episode_0120

To uncover the conspiracy between the Emperor and the Empress and Viscount Edmund.

On the day when Yulrian and his companions set out to manipulate the conspiracy incident, not to uncover it.

Yulrian finished his preparations a little early and slipped out of his room.

His steps up the stairs seemed heavier than usual. His mind, as he went to see his mother to deliver the message of leaving the mansion for about a week, was more restless than when he was dispatched to the eastern coast in the winter.

In fact, Viscount Edmund’s estate was not far from the capital, as he was based there.

Unlike the front line on the eastern coast, which took a full day of train travel to reach, it was not comparable.

The distance was only a week, and if anything happened, he could return to the mansion within a day.

Yet, Yulrian’s mind climbing the stairs was unsettled.

The turmoil in his mind that had persisted since last night, when he had become accustomed to talking with his mother every morning and evening, showed no signs of abating.

“Pull yourself together, Yulrian. This is your last chance.”

Muttering quietly to himself, Yulrian lightly slapped his cheeks with his hands. If someone had been there, they would have found it strange, but fortunately, there was no one following him in the mansion.

This matter was very important to him. It was an opportunity to immediately rescue his mother from this prison-like mansion and, unwillingly, a chance to build his own power within the Emperor’s grasp.

With determination, Yulrian climbed the stairs to the 4th floor of the mansion, heading to his mother’s chamber.

Since Yulrian Vallatier inherited the title of Viscount from his mother, Louise de la Vallatier, he first led his mother out of the small cage-like room.

The newly arranged chamber for his mother was on the 4th floor of the mansion, offering the best view.

In fact, the master bedroom in a mansion was not usually located in such a high place. Initially, the master was at an age where joint health was a concern, and in case of an attack, it would be difficult to escape from the height of the 4th floor.

Yet, Yulrian moved his mother’s chamber to the highest point of the mansion.

It was not to hold her in his grip like his father, Emperor Eduard. Since his mother was confined in this cursed mansion, she was not allowed to step outside the entrance. So, at least with her eyes, Yulrian moved his mother’s chamber to that high place to look far away.

Originally, the Vallatier Viscount’s estate was full of assassins, so to speak.

Fortunately, Emperor Eduard, the actual owner of the Viscount title, did not object to moving the master bedroom.

From the beginning, his father, the Emperor, did not even spare a glance for his mother. Yulrian could not tell when this indifference began.

One thing was certain, that bringing his mother into the palace was to restrain the newly arrived Empress.

The man cherished the power in his hands more than his own offspring. So, it was clear that even the remaining daughter and the newly arrived Empress were pushed aside, and the Emperor wearing the mask of the government held onto his mother.

Then why did the Emperor still hold onto his mother and the government since inheriting the Viscount title?

The question that had been tormenting him since he received the Viscount title wrapped Yulrian in the silver strands of his thoughts.

Perhaps he needed a hidden space to move in secret, Yulrian thought Ernst’s answer he had heard sometime ago might not be entirely wrong.

At the end of his thoughts, Yulrian’s red eyes met the door of his mother’s chamber. The evidence of the tightly closed door stood before Yulrian, the master of the mansion.

Yulrian asked the maid guarding the door in a sharp voice.

“Where is my mother?”

“Madam is inside the chamber.”

The maid facing Yurian bowed deeply and raised her greetings, but her voice was as cold and distant as the other servants in the mansion. It was a voice that didn’t quite fit the sound one would expect from a servant addressing their master, but Yurian didn’t seem to pay it any mind.

Yurian eventually entered the room, gesturing to the maid who bowed deeply. The maid tapped the closed door with the back of her hand.

“Count Valatier is here.”

In that emotionless voice, the response that came through the crack in the door was no different.

“He may come in.”

Beyond the slowly opening door stood the lady of the mansion, who was of a considerable age, bowing her head towards him.

Yurian entered his mother’s bedroom and addressed the two women who were bowing to him.

“Wait outside until I call for you.”

And the two women followed Yurian’s command and carefully closed the door to the bedroom.

Yurian looked around his mother’s room with his red eyes.

The room was filled with an elegant atmosphere. From the color and pattern of the wallpaper to the carpet on the floor, even the small ornaments. Everything was decorated to Yurian’s taste.

Back in the days when they could freely converse. Being someone who inherited his mother’s sense of aesthetics, Yurian thought that his mother must have been satisfied as well.

His mother, Louise de la Valatier, leaned against an armchair, absentmindedly gazing out the window as usual.

Perhaps it was the bright summer day that made her expression appear brighter than usual under the silver hair that resembled her son’s.

“Mother. It’s Yurian.”

Louise turned her head towards Yurian as he approached her. Yurian knelt in front of the armchair, and Louise, like a beautiful lady, gently held his hand and placed it on her knee.

“Did you have a good breakfast?”

She was still the same mother who didn’t say a word. But instead of a reply, she showed an expensive smile and nodded her head. In response to that smile, Yurian also began to move his lips in a cheerful manner that was not usually seen in the mansion.

“The view all the way to the central station from here is quite bright today.”

“The park in front of the station is beautifully landscaped. I would like to take a walk in that park with you someday.”

“Did you enjoy the fruit I brought yesterday? It was a fruit that tasted delicious when I was dispatched to the eastern coast. If you wish, I can bring more.”

The conversation was one-sided.

When Yurian spoke about trivial things in front of her, Louise, his mother, only nodded with a kind smile.

Thus, their hearts did not reach each other.

How much Yurian worried about his mother, who had lost her ability to speak behind her warm voice.

How much Louise worried about her son, who was tied to the emperor in her place, behind her wide smile.

At the end of the conversation that continued in this way, Yurian brought up the reason why he had come to see his mother at an earlier time than usual.

“Mother. The mansion will be empty for a while.”

For a moment, Louise’s face contorted. Of course, it was a fleeting moment, and Louise skillfully erased the contorted expression.

Yurian, who couldn’t miss that sight, said, “Don’t worry, Mother. It won’t take as long as last winter. And it’s not as dangerous as going to the battlefield.”

But even so, there was nothing she could do.

Trapped in the emperor’s grasp for a long time, she was a woman who had lost her once-renowned intelligence.

She was no longer the talented woman who had turned the rural Charteaux barony into a famous city. She was just a woman who couldn’t even say what she wanted to say.

“It’s within reach in a day. If anything happens, I’ll come back immediately.”

So, the emperor’s common hand was reaching out to her son, not to her.

She was engulfed in a deep self-loathing. All she could do now was smile back at him.

The smile of his mother had deeply touched Yulian, but the departure time was approaching. Although he had left the room earlier than usual, today he had spent quite a long time fooling around with his mother.

“Then, Mother, I’ll be off.”

With a firm resolve, Yulian bid farewell. Louise once again tightly grasped his son’s hand with both of hers.

After Yulian had left, Louise was left alone in the room. The sharp-faced woman who always seemed to come into the room and watch her was now nowhere to be seen.

Alone, she didn’t show any particular movement. As she did every day, she absentmindedly gazed out the window.

In order to protect her son, she had chosen to enter the Emperor’s grasp.

No matter how much she thought about it, she couldn’t see a way for her unborn child to survive properly. Being labeled as the Emperor’s illegitimate child, both she and her family were too vulnerable.

Or perhaps, her talent for finding a way out had disappeared long ago. Since she had been under the Emperor and received his seed, had her special talent disappeared at that time?

Watching a carriage leave the mansion beyond the front gate, she held a lonely smile.

Eventually, she turned her gaze away from the window and lowered her head. Now, looking at her wrinkled hands, she thought.

The situation had changed.

She had been the one protecting Yulian from the Emperor’s black grip and the dirty tricks of the political arena.

But now, she was the one clinging to Yulian.

The Emperor would use her to his advantage in order to control Yulian. Her son, who was full of affection for this wretched woman, would comply with his demands.

Perhaps the reason for leaving this useless old woman in the mansion was for that purpose.

So she thought.

As long as she lived like this, Yulian would only be tossed around by that rotten Emperor.

Fortunately, her mind had not become so dull that she couldn’t even realize that fact.

Oh…

I, who have done nothing as a mother, will ultimately become a burden to my son.

At the sound of chirping birds, Louise raised her head. A small finch was fluttering outside the window. The iron bars that used to obstruct her view were no longer there.

The sound that came through the slightly open window was probably the sound of the bird chirping. Louise gazed at the brown finch.

When she was in her hometown of Chartre, it was a bird she often saw. However, since she had moved to the capital, it was the first time she had encountered one. Seeing it after so long made her feel strangely happy.

And at that moment, a single tear rolled down beneath her red eyes. Louise got up from the comfortable armchair that had been holding her limp body and cautiously approached the window.

The brown finch that had been fluttering outside the window started to fly high into the distant sky as she approached. In the sky where the finch was flying, only one brown feather was gracefully floating in front of her eyes.

Louise reached out her arm through the window.

Her hand was approaching the fluttering feather.

And when her fingertips touched the feather.

She realized that there was nothing to stop her now.

Her thoughts were long.

As she watched the feather gently float to the ground, she was organizing her thoughts while staring at the feather floating in the air.

And then, a clear voice followed.

“I’m sorry, my son. Yulian.”

It was only at the end that Louise was able to utter the words she had wanted to say. Her flowing voice filled the vast bedroom with no one to listen.

#16. The Finch in the Cage – End