Previously
Celestina and Giovinetta visit the dressmaker Clementine to commission an extravagant gown for Giovinetta's upcoming service to Empress Cornelia. Celestina warns her daughter to avoid Prince Matthias due to his scandalous reputation and illegitimate status, though Giovinetta is secretly intrigued.
Did it make any sense to call a copper coin without a single trace of silver a “silver coin”? There was a word for this sort of thing. Something that possessed nothing more than a deceptive exterior. Counterfeit.
Yes, and what difference was there between that fake coin and that woman? Only her outside seemed whole, while inside was pure fraud. A fake… just like that supposed Crown Princess.
Irenia Flores. She carried the title of a duke's daughter, yet in truth, she was nothing more than an insignificant bastard. Worse still, her very body was broken, like spoiled goods.
“Nothing but that worthless trash…!”
Had they not said he had even slept with her? Then it wasn't hard to imagine what was going on without seeing it with her own eyes.
“What a vile woman.”
She spat crude, vulgar curses. Words that, if overheard by anyone, would bring disaster. Yet despite everything she said, the fire of rage inside her didn't subside. For days, she had watched Caesar led around by that woman however she pleased, feeling a sense of humiliation.
“How could the Prince do this to me?”
Mercedes shook her head violently. It couldn't be true. There was no way the sweet prince would do this to her.
Her thoughts grew tangled and confused. All of this was nothing but the work of that repulsive woman. She pictured her slanting her eyes softly and whispering sweet words into Caesar’s ear.
“She must be the one pulling all the strings.”
She was certain. She didn't need to see it; she just knew. Otherwise, Caesar would never have treated her this way. They shared a bond eighteen years in the making. Nothing could sever that unbreakable, mother-and-son bond—especially not a rolling stone like that woman.
“I won’t forgive her.”
On top of that, what the maid she had bought off from the Emerald Palace reported was more than she could stomach.
“They say she’s sniffing around into how the Prince’s former candidate died.”
What a troublesome nuisance. Even if she searched everywhere, what could she possibly find?
“Let her try all she likes.”
Her teeth ground together with a harsh grate. She looked down at her palm, where blood welled from where her fingernail had dug into her flesh.
“In the end, everything is in the palm of my hand…”
Mercedes brought her palm to her mouth and licked away the bleeding cut. The taste of iron filled her tongue, sickening.
Delfina was wiping my face with a towel, checking on me. We were alone in the bedroom.
I signaled to her with my eyes; catching the hint, she blinked back.
“I need your help.”
“Yes, Your Highness. Please, go ahead.”
I whispered into her ear, and her calm face shifted as if she had just heard something unbelievable.
“Can you bring it?”
“…You mean that thing?”
“Yes…”
Her expression practically screamed: Why on earth do you need that? I hurried to clarify:
“Don’t ask why. And don't let anyone know. Especially Caesar. Never.”
“…Understood.”
Though her face looked crammed with unspoken words, she found no valid reason to refuse, so she nodded in surrender.
“I’ll ask the kitchen maids… No, I’ll search for it myself.”
I knew. I knew full well how bizarre the request was.
“Thank you.”
Still, there was no other way to protect the purity of Caesar’s heart.
That afternoon, Delfina handed me a small bundle wrapped in cloth. At first I didn’t realize what it was, but I quickly remembered what I had asked for that morning.
“Here it is.”
I smiled, my brows furrowing slightly.
“But Your Highness… what are you going to do with such a thing?”
“Ah, that… well. It has a specific purpose.”
I cleared my throat as I unfolded the cloth. Inside lay a round, white egg.
“Caesar, come here.”
“Hm?”
I called Caesar over when he came to my room that night as usual. I was putting on an act, so my voice sounded strange as I feigned indifference.
“I have a present for you.”
At the word “present,” his eyes widened.
“Something pretty?”
“Yes, very pretty.”
He looked at me with eyes sparkling in anticipation, like a puppy waiting for a treat. He looked so adorable that my conscience pricked painfully.
Hesitantly, I reached into my pocket and took out the bundle. I cleared my throat in embarrassment.
“Ahem, this…”
He stared at me silently, so I added hastily:
“I… I laid it.”
His eyes went wide with shock. A wave of anxiety hit me—was he starting to suspect?
Soon, however, sheer delight flooded his face, and a massive smile stretched across it. He bounded over to me in huge strides as if about to leap.
“The fruit of our love?”
“Y-yes, the fruit of our love…”
A pang shot through my heart. That ache was surely my conscience screaming from deep inside.
Still, it was a white lie. Yes, a harmless lie. Just like hiding from little Bernadetta that the tooth fairy, who replaces fallen teeth with coins, is really just her nanny.
While I wrestled with guilt, Caesar seemed utterly overjoyed.
“When… when did you lay it?”
I saw a million stars glittering in his eyes, reflecting an entire galaxy. I couldn't bear to look directly at him.
“This morning.”
“Really?”
“Y-yeah…”
“Was it hard?”
His brows drew down with worry. He looked at me with eyes brimming with pity. It hadn't actually been difficult—Delfina was the one who did all the legwork—but I had to dodge again.
“Huh? Ah, yes, somewhat…”
“You’re amazing.”
His eyes shone with a painful innocence. Seeing him stare at me like that, I couldn't help but blurt out that it had been so easy.
It seemed I was starting to lie without even thinking. I would definitely have to visit a priest later to confess my sins.
Though I felt heavy under his admiring gaze, I held it together and bit my lip to hide my embarrassment.
Caesar kept gazing blissfully at the egg in his hands.
“Will a baby duck come out?”
“W-who knows?”
I had told Delfina to fetch just any egg, and she had indeed brought back an ordinary one. It was never going to hatch in the first place, and certainly no duck would come out of it.
“Quack quack?”
Yet I couldn't bring myself to tell him the truth. He cupped the egg gently against his chest.
“If you squeeze it, it’ll break. You have to cradle it carefully.”
“Like a mother duck and father duck?”
“Right, like a mother duck and father duck. You must brood it well and keep it warm.”
Even as I said that, I knew full well humans couldn’t incubate eggs like ducks. I planned to throw it away secretly later once it went bad.
Yes, the fruit of our love.
The reason I went along with this charade was simple. I hoped that as long as he was occupied with this “fruit,” he would stop talking about it all the time.
“A nest!”
Caesar looked around, then began gathering blankets and pillows to construct a nest in a corner of the room, the egg still cradled in his hand.
“R-right, we have to build a nest, don't we?”
“Yeah.”
And so, we sat working together on building a nest at the edge of the bed. The bed shrank a little, but it was spacious enough to hold a nest or two.
“Now that we’re done making the nest…”
Suddenly, it felt as though things were taking on an overly serious tone, but I quickly shook my head.
It’s fine; he’ll get bored of this soon, won’t he?
I convinced myself with easy optimism.
“Since we're finished, shall we read a book now?”
Caesar didn’t budge, though; he remained crouched down and shook his head.
“No. I have to brood it.”
Inside the nest we had made together, he cradled the egg with extreme care, wrapping his body around it as if shielding it from the world. His expression spoke of such earnest determination that I found nothing to say.
“Is that so? Then listen to me while I read to you.”
I felt a twinge of embarrassment, but with no other choice, I lay down beside him and opened the book. I assumed he would tire of it quickly… he had to, right?
I didn’t know it then. I had vastly underestimated his resolve. I had no idea just how stubborn Caesar could be.
The sense that things were taking an unexpected turn struck me the very next morning.
“Caesar?”
He wasn’t beside me as usual, clinging like my shadow. I remembered he had refused to leave the nest last night, insisting on brooding the egg. What was strange, however… was that he was still in the exact same position!
“Don't tell me you didn’t sleep at all?”
“Hehe…”
Caesar gave a weary smile, and dark shadows hung beneath his eyes—or so it seemed to me.
“Ren…”
He called my name faintly, and I drew closer to him. He parted his hands to reveal the egg, and at that moment, I doubted my own eyes—it looked like it had moved slightly.
“Huh?”
Gently taking my hand, he placed the egg onto my palm. It moved again, and this time, it was no hallucination.
Dumbfounded, I snapped my head up and looked into his eyes.
FADE OUT