Chapter 62
“I’ll give instructions to prepare the ingredients and bowls for rice porridge in advance.”
She had pleaded so desperately to protect Ian that anyone would have noticed. It was something only a mother could do.
However, Lady Howard, despite knowing that Amelia was Ian’s birth mother and that Ivan was his biological father, kept her mouth tightly shut. She never once, even by mistake, brought up anything related to that truth. Whether it was to protect Ivan’s honor or simply because she didn’t want to touch a ticking time bomb was hard to tell, but in the end, it was a relief. Amelia hadn’t thought of any way to explain it.
No—there was no way to explain it from the start. Unless Lady Howard simply chose to accept it.
“……”
At that moment, the sound of a latch turning could be heard. Amelia stared blankly as if watching a man barge into her bedroom as though it were his own. It felt like a long time since she had last seen Ivan appear like this. Though in truth, it had only been a few months.
“Aaron doesn’t trust me.”
The soundless footsteps came closer and then stopped.
“I told him the Emperor might try to kill Ian, that we needed a plan, but he told me to just do as I’m told.”
Ivan halted in the middle of the room and looked at Amelia, who sat motionless on the bed. Through the sheer white canopy, as though confirming that the vague outline of a woman was truly Amelia.
“I thought maybe he’d noticed I was pretending, but it didn’t seem like that.”
For Ivan, such confirmation was natural. He didn’t have a weapon at hand to kill a sudden assailant, after all.
“……”
But perhaps it was also because Amelia, who wouldn’t even lower her voice to say a single word, felt so unfamiliar now. When they first met, Amelia, believing Ivan to be an apprentice priest, spoke informally to him without hesitation. Calling him “you” had been no different. Even after learning he was the Emperor, that didn’t change.
Hadn’t she acted arrogantly even in the moments when she clung to him? Ivan had even ordered her quite severely to know her place because he could hardly tolerate it. Yet, even so, Ivan hadn’t expected that Amelia would continue to keep the position he had forced upon her since then.
“If this continues, I’ll forever be nothing more than a doll doing as I’m told. I’ll never be able to accomplish what you truly want.”
“……”
“They need an incident, at least, that will give them a minimum amount of trust.”
But Ivan Wade Esccliffe was the man who sat on the highest throne in the Empire. For him, this kind of distance, this level of formality, was only natural. Ivan calmly tucked away his surprise.
“I never said I expected you to bring me their heads tomorrow.”
Ivan said this as he began walking again. Amelia quietly watched the tall man move through the thin canopy fabric.
“I never expected that would even be possible.”
Ivan knew everything took time. Of course, who more than he would know that? Even he and his predecessors had been unable to topple that power in a single blow. If it were something so easily done, all their suffering until now would feel almost insulting.
“Act as you usually do.”
“……”
“You can pretend to want expensive things, if you like.”
Ivan’s gaze swept across the room where Amelia stayed. Amelia’s eyes also absently scanned the chamber. Nothing in the Imperial Palace lacked the touch of a master artisan. Even someone with no eye for beauty would be awestruck.
“I’ll soon make an official declaration that Ian will be recognized as Crown Prince in the year he turns two, and I’ll send a marriage proposal to a house loyal to the Imperial family.”
A marriage proposal.
The moment she heard that word, Amelia’s eyes froze on the ceiling. Before she could even think what to do, her heart gave a sickening thud. Had she still not cast away her foolish hopes? Or was it that she still hadn’t torn out the remnants of her feelings?
Forget it. He’s a man who can do anything.
With a bitter smile, Amelia lowered her head and turned her gaze toward the table where Ivan leaned. Even through the haze, she could feel Ivan watching her—as though waiting for her to look at him.
As Amelia and Ivan silently gazed at one another through the canopy, a soft whimper broke the stillness. Ian stirred and squirmed. At once, Amelia turned her eyes to him and soothed his plump little belly.
“What does that even mean?”
Perhaps he was merely fussing in his sleep, for Ian quickly quieted down. Still, Amelia lowered her voice carefully as she asked.
Ivan’s eyes, too, seemed to trace the outline of the child. Amelia faintly sensed his gaze sliding past her. Truthfully, Ivan still didn’t seem to harbor any tender feelings toward her. Yet ever since he had fully acknowledged the child, he seemed to have developed some interest in his son’s existence.
“It’ll be enough to make them think I’m plotting behind the scenes to keep Ian from becoming Crown Prince. They’ll assume I lied to get out of an awkward situation.”
Amelia’s hand, which had been patting Ian’s belly, stopped. Just as she had asked him to, Ivan was explaining everything plainly.
“But once I’ve publicly declared Ian the Crown Prince, they can’t very well stage a rebellion without reason. And if they wait until a day when Ian isn’t recognized as Crown Prince, that would only waste their time.”
Ivan was creating a reason for Duke Russell and Aaron to move to kill him. Even Amelia could see that much.
“When that time comes, tell them you want me dead.”
A quiet but resolute voice lingered in the chamber.
“Say they tried to kill Ian before, that they plan to kill him before he can even be recognized as Crown Prince. Agitate them into acting.”
So that they would kill the Emperor and make Ian the next one.
“And when everything is over, tell Duke Russell that you’ll give him the throne—just help you escape safely with Ian. Then they’ll use you to kill me, thinking to discard you afterward.”
“……”
“After all, once he’s Emperor, why would he need a priestess who could threaten him?”
His words were chilling, yet Ivan’s face remained calm. Perhaps recalling how Aaron once said they would reward Amelia with freedom if she accepted their proposal, he was now making full use of it.
“……”
For a while, Amelia couldn’t speak.
“Isn’t there a real chance His Majesty could be in danger if this goes wrong?”
After a pause, that was all she managed to ask. Of course, this was his scheme, so fear should have no place in it, and surely he believed he wouldn’t let it come to that. Yet how could he so easily tell her to provoke his enemies into killing him?
“There’s a chance.”
Ivan admitted it without hesitation. What he was planning certainly had its risks. If Rodan knew, he would have leapt out of his skin.
“But I can’t let it come to that.”
“……”
“Because then I wouldn’t be able to protect my child.”
Ivan spoke plainly. Did he truly mean it when he said “my child”? It was hard to tell. Surely not. This was the same man who, even knowing Ian was his son, refused to acknowledge him.
Amelia slowly drew back the parted canopy with her hand, as if seeing his face might help her read his thoughts. Then Ivan’s face came into sharp view.
“And if you want to claim someone else’s heart, you have to lay down your own. I simply chose a high risk for a great reward.”
When their eyes met, Ivan spoke those words with a smile—like the same unscrupulous man who once seduced her with intent, all charm and danger.
Yes, this was his true self. His talk of “my child” was nothing more than mockery toward Amelia. And with that, she crushed even the last fragile bloom of hope she had been nursing.
“In that case, would it be all right if I act as though I love Your Majesty in front of them?”
With that, it no longer felt so hard to look him in the eye. Nor to say something like pretending to love him. Ivan raised one eyebrow, surprised by the unexpected question.
“Don’t worry. I’m not saying I’m trying to become someone to you.”
“……”
“It’s just—if I’m going to act like a madwoman, I’ll need to.”
Duke Russell didn’t know the real Amelia well. He had only ever seen her through Aaron’s eyes. And Aaron knew how impulsive, fearful, and vulnerable to violent storms of emotion Amelia was. Except for a select few, she had almost no social ties.
“A common story—that she fell in love at first sight with the Emperor who saved Ian.”
And Aaron remembered vividly the mother driven mad by love and grief for her child. He was searching for that same shadow in the Amelia of now.
“A foolish woman who lost her mind when the man she loved sent a marriage proposal to another.”
Madness that ran through generations—that was love. Sometimes reality is more cruel than fantasy; sometimes, such wild passion was a far more convincing reason than any clear motive.
Fooled by a paltry emotion, only to end up here.
