Translator: Nox

Chapter 44

“…Mommy?”

The emperor’s eyes widened in an expression of utter shock, as if he’d heard something completely unexpected. Kiriel was just as flustered.

“Wait, Bunny. You can stop there…….”

“Yesh! Daddy’s a man who couldn’t be chosen. So he needs to choose Mommy. But Daddy has to choose Mommy firsht!”

“Khup…….”

The emperor turned his body slightly and began to tremble with his shoulders shaking.

He couldn’t bring himself to laugh openly in front of a child, so he turned away and did his absolute best to stifle his laughter.

‘A man who wasn’t chosen is such a heartbreakingly sad thing.’

Bunny looked at Kiriel with pitying eyes.

Seeing his pupils trembling too, it was clear he’d been deeply shocked by the fact that he himself hadn’t been chosen.

‘Bunny will make a mommy for Daddy somehow.’

Bunny clenched her little fist.

Because she’d successfully found a guardian candidate herself, melted his heart all gooey, and even made him into her daddy!

‘Bunny… failed to summon the Black Flame Dragon, so no one lined up behind her.’

But Bunny hadn’t given up. She’d taken her allowance and gone straight to the daddy candidate she liked, selling herself off in a ‘mister bargain sale.’

‘Daddy shouldn’t give up either.’

And then she’d deployed her aegyo aegyo operation on her guardian to turn him into her daddy.

‘Plus, Daddy stays in his room too much.’

He needed to go outside and show off how amazing he was……

‘Hmm.’

But what was so amazing about Daddy?

Super strong black hair and super cool red eyes.

A super duper rich guy who could buy mountains of clothes with seven whole zeros on the price tag.

He was handsome like the human big boss too. But the human big boss sparkled a bit more.

“Khuhum. So… Bunny wants a mommy as pretty as a doll, right?”

“Yesh! For Daddy.”

“Yes, yes……. That’s right. The Yudia Young Master has two children already, so it’s about time he got married and started a family. I, I’ll look into it for you. Khuhum.”

“Yeesh! Thank you.”

Bunny, nestled in Kiriel’s arms, bobbed her head in a bow.

Hmph.

Bunny, with her little nose held high, lifted her head to look at Kiriel.

How ’bout that? Did I do good?

Kiriel quietly closed his mouth at Bunny’s expression, which seemed to ask just that.

All sorts of things happened, but Bunny always surpassed Kiriel’s wildest imaginations.

“Let’s go now.”

“Yeesh.”

“Bunny, I’ll send some mommy candidates to your daddy soon.”

“Unneces…….”

“Yesh!”

Kiriel, who had been about to sharply rebuke the emperor for his sly, grinning suggestion, fell silent upon hearing Bunny’s enthusiastic reply with her bright, clear eyes.

As Kiriel shut his mouth, the emperor’s expression turned subtly amused.

He rubbed his chin while watching Bunny flail her hands happily, then widened his eyes.

“Bunny! Let’s see each other again soon.”

“Yeah. Bye-bye.”

Bunny, nestled against Kiriel’s chest, peeked over his shoulder at Roel waving and waved back at the boy just the same.

Once Bunny vanished from view in Kiriel’s arms, the bright smile faded from Roel’s face.

The emperor quietly rubbed his chin before speaking.

“Son.”

“Yes, Father.”

“Don’t you want a little sister?”

“You convince Mother yourself, Father. I have lessons to attend, so I’ll take my leave.”

“My son has absolutely no adorable charm.”

The emperor shrugged his shoulders and chuckled softly as he watched the crown prince bow his head and walk away.

The child, who had suffered from illness for so long before finally regaining his health, had lost much of the cuteness he’d had as a young boy.

Life confined to his sickbed must have worn him down. It was only natural.

‘…I never imagined he’d recover.’

As the boy grew weaker day by day under the curse, even the empress—who had a reputation for cruelty and became increasingly sensitive—began to waste away little by little.

The woman who had constantly picked fights with him and treated him harshly vanished somewhere; she reduced her interactions with people and lived on in silence, barely breathing.

Her viciousness had disappeared—who knew where it went—and every time he saw her deathly pale face, it twisted his guts…… But on the day he brought news of the boy’s recovery, she smiled brightly for the first time in years.

‘It was strange.’

A political marriage with a marquess’s daughter, brought together solely by contractual ties and shared interests.

After producing an heir, they never even shared a bed.

It was a relief the child came quickly after their marriage; otherwise, he’d have had to spend countless uncomfortable nights sharing a bed with her.

Far from the broad-mindedness expected of an empress, she was the haughty, sharp-nosed, cunning type the world called a villainess.

There wasn’t a single thing about her he liked, but on that day when she smiled so radiantly… she seemed a little different, just for that moment.

‘…A daughter.’

Something as tiny as Bunny clinging to him calling him Daddy, Daddy—yeah, that would definitely be cute.

The problem was, clapping by himself wouldn’t make a child appear.

‘I should arrange for the empress to meet Bunny.’

Even if he brought it up, she’d need to see the good in having a daughter too.

With that thought, the emperor leisurely rubbed the back of his neck.

“But that’s not the important thing right now.”

Poisoning.

Who had dared to target him, and for what purpose?

“Demons……. Does that mean remnants of them still linger?”

The emperor clicked his tongue.

“If we don’t hunt them down again, root them out, and eradicate them completely, it’ll be trouble.”

Muttering softly to himself, the emperor slowly left the reception room.

* * *

“Daddy.”

“What.”

“But… did you scold the chef?”

Kiriel, carrying Bunny as they left the Imperial Palace and headed for the carriage, paused at her words and slowly shook his head.

“No. I didn’t scold him.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really. It wasn’t that the chef was bad, as my lady said—he was possessed by something evil. We can’t hold him responsible for that.”

“Possessed by what?”

Possessed?

Kiriel briefly pondered how his words had been interpreted that way before giving up.

Bunny’s thoughts often jumped to the strangest places.

“It means he lost his senses and went all dazed and dopey.”

“Dopy-dopey!”

“Yeah.”

But he probably couldn’t work in the Imperial Palace anymore.

Giving the demons an opening meant he harbored resentment toward the palace deep down. The demons may have used him, but he was the one who gave them that gap.

What the demons exploited was malice.

They dug into even the smallest grudge—something that might have just stayed a passing thought—and gave it the courage to become action.

Of course, this time it was more likely he’d simply been toyed with by the demons’ whims.

Naturally, Kiriel didn’t go into that much detail with Bunny.

“So what was the bad thing?”

“Demons.”

Flinch.

‘Demons!’

Bunny’s shoulders twitched.

‘Bunny didn’t possess the chef with dopy-dopey!’

“I was tracking their traces to find those evil demons, but I lost them.”

“Oh.”

Not me then. Phew, relief.

Bunny fidgeted with her fingers before cautiously opening her mouth.

“Daddy.”

“What?”

“Do you hate demons?”

At Bunny’s question, Kiriel blinked once before slowly nodding.

“I hate them.”

“How much?”

“Enough that I’d wipe every last one off the face of the earth if I could.”

Bunny’s eyes widened hugely at Kiriel’s chilling answer, then drooped as she nodded dejectedly.

‘…Daddy’s words sting a little.’

“But the duke’s household where you live is safe, so don’t worry.”

Perhaps thinking her wilted expression meant she was scared, Kiriel tightened his hold on Bunny and patted her back.