Ch#139
The child clinging to Clois looked up at him with a startled expression.
He had never been able to be harsh toward children.
It was because of this that he had once banned children from the Imperial Palace and delayed the reopening of the Genius Academy as much as possible.
He knew he became endlessly weak upon seeing children around Evebien's age.
But strangely, not now.
"Hic... sniff..."
The child who had grabbed him soon reddened around the eyes and began to sob.
"What's wrong?"
It was a cry full of sorrow, as if asking why he didn't recognize her.
Clearly, until now, he would have taken care of the child even in such a situation.
But he felt not the slightest urge to comfort the child who had begun to whimper before him.
'Why?'
Clois knew the reason.
His gaze turned back to Evi.
Her face was one of bewilderment, unable to accept what was happening.
Evi met his eyes and spoke in a trembling voice.
"Y-Your Majesty..."
The moment he heard those words, Clois's heart sank.
No.
Evi hadn't wanted to call him that.
From the moment he entered, she had been searching for him. Her eyes sparkling as she stood among her friends, looking at him.
When he began his address, her eyes had been full of anticipation, her lips mumbling something.
Clois had clearly seen the movement of her mouth.
Evi had been about to call him Dad.
Yet this child...
The ferocity he had suppressed for so long boiled within him.
It had been only a few months since he met Evi, yet he felt as if he had waited an eternity for this moment.
The moment to declare before everyone that she was his daughter and that she would live happily under his protection.
But it felt like it had all been stolen away.
"Who are you."
A low voice filled with rage escaped his lips.
"Who planned this insolence?"
There had been many who schemed such things in the past.
Though they hadn't appeared for a while, he had thought they would eventually try something foolish again.
But why today of all days?
At his voice laced with savagery that seemed ready to tear them apart, Count Aradman and his allies paled.
"Your Majesty! We know why you are angry. But please set aside your wrath and look upon her with truthful eyes! She is truly Princess Evebien!"
Everyone knew they couldn't hesitate now.
'If we were going to back down from a glare, we wouldn't have started.'
They knew well how grave this was.
Not just their lives, but the fate of their entire houses hung in the balance.
It was an absurdly risky endeavor.
But overcoming this crisis meant immense rewards.
"Aradman! Bring Count Aradman! He has proof that she is Her Highness the Princess!"
"That's right! Count Aradman can explain everything!"
They shouted desperately.
This too was at Count Aradman's request.
The night before, gathered at the count's residence, he had said to them,
"It seems some have realized we intend to bring Her Highness. And they're trying to stop us somehow."
"No, if they know she's the princess, shouldn't they help?"
The count had clicked his tongue at that.
"Someone overflowing with loyalty like you might think that natural. But those who have feasted on past merits under His Majesty will think differently. They will be wary of anyone else besides them earning merit."
He explained they would surely block them and even try to steal the princess away.
"They'll say they'll protect the surprised Her Highness and invest months in her. Her Highness is clever, but still a child. In an unfamiliar place, amid fear, it's natural her heart would go to those treating her kindly. That's how they'll steal our merit."
Lowering his voice further, the count continued,
"If our information has leaked... they'll naturally know we're bringing Her Highness tomorrow. We can't foolishly let her be taken. So I need you to use your heads a bit."
"What do you mean?"
"Here's the plan..."
The count outlined it.
They would think he and the princess were coming together, so send the princess in separately.
Then, when she appeared at the Seasonal Festival, beg them to summon him.
"That will surely cause an uproar. Honestly, we're grateful if His Majesty recognizes her immediately out of blood ties, but he'll surely be confused. At that time, we need a witness."
Smiling, the count added,
"I'll bring the witness separately, so you must insist on summoning me."
It was a cunning method. Sharing the merit while ensuring his presence was required to properly verify the princess.
'At least he gave us a choice.'
The baron and others who had stepped forward to recognize the princess looked toward the murmuring crowd.
Among them were some who had been at the count's last night but hadn't come forward.
Those who backed out at the last moment.
But they had stepped up. Now there was no retreating.
"So, Count Aradman. You're the one who planned this."
Far from calming, Clois's voice grew even more menacing.
He thought of his daughter Izriella. The girl who had grabbed a much smaller child's hair, shaken it, and beaten her until blood poured from her nose.
He had wanted to punish her more harshly but held back, thinking it wrong to act on mere emotion.
Now he saw he should have punished her more severely then.
If he had made it so she couldn't set foot in the capital—no, the entire empire—such folly wouldn't have been plotted.
In the meantime, the Imperial Knight Order entered to secure the perimeter.
"Rommel."
Clois called the stone-faced captain of the Imperial Knight Order.
"Your command."
"Bring Count Aradman before me."
"Understood."
Rommel saluted more sharply than ever and left at once.
"The rest, drag these away. I can't show beheadings before everyone on such a fine day. Besides, there are too many children here."
At Clois's words, the students' faces turned ashen.
Just minutes ago, they had been filled with thoughts of enjoying the festival excitedly.
But now this.
They couldn't complain about the strange atmosphere.
Lest the place turn into an execution ground.
Then, breaking the silence, Eve began to cry.
"Dad, why don't you recognize me? I missed you every day..."
Eve wept loudly, tears streaming down.
Her cry seemed truly aggrieved, and some nearby already looked at her with pity.
"The count said you'd be happy to see me. That I look like Mom... and like Your Majesty too. So you'd recognize me right away."
The moment "Mom" was mentioned, veins bulged in Clois's neck.
The mom the child meant was surely Lilian.
Clois looked at the child.
'Like Lilian?'
He could guess why they said such things.
Because of those green eyes.
But many children had green eyes.
Many had golden hair like his too.
Evi was one such, right nearby.
Though he thought it mere delusion born of fondness, Clois had continually seen similarities to Lilian in Evi.
That was why he had always been especially gentle with her.
Yet why did he feel no such affection toward this child with the same blond hair and green eyes?
Then the banquet hall doors opened, and Rommel entered.
Beside him stood Count Aradman, irritably straightening his disheveled clothes.
The moment the doors opened, he changed his attitude, rushing forward and kneeling before Clois.
"Your Majesty!"
"You're the one who planned this."
As if he had no interest in the count's babbling, Clois questioned him directly.
"Wait! Just a moment! I can prove it!"
Looking around, he soon spotted who he sought.
"Dean Seraphina!"
"...Me?"
Seraphina, watching the scene in disbelief, was taken aback.
"I've heard you have a spell among your magic that reveals imperial bloodlines! So please, prove it!"
At his words, Clois looked at her.
"Is that true?"
"Yes? Well, it is, but..."
It was a spell that normally required preparation. But thanks to Duke Kailun's request, she had memorized and prepared it in advance.
The problem was that Count Aradman was demanding it.
"Then check now."
Turning to Rommel, Clois added,
"Prepare a sword. I'll handle it myself."
He meant immediate execution here based on her spell's result.
At that, even the previously bold Count Aradman swallowed dryly, tensing.
'The Seasonal Festival is completely ruined.'
Seraphina inwardly sighed as she approached the child.
Eve, who had been sniffling while looking at Clois, eyed Seraphina warily.
"Let me see your hand."
"..."
Gazing at Seraphina suspiciously, the child still extended her hand confidently.
The action of one who believed without doubt that she was Princess Evebien.
Clear on the back of the child's hand was the Imperial Mark.
She knew at once.
'It's not fake.'
The mark passed down through bloodlines via magic cast in the founding emperor's time.
It couldn't be forged with mere tattoos.
First, Seraphina cast a simple spell.
To check if it was an illusion or some magic on the child's hand.
But no magic was felt.
"Seraphina."
Clois called her name as if urging.
His voice so cold that Seraphina unwittingly touched her neck to check if her head was still attached.
She cast the prepared spell at once.
Unlike before, bright golden light gathered around her, and incomprehensible runes floated in the air.
The light spun rapidly, then converged on Eve's hand. It then shone even brighter.
My goodness.
Seraphina unwittingly covered her mouth with her hand.
"The result?"
"...The Imperial Mark is genuine."
At Seraphina's answer, the banquet hall erupted in great commotion.
"Then she really is Princess Evebien?"
"But His Majesty confirmed her death himself."
Amid the murmurs, Eve finally stopped crying and smiled.
The count had said Seraphina the magician would confirm the mark was real.
So now Dad would smile and welcome her.
As Eve thought that and tried to approach Clois again, he spoke.
"It proves imperial blood, but not that she's my daughter."
