How to Hide the Emperor's Child - Chapter 31
Theor was asleep with his eyes closed.
The sleeping face looked comfortable.
“Theor seems to miss his mother.”
Kaizen turned to Astelle who spoke to him.
Astelle picked up an old teddy bear that was rolling near the chair.
“Well, no matter how young he is, he may be curious about his mother,” Astelle said.
Kaizen turned his gaze to Theor, who was sleeping quietly.
He heard that this child’s mother was a maid.
She was Sigmund’s lover who only gave birth to Theor. Due to her low status, she had to part with him.
It was all the information he heard from Vellian.
‘Poor kid……’
Kaizen was born with the noblest blood in the empire, but he hated such customs of nobles who only received noble blood.
Such an inhumane behavior of separating a young child from his birth mother because of her low status.
He raised his hand and carefully stroked Theor’s hair when he was asleep.
Fine black hair is wrapped between his fingers.
He was a poor child.
A young child has no choice but to miss his parents.
Even if Astelle sticks to him every day and takes care of him like his own mother, there’s probably not enough.
Kaizen stroked Theor’s head and asked as if he was sorry, “Does the child often miss his parents?”
At that moment, Kaizen felt as if Astelle was looking at him.
But when he turned his head, Astelle was putting the old teddy bear down on the chair.
“……Sometimes I wonder too because Theor never met his parents,” Astelle replied in a calm tone.
In the room, there was silence for a while.
The flames of a blazing fireplace drew a shadow over the dark wall.
Somehow, there was a lonely atmosphere in the expressionless Astelle’s face.
‘Why do you look like that?’
Kaizen couldn’t understand what Astelle was thinking.
When he thought about it, Astelle was in a similar situation to this child.
Without parents, brothers, or friends, she was living in a remote countryside.
It could be that Astelle took care of this child with all her heart because there was no one she could care for and love.
Astelle standing in the darkroom looked exceptionally lonely.
Kaizen’s heart ached to see Astelle like that.
He carefully hugged Theor so that he did not wake up.
“I’ll take him to the bedroom.”
Kaizen hugged Theor and went outside.
Astelle glanced at the back of him hugging Theor.
***
Around dawn, Astelle opened her eyes.
She lit a candle and looked for red spots on her wrist.
There was no trace of the red spots on her white wrist.
Astelle pulled out a bottle of potion that had been hidden by the bedside.
She took the bottle and went out into the hallway.
There was no one in the dark hallway.
She opened the door and entered Theor’s room.
Blynn, asleep on a cushion, found Astelle and shook its tail.
“Shh.”
Astelle quieted the dog and approached Theor, who was sleeping on the bed.
Theor was asleep buried under a blanket.
Astelle took the potion bottle out of her arms and dripped it into Theor’s sleeping eyes.
Theor muttered, “Hmm……”
“It’s okay, Theor.”
Theor, who was sleeping quietly, frowned in his forehead and slowly opened his eyes, then checked Astelle’s face and fell asleep again.
The eyes, which were briefly exposed through the lids, were clear blue.
***
Astelle recovered and the spots disappeared cleanly.
Kaizen stayed in the inn for two more days after the spots disappeared from Astelle’s body.
He couldn’t leave until he became certain.
“The Lady completely healed now, Your Majesty.”
It was until the doctor made such a definite answer several times, then the emperor’s party start to head back to the destination, Dentsu Castle.
After another three days of a long journey, Dentsu Castle finally appeared in front of Astelle.
Dentsu Castle is often referred to as the second Imperial Palace.
This was the second imperial palace where the emperor stayed in the east for a long time ago.
There was a gorgeous garden and several separate palaces around the main palace in the middle.
The carriage carrying the emperor and the party went through the main gate and entered the main building of the castle.
The carriage carrying Astelle passed through the luxuriously constructed garden and headed to the east side of the castle.
“Lady, this way.”
The place where Astelle was guided was a beautiful annex on the west side of the castle.
It is a single-story building with a large garden and is beautifully and authentically tastefully decorated to suit this ancient castle.
Walking down the corridor with Theor, the young servant who was going ahead looked at Astelle and bowed his head with a difficult face.
“I’m sorry, Lady.”
“What are you sorry for?”
“I…… I don’t seem to have been serving the Marquis well.”
The young servant apologized to Astelle.
He said that the Marquis kept telling him to go back.
He wanted to take care of the Marquis, but he said he wanted to stay alone, so he couldn’t take care of him properly, and he rarely entered the room except when cleaning and bringing medicines.
He apologized again, “It seems to be my fault that the Marquis has not recovered so far. It’s all my fault. I’m sorry.”
“……”
Astelle remained silent for a moment.
It was self-evident why her grandfather kept expelling this servant.
He wasn’t sick, but he must have been in trouble because he needed to be provided with nursing care.
Theor who holding Astelle’s hand asked in amazement when he heard the conversation between the two.
“Aunt Astelle, is grandfather sick?”
“No, grandfather is fine now.”
“Really?”
“Yes, he’s healed.”
Astelle quickly soothes Theor and the young servant.
“It’s not your fault. My grandfather is uncomfortable with people he doesn’t know is by his side.”
Her grandfather must have had a hard time acting as a patient with a healthy body for the past few days.
Astelle said with a smile to the servant, “From now on, I’ll be caring for my grandfather so you don’t have to worry about it.”
“Yes…… thank you, Lady.”
The servant was very grateful that Astelle was not angry and said that she would take care of her grandfather herself.
After the conversation, they arrived in front of the door.
The servant knocked and opened the door.
After entering the room, the Marquis lying on the bed woke up.
“Grandpa!”
Theor ran to his grandfather’s arms.
Astelle waited and walked up to her grandfather.
He was a Carlenberg, it could be seen that his neat appearance was inherited by her maternal family.
Her cousin, Sigmund, was also a nice-looking little boy when he was young.
Looking at her grandfather’s appearance, he was like an intelligent and friendly old gentleman.
Even though she felt the dignified and overbearing atmosphere like a soldier.
Astelle has been fond of her grandfather since childhood.
Avoiding her father’s eyes, she would secretly send the letters to her mother’s family.
As he rubbed his face in the arms of his grandfather, Theor raised his head and asked anxiously, “Grandpa, are you sick?”
“No, my baby, this grandpa of yours is fine.”
The Marquis smiled and stroked Theor’s hair.
Astelle walked over to the bedside.
“I’m sorry for being late…… wasn’t it very difficult?”
“It wasn’t very uncomfortable because the hospitality was good.”
“You have a hard time. You weren’t sick, but you should pretend to be sick……”
Her paternal grandfather, who was the former Duke of Reston at the reign of the Empire during the days of Kaizen’s grandfather, Emperor Gilbert, was a capable man, but…… his conduct was a bit cowardly.
He didn’t come out of the house, pretending to be sick whenever he had political instability.
‘I wonder if my father inherited such a personality.’
The Marquis said with frowning his eyebrows, “I had a hard time chasing away the young servant because he kept giving me medicines.”
“What did you do with the medicines?”
“I poured it into the bathroom and sometimes threw it in that flower bed.”
The Marquis pointed to the window on one wall.
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