The scene changed. Damian's sunken and swollen eyes watched how Theresa's coffin was being lowered into the grave.

–Tap!

A hand that suddenly plopped on top of his shoulder made him turn his head. A white-haired man with magenta eyes came into view, the Emperor. He clutched his son's shoulder gently.

"Be strong."

Ignoring him, he returned to gaze at the coffin. After the coffin was laid to rest, one by one people started to leave, however, Damian remained unchanged. He couldn't take his eyes off the grave. Dariush lightly patted his son's back.

"It's time to leave."historical

The white-haired boy shook his head at the voice.

"I will stay here for a while."

Dariush sighed in frustration and strode to the Prince's head butler who was standing not too far away from them. He hurriedly bent his back the moment the Emperor stopped in front of him.

"Fedel, take care of the Prince."

"As you wish."

With that, Dariush left with his knight and aide. Many hours passed but Damian didn't seem to have any intention to leave anytime soon and Fedel patiently waited behind him.

I couldn't tell if those events were real or not, but the pain was real. Even now, my tears were flowing like a waterfall, it was out of my control.

–Topple!

The boy suddenly fell to his knees. Fedel rushed over and immediately helped him to stand, however, he was stoned.

"Your Highness, your nose.."

Damian touched his nose and the bright red liquid stained his gloves.

"Ahh..."

And Damian's body abruptly slumped as he fell unconscious but Fedel skillfully caught him before he touched the ground. Well, I couldn't blame that kid, though.

It was shocking and simply painful, way too painful. I even wanted to kill myself right now but this body wouldn't let me do it. I was paralyzed.

I tried to close my eyes because I didn't want to watch it anymore. But then again, the results always came unpredictably.

The space suddenly turned silent and when I opened my eyes, the sound played again and the stopped scene resumed.

"Ha!"

I scoffed. I wanted to laugh out loud. I was mad.

'Just who the hell set me up here? Is it God? But is there a God? There's no God in Gaia. But, am I even still in Gaia?'

I have no idea who it was, but I believed that that being wanted me to watch the whole scene, without missing it. Come to think of it, was she or he the same being that transmigrated my soul into Damian's body? Just what was that being's intention? In the end. I gave up and just let fate lead me.

Several days passed and Damian finally regained his consciousness. Somehow his appearance changed a lot, he lost weight. His eyes were sunken and his plump cheeks were nowhere to be found. He looked so thin, way too thin.

Even the light in his eyes dimmed as the happiness within him was erased. It was not easy to let go of someone dearest to you, I would be no different from him right now. Especially someone who had shown love to me.

Damian sat on the bed whilst massaging his temple before receiving medicine given by Fedel. He drank it and gave the goblet back to his head butler.

"Was there any news that I missed while I was unconscious?"

Fedel silently stared at the boy who was massaging his temple before finally opening his mouth.

"...the Coronation."

Damian stopped whatever he did and turned to Fedel. His eyebrows furrowed.

"What Coronation?"

"Her Highness the Consort will take over the Empress position."

"Ha!"

He scoffed in disbelief.

"It hasn't even been a week yet, the Emperor will hold a coronation? Ridiculous. Where is his conscience?"

Anger was seen in his eyes. The white-haired boy went back to massaging his temple.

"Is there anything else?"

"The execution of the Aeneas Family will be held a week after the Coronation."

Damian and I were both stunned. What kind of crap was this again? The more I watched the scene, the more absurd it became.

"Wh--what do you mean by the execution of the Aeneas House? Grandpa will be executed?"

"Yes. The Duke and his entire family will be executed."

"H-how?!"

The Prince's face was painted with confusion, the same as mine. No wonder I didn't see Gideon at the funeral.

"Unfortunately, the Duke was blamed for Her Majesty's death due to his negligence in inspecting to maintain the safety of the fortress."

"It was an accident! How is that even possible?!"

No. I saw a robed man above the destroyed watchtower, someone tried to frame the Duke. But... Who was it? Was it Cameron's subordinate? Or was it someone else? However, Fedel exhaled slowly and looked the Prince right in the eyes.

"Prince, even verbally insulting the Imperial Family is a death sentence. Not to mention that Her Majesty has lost her life."

"But there's no way Grandpa wants to hurt mom! His daughter!"

Fedel nodded in agreement.

"There is no parent in this world who is willing to hurt their own flesh and blood. But, Your Highness, you are a Prince and you live in a Castle where politics revolves around." For more chapters, please visit

He stared straight into Damian's blue eyes.

"Politics is dirty and disgusting at the same time because your enemies will make the most of every opportunity available and justify any means to crush the opponents to expand their power within the Imperial Court."

Ah, I think I caught a glimpse of the situation there. I didn't know who ordered that man in black. But if that was Desdemona, then they succeed in using one stone to kill two birds. They killed the Empress and threw the fault at Duke Aeneas.

Cameron ascended to the Empress position and the eyesore Aeneas Family would be executed. With that, no one in the Empire could stop Desdemona's Family to seize control of the Empire.

A situation that Dariush tried so much to prevent was now unfolding. Just like Fedel said, politics was simply dirty and disgusting.

"Fedel, could you request an audience for me with His Majesty?"

"I understand."

.

.

.

Damian stared at his reflection in the tea. Watched how the steams arose and danced on top of it before completely dissipating into thin air. His mind flew.

Seeing how the white-haired boy just stayed silent for five minutes straight. The man who sat across from him asked.

"Is the tea not to your liking? Should I replace it?"

The Prince raised his head and their eyes met. A man estimated around forty with the same hair color as he came into view, what made him different was his magenta eyes. They stared at each other for a few seconds and the boy shook his head.

"No. It's alright."

Damian lifted the teacup and sipped the tea.

"So, what is it that you want to talk about?"

The Prince placed down the teacup and glared blatantly into the man's eyes.

"It's not even a week since my mother's funeral, yet Your Majesty wants to hold a Coronation?"

Dariush sighed a deep breath.

"The Empress position cannot be left vacant for too long. It will affect the Imperial Household."

"Are you sure that was Your Majesty's reason or because of the Councils' pressure?"

It took seconds for Dariush to open his mouth.

"You will understand when you reigned this Empire."

The white-haired man lifted his teacup and drank his tea.

"Is there anything else?"

"The execution of the Aeneas Family."

The Emperor gazed Damian in the eyes.

"Your Majesty knows it too, it was an accident. Why must Duke Aeneas and his entire family have to be executed? Your Majesty won't answer my question with 'You will understand when I reigned this Empire' too, right?"

Dariush put down the teacup on the table and tapped on the armrest.

–Tuk –Tuk –Tuk

Damian patiently waited for his answer.

"Well.."

It seemed he faced difficulty as he tried to choose the right words to explain to his son.

"It was supposed to be like that but, Duke Desdemona saw this as an opportunity to get rid of the Aeneas Family once and for all, as they had always been an obstacle. He couldn't expand his political influence within the Imperial Court for years because Duke Aeneas steadily kept his eyes on him."

The Emperor continued.

"Therefore, in the name of bringing justice for the late Empress, Duke Desdemona made a petition which was signed by 75% of the Imperial Councils members, requesting to establish an investigation team to investigate the accident. I have no choice but to grant it."

I could see how Dariush clutched his hand tightly. His eyes shone with anger.

"Investigations that normally take months, they finished it in less than a week with the result that Duke Aeneas was responsible for the accident due to his negligence in inspecting to maintain the safety of the fortress and caused the late Empress to lose her life."

The white-haired man sighed frustratedly.

"I recommended that Duke Aeneas strip down his title but again, the vote says otherwise. To put it simply, Duke Desdemona's influence within the Imperial Court is too great."

"But... What if the real culprit was Duke Desdemona himself? Or maybe Her Highness the Consort? They made it like an accident and framed Duke Aeneas as we were at his fiefdom."

–Tuk –Tuk –Tuk

Dariush tapped the armrest a few times and he stared at his son who sat across from him.

"Well, your guesses might be correct. However, we have no proof."

"That's true, but--"

The Prince stopped talking as the cat got his tongue.

"But even if that is the truth, we can't take action based on conjecture alone. Maybe I can accuse Duke Desdemona, but without proof, we can't bring justice to light."

Eventually, Damian lowered his head, and tears were seen falling and landing on his hands. He raised his head and looked at his father with tears streaming down his face.

"Is there... Is there nothing we can do to save Grandpa?"

The man breathed out a long and tired sigh.

"I'm sorry."