Choosing the Baby’s Father From the Following – Chapter 90

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟗𝟎

“Mother, but I only borrowed it for a short while……”

“Put it down right now!”

He was often childish and mean, but still, he was the older brother and the Crown Prince.

Lurik couldn’t bring himself to knock while Hart was being scolded, and waited quietly outside the door.

Because now that the Empress had found out, even Hart would likely return the sword obediently.

But then the Empress’s angry voice continued.

“How can you not understand Father’s intention to hone that child into a sharp sword and hand him over to you entirely?!”

Young Lurik’s heart, which had been elated for days just from receiving a single sword, cooled down.

“How can the noble hand that will hold the Emperor’s scepter, hold such a piece of metal?!”

Lurik looked down at his own palms while listening to the Empress’s cold voice.

They were full of calluses and scars from arduous training.

‘It really wouldn’t suit the Emperor’s scepter……’

While he stood there with his head bowed, the door opened.

Lurik didn’t know whether the Empress saw him or not.

Just, before long, Hart came out and handed him the sword.

“Did you hear? I don’t need this kind of thing.”

Lurik accepted the sword that Hart offered as if throwing it.

But holding the sword no longer brought him the same joy as when his father first gave it to him.

“How can you not understand Father’s intention to hone that child into a sharp sword and hand him over to you entirely?!”

In the end, it seemed that was his father’s expectation.

To hone him alive and give him to the eldest son.

But if that was the only place given to him, he couldn’t even refuse.

He only had a single sword, without any shield.

‘Because instead of a shield, there’s someone I have to protect.’

His younger sister, Louise, who lost her mother at an even younger age than him.

🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹

“How can the noble hand that will hold the Emperor’s scepter, hold such a piece of metal?!”

Lurik still remembered the Empress’s old scolding, which wasn’t even directed at him.

He held out his palm and looked at it for the first time in a while.

His twelve-year-old hand was so smooth compared to this that it could be called silk. His current hands were a mess.

‘Sometimes I feel sorry for holding Helena’s hand.’

But now, his father was whimsically saying he would give him the Emperor’s scepter.

Lurik tried to understand, even losing sleep for a while, if such a whim of his father might be the hardship of being an Emperor.

But he couldn’t.

He had endured a hellish lifetime solely with the thought of his sister, and even more so now after seeing Hart, who had to close his eyes first despite having two children.

That responsibility was never Hart’s.

“What are you thinking about, Your Highness?”

It seemed he had been standing there lost in thought for quite a while.

Helena slipped out of Lurik’s embrace and examined his face.

“Just……”

Lurik smiled faintly.

And then he finally spoke his inner thoughts.

“The thought that I can’t, forgive.”

If it were anyone else, they would have thought he was talking about the deceased Hart.

He had already confessed about their lifelong ill-fated relationship.

Strangely, Helena immediately understood his heart.

“You mean His Majesty the Emperor……”

Lurik looked down at Helena in renewed surprise.

“How do you know my heart so well? Everyone says my emotions don’t show on my face.”

“I’m just a little more observant than them.”

Helena spoke humbly, but Lurik couldn’t believe it.

“In the future you saw, we weren’t lovers.”

He looked directly into her emerald eyes and smiled faintly.

“Are you lying to me? I feel like we would have been lovers even then.”

“We weren’t lovers then……”

Helena said, holding their clasped hands tighter.

“I might have been the only one in love with Your Highness. That’s why I might have gotten to know you better.”

Lurik caught her words.

“……You might have been? Or you were.”

“What if I was?”

Helena asked mischievously.

“If you were, then I must have been a fool.”

After Lurik lightly kissed her lips, Helena said.

“Your Highness, do you trust me?”

Lurik hesitated for a moment before answering in a heavy voice.

“……I do, but suddenly asking that makes me scared.”

Helena said with a gentle smile.

“It would be better for me to hide for a while. Her Majesty the Empress is currently lost in grief and cannot blame anyone, but she will soon be looking for someone to resent.”

Lurik frowned.

He wanted to reassure Helena that it wouldn’t be the case, but he couldn’t.

‘The Empress is more than capable of doing that.’

Moreover, Hart was dead.

In her world, Hart was already like an Emperor, her one and only son, her everything.

He was just amazed that Helena had grasped this in such a short time.

“……Are you going back to Kaisarea?”

Lurik’s voice was inevitably laced with regret.

Helena nodded.

“I’m sorry. Your Highness needs me too……”

Then she looked up and met Lurik’s eyes, making a promise.

“But Your Highness, you must use everything you can. Always think coldly. Even if Her Majesty the Empress wants to find me and slander me.”

Lurik sighed.

If the Empress lost her reason and started slandering Helena or the monastery, it wouldn’t look good.

In other words, it would be justification for Lurik.

‘Perhaps, she did this on purpose, anticipating the Empress’s reaction?’

Lurik couldn’t even guess how far his lover could see.

‘Still, I don’t want to send her to Kaisarea alone……’

It was too far and there was no gate, making travel difficult, and he doubted whether the monastery could fully protect Helena in case of emergency.

Lurik suddenly asked.

“Then, will you go to Louise? It would be easier to hear from each other there, and it would be easier to get help for quick travel if needed.”

Helena thought for a moment and nodded.

“I think that would be alright. Then, I’ll leave around the day the funeral ends.”

The First Prince occupied the Crown Prince’s Palace until his last breath, but the funeral was simplified to only three days, compared to a typical royal funeral.

Once the funeral was over, Lurik also had to make his move.

He would refuse to satisfy his father by vaguely accepting the position of Crown Prince.

🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹

Finally, on the day of the Ice Festival, Callisto barged into my room early in the morning.

“Ready, Lou?”

I was wearing two layers of quilted underpants, two layers of quilted underskirts, and even thick wrist and ankle warmers.

Phoebe had declared that I couldn’t go out without wearing all of that.

“If I can still move like this…… I guess I’m ready?”

Callisto looked at me, grumbling cutely, and put a fur hat over my ears.

“Heating magic stones?”

Embarrassingly, Ren had sent me those things, which were usually used for winter warfare, for my outing.

I took out the magic stones from both inner pockets and rubbed them together until they rattled.

Then, a warm heat rose from my palms.

When I put the heating magic stones back into my inner pockets, Callisto said with satisfaction.

“Good, then shall we depart?”

A silver carriage, seemingly specially decorated for the Ice Festival, was waiting in the garden.

Even the white horses prepared to pull the carriage were so beautiful that I had to look at them several times to make sure they were the animals I knew.

“Wow……”

I heard Phoebe’s exclamation of admiration and looked up at Callisto.

“The carriage is a bit…… flashy, isn’t it?”

It was nice because it was pretty, but riding in something like this would naturally attract attention.

But Callisto answered nonchalantly.

“It’s a rare outing, we should enjoy ourselves.”

Phoebe also chimed in.

“Now that your belly is quite big and you’re wearing a hat, no one will guess that you’re royalty.”

Instead, they would think I was the Grand Duke’s hidden lover.

Phoebe’s eyes sparkled like a child’s as she looked around the carriage.

“Come to think of it, it’s been a while since I’ve ridden in a carriage……!”

Indeed.

In Edessa, we lived in the middle of the city, so there was rarely a need to ride in a carriage.

Except for that one time we went to the art auction.

A neatly gloved hand was extended to me.

“Let’s go, my lady.”

I got into the carriage with Callisto’s escort.

―Neigh!

The horses let out a small cry and the carriage started moving.

As we excitedly headed towards the festival venue, a snow kingdom unfolded outside the window.

Everywhere my eyes could see was white.

As I looked around with wide eyes, Callisto leaned closer to look out the window with me.

Compared to me, bundled up in various winter gear, he was dressed as usual.

Even the top button of his jacket under his cloak was undone.

“You look cold, Cal.”

I said, taking off my gloves.

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