Chapter 23The Scarf that I Gave (15)

Translator: Kimmy

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The faces he saw everyday never talked to him and the only people he had conversations with were those fragile teachers who were not concerned with his way of speaking due to their own fear of him.

Actually, he never talked other than in classes.

And he was satisfied with that kind of lifestyle.

He did not have the thought to cultivate the pride an Emperor must have nor could he.

What could grow in a child who’s always alone anyway.

“The Emperor is not my place. I was either sent to the military when needed or was a glutton of the palace.”

Karlos complained.

“Prince Leroy should have been living.”

Brigitta looked at Karlos strangely and realized that the ‘Leroy’ he was talking about was his dead younger brother.

It was rare but Karlos sometimes behaved like he fell out of heaven with no family to begin with.

It was his younger brother yet he still addressed his younger brother with ‘Prince’.

There was no sense of friendliness.

But neither did it seem like he hated the dead prince.

There was only annoyance of having to take on his responsibility.

“Do you know how tiring it is to constantly speak highly? Sometimes I envy Max. If I could I would say, ‘I will crack open your skull to check if you have a brain in there or s*** in there.’ but I always have to soften it up and say, ‘You seem unwell today. I shall grant you medicine so you can heal.’ It’s so useless and annoying but that’s the manners of this country.”

“You look like you have lots to say.”

“Indeed.”

Haaaaa. He sighed.

A life like today– where he read the books he liked, not using a dozen sets of forks and knives to eat according to court manners, and get my own water if I was thirsty– was what really fit him.

If he did those exact things in the palace, the servants would make a fuss and it felt like he was taking their jobs away so he ordered them but in his head he always wondered why he couldn’t do those things himself when he had arms and legs.

His life wasn’t like this in the detached castle.

He could go anywhere, whenever he wanted and he could do all sorts of things alone.

And no one would care.

Back then when Glenn was not the Chancellor yet, he narrowed his eyes and swore when he saw Karlos but other than that, there were no stressful occasions.

So to him the position of an Emperor was too heavy.

He always wanted to run in the feeling that he was wearing clothes that were too tight for him.

He didn’t even need a large space.

Just, just.

Karlos fantasized about the things he could never do and sighed briefly.

‘What am I thinking, I can’t even do those anyway.’

He grasped and released his hands and mumbled softly.

“Could I come again.”

“If Your Majesty wishes we could. Who would dare stop the Emperor?”

“The Chancellor?”

“Ah.”

The road they walked while conversing was neatly repaired into new blocks.

There was children’s laughter coming from the park near Terrier Road.

The autumn stained leaves made a pleasant sound in the wind.

It was peaceful.

Karlos stood briefly and looked back.

A turn from the corner leads to the cosy house of Eva.

It felt unreal that she lived this close by.

“I never really felt it to the skin to repair roads or enforce security.”

He did them because the Chancellor advised him to. He did it because he had to.

He did it because he could and because if he didn’t do it, he would feel guilty.

If he led such things the work proceeded fast.

There were many reasons but he never really thought to specially do it for the people.

He never imagined he would be the father of the empire so he had no sense of duty to begin with.

If the ministers knew what he was thinking, they would be surprised.

Since the Emperor they know is responsible and loves the empire.

What face would they make if they find out that he is only staying in this position because if Max was Emperor, their country would fall apart?

Karlos was a little curious.

‘Perhaps Marquis Villiore will collapse.’

“Still, I’m glad I did so.”

He remembered Eva saying, ‘it’s quite safe around here’ when he worried for her safety living alone.

He felt quite proud when people said that it’s nice to live nowadays than during the war.

He didn’t do it expecting compliments but even so hearing such satisfaction of his work from the people–especially from his favorite author–felt good.

No, to make it more clear, it felt so damn good.

“The Empire is a nice place to live. No one would think it was a country that was at war just a few years ago.”

“It took some effort.”

It took a lot of effort and money poured into shaping the ‘all nobles and authorities dying’ into ‘a new empire rising with young blood.’

They fixed the corrupt systems and introduced new ones, and try out all the policies that were in debate.

Thankfully everything turned out well but to him, the Rumilesa that ran everything for 5 years, it was hectic.

And today felt like the day he received all the reward for that.

Karlos looked down at his autographed book.

Just by looking at the round and cute handwriting that said, ‘To Karl’ made his exhaustion fade away.

“Bri.”

“Yes.”

“How do you feel? Living here.”

Brigitta grinned instead of answering.

It was a good day.

*.·:·.☽✧ ✦ ✧☾.·:·.*

Where the Monster Disappeared (1)

There were two rumors going around in the capital.

One was about murderer TT.

In the fresh article published today morning about this murderer strangely had no victim.

The blood splatters definitely resulted in someone’s death but the corpse was nowhere to be found.

Should this be called a murder case or a missing person case. When a group of 3 or more came together, they were busy discussing it.

The other one was about the kidnap of Cartul’s crown prince by immoral Duke Maximilien.

*.·:·.☽✧ ✦ ✧☾.·:·.*

“What do you think?”

Eva asked while spreading peanut butter and strawberry jam on the bread.

She liked unhealthy sweet things. She took a big bite into the sandwich and enjoyed the jams filling her mouth.

“Well I’m not sure…..Since the investigation is done by the Imperial. Unless the victim is a noble.”

“Journalists used to roam around when things like this happened before.”

“I heard that the…. City Hall? They take care of it now.”

It was a bloody conversation for ladies having lunch but Brigitta and Eva did not care.

They were both still in their pajamas as if they were going to relax the whole day.

Eva did not even tie her hair. She was usually in this state the day after the deadline.

“Still, the work you do does not overlap at all?”

“Um, it does sometimes. Like when arresting or when they request for blas….no backup? Things like that happen but if it’s in the City Hall jurisdiction, the City Hall usually takes care of it. To be exact, they cover the general crimes and the knights are in charge of protection.”

“I see. I thought you guys would be on bad terms.”

“There are people that are hostile.”

Brigitta made a bitter smile and thought about the Royal Knight Chief Commander.

Few commanders including herself saw him staring into the morning papers.

He was a royal knight even before the current Emperor succeeded the throne and despite not knowing well about the newly established City Hall, he was hostile towards it.

His face was always dark and his temper got even worse.

He was old-fashioned but speaking honestly, he was just an old asshole that made her realize that a swordmaster like she could have a stomach ache from stress.

“I hope the murderer gets caught soon~”

“Yes. And I wonder what the real name is. Like, seriously, TT?”

“I know right.”

Eva was peaceful despite living in the capital where murderer TT usually kills thanks to having Brigitta as her housemate.

*.·:·.☽✧ ✦ ✧☾.·:·.*

“What do you think?”

The Emperor, Karlos, propped his chin on his hand and asked the Chancellor.

The Chancellor shrugged and looked at the person the Emperor was looking at.

“I think it is the crown prince.”

The young man had a slightly darker skin color than the people of the Empire and was on the floor like he was just hit by something.

He was covered in dust and his shoes were not the right pair.

The sword hanging around his waist must be a fine blade but it looked so destroyed that the blacksmiths would sigh at the state of it.

After a long debate on the identity of this young man lying in the Sun Palace in such a terrible state, it was concluded that this fellow seemed to be the missing prince of Cartul.

“Max that bastard…..I just thought it was a silly rumor.”

“He always goes beyond our expectations, don’t he. Anyway, he is still breathing. It looks like he ran away from the Duke, he indeed is the prince that was impudent to Your Majesty.”

The Chancellor spat out words that were neither a compliment nor a condemnation and tapped on the young man with his feet.

It was the least pity he had left to not step on him.

“What will you do? He intruded the Sun Palace with no permit and with a weapon so you could execute him right now according to the Empire Laws.”

“You are too violent. What are we going to do if we are confronted with it when we execute him? And it looks like he was running for his life rather than intruding.”

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