’
The wicked were so vicious one wondered what they fed on to become so evil, and the good were so gentle one wondered how they could be that kind.
It was greatly the parents’ fault for letting go of their child, who had only wanted love and acknowledgment, until he became like this.
“Haiden. Leave the Magic Tower for a while.”
“…What are you talking about? You know I have nowhere to go if I leave here.”
There were not many places he could go if he left the Magic Tower. Haiden knew his circumstances precisely.
At that, Alius chuckled.
“Why would you have nowhere to go, you brat? You were always hanging around the Yuspoff heir.”
“…I can’t go now, anyway. They all know everything—how could I?”
“Have courage. What you need is courage and conviction. Not desperate attempts at damage control to ease your guilt.”
Alius advised in a low voice. It was words steeped in the life experience of a man whose hair had long since turned gray.
At those words, Haiden stood blankly, as though struck hard on the head with a hammer.
Seeing that foolish expression, Alius spoke firmly once more.
“I’m telling you to decide whether you will choose that wretched father of yours, or abandon your entire family and live for yourself alone.”
