Ch.15518100428 (2)

“Let’s go. Isn’t this the moment you’ve been longing for?”

Balkaros moves forward in a daze.

Even amid the confusion, his steps don’t falter, as if they know what they desire.

Thud-.

The Emperor finally reaches the bedside of the rose on the opposite side.

Perhaps sensing his approach, the girls with red and platinum blonde hair were looking back at their father.

Perhaps because they now knew the truth about the curse, there was no longer hostility in their eyes.

Yet an air of unfamiliarity inevitably remained.

Of course, the man didn’t mind.

“……”

Tears that simply wouldn’t stop.

Balkaros doesn’t even think to wipe away his disheveled appearance.

He only meets the children’s gaze.

Various scenes flash before his eyes.

Even during the days when he had lost his emotions, the memories remained vivid.

His own footsteps that had always been cold, the children who had to be lonely because of him, the helplessness of not being able to protect them until the end.

Even his former self from just hours ago who dismissed all the tumultuous ups and downs as “meaningless.”

All emotions swirl like a storm.

As if making up for the void of the past 10 years.

‘I was the worst father.’

The mixed emotions have names.

Self-reproach, relief, joy…

And love, love, love.

Though his voice was humble due to his repeatedly faltering pronunciation.

Balkaros speaks, squeezing out the words with all his might.

“…Sharlotte. Elise.”

For a moment, the girls’ pupils tremble.

Something they hadn’t heard for nearly 10 years.

Always using stiff titles like Princess or “you,” the sudden use of their names was enough to surprise them.

It also became the moment they noticed the Emperor’s change.

“Perhaps.”

It was a symbol of a time that shimmered.

A scar that would never return, but would never disappear either.

“May I… hold you for a moment.”

Balkaros parted his lips.

He knew it was shameless.

He was the incompetent father who had abandoned his children when they were most lonely.

No matter what circumstances there were, it was an unforgivable sin.

But.

Overflowing emotions were not something one could control.

Even before the desire to embrace them immediately, the fact that he asked first seemed like a miracle.

The Emperor was exercising superhuman patience to restrain his steps.

A moment passes like an eternity.

“……”

Inwardly, he was afraid.

Would they push him away?

Would the resentment accumulated over the years return as karma?

A thousand worries constrict the man’s heart.

It was an anxiety that wouldn’t have existed before.

‘If they refuse… I’ll have to accept it.’

He had been nothing but a wound to those children.

He bites his lip with diluted emotions.

A silence settles for a while.

What came at the end was…

“…Yes, Your Majesty.”

“It’s not a problem.”

None other than the girls’ nods.

They seemed to hesitate for a moment, but soon met his gaze as if they had made up their minds.

Judas, who had been watching from the side, had secretly given them a signal.

That it was okay.

“Ah…”

A soft exclamation.

Balkaros spreads his arms wide.

Whoosh-!

Warm arms embrace the two girls.

The Emperor, finally breaking down, bows his head while leaning on his children.

The falling tears gradually increase in thickness and intensity.

Sharlotte and Elise make unfamiliar expressions, but soon their eyes redden as if moved by the tears.

They respond to their father’s embrace with timid arms.

The awkward atmosphere melts away, mixing with the spring rain.

Balkaros kept whispering.

“Thank you… and I’m sorry.”

Even while crying.

Fragments that couldn’t be formed into words scatter piece by piece.

The warmth he felt after so long seemed to be that overwhelming.

“Thank you for growing up so well… I’m sorry I couldn’t be by your side…”

The father repeats several times.

The daughters in his arms slowly wrap around his back.

Outside the window, the sun was already setting.

The winter of iron armor, which seemed eternal, painful, and guilty, meets its conclusion.

Into a brilliant spring.

“Hehe.”

The boy who created all this scenery simply watches them from one step behind.

With a gentle smile on his face.

***

A day that passed in a blur.

Even the complaints that seemed eternal fade like white oil in the night sky.

Although it felt like three days had passed since arriving at the imperial palace, not even a full morning had arrived outside the window yet.

It meant they had spent such a dense day.

Dawn was still far from brightening.

“……”

Elise couldn’t fall asleep.

She could only toss and turn on the bed.

Her green eyes stare at the innocent ceiling.

It felt nostalgic.

It had been a while since she last slept in the detached palace.

Until a few months ago, she had spent her daily life here.

As she blinks for a moment, a voice comes to her.

“Can’t you sleep?”

It was none other than Judas.

He was sitting on the edge of the bed, watching over the rose.

It was because of her request to stay with her.

Elise murmurs softly.

“Yeah… it’s strange not feeling pain.”

It was fascinating.

It felt like the shackles that had followed her all her life had been released.

Beyond simply not having pain… it was as if the gravity that had been weighing down her body had become lighter overall.

In the severed past, there was only a cool phantom pain.

The girl clenches and unclenches her fist, then turns her head toward the boy.

The surroundings were infinitely quiet.

“I’m a bit confused.”

Particularly deep green.

Her pupils were clearly trembling.

“The realization that I’m cured feels vague, and I’m not sure about His Majesty either… I guess I need time.”

“I understand. It was certainly a sudden turn of events.”

Too many things had happened in just one day.

A fate liberated from the curse, a twist about her birth father, and stories she hadn’t known.

It was too much content to accept in just a few hours.

Elise with a strange expression.

Judas, as if understanding such a reaction, calmly strokes her hair.

Feeling her inner self gradually stabilizing, the rose finds herself thinking anew.

It was all because of this warmth.

“It’s strange.”

“What is, my lady?”

“Since meeting you, my whole world seems to be changing.”

The girl remembered.

A few months ago.

Until then, she had been glaring at the boy in this room as if she wanted to kill him.

Every night, she would cut her arms and neck, spend dawn with blood and tears, hurl abuse at her loved ones, and just wait for death to come soon.

But.

‘My past self would be shocked if she saw me now.’

Now she was docilely being stroked by his outstretched hand.

Things had changed since meeting the boy.

The briefly recalled past leaves a mark on the rose’s heart.

Hiding the blush that rises for no reason, Elise takes the hand that was stroking her hair.

And then rubs her cheek against his wide palm.

The warm temperature calms her breath.

“You know.”

Following with an introduction.

What was reflected in the leaf was a deep, deep emotion.

“I… was afraid of dying.”

Words remembering the past times.

An honest fear.

It was also the truth she had always pretended to be strong and ignored.

“I didn’t want to die.”

No matter how numb to pain she had become, she was still just an immature girl.

She resented life.

Why did it have to be her?

Happiness was so far away.

She waited for a lonely, desolate death all by herself.

Back then, Elise hated everything about herself.

-I should die soon.

-If you’re going to meddle in everything, you should leave too.

-Please just give up already.

She hated herself for hurting Tanya with harsh words.

She felt guilty for pushing away her sister with words she didn’t mean.

Yet, terrified.

She couldn’t stop her self-destructive behavior.

It seemed like she would struggle in pain until the end, extinguishing like a small spark.

Fearing such an end, the girl always lived with suicide in mind.

If someday the depression in her life reached a critical point.

With a pledge to leave so as not to be miserable anymore.

It was the last thorn the pitiful rose had.

However.

“Then… you appeared.”

You came like a star.

To the dawn that wasn’t allowed even a hint of sunlight.

You gave light for the first time.

-I will give you a miracle.

-I can promise you everything.

-I can fulfill the hope you had to give up.

-You just need to take my hand.

A hand extended into the abyss.

Hope that corrected resignation.

A voice whispering that she didn’t have to be in pain anymore.

Your smile that waited without getting annoyed even once until I, who was still in despair, accepted.

Thanks to you, I grabbed you at the edge of the cliff.

My world met morning because of you.

Breaking through the terrible dawn.

“Thank you.”