Chapter 73

Although there was no truth anywhere in his relationship with Katarina, it was still all his fault.

The child’s father……?

Well, who was it?

Ernst, who vented his anger on him and told him she was pregnant, never told Theodore who the father was.

Theodore struggled to think that it was all a red lie and could not be told.

Now that he was sure she might have a child, he didn’t know what to hope for.

If she really had his own child…… Sadness and suffering became deeper than joy.

‘It’s still a hasty thought.’

Theodore took a slow, deep breath, pushing in as many thoughts as possible about the child.

He was sure the child had something to do with her, but he didn’t know what kind of relationship it was.

Didn’t Brian Chernicia, whom he saw a while ago, resemble her very much?

Chernicia all looks pretty like that, so maybe the child was given birth by a distant relative, who is related to her by blood.

In addition, Ernst was a little crazy at the time, so he might have been talking nonsense.

‘Stop thinking.’

Slowly inhaling and exhaling, Theodore’s mind gradually calmed down.

He, who had calmed down his emotions, looked around the mansion where her traces remained with a vague smile.

The knights, who confirmed that he was fine, were taking a rest. Tying up the horses that were tired of running nonstop.

Theodore’s eyes, which were looking at them for a moment, became sharp.

“You.”

“Did you call, Your Majesty?”

“What are you doing in Yves’s space?”

“What?”

Theodore burned his unnecessary anger on the knights, forgetting that he was also a guest who had never been invited.

“Get out of here right now.”

The knights were driven out of the mansion without knowing why. They left with an inward murmur of abuse at their eccentric superior.

Theodore looked back at the quiet mansion with a pleased expression.

He still had an acorn in his hand that he found here.

Walking in the garden of the mansion, he casually rolled the acorn with his hands. Suddenly, he stopped walking and narrowed his eyes.

‘But who’s Derek, then?’

The unpleasant suspicion that suddenly came up even though he didn’t want to think about it made him feel very low.

‘Who’s Derek? Who’s the kid’s favorite or something in the world?….’

Theodore’s handsome face was wistful.

He was just around the corner of the backyard of the mansion.

Crunch.

In the distance, he could see a man’s back running away quickly.

Theodore’s golden eyes narrowed immediately.

He slowly raised his hand.

A group of golden lights blooming on his palm immediately flew toward the man, who ran away desperately, in the shape of a dagger.

Huff! Haah!

With a loud noise, the man collapsed.

Theodore walked slowly toward it.

Thud.

Thud.

Thud.

Stop.

Theodore, who stopped walking, slowly lowered his gaze.

A stout man was lying on the floor unsightly.

The dagger made by his holy power drove the man’s leg over the dirt floor.

Thanks to this, the man couldn’t even run away and struggled on the dirt floor.

There was a cool smile around Theodore’s mouth.

Unexpectedly, he found a ‘Derek’.

“See you here again, rat.”

It was Prince Frederick who ran away with Yves.

He had already figured out that his nickname was ‘Derrick’.

They, they’re lovers!

He didn’t think that filth-looking guy was really Yves’s lover.

But anyway, isn’t he the number one candidate for being ‘Derek’?

A man who may be the father of a child who resembles Yves, and may be Yves’s lover…….

For a moment, Theodore’s cool smile, which remained near his mouth, disappeared without a sound.

“You rat.”

Frederick trembled as he swallowed his breath hearing the voice that sounded subtly like a curse word.

****

Brian and I moved to the next room and talked about what happened in the past.

“That day, I was able to escape with Celine’s help.”

Celine was a name I remember.

Celine Leobrante.

The woman who was Brian’s fiancee.

Just as I survived hiding in Ferdinand with Benjamin’s help, Brian also survived thanks to her, he relied on Leobrante.

After spending a long time there, he moved in search of me a few years ago when he found out that there was a story coming and going about Chernicia’s reinstatement.

It probably refers to the time when Theodore was on good terms with me before he lost his memory.

Theodore at the time fought alone to revive my family somehow…….

“I thought you died. I didn’t even know you were alive. The other family members…….”

Brian blurred out the end of his speech momentarily.

Even if he didn’t finish his words, he knew I knew what was behind the words, so my eyes also turned blurry.

“I tried to find you any way, but it didn’t work out. I’ve also contacted Prince Ernst…….”

“Then was it Brian who sent a letter to Ernst 4 years ago?”

“How do you know that?”

“No, it’s…….”

I remembered the letter of Ernst that came with the word, ‘Survivor of Chernicia’.

I forgot for a moment as I left the Imperial Palace in a hurry to hide my pregnancy, which I suddenly found out about, but I can’t believe it was really from Brian…….

“Please elaborate more, Brother.”

“Originally, I tried to approach Prince Ernst one more time by taking advantage of the Emperor’s engagement ceremony, but it failed when the engagement ceremony was suddenly postponed.”

“…….”

My lips closed.

I was the one who broke the engagement between Theodore and Katarina.

If the engagement had gone ahead…… Could I have met Brian earlier?

“Then I met Sir Lyndon, the captain of His Majesty’s escort.”

“Ah, Sir Lyndon…….”

“It was His Majesty’s secret order to find the survivors of Chernicia.”

“…….”

My lips closed once again.

I remember.

Sir Lyndon was the only one who knew the relationship between me and Theodore, but he was not by his side when Theodore lost his memory after his fall.

People were told secretly that he left to perform the Emperor’s order.

Others used to wonder about the absence of the chief escort who never left the Emperor’s side.

When he did not reappear after several months, there was even such a terrible rumor that he died while carrying out the Emperor’s order.

In history, the Emperor’s confidants often lost their lives while performing the imperial order, so I and my fellow knights implicitly believed the rumor to be a fait accompli.

I didn’t want anyone to talk about it first, but…….

By the way, Theodore before losing his memory……were trying to find my family members.

My heart warmed up at the thought at that time.

If only Sir Lyndon had been by his side, he might have believed that I was Yvone.

It was hard to figure out whether to thank him for not remembering me until the end or to resent what happened as a result.

“Then the situation became chaotic, and the story turned into a rumour for a while. Then a few days ago, His Majesty called me here and promised to help me reinstate Chernicia.”

“…….”

“Chernicia, he’ll reinstate it.”

Brian said that the Emperor was really pushing for Chernicia’s reinstatement.

“And I need you for Chernicia’s reinstatement, Yvone.”

“Me?”

“You have to be Chernicia’s Head.”

I paused for a moment.

“I have to be…… the Head?”

The asking voice trembled slightly.