episode_0151

‘Valkaros Lantana von Stauffen.’

This was a duty.

From the moment he was born with the surname Stauffen, it had always rested on his humble shoulders.

Because of this, Valkaros couldn’t help but hesitate at the threshold of choice.

Which path should he choose?

‘I am.’

The well-being of the Empire.

Or his daughter’s life.

A cruel dilemma.

Valkaros found it difficult to make a choice.

Because countless shadows held his ankles.

What was right?

Could simply saying it was for his love be an excuse?

Could he condone his own demise with such a flimsy statement?

‘I don’t know.’

Is it right to sacrifice the small for the large?

But what if that small thing was everything to him?

Could he truly choose the large without hesitation?

‘What on earth.’

Which choice was befitting a monarch’s virtue?

Conversely, which choice was befitting a father’s aspect?

What was a monarch in the first place?

And what was a father?

What should be judged as right, or as wrong?

After making a judgment, which should he choose between the right and the wrong?

Valkaros sank into the chaotic questions of each moment.

-Valkaros.

A chain of conflict.

If there was someone who pushed him forward even amidst such turmoil, it was her again.

-Even if I’m gone… please take care of the children.

-I was happy because I loved you.

A voice.

A confession so timidly sad.

The will of a crumbling flower petal.

Valkaros absolutely could not break his promise to the Empress.

The sorrow of losing a loved one left him with no energy to endure, nor confidence to live on.

Therefore, Valkaros was quite the coward.

‘It didn’t matter.’

Yes.

It didn’t matter.

Even if he was a coward.

Even if it was merely a choice to flee.

He only prayed that Elize would live.

-What is a monarch?

-How should the sun rightfully shine?

Valkaros was not bound by such words.

Instead, he draped the chains of sin around his neck.

By abandoning his rightful duties.

By turning his back on the Empire.

He chose the path of becoming the worst Emperor.

That was the man’s damned original sin.

-Oh, God.

-Do not forgive your sun.

-I have lost my light.

The Emperor prepared the ritual.

He informed only a few trusted retainers of the truth, managing it so that not even the smallest piece of information leaked to others.

With a few incantations, Valkaros absorbed Rose’s curse into himself.

Although the loss of emotion that would come as a side effect bothered him.

He believed Charlotte would take good care of her younger sister, even without him.

Even knowing that its end was ruin.

“……”

Just before performing the ritual.

Valkaros embraced the deeply sleeping Rose, and offered his last prayer to her slender warmth.

Along with flowing tears.

“My beloved child.”

Please.

“May you be happy by making me your stepping stone.”

Afterward.

The Emperor took a step from which he could not return.

***

Time flowed, and ten years passed.

Days that withered day by day.

Elize had now turned seventeen, and the curse was slowly reaching its critical point.

Valkaros’s emotions had long since been lost due to the aftermath of the spell.

Nothing remained within him anymore.

Only the cross-section of a hollowed-out heart shimmered.

The Emperor had, by then, become an inorganic being pursuing rationality.

‘I still don’t understand.’

Because of that.

Valkaros found it difficult to understand his past self.

Since he had forgotten emotions that had accumulated for a long time.

Why he had made such a sacrifice.

Why he was still protecting Rose even afterwards.

He had even forgotten his original goal.

‘Why did I choose the Second Princess?’

If he were to weigh the Empire and the Second Princess, choosing the former would be rational.

Why had he made such a foolish choice?

Memories from that time were the most unfathomable mystery to the Emperor.

The reason he could continue protecting Rose amidst all this was none other than the guidelines left by his past self.

Valkaros always kept that memo close.

[Guidelines for the Second Princess]

Valkaros from ten years ago.

He worried that his emotionless self might ruin things.

Therefore, before sharing the curse, he wrote down tasks he needed to handle and a few rules.

And he even placed a restriction on his heart to prevent him from breaking or revealing these.

Thanks to this, the Emperor had no choice but to continue protecting Rose even after losing his emotions.

Even without feeling a shred of affection.

‘Hmm.’

Confining Rose was also part of the guidelines.

Curse sharing.

This spell kept the body’s mana in a sensitive state, making it susceptible to influence from others’ mana.

If this process repeated, there was a risk of problems with the spell or strain on the individual’s body.

Valkaros was a robust adult and was receiving the curse, so he was fine.

However, for Elize, who was transferring the curse and was only a seven-year-old girl, it was too dangerous a burden.

Therefore, Rose needed to be completely isolated from her surroundings.

The reason the Emperor didn’t place people in the detached palace was also in this context.

Thanks to this, Elize had to remain alone in that isolated place for ten years.

‘The guidelines stated [Protection], not confinement, but… well, interpreting it this way should be fine.’

Fortunately.

Because Charlotte was by Elize’s side, and later, a maid named Tanya arrived.

She was able to endure the terribly lonely times.

Valkaros merely watched from afar.

“Cough…!”

Day by day, as they flowed by.

Although the Emperor didn’t show it outwardly, the permeating curse was becoming increasingly distinct.

Not much time remained until he would fully take the illness from Rose.

Now, daily life was impossible without casting pain-relief magic over his entire body.

However, Valkaros calmly accepted his choice.

[Guidelines for the Second Princess]

-’Curse sharing’ must not be discovered by anyone.

-At least until the Second Princess fully recovers, he must fulfill the Emperor’s role and duties.

-In short, he must act.

Such details were even recorded in the guidelines.

The Emperor layered magic to the point of straining his body, and continued his daily life.

‘Is it ending soon?’

The finish line was slowly appearing.

The damnedly long spell was coming to an end.

Though, once all the processes were complete, he was destined to die within a year.

At any rate, he had been able to complete his past objective.

Valkaros waited quietly.

It was then.

-Your Majesty.

-Someone has set foot in Rose’s palace.

Charlotte brought someone before Elize.

He had intended to dismiss them as a quack, as usual, but the news that there was actually progress piqued his interest.

The Emperor immediately sought him out.

-I greet the supreme sun of the Empire.

He was an interesting boy.

From what he heard, the boy seemed skilled, and also had confidence that he could cure the illness.

Valkaros decided to observe what his ulterior motive was first.

And a few days later.

-I will take the Second Princess from the detached palace to the Academy.

-I humbly request Your Majesty’s permission.

A bold request arrived.

The Emperor pondered for a moment.

Valkaros, who had been delaying, soon nodded.

Since the curse transfer was nearing its end, he had been thinking of ending Rose’s confinement anyway.

He thought it was a good opportunity.

Moreover.

‘Gaston Gallimard.’

That old man was also at the Academy.

The old man who had informed him about information from the archives that even the Emperor himself didn’t know, though he didn’t know how the old man found out.

It was a place that piqued his interest in many ways, so he permitted Rose’s departure.

Since Charlotte was going with her, there seemed to be no need to worry about her safety.

Thus.

Valkaros remained alone in the palace.

With less than a year left of his lifespan.

‘Now… all that’s left is to await death, then?’

The Emperor, who had put an end to his calling.

Valkaros was a dead man, following his dead emotions, waiting for his heart to finally stop.

The autumn after the children left passed.

The winter he spent alone flowed by.

Just as spring was approaching.

“Your Majesty.”

The boy he thought he would never see again had come.

Accompanied by his two daughters.

***

Returning to the present.

The Emperor, seated on his throne, looked down.

“It was you, Your Majesty.”

“……”

“Your Majesty… you took your daughter’s curse.”

The boy, looking up at him and speaking.

His already dead emotions felt no sentiment whatsoever.

A coldly dead heart, a festering inner self, and a body whose death was now only a day or two away.

Valkaros was already like a doll without a heart.

However.

-Valkaros.

-I was happy because I loved you.

Because there was one unchanging memory.

That he had to protect the children.

He had long forgotten the reason, but he had never forgotten the goal.

Because he had lived the rest of his life according to that will.

“Your Majesty.”

A call expecting an answer.

Since no guidelines had been prepared for this situation, he thought it might be fine to respond as he pleased at this point.

Beneath the lofty sun, three pairs of eyes gazed up at him.

Blue eyes, seemingly lost in a daze.

Green eyes, with a hint of surprise.

And.

Even white eyes, carrying a hint of sadness.

The Emperor, whose gaze crossed theirs for a moment, then nodded.

“You are correct.”

Valkaros had never once acted for the Empire.

Today, he felt a strange thirst from that sentence.

For some reason, he couldn’t tell why.

A faint pain jabbed at his lungs.

[Guidelines for the Second Princess]

-I am afraid of losing my emotions.

-Because I fear I might forget that there was a goal even in this messed-up beginning.

-Therefore, before starting the guidelines, I wish to write this down first.

-Even if other guidelines are forgotten, this one must never be forgotten.

-Because these words prove that I am still their father.

Content written at the beginning of the guidelines.

Valkaros recalled the next sentence and opened his mouth.

“Everything.”

All for my beloved daughter.

“I took the Second Princess’s curse.”

Yes.

For Elize.