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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 3
Chapter Title: The Emperor's Scheme
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And so, one quiet day.
Lellia was suddenly dragged before the Emperor.
“Hmm, so… you’re my niece? That fool Iris gave birth to a daughter, I see.”
“…”
“Still, what a fortunate coincidence that you’re about the same age as our Crown Prince. How lucky!”
Lellia, having no idea what was happening, could only blink.
“To think Iris, who I mocked and cursed for falling in love with some lowly commoner knight… would give me a gift like you. Hahaha!”
The Emperor was in a position where he had to send the Crown Prince to the neutral zone at the temple’s request.
He couldn't refuse, both to secure the dispatch of a priest whose healing powers surpassed those of a mage, and due to the watchful eyes of neighboring countries who disapproved of him for forcibly seizing the throne.
However, he was in no position to send his own son.
Even now, many factions within the empire resented him for ousting his brother to take the throne.
In fact, the young Crown Prince had already been the target of an assassination attempt.
There was no way the Emperor, who doted on his son, would send him to the sacred neutral zone under these circumstances.
Of course, the place was protected by priests and holy knights, so it should have been safe, but one could never be too sure. No place in the world was safer than by his side.
He could only feel at ease with his son close by.
“Is it true this child lived alone in the tower?”
The Emperor asked the maids.
They were the ones who had brought Lellia food. An attendant, who had presented the Emperor with a solution to his dilemma about the Crown Prince, had brought them here.
“Yes, Your Majesty. Lady Lellia was moved there when you were building the Empress’s villa.”
“Hmm.”
The Emperor searched his memory. He remembered renovating his late sister’s castle and giving it to his wife.
‘So she’s been living where she was cast out all this time. Perfect. This is just perfect.’
The Emperor smiled to himself and asked.
“Who else knows of this child’s existence?”
“No one besides us.”
It was the truth.
The child’s mother, the princess, was dead, and a staggering number of people had perished during the great upheaval. Most who knew of young Lellia’s existence were already gone.
“Yes… excellent. This is excellent.”
The Emperor approached the small, thin girl until he was right in front of her.
She smelled grimy from not having washed, but he paid it no mind and unfolded the child’s palm.
“Unmistakably Iris’s bloodline.”
The royalty of Auraria are born with a crest on their palm.
The same was true for the royalty of all five empires. It was a mark engraved by a pact between the founding emperors and the Holy Emperor. The crests differed slightly for each empire, but because they were rooted in a dragon’s magic, they could never be replicated by magic or sorcery.
The Emperor grinned at the young girl.
‘My brother’s brats are all dead, so the only young royals left are my son and this child.’
Besides, this mark was the best proof of her royal blood.
A royal whose existence no one remembered. Even if someone did, they would assume she had died during the great upheaval.
‘With a mark that cannot be forged, no one at the temple will suspect a thing.’
For the three years this child is in the neutral zone in his place, I can keep my young son hidden under my protection and guarantee his safety.
Of course, if assassins dare to infiltrate the sacred neutral zone and kill this child, there’s nothing to be done.
‘But since it won’t be my son who dies, it doesn’t matter.’
Having decided to send Lellia in the Crown Prince’s stead, the Emperor killed the attendant and maids who had brought her.
From that day on.
The Emperor began to warn Lellia, again and again.
“You must never let anyone find out you are a girl. Do you understand?”
“Yes, yes, Your Majesty.”
Getting to eat delicious food for the first time, Lellia nodded at anything the Emperor said.
Sometimes, the Crown Prince would come to kick and hit her, but she endured the pain without a word.
The Emperor even had someone cut her hair short, just like the Crown Prince’s. Still, Lellia didn’t care.
‘What does it matter, as long as I can eat proper food?’
And so, Lellia came to the neutral zone, disguised as the Crown Prince.
Perhaps thanks to the mark on her palm, none of the priests suspected that Lellia was not the Crown Prince.
And they would be even less likely to suspect she was a girl.
Ostensibly, she pretended to be ten, the age of Crown Prince Leo, but in reality, Lellia was only seven.
Since she was not yet of an age to show secondary sex characteristics, it wasn't a problem.
Fortunately, the temple gave the royals special consideration. Moreover, Lellia’s current identity was not just any royal, but the Crown Prince.
Lellia was given a large, ornate private room, complete with its own shower.
Even so, the Emperor had tried to send a knight disguised as a maid to guard against any unforeseen dangers, but it was impossible.
The temple had forbidden it. Their position was as follows:
“The five empires have entrusted their precious future leaders to the temple, and we shall educate them to become as independent and exemplary as possible. Therefore, we cannot accept servants to attend to their personal needs.”
In short, they were to live and fend for themselves.
Still, it was only the personal attendants who were barred; low-ranking priests and temple servants handled most other tasks.
The Emperor was anxious about not being able to send a servant of his own.
‘Damn it… what if they find out that child is a girl? The temple, those goddamn bastards.’
But unable to speak of his secret circumstances, he could not press the matter further.
Still, he needed some insurance.
The Emperor had the imperial mage cast a curse of silence on Lellia.
The chances of the child’s identity being revealed by others were practically nonexistent.
‘No one would dare spy on the Crown Prince’s naked body, after all.’
And what if an assassin appeared, killed the child, and her gender was revealed?
‘That would actually be a relief.’
His son’s life would be saved, and the temple would not dare to protest. They couldn’t escape responsibility for their failed security, so raising the issue would only be shooting themselves in the foot.
The problem was Lellia’s own mouth.
He had to prevent young Lellia from revealing her identity herself, either by speaking or writing.
That was why the Emperor used the curse of silence.
“That bastard…”
Lellia bit her lip, recalling the face of Emperor Raidios, the man who had sent her here.
If she were to violate the curse by revealing her own identity, she would…
‘…cough up blood and die.’
The curse of silence was a fearsome spell typically cast on spies with critical missions, but the Emperor didn't care.
And so, a seven-year-old girl, bearing a terrible secret that was as good as a curse, arrived at this sacred neutral zone, the Creutz Sanctuary.
