I’m in Trouble Because The Emperor Thinks My Time is Limited - Chapter 74

At the sound of pitiful sobbing, Melaine finally moved his stiff legs. There was nothing he could do here and now.

Melaine’s reason for being in this place so late at night was to protect Lindel.

As someone who had spread his senses across the entire palace for Lindel, there was no way he could have missed the movement of mana within it.

As soon as he sensed Laroche’s mana, he had come to Lindel’s room. What he had intended as a brief observation to prepare for any potential attacks turned into overhearing a story like this.

“Amor, my dear child.”

The voice searching desperately for a child who no longer existed kept echoing in his ears, unsettling him.

The name of the child who would never be called was itself a meaning of love.

Could the dead child have known how deeply they were loved?

Melaine couldn’t quell the turmoil in his heart. Was this jealousy for something he had never had or sorrow for someone so pitiable?

“Is it fine to just leave it like this?”

Someone spoke toward his retreating back.

Melaine wasn’t particularly surprised, as he had already sensed their presence. What puzzled him was that they chose to reveal themselves and address him.

“It doesn’t seem dangerous.”

“…I see.”

As expected, Tumel emerged from the darkness. Hearing Melaine’s answer, he nodded quietly.

“Thank you.”

Those brief words of gratitude carried much meaning.

Melaine understood that Tumel had followed Laroche out of concern.

Unlike Laroche, who could move freely due to the contract, Tumel was restricted by the palace’s barriers.

The fact that Tumel had come here meant he had forced his way through the barrier using magic.

As a result, Tumel’s complexion was pale. Blood he hadn’t managed to wipe away stained the corners of his mouth like a smudge.

“But I never thought she’d go as far as to offer her reverse scale.”

Melaine postponed his departure for a moment and leaned against the wall.

Tumel gave him a bitter smile, his calm eyes fixed on Melaine.

“I told you, she’s always been different from other dragons.”

The reverse scale wasn’t just an ordinary piece of a dragon’s body.

That was why it was offered as a token of bond.

Giving one’s reverse scale, essentially entrusting one’s life to another, was less romantic and more brutal.

Feelings weren’t eternal, and even the deepest love could fade one day.

If the partner holding the reverse scale broke it, the dragon had no choice but to die. After this happened repeatedly, dragons no longer made eternal bonds.

For Laroche to offer such a reverse scale as a promise to Lindel—it was natural for Melaine to be shocked.

Gazing at Tumel’s bitter expression, Melaine quietly asked.

“Amor, the child.”

“……!”

“Why did the child die?”

Tumel’s face hardened instantly. His clenched fists resembled Laroche’s trembling hands from earlier.

Although Amor’s father was already dead, Tumel’s expression was no different from that of a grieving parent.

“I heard Ursilla hated them.”

“How could an unborn child incur a god’s hatred?”

“That’s what makes it absurd.”

Tumel sneered.

“Like Laroche, I’ve lived alone in a lair outside of the kin. I don’t know exactly what happened. All I heard later was that there had been a prophecy.”

“A prophecy?”

“The next dragon to be born would incur Ursilla’s wrath. The day after that prophecy was made, Laroche and Luca arrived with the egg. That’s when they became targets.”

The shape of his eyes shifted as he opened and closed them deeply.

The dragon’s gaze, filled with murderous intent, burned with hatred toward them.

“Without investigating anything, they killed two innocent lives over a ridiculous prophecy.”

“…Do you not serve Ursilla?”

“I did, once. But after witnessing this, I grew sick of it.”

Tumel raised his hand.

As he unclenched his fist, his palm revealed wounds where his nails had dug in.

But he lowered it again without much reaction. This kind of injury didn’t even register.

“Every time I see Laroche in pain, I always wonder. If I had been there, would things have turned out differently?”

“…It would have only added to the senseless deaths.”

“Is that so?”

His self-mocking answer was tinged with sadness.

The past could not be undone. Though he had sworn to live without regrets, he realized now they had been living only in regret.

“I wish I could have held Laroche’s child at least once.”

With those final words, Tumel quietly closed his eyes.

Melaine, watching his sorrowful face in silence, fell into thought.

‘At least you were loved, child.’

Clear affection and longing.

Though they had never even seen the child’s face, they could give so much love. To Melaine, it was unfamiliar.

He suddenly wondered about the faces of the parents who had abandoned him.

***

At dawn, Laroche left, saying she would go to Tumel.

After crying so sorrowfully, her face was so swollen when she left that she was almost unrecognizable. Instead of teasing her for her tear-streaked appearance, I gave her a small kiss on the forehead. As a result, I got to see her flee with a flushed face.

“You cried, didn’t you?”

When Sionel came to my room around lunchtime, he immediately deduced from my face that I had been crying.

As I leaned quietly against the hand that gently brushed my cheek, I asked him, “Sionel, do you know anything about my mother?”

“You rarely spoke about your mother. So, I don’t have much to tell you.”

“What kind of feelings did my previous self have toward my mother?”

“Did something happen?”

The way he hugged me and patted my back was tender. His voice, asking if I had had a nightmare, was filled with affection.

“After hearing Laroche’s story, I suddenly became curious. What kind of person… no, what kind of dragon was my mother?”

I recounted the story from last night to Sionel.

Listening to me in silence, Sionel simply nodded. Having no mother himself, his eyes carried a profound depth when I mentioned someone crying while calling out the name of a deceased child.

“My mother left me.”

Sionel’s mother had been a wandering dancer. After a one-night mistake that led to his conception, she abandoned her child and fled from the daunting Imperial Palace.

“It doesn’t matter now, but as a child, I resented her quite a bit.”

Thinking about the difficult times Sionel had endured in such a harsh environment made me feel sad for him.

Seeing my gloomy expression, he gave a small smile.

“But you were different. You didn’t resent your mother.”

I realized that my previous self wasn’t much different from who I am now. Even now, I didn’t particularly resent my mother.

Having never seen her face, I sometimes felt a vague longing for her, but never a sense of resentment.

After all, thanks to her, I was born into this world.

It was because I was born that I could meet the people most precious to me. For that reason, I didn’t blame her.

“The first time you ever mentioned your mother was the day you revealed that you were half-dragon.”

“Ah…”

His unexpected comment made my eyes widen.

“One day, out of nowhere, you said you were going home, and when you came back, you grabbed me and told me everything.”

I thought about how I might have felt when I revealed my biggest secret. Surely, I would have been terrified and trembling.

This time, I had dealt with it calmly because so many things had happened all at once. But back then, it must have been incredibly hard.

I worried that perhaps, at that time, I had broken down in tears in front of Sionel.

‘How much must it have hurt Sionel’s heart to see me cry…?’

Picturing the two of us from back then, I wore a sad expression.

But my guess was off the mark.

“Out of nowhere, you announced that you weren’t human, your eyes sparkling, and you have no idea how shocked I was.”

“…What?”

“When I asked what you meant, you told me you were half-dragon.”

“…Did I not worry about your reaction, or feel shocked about the secret of my birth?”

“Not at all.”

Sionel’s answer was firm.

Recalling that moment, Sionel was laughing.

“Just how limitless is this body of mine? I’m amazed at myself!”

“Li-Lindel. Wait a moment! You’re half-dragon?”

“That’s right! Isn’t it incredible?”

“Was I happy? Was I really?”

“You were excited, saying you’d become even stronger.”

“……”

Embarrassed, I bit my lip. My past self, who didn’t worry even a tiny bit, left me speechless.

“If anything, I was the one who was scared. After all, this world tends to shun half-bloods.”

Sionel admitted that it wasn’t the fact I was half-dragon that frightened him, but the world’s reaction.

He whispered softly that what scared him was how hurt I might be because of it.

“That’s why I asked you if you hated the mother who had left you in the hands of the count. But you said no.”

“I’m me. Just as I am, I’m already wonderful and precious. Why would I resent someone who gave me the chance to be born as myself?”

“At that moment, you were shining so brightly. Even in my eyes.”

Sionel smiled.

His gaze, filled with affection, rested on me. But I couldn’t bring myself to meet it.

My cheeks, flushed bright red, burned with embarrassment.

It seemed my past self had possessed an incredible level of self-love, as though it could pierce the heavens.

Even now, I loved myself plenty, but not to that extent.

“…I must have been a very overwhelming person.”

“I liked you because of it.”

This confirmed it.

I wasn’t the only one with peculiar tastes. Sionel also had an unusual eye for people.

As I indulged in silly thoughts, he spoke.

“You told me so. So I started trying to love myself a little more too.”

“Ah.”

“I hated myself as much as I hated my mother. I hated my existence, which seemed utterly useless. But you taught me that it was okay to love even someone like me.”

Sionel cupped my flushed cheeks in his hands. Though his smile was playful, his gaze was warm.

“Of course, instead of loving myself, I ended up loving you more.”

My face turned red for an entirely different reason.