He calmly stepped into the interior as Isilis called him.

“Berthas.”

“This… how.”

Seeing her shaking her head with lowered eyes, Berthas also fell silent. It wasn’t the right time to talk about it.

What in the world had happened?

While watching the attendants, knights, and wizards tidying up the surroundings, Isilis reached out her hand to him. Putting her hand on top of his, she spoke.

“Lord Regent.”

“Yes.”

“Let’s hurry with the wedding.”

“…If that’s what you wish, I will do so.”

With many eyes watching, he spoke, hiding what he wanted to ask. It wasn’t a private moment, so he couldn’t pry.

Watching as Faylos attended to Allure, Berthas left the place.

As they moved away from the hall, he held Isilis’ body as she leaned on him and asked.

“What’s the matter?”

“Just let me stay like this for a moment.”

As she requested to stay still without asking anything, he waited. After a while, Isilis, who had been holding her breath, straightened up and faced him. She closed her mouth that was about to open, and after a moment of silence, she whispered to him.

“Berthas, you won’t leave me, will you?”

“That’s an obvious question.”

Berthas uttered, whispering softly in her ear.

To him, Isilis’ words were nonsensical. Who would leave her? If she ever tried to leave him, he would do whatever it took to stay by her side.

Hugging her tightly, he asked.

“What happened?”

“I’ll tell you… in a while.”

Sensing Duke Verus, who was following them, approaching, Isilis turned her body.

“What is it, Duke?”

“I have something to tell Your Majesty.”

“Good.”

Looking at Berthas’s face and hesitating, she spoke.

“Could you excuse us for a moment?”

“Of course.”

Berthas stepped aside, leaving them alone.

Although he assumed that Isilis was safe, he didn’t like the idea of her hiding something from him. While he understood that she was the Empress and there were many things regarding the nation’s secrets that she should not disclose to the regent of another empire, his emotional response differed from his head.

He just didn’t like it.

‘The territory will soon be integrated into Larchen.’

Hilton was scheduled to merge with Larchen along with Berthas’s wedding. He had come this far for that purpose as well. Soon, he would stand by her side, so why did he feel so uncomfortable when she urged him to hasten the wedding?

Berthas stood still for a while, lost in thought.

‘Well, there’s no conclusion to be drawn like this.’

That was the case.

In the current situation, there was nothing he could decisively determine. He had to follow Isilis’s decisions. Having never been in such a situation before, he felt anxious.

‘In the end, did I not trust her as well?’

He boasted that she wouldn’t be able to find a man better than himself.

When he brought the territory of Hillenton along with their child to sit on the Emperor’s throne, however, the situation was not what he had expected.

Usman Khalifa was by her side, and the palace ladies-in-waiting rejected him. Although he had taken the seat next to her, he couldn’t relax. He knew Isilis’s initial thought that she only needed a child and didn’t need him, which made it even worse.

‘I suppose she’s not still thinking that way.’

He believed she wasn’t. They had agreed to have the wedding, and they had even fallen asleep together after watching the child’s cooing. He knew she was busy and didn’t have much time with the child, but he was fine with that, as long as he was with the child.

Berthas held firm against the ladies-in-waiting’ gazes.

From his quarters, he frequently visited the child’s room, which was close by. Sometimes, he even examined documents in the room. Some ladies-in-waiting scolded him for stirring up dust from the papers, but he didn’t mind.

A little dust was better than losing the child.

It was enjoyable to watch the child grow while being beside him.

He hoped Isilis could feel this joy too, watching the child babble towards him and now walk and talk fairly well.

“To say ‘Dad’ before ‘Mom.’”

Of course, it could have been a coincidence, but that’s what it sounded like to him. The child, who was almost two years old, had a fairly clear pronunciation. Lost in various thoughts, a shadow fell in front of him. It was Faylos.

“Berthas.”

He opened his mouth as he looked at Faylos, who seemed tired.

“What happened in the audience hall?”

“Don’t ask. I’m so tired. It would be better for Isilis to tell you, not me.”

“Tell me?”

At his words, Faylos hesitated for a moment and whispered in a low voice.

“Well, maybe not.”

“She won’t tell me?”

“It’s something that shouldn’t be known outside. You’re not part of the Larchen imperial family yet.”

“Yet?”

“Even if you become the consort, it’s the same. It’s a bit different to say you’re part of the imperial family.”

As Faylos’ words clearly drew a line, it made his face unknowingly crumple. It was unsettling to have his thoughts precisely pierced. He felt angry and sad. In the end, he felt despondent at the thought that he wouldn’t be welcomed anywhere.

However, he was relieved by the voice from behind.

“If he’s the Empress’ consort, he’s part of the imperial family. What nonsense are you talking about, Fayl.”

It was Isilis.

* * *

“You knew everything?”

“Yes.”

“Though why did you keep quiet until now?”

“The previous Empress requested it.”

“So that’s why the Duke became the guardian?”

“Yes.”

It was a request from her mother.

She loved Isillis but couldn’t express it properly because of her father’s obsession with her mother. It was his father who often went to the battlefield using illusion magic instead of her mother, who had weak magic and supplemented the magic in the capital and the empire’s barrier instead of her mother.

“Why did Father leave Mother as she was? He must have known she wasn’t the imperial family.”

“It’s difficult to judge his intentions, but in my personal opinion…”

“Your opinion?”

“It seemed like he loved the previous Empress too much.”

Duke Verus’ words made her momentarily speechless. It was an unexpected answer.

“That’s love?”

“Yes.”

“How is that love? Isn’t it just an obsession?”

Duke Verus bowed his head.

“Your Majesty, there are various kinds of love in this world.”

“Nonsense. If Father loved Mother, he should have let her go!”

Finally, everything made sense. His mother’s always anxious demeanor, the attitude of keeping Isilis at a distance while fearing that he might dislike it, and her mother’s subtle difference on the battlefield.

Lastly, his father, who always revealed himself in the port city.

‘So, that’s what clashed with the first Emperor’s magic.”

That was why, in her memories, her father remained a kind and affectionate figure. A caring father who took her on outings together.

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