Ch#62
The moment Clois realized he had lost Ibi, he couldn't think of anything at all.
His vision went pitch black, and it felt like the ground beneath his feet was endlessly caving in.
But moments later, the surrounding noise jolted him back to his senses, and he looked around.
“Ibi?”
He called out in what he thought was a loud voice, but there was no response.
His gaze turned to the small children nearby.
Even though it was a small event, the children seemed to be enjoying themselves, laughing as they held their parents' hands.
Clois quickly scanned the children.
He wondered if Ibi, mistaking someone else for him, had perhaps gone off holding another person's hand.
But Ibi was still nowhere to be seen.
‘Did she get swept away in that crowd from earlier?’
He recalled the group of people who had passed between him and Ibi just before he lost her.
With so many noisy people, a small child like Ibi could easily have gotten caught in the middle and carried far away.
‘This way, maybe.’
He headed toward where the crowd had gone.
But Ibi wasn't there either.
As the child he was certain would be there continued to be nowhere in sight, his heart grew increasingly frantic.
He knew he needed to stay calm and search methodically, but the fact that the child was gone made his hands tremble.
At the same time, his breath caught in his throat.
Clois had felt something similar before.
On the way back to the castle where Lilian was, desperately rushing, he had encountered wounded soldiers.
They had wept as they told him that his loved ones were no longer in this world.
“Ah…….”
Clois covered his mouth with his hand.
The terror and despair he felt now were so similar to that time.
A deep sense of hopelessness began to cloud his mind once more.
‘I have to find her.’
How could he find the child?
As his rationality began to falter, laughing people passed by his side.
‘Everything has to stop.’
The seasonal festival event needed to be halted immediately.
Not just the security officers, but the entire Imperial Knight Order had to be deployed to check every single person.
If the child had been harmed even slightly in the meantime…….
In that instant, profound rage and despair enveloped him.
Emotions he had suppressed for so long began rapidly surfacing in his consciousness.
After becoming emperor, there had been times when destructive impulses overtook him.
On those days, everyone smiling in the world became hateful, and their laughter sounded horrific.
Yet he had hidden it all, striving to become a sage king for the history books.
The reason was simple.
It was what Lilian had wanted.
In the past, when he had resolved to go to war to protect his family and those around him.
Lilian had said to him,
“You have to become emperor.”
It wasn't said out of greed.
Her voice carried a certainty as if she had seen the future—that he must become emperor.
But her face was filled with sorrow.
“Because you'll rule by killing and suppressing others. For people to be happy, you have to ascend the throne.”
After that, Lilian kept telling him to become emperor.
She said he must look after the people, understand what was hard for those below and what they desired.
Even his teacher had never urged him so desperately to become a sage king…….
Was it because of her words?
After ascending the throne, Clois devoted all his efforts to rebuilding and restoring not just the cities but people's lives.
After the war, hospitals and schools were built first.
In areas with particularly heavy damage, he even dispatched the Imperial Knight Order to stabilize security and restore roads and buildings as quickly as possible.
Unlike previous emperors, his focus on stable and prosperous lives for the many rather than luxury for the few soon bore fruit.
Thanks to that, the empire recovered from that immense war at an unbelievably rapid pace.
Even the kingdoms that had been eyeing opportunities to topple the empire now bowed their heads, knowing it was impossible.
Above all, people no longer lived vulgar, petty lives.
In the past, they wouldn't have spared a glance at someone starving to death on the street, but now they rushed to help the fallen and reported to security.
They tried to aid those in hardship, refrained from coveting others' possessions, and upheld their consciences.
All of that was built on stability and abundance.
Everyone was happy, yet Clois could not be.
There were days when his mind reached its limit. On those days, he would suddenly think,
That it would be better if they all just died and vanished.
It was probably the tyrannical trait flowing in his bloodline, like his father and brothers.
He could do as he pleased.
Since the throne was seized through killing and suppression, no one would dare complain if he acted arbitrarily.
Yet Clois desperately suppressed the surging desires.
Because of the voice that had whispered, after the war everyone would be struggling, so please take good care of them all.
But now…….
He recalled the small hand that had been clutching his clothes just moments ago.
Fascinated yet scared by the unfamiliar main street, it had gripped his clothes tightly, refusing to let go.
That sight had been both pitiful and endearing.
So he had pretended not to notice and left it be.
But when she took the toy and hugged it tightly with both hands, that small hand could no longer hold onto him.
He should have held onto the child then.
‘If I find her again this time…….’
The moment that thought crossed his mind, a voice whispered from deep within.
―You already lost her once. Do you think you'll get another chance like that?
He couldn't breathe.
He had failed to protect her before, so how could he possibly protect her now…….
That was when it happened.
“Hey.”
Someone tapped Clois on the shoulder.
He turned sharply, his gaze piercing, and saw a man standing there.
“Looking for a child? A small, young girl. Blonde hair, green eyes, right?”
For a split second, Clois nearly grabbed the man's collar.
Fortunately, before he could raise his hand, the man spoke again with a regretful expression.
“Security took her to the Lost Child Shelter. Go there.”
He added,
“That little one was standing quietly, waiting for her dad. She didn't even cry—it was so heartbreaking…… Hurry, she'll be waiting.”
At the man's words, Clois immediately turned and ran like mad.
He left without even a greeting, but the man wasn't offended.
How could a parent who lost their child be in their right mind?
Then the man's wife approached and said,
“How did you know he was the child's dad?”
“You could tell just by looking. They look just alike.”
“Really……?”
The wife tilted her head.
The supposed dad didn't seem like an ordinary person no matter how she looked at him.
Setting aside his handsome face, his posture, movements, and even his voice exuded an inexplicable nobility and strength.
‘A noble, maybe.’
Nobles often mingled casually at events like this, so it made sense.
But she thought the child definitely wasn't noble.
Her clothes were clean but patched multiple times, worn and old.
Then the man said confidently again,
“Definitely his daughter. Otherwise, how could he have a face like the world was ending?”
* * *
The moment he arrived at the Lost Child Shelter, running like a madman, Clois spotted Ibi without needing to ask.
The child curled up in the corner chair was recognizable even without seeing her face.
“Ibi!”
He rushed over and scooped her up.
The child looked up at him with startled eyes.
“I'm sorry.”
He held Ibi to his chest and patted her back.
Ibi didn't cry.
Instead, she clung tightly to his neck and burrowed into his chest.
That made Clois's heart ache even more.
If she had cried and clung to him, he could have comforted her.
But seeing this small child quietly swallowing her fear, as if she had given up entirely, was heartbreaking.
Holding the trembling Ibi close, he said,
“I'm sorry. I took too long to find you.”
Then, from within his arms, Ibi spoke in a small voice.
“It's okay.”
The curled-up child lifted her head. Despite how scared she must have been, she forced a difficult smile and said to him,
“Because…… you came to get me.”
As if that alone was truly enough.
