Chapter 34 - Unbaptized Black Beast

For a moment, I thought, "Oops."

Come to think of it, wasn't Annebella saying this?

'If you're a girl who can always hear our voices, whether it's an allowed moment or not, you'll definitely see the 'eye' of it.'

That's not what other people would say when they couldn't see his eyes properly. I had that thought a moment later.

Maybe I talked about something that shouldn't have been talked about.

"M, maybe, it's a mistake…"

For now, I'm going to be on guard, but I smiled again with the calm expression that Kian expressed.

No, I don't know if I can call that a smile.

He is smiling coldly with a dry-looking face, moving his lips only.

For a moment his face didn't look like a young boy.

"Do my eyes really look like that?"

Kian's voice turned creepy cold and hard.

I made a mistake.

I shook my head with confidence.

"Oh, no. I think I got it wrong. Now that I see it, Kian's eyes, it's just black. It's very black."

"Rossette, now…"

"It's real! It's real! It's black! I don't see a single red!"

When I insisted desperately, Kian's expression became complicated.

He seemed to be trying to bring something up, but shut up, sighing and taking a step closer to me.

But as I faltered and stepped back, he stopped immediately.

"Yes, Rossette must have been mistaken. Oh, come to think of it, I couldn't say this."

Then he suddenly spoke and reached out to me.

"…Thank you for being my friend, Rossette."

The face smiling with eyes was beautiful, bringing up sweet words.

Like a predator over the bushes, with his poisonous teeth hidden and his mouth closed, and his eyes glowed, hiding gracefully the breathless brutality.

"Can you continue to do that?"

If I say no here, I think he'll swallow me up.

I don't know if it's just an illusion, but that instinctive intuition raised its head.

He held my hand in his hand, which I couldn't help but tremble a little.

"Y, yes."

Kian held my hand very weakly and smiled open.

It's ominous.

As expected, there is something I am missing about him or forgetting about my original novel.

Such an idea stuck in my head like a conviction, and it didn't leave for a long time.

***

The original novel I wrote was just a novel that I wrote in a notebook that I didn't even put a proper title.

It was a time when I never thought of serializing it in the Internet, so at best, I only give it to a few friends from time to time.

However, as time passed, we became estranged from each other, and I focused on my studies, the novel naturally faced a halt in its serialization.

But it was a novel that I cared about, so I decided on the ending. It's a rough idea, but it's still in my head.

When I wrote the novel, I was able to think of the story without any hesitation.

'Sometimes things get twisted and sometimes things get mixed up.'

Anyway, reflecting on the original story, the Crown Prince was not a significant figure in setting.

I did not decide the name or the appearance, and did not decide whether to kill or save him.

He disappears right after his father, the emperor, was poisoned to death in the mid to late half of the year.

As it is, it was simply the end of it.

"How does it feel to be in the palace for the first time?"

It was definitely supposed to be.

"Uh, it's very spacious and pretty."

The unnamed extra crown prince is currently showing me around the palace.

In that sense, I felt a little subtle.

'By the way, this is definitely the palace. Whoops.'

Today was the day when Kian had to return to the palace, and Avelle came to the palace to return to the Knights Order.

I came here because of Kian's suggestion.

Now that he made friends after a long time, he wants to introduce me to the Emperor.

I hesitated because of yesterday's happenings, but I didn't want to be left alone in the castle.

Moreover, thanks to Henriette's acceptance, I was able to come to the Capital with them.

Avelle returned to the Royal Knights after a long absence because of me.

Camillean and Carlyx, who have come along in the first place, are walking side by side with me instead.

All the way I was overwhelmed by the beautiful and splendid scenery inside the palace.

Wouldn't this be luxury?

The palace was so luxurious that I couldn't even think of it as barbaric.

Likewise, as I entered the luxurious golden-colored hall, my eyes were dazzled by the sunlight from the wide window.

So I was frowning a little bit, and soon a heavy mid- to low-pitched voice spread.

"You're finally here."

There was a man in front of us dressed as colorful as the interior of the palace.

His hair was golden red, and his imposing physique made him feel intimidating.

He's in his mid to late thirties. He looked a little older than Henriette.

Henriette bowed his head towards him.

"I see my majesty, the most glorious honor of Zert."

When I saw Camillean, Carlyx, and Kian bow down, I quickly grabbed my skirt and leaned down.

I felt fortunate that I had learned the etiquette of the Imperial Palace from time to time.

The emperor approached us with a smile.

"You don't have to be so formal, Duke of Wensgrey."

He beckoned out all the servants and knights in the hall.

When the door closed, I followed the others and looked up.

Kian smiled from the side, whispering slightly.

"Don't be surprised of what happens from now on."

What do you mean? It was before I even asked Kian.

"Duke Henriette!"

The emperor, who confirmed that the door of the hall was completely closed, suddenly shouted loudly and approached us.

Then, the seriousness of the moment is broken when he came holding onto Henriette's hand and making a tearful face.

"I wanted to see you anyway! I don't know, it's Marquis Walton, again!"

"Speak slowly, Your Majesty."

My eyes were wide open in surprise, and I heard Camillean giggling.

He seemed familiar with the situation, of course, same with Carlyx, who stood by in silence.

The Emperor began to whine, clinging to my father with that bear-like size.

"I told them last time that we must build a statue honoring the work of the Emperor. What's wrong with the state's finances, he's still just ignoring me anyway! I'm really upset… Oh, my son! You're finally back!"

"Your Majesty."

The emperor greeted him in an unbecomingly bright voice, and Kian smiled with a bright face and said.

"You're still pathetic today."

"That's too much!"

Whether the emperor seemed genuinely hurt or not, Kian's voice was cold.

I certainly remember portraying the emperor of the original novel as an incompetent and weak-minded man who was never worthy of the emperor's position.

But it is exactly as it is, isn't it? It was really like this in the original book I wrote.

'Our empire, are you doing well with this emperor…'

"I'll take care of that for you. I'll take care of Marquis Walton. How can one be merciful to a man who is not willing to accept the Emperor's opinion?"

"There you go, there you go! You're right! As expected, Duke Henriette knows everything, hahaha!"

"I'll confiscate the Marquis Walton's estate myself. We'd better remove the title immediately, confiscate the property, and deport the family from the Empire."

Henriette was destroying Marquis Walton's life in an instant with a steady manner.

I guess you've always been mean to Henriette. It's a bit unfortunate.

The Emperor's face was filled with tears, and his head was shaking.

At this point I realized why the imperial family of our empire was being controlled by Henriette.

Henriette said he had full confidence in the emperor, but at this point, isn't he just a babysitter?

He do have a lot of personality problems, though.

"As expected, Your Majesty can't do anything without me."

Even Henriette seemed to enjoy the role. The face he smiled with open eyes looked simply evil.

"Rossette, I'd like to give you a tour of the palace for a while because I think we'll have to put off the introduction.

Kean whispered while I was absent-minded.

I felt a little ominous, so I couldn't help but feel terrified about touring the palace.

Henriette began to end someone else's life by talking to the emperor, and Camillean seemed more interested in it.

Carlyx glanced back at us, but I don't think he's going to go with me.

It was almost boring to just keep waiting like this.

I thought it would be fine if I didn't go far, so I turned to Kian.

"I want to go."

Henriette or Camillean might not let me go if they knew, so I joined hands with Kian while they weren't looking and got out of the hall.

"Is the Emperor always like that?"

"My father's luck has been the result of being a maid's son ascending to the throne, and having even one son crowned as Crown Prince, so naturally, he depended on the Duke of Wensgrey for everything."

Kian said cynically.

When he brought up his father's story, he was as outspoken as if he were talking about others.

"Isn't it amazing that such a man is an emperor?"

I nodded honestly.

Kian's words sounded a little too much, but I thought it might be the case for a child.

Together, we began to look inside the palace only a short distance from the hall room, still holding hands.

Although the size of the Duke of Wensgrey was considerable, the palace was unique.

The more I looked at it, the more majestic it was.

After looking around the hall area, I tried to return immediately, but at Kian's suggestion, I headed to the corridor where the portraits of the emperors and the royal family were hung.

At first glance, it looked similar to the corridor in our castle.

But it was much wider than there, and there were more colorful paintings hanging on each wall of the large corridor.

I was already more interested in paintings these days, so I looked at them for a long time.

Suddenly, the portrait at the very end caught my eye.

"Hey, who's that?"

"What are you talking about?"

But Kian smiled with a strange face.

"It's me."

A strange answer came back.

"·······Woong? Huh? Oh, uhm."

I looked back at the picture again just in case I saw it wrong.

However, what is in the portrait is still a bright smiling blonde boy.

Kian in front of me looks exactly the opposite of that boy.

Black cold eyes shining with red, black hair, and pale, elegant face.

But he was talking to me clearly.

When I saw him speaking in a sweet voice, I felt a strangely twisted anxiety springing up in my heart.

I tried to let go of Kian's hand in a hurry, but he held my hand with surprising strength and wouldn't let go.

"Hey, let go of me! Let go!"

"As expected, it wasn't my mistake. I… can't believe you recognized me."

I don't even know what he's saying.

I was just scared that the smile will be erased from that white face like yesterday.

I was in such a hurry that I kicked the shin that I could in my height. Aaah!

Kian finally lost his hold on my hand. I didn't miss the opportunity and started running straight away.

"Oh, Dad! Dad! Millie! A!"

In a hurry, I rushed to call my family. My voice filled the hallways of the splendid palace.

Then I looked back, and I saw Kian chasing me with a walk that wasn't too fast or too slow.

He is smiling affectionately to me again.

I got goosebumps when I saw that face.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to scare you, Rossette. I didn't mean to. I'll apologize, won't you stop?

"N, no! No! Don't come!"

"If you fall while running like that, you'll get hurt, and I don't want to see you get hurt that much."

So stop coming here.

Sighing voices poured in, cold and sweetly like whispers, trying to pull the back of his head.

But no matter what Kian said, I didn't feel like looking back.

I just felt like I was going to cry, so I squeezed out my baby's strength and ran.

Then, I bumped into someone who was coming from the opposite side.

"Argh!"

"What the hell!"

The other person shouted in a harsh voice and grabbed my arm that almost fell.

I could only look straight up at him then. It's Carlyx.

He made an annoyed impression and brought it up.

"Father is looking for you. But why are you here?…"

"B-brother!"

Frightened, I cut him off and hid myself behind his back.

"Help me!"