Recalling the cake he enjoyed in his dream, which was too sweet, he stared at it for a long time before picking up the silver fork resolutely. A smile touched the corners of his mouth when he plucked up the courage to put a piece of the cake into his mouth. The snow-white cake didn’t feel sweet or fatty. The cake she said she made for the first time surprisingly fit his taste.

“I’m honored to see you, the Sun of the empire.”

“Oh, you guys are done trading places. Thanks for your service. ”

It wasn’t a big cake, but he wanted to save some of it. So, he came out of the office, holding the cake, when he noticed the royal knights on security duty holding pouches of various colors in their hands.

“What do you have in your hand?”

“Oh, this one is…”

“I asked you what that is.”

“Sir Monique gave it to us. She said she made it by herself…”

“… Give it to me then.”

“Your Majesty…”

“I told you to give it to me.”

‘Oh my…! I asked her to bring her first dish to me only. But she also passed along the cake pouch to the royal knights escorting me.’

He took the pouches from them with a sullen expression. Then he quickly turned, vowing he would dispose of the pouches before they touched them.

***

“Come on, stab me now.”

“Your Majesty…”

“I’m sorry to ask you to do this to me. I appreciate your great service until now. I won’t forget it even if I die. ”

“Your Majesty!”

Behind the knights swallowing tears, those who made up the situation seemed to laugh at me.

At that moment I felt a surge of anger at them. I wanted to kill that old man with sparkling purple eyes. How could he hide such a mean scheme while pretending to be friendly to me all along?

How stunned I was when their conspiracy that lasted for more than a decade was revealed!

When I realized what I had done for a long time, it was too late.

After struggling with despair, I turned to my reason that I finally regained and tried to find a way to turn the tide. I was looking for a magical method to correct my mistake, but it seemed that it was too late.

“There is no time. Hurry up.”

Hiding my bitter heart, I pretended to be composed. Although I understood their position, even now the enemies were approaching me every moment.

“Your Majesty, please think twice about it…”

“Stop. Are you going to have me suffer the disgrace of being captured by them? Even though I will be remembered as a bad emperor, I want to keep my honor. So, stab me right now. Hurry up!”

“I’m sorry, Your Majesty. Forgive me for not having served you faithfully to the end. ”

Drawing a dagger, Earl Penril, the Captain of the Royal Knights, charged toward me with a scream. The moment he hit me, I felt a burning shock in my chest.

Blood flowed down the cold sword.

“Earl Penril…This is my last request…”

“Please go ahead, Your Majesty.”

“Please bury my body in a place they can’t find… Please…”

“I will, Your Majesty. I will swear to Vita that I won’t let them touch your body at all.”

“Thanks… ”

All the energy was drained out of my body in an instant. The faces of the knights who shed tears faded away from my vision. It became gradually difficult for me to breathe.

Several people’s faces appeared in my blurred vision. My father, the emperor, who clicked his tongue and the empress looking at me indifferently. The purple-eyed old man who laughed tenderly and the empress who shouted out loudly that it would not be easy to kick her out. The two dukes and marquis who always gave me bitter advice and my concubine who looked up at me, full of tears.

“Your Majesty, Daddy…”

A streak of tears came down the face. This was not what I really wanted. Although I was always overshadowed by the shadow of my father, called the sacred emperor, which made me resentful all the time, it didn’t mean that I wanted to end up like this.

The path of blood that had been spilt was so clear that I never excused myself by saying it was not my intention. What already happened was the thing of the past that I couldn’t do anything about, but I thought about at the last moment of my life . Obviously, I didn’t mean it. It was not my intention.

Coughing up blood, I looked up at the sky, which gradually faded away like my receding anger and resentment. All sorts of memories flashed through my mind, spanning my twenty-six years of life, which could be short but long.

Jeremiah la Monique, my dear mother.

When I was always lonely, hungry for love, it was like rain in a drought that I met her. So much so that I thought God gave her to me, thinking me pitiable. No, maybe she was a curse. If I had lived without knowing the feelings of affection, I wouldn’t have had to worry about the belated feeling of deprivation.

Unlike the emperor and empress who treated me coldly, I liked her golden eyes looking at me warmly, and taking care of me in every way. Though it didn’t taste good, she brewed tea for me. She stroked my head without fear and sometimes scolded me. Watching her treat me without reservation, I thought that’s the way a mother was supposed to treat her child. Although she didn’t give birth to me, I thought she was truly my mother.

Several days before my fifth birthday, I came to discover the shocking fact that the empress was not my biological mother.

That’s what she said to me coldly, whose words cut me to the bone.

I could not forget the fact that the empress, whose love and attention I had been craving for so much, actually had nothing to do with me, and that I got half the blood flowing through my body from a common woman.

Squatting under the tree, I shed tears alone. I thought I would never be loved by anybody, but felt comforted when I discovered I had a lady like the marquise. I hated that little girl opening her hands to the empress with a smile. I got mad about the little girl when my father, the emperor, who was always strict to me, held her in his arms and humored her. It tore my heart out to see the marquise fixing her warm eyes on that little girl.

Why aren’t they treating me like her? Why are they doting on her alone?

Is it because I have blood from a commoner woman?

I trembled when things like that came to my mind. Perhaps my father, the emperor, hated me because of that and that’s why he doted on her, who was born in a prestigious noble family.

I was filled with burning resentment towards my biological mother. Why wasn’t my biological mother born to a noble family? Why did my father love a commoner woman and have her give birth to me?

Sad tears fell down my cheeks. I hated the baby girl who was so engrossed in their love and attention that I could not have despite my hard efforts.

I bit my lips tight. Wiping big drops of tears, I nodded at her. Then, a smile came on her grimacing face. Her hands holding me tightly trembled a couple of times as if she patted me. After calling the name of the marquis faintly, all the energy from her hands was lost. In no time she cocked her slender neck to the side.

I screamed at her to come to her senses, but her gentle voice was no longer heard. There was no more sparkling in her golden eyes that were always warm to me.

I flopped down on the floor as my legs felt weak suddenly. I could hardly breathe because I was devastated. I didn’t feel like this when the empress died, but it seemed that the world was empty with the death of my dear mother.