“Tell me about my childhood.”

Bayden looked up at Dylan with sparkling eyes.

The Crown Prince did not seem to get tired of hearing the same story all the time. Well, Bayden is still 6 years old.

A cool breeze blew in. Although it was summer, it was clean with low humidity, and it was relatively cool because it was night.

The servants bowed their heads around the royal family who sat around the colorful round table.

The emperor and the empress were sincerely respected.

Dylan naturally picked up the teapot and poured it into Charlize’s teacup. Getting used to it, Charlize glanced at the tea.

“When Lize had you, she had a pretty hard time.”

Dylan said.

Bayden’s eyes glistened.

“Morning sickness?”

“Yeah, she had a hard time even drinking water. It was to the point of saying that the smell of the water was disgusting. She said it’s okay to just keep the ice.”

So, at that time, most of the royal family’s ice storage was used for Charlize.

It was because Charlize vomited even after drinking water.

“She usually ate anything, but the morning sickness was particularly severe, so she couldn’t even eat the shrimp that she liked.”

“I hate shrimp.”

“Yes… Maybe that’s why.”

The child replied cheerfully, and Dylan smiled softly.

Regarding morning sickness, there were many memorable moments. Once, Charles woke him up while sleeping in the Imperial Palace bed together.

[Your Majesty, I’m sorry it’s too late… I suddenly want to eat comello so much.]

Dylan, who opened his eyes half-asleep, was so moved by those words.

It was because Charlize never really told Dylan what she wanted.

That’s because Dylan had everything ready before Charlize could have hoped for it, but he cared about it.

The fact that ‘to get comello right now, I have to ride a horse for three hours’ passed through his mind, but the emperor gently got up.

After putting his lips to Charlize’s forehead, which was warmly wrapped in a blanket, he confessed.

[Please wait a moment. Keep your eyes closed, and the comello will soon enter your mouth.]

The emperor carefully left the bedroom and called Shadows.

‘I’m going to get comello.’

Dylan rode his horse and ran out.

It was dark dawn, but Shadows obeyed without hesitation at the word that Charlize wanted.

When he put the comello in her mouth after taking a full 6 hours round trip. Charlize ate deliciously.

[Thank you, Your Majesty.]

The bedroom where the morning sun was seeping through the curtains. The smile that Charlize gave was bright itself.

After having a child, Charlize, who looked exhausted without realizing it, was exceptionally bright that day.

It was one of the happiest moments of his life, Dylan recalled.

“During pregnancy, she did not hold a sword well, saying that it would be dangerous, and she read a lot of books.”

“Um, did I?”

Dylan said looking at Bayden, and Charlize said looking at Dylan.

The empress’s expression looking at the emperor was soft.

Full of lovely feelings, she shone like a star-studded with him. Her indigo blue eyes, which resembled a universe, were freshly curved.

At the sight of his friendly parents, Bayden also felt better.

Charlize put down the teacup. Dylan naturally squeezed the empress’s empty hand and held it tightly.

‘Actually, I was scared.’

Dylan had nothing to be afraid of, but he was very scared.

It was because Charlize told Dylan two months after she found out she was pregnant.

[Even if I die in the process of giving birth to our child, please do not hate that child.][What are you…]

[Because there is only one in ten thousand. I don’t know what’s going to happen to people, and I’m also a human being.]

He wanted to tell her not to say that, but he could understand it, so he kept his mouth shut.

Charlize was brought up in the Grand Duke’s family from an early age because of the Grand Duchess who died after giving birth to her. It was then that the eyes were so clear and straight that Dylan had no choice but to make a slow promise.

[I won’t let you die. However, even if that happens, the child will never be hurt. I swear on everything.]

[You promised, Your Majesty.]

[…Yes.]

Dylan was terrified and protected Lize, who had his child.

He wandered around and paid all his attention to Charlize as if he handled the most precious pottery, whether she would break if he touched her, or fly if he blew.

He already knew how much pregnancy affects a woman’s body, but watching it in person was another story.

“Your Highness, it is late now. It’s time for you to go to bed.”

“…Already?”

When his direct servant came and spoke carefully, Bayden had a visibly disappointed face.

The moon hung brightly high in the sky.

No matter how much they talked, it was always not enough for the child. Like Sen, who often sleeps with his parents, he wanted to beg for wanting to sleep with them, but he held it in.

He is a national treasure.

No matter how young he was, he had to keep his dignity as heir to the empire.

“Children should go to bed early.”

His mother spoke softly, so Bayden eventually stood up.

“Good night.”

Said Bayden, bowing politely.

Both Charlize and Dylan smiled. Bayden soon took his nanny’s hand and withdrew.

Charlize was quiet. Dylan, who was happy to pretend not to be left alone with his beloved woman, swept only his hair.

Charlize and Dylan’s eyes met in the air.

It was a deep night. But for adults, not children, the night was just the beginning.

***

The Wizard Payne got goosebumps.

In fact, it was just a coincidence that he came here. It is extremely rare to need a Poneroo leaf, but there was a case where it had to be used as an ingredient for a magic potion.

He visited a regular store, and there was a notice in front of the door saying that they went on a summer vacation.

‘Whenever I really need something, I can’t find it.’

Poneroo leaves are a common and inexpensive material, but they could not be obtained.

Reluctantly, he came all the way to the back alleys of the Islands. It was the place where the poorest of the imperial capitals lived.

On his way home from the regular store to buy Poneroo leaves, he felt a monster.

And it’s been such a long time since he had felt it.

Unreal creepy and overwhelming strength.

It’s been almost 8 years since Charlize toppled the magic tower, as he’d never felt it before.

‘All monsters have been annihilated.’

With the resurrection of Ehyrit, all the monsters of the continent disappeared.

Payne stared at the alleyway in the dark, hardened.

The flow of mana is too broad to read the limits. It’s a wizard. Payne instinctively noticed.

It is a sign of starting great magic. He couldn’t even read what magic it was.

It’s just overwhelming. It was not just the mana flow of those who learned magic professionally.

Because it was clumsy somewhere, and it was cut off without a hitch.

‘A young wizard?’

How can you be this strong when you’re young?

He was so genius that he was terrified.Although swordsmanship and magic are different fields, it was a very exceptional talent that was comparable to Charlize, who had no one to follow in swordsmanship.

The genius of the century. Payne reached out and touched the flow of mana.

And he just hardened.

Chillingly, his aura was terribly similar to those he knew. The master of the magic tower, who was fascinated by his own strength and worshiped the evil god.

‘Is Master still alive?’

It couldn’t be.

Because the master of the magic tower died clearly at the hands of Charlize along with the evil god.

Payne became confused.

He hasn’t met Charlize very often recently, but it seemed like he had to visit the imperial family and report it in person.

Because he doesn’t know what kind of turmoil this fact will cause to the Empire.

Payne hurried.

The back of his head was itchy somehow.

After a while, a small child walked out of the alleyway.

The child’s appearance was reminiscent of a stone that was quietly sinking in the lake. Pale gray eyes or faded blondes.

His clothes were so rough and dirty that it was difficult to establish his gender. Also, the child was too small.

-Cough.

The child coughed a little.

The cough was mixed with blood.

The child looked up. She was a girl. However, she was far from the girl’s unique cheerfulness.

There was blood on her lips that closed indifferently. It is an internal wound that was inflicted as a reaction to using her excessive mana.

The girl familiarly wiped her lips with the back of her hand.

It was not her will to drive her magic. As if on a rampage, the magic just started arbitrarily.

The girl hated herself. It’s partly because her body hurts so much after using magic, but she’s more afraid of getting caught.

‘The headteacher of the orphanage told me that I was a cursed bloodline.’

The girl was abandoned when she was a newborn.

The headteacher has such a bad personality that she can’t fully believe him, but there was a story about him calling the girl and talking to her from time to time.

[Your father was a piece of shit. He was known as a wizard who killed many people. Your biological mother cried and begged for you. Keeping the secret of your birth, save the baby’s life. She said she was being chased, and if she was caught giving birth to you, everyone would die.]

So, the headteacher said to thank him for feeding her.

[If you run away, you’ll die. How many people have a grudge against your father? Everyone will try to get revenge on you.]

[Thank you for always protecting me.]

She said what the headteacher wanted to hear, and the girl calmly laid her eyes down. Rather than being submissive, she hated seeing the yellow teeth of the director.

Greedy eyes seemed so clear about what they wanted.

The wizard makes money. Magic goods make money.

If the girl grows up and does not betray him and constantly supplies labor, then the headteacher becomes rich.

The world is such a place.

The girl accepted without saying a word.

‘It hurts.’

Today, she was only out for a while to run an errand for the headteacher. She didn’t know that magic would suddenly appear.

If the strange man hadn’t been hanging around in front of her with a shocked face, she would have walked right out of the alley.

The girl shook her head in displeasure as she recalled Payne.

Her steps back to the orphanage were blunt. Other children say they are loved by having their parents, but to the girl, it was a completely new story.

She wasn’t even envious. Because she never had it.

It was just that the news of the Crown Prince, which she heard while she was out on an errand today, made her feel upset.

‘The Crown Prince’s Birthday Festival will be held soon.’

It was not her birthday, but his birthday.

‘What does it feel like to be born under the emperor and empress?’

The girl tried to guess the crown prince’s feelings, but she soon gave up. It’s a useless idea.

Her goal is always to survive.

The thin child’s body was exposed to the moonlight because she couldn’t eat well.

***