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***

At times like this, he wondered if he was trying to make him feel guilty or if he was really clueless.

“..That won’t bring any good for you.”

“Don’t you like pretending?”

“It’s not that...”

“Then it doesn’t matter to me. Seeing you makes me happy.”

“...”

Just a little older and he would avoid him as well.

He knew what kind of path the powerless prince would take when he reached adulthood.

Since there are a lot of his brothers who reached adulthood before him.

The person who caused the rebellion in order to become emperor would die without a second of hesitation and if one of them showed a hint of greed, his father would get rid of them.

Due to that, the emperor’s path was decided for Onderon.

However, Onderon sometimes complained, making his cheeks all puffed up.

“I don’t want to be an emperor.”

Onderon was fragile by nature. Just like the grown plants in the greenhouse that couldn’t last in the wilderness, Onderon found it hard to slide into politics and met people.

However, it was very ridiculous coming from the mouth of next emperor.

“..Even so, you still have to be one.”

If his brothers who had been sent to another country for convalescence or had already been in the underworld heard that, they would have seethed in anger and came out of their coffins.

Even the seemingly immature words suited Onderon well.

“I wish you’d become the emperor instead. I’ll be there to help you.”

That’s ridiculous.

When Carmun refused him briefly, he babbled, asking why Carmun couldn’t do it.

“It’s your position in the first place.”

He raised his hand and patted him (Onderon) on the head. The hand gesture was awkward, but Onderon let out a pleasant chuckle.

Onderon laughed and babbled to Carmun, saying he had encountered a lot of hardships lately.

For the most part, it was difficult to learn the strict imperialism, but sometimes he would talk about Lady Ovya as well.

“Mother seems to think that I’m useless unless I become the emperor.”

“..That can’t be.”

Carmun knew how happy Lady Ovya got when Onderon was born.

He flicked Onderon on the forehead while calling him childish.

“You’re doing it again. Do you think I’m still a kid?”

“Then what are you, a grown man?”

“Tcih.”

Onderon really looked like a baby to him because he also sounded like one.

A child who grew up with such love and affection must be naive and clueless of the world.

That fact of Onderon sometimes exuded a hint of jealousy from the bottom of his heart.

But he found it hard to dislike someone like Onderon.

A lovely child who can make people happy just by looking at him.

How can he hate it when he (Onderon) follows him around like this?

“Become an emperor and rule Idelberg well.”

Carmun thought that Onderon would become an emperor, and there was not an ounce of lie in that thought.

Carmun didn’t want to be an emperor anyway.

He simply hoped that the peaceful day in his life would continue on.

But God was not on his side, either.

The problem arose in the midst of the peaceful day of his life.

***

An oracle suddenly descended.

The whole Idelberg was shaken by the content of the oracle.

-If someone who has a mix of foreign blood in his veins sows grains all over the country, there will be no poorly produced crops, and if he leads the country, it will be a great success.

Someone who has a foreign blood in his veins!

Of all the emperor’s sons, Carmun was the only one who had a foreign blood in his veins.

The nobles were quick to notice. Onderon, acknowledged by the emperor, or Carmun, the one who was chosen by the temple.

The scale of the political arena varies depending on which of the two sons would become the emperor.

The nobles were afraid of losing their source of income, so they didn’t take a hasty action. Some of them who followed Onderon turned their backs upon believing the oracle and followed Carmun as the next in line for the throne.

Carmun, the main character of this situation, wasn’t a little bit interested in it.

Onderon would become the emperor anyway.

He was taking a peaceful walk while thinking complacently.

It was today when he passed by while pretending not to see the maids and the knights bowing deeply at him.

He could see Onderon’s golden hair sticking out in the distance.

‘I should greet him if I meet him today.’

Onderon simply walked past Carmun, who was glad to see him, pretending not to see him (Carmun).

Onderon slipped past Carmun swiftly with an awkward expression.

There was no chance of not seeing Carmun, who had a large and strong back like that. He was simply ignored.

Carmun was stunned at Onderon’s attitude and couldn’t bring himself to continue walking. Only then did he realize the situation had gotten serious.

I have no intention to take your place.

He would tell him (Onderon) this when he met him (Onderon) next time.

However, the next opportunity didn’t arise. This was because Onderon, whom he usually saw every day, had been hidden thoroughly.

He just realized that Ondeon had been trying to see him in the meantime.

Clicking his tongue, Carmun searched the whole palace for the sight of Onderon, but he was nowhere to be seen.

He went to the lake where he (Onderon) used to go, but he (Onderon) wasn’t there either.

Growing frustrated, Carmun went to visit Lady Ovya. Lady Ovya, whom he met after a long time, had a different attitude on their second meeting.

The hostility was obvious.

“I heard you’ve been granted the oracle.....”

“I don’t want to be an emperor.”

He spoke calmly despite Ovya’s hostility.

He has never been interested in the Crown Prince’s position, let alone the Emperor’s position.

When he became an adult, he wanted to leave the palace and travel as much as he could. He also thought that when Onderon became an emperor, he (Carmun) was hoping to be given travel expenses, at least.

If not, he would look for work.

“There’s no way I would desire the position that is fit for Onderon now.”

Carmun thought he had spoken the truth from his heart as best as he possibly could, but Ovya’s hostility toward him did not disappear.

The thought of his son, whom she gave birth to with a stomach ache, lost the position he rightfully had to someone like Carmun made her seething with rage.

“It’s not a position you can refuse even if you don’t wish for it. Just like how you can’t have it just because you want it.”

Carmun almost lost the grip of the cup he was holding.

“I can’t have it.”

“Yes.”

Ovya put him by Onderon’s side in the first place because Carmun was the worst candidate to be an emperor.

His blood was mixed with a foreign blood and he didn’t gain recognition from the ministers, moreover his mother didn’t come from a noble family.

She was a dancer in the past, wasn’t she?

Therefore, she thought he wouldn’t be a threat to Onderon. But, Carmun suddenly had a chance to pursue the position of the emperor, despite being considered as the most inferior.

“If I had known this would happen, I wouldn’t have saved you in the warehouse that day.”

Ovya’s voice was full of worries.

“....It’s a foregone conclusion that Onderon is going to be an emperor. I hope you don’t misunderstand me.”

Carmen tried to speak as composedly as possible.

Till now, he had no ill feelings about Ovya. Although she was a little unusual, she was still the mother of his brother.

He didn’t want to ruin his relationship with his brother, Onderon, so he spoke more carefully.

However, Ovya’s expression gradually became unpleasant.

Ovya murmured something with her lifeless and dull eyes.

“....Yeah. I suppose so. You should be. After everything I gave up and came all the way here... I...!”

Ovya acted as if she was obsessed with something.

She was already loved by the emperor and enjoyed a higher authority than the empress. The emperor even took the Lady everywhere and showed her obvious love.

She gave birth to a son and he was even pointed out as the next in line to the throne, so what was she worried about?

“What are you worried about?”

Ovya’s eyes turned swiftly and shone viciously.

“I’m afraid you’re going to ruin the future of my son! My perfect son!”

Now that he saw it, Ovya was seemingly out of her mind.

He suddenly recalled when Onderon said that he was worried about his mother.

He felt useless if he didn’t become an emperor.

He thought he (Onderon) was probably right.

“Don’t you need Onderon if he didn’t become an emperor?”

“.....”

To his surprise, Lady Ovya didn’t answer.

Carmun was so shocked that he couldn’t bring himself to close his opened mouth.

He was certain she was the one who smiled happily after giving birth to a son.

“What made you like this?”

Lady Ovya slapped him across the cheek as she spoke in a trembling voice due to shock.

It was the look of beyond hostility and held contempt in them.

“You have the temple on your back and there’s nothing in your sight. What do you know?”

Carmun was more surprised by Ovya in front of him rather than his swollen cheek.

It was as if seeing someone went crazy for power right with his own eyes.

“Please don’t bother Onderon. I can’t let you do that. You’re not going to let Onderon hit in the same way as you, are you?”

Carmun held back at those words.

When he was a child, his mother also took care and hugged him.

However, when his father’s interest disappeared when he grew up, his mother’s affection also slipped away.

Is Lady Ovya going to follow her steps?

As soon as he imagined Ovya hitting Onderon, Carmun felt his blood boil.

“If you need someone to hit, just summon me. I will gladly receive it.”

As long as it’s not Onderon.

Carmun spoke in a determined voice and got up from his seat.

The ring attached in Ovya’s caused a cut on his cheek and blood came out of it, but above anything, it would be a pity if Onderon was following his steps.

He wanted Onderon to be raised happily as he wanted.

Fortunately, after that day, Onderon stopped avoiding him.

Even though there were days when he sometimes smiled awkwardly, it seemed that they were able to smoothly return to the old days again.

***

“Brother.”

Onderon came and wept suddenly. Onderon came without notice and shed tears.

Confused and not knowing what to do, he raised his hand and pulled his hair, the small Onderon still buried his face in his (Carmun) arms.

“It’s so hard...”

“What’s so hard?”

The things said by the temple were brushed off. Due to the pressure from the emperor, the temple could no longer speak of the oracle, and the novels sensed the firmness of the emperor, so they knew there would be no change in the proclamation of the Crown Prince.

“I mean, what’s so hard until you’re crying like this?”

Onderon’s shoulder began to tremble even more when Carmun asked gently.

Onderon was crying silently, and Carmun wondered about the reason, but all he could do was offer his shoulder.

After crying for quite a while, Onderon left without saying anything.

If he had known it was an earlier sign of symptoms after being hit, he would have prevented it. He would have grabbed him and told him not to do that even if he insisted.

Onderon’s face, which was weeping that day, drew a smile as if it would soon disappear, so there was no way he (Carmun) could have stopped him.

Failing to stop him remained as the biggest regret in Carmun’s entire life.

– End of Flashback

***

Holding the portrait of Ovya, Carmun swallowed briefly.

He didn’t just put it in the remote spot for no reason. It was the memory he didn’t wish to remember.

But his anger rose because of the man who put it here as if wanting to show it off.

Moreover, he thought the same thing, she looked so much like her (Helen).

He felt like a fool to not notice it sooner.

But how come they resemble each other so much?

From hair, face, unique appearance, ambience, and even tone.

They looked so alike as if she was Ovya’s hidden daughter.

..Daughter?

For a moment, he internally thought it might be possible.