Chapter 78 (2/2)

“I am doing well. All thanks to you, Your Majesty. How are you doing, Your Majesty?”

“I’m doing fine. Hmm, let me get down to the point. You know that several foreign princesses are coming tomorrow. ”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

When I nodded my head, he said with a bright smile, “You are very happy now, right?”

“… Your Majesty.”

“Well, if one of them is chosen, she will come here in the name of a concubine, but once she gets the title, she will try to aim at the queen’s status.”

“…”

“It has been almost six months since you joined the knights division. Now that everyone knows that you will succeed the Monique family, I think they are coming here, assuming that the crown prince is looking for his fiancee.”

That was true. The moment I entered the knights division, there were some who questioned what would happen to my engagement to the crown prince, and their suspicion began to grow rapidly because the two dukes and my father, regarded as the emperor’s closest aides, remained silent on the invitation of the foreign princesses. The noble women and young ladies were very curious about the possible breakup of my engagement, but nobody dared to ask me directly as I was very powerful in social circles.

“By the way, do you think that can happen as you wish?”

“Pardon, Your Majesty?”

“I trust my son,” he said confidently.

“Years ago I told you I raised my child wrong. I thought my son was really immature, but he has grown up. Given that he is behaving these days, I don’t think he can let go of a precious gem like you so easily.”

“Your Majesty.”

“If my son is foolish enough to lose you, I will not hold you anymore, but I trust my son’s discerning eye.”

I was puzzled. Did he really trust him? Then, why is he always so strict with his son?

Suddenly, his expression that I saw right before I came into this room occurred to me.

Come to think of it, he was always in a bad mood before or after meeting his father.

I understood him. It’s because his father didn’t always like him.

“Um. You seem to be curious. Is there anything you want to ask me? ”

“Oh yes, Your Majesty. Well… ”

“Please ask comfortably. You are fully qualified to ask.”

“I am honored to ask, Your Majesty. So… if you trust him so much, why are you always strict on him?”

Before I heard him talking to me occasionally, I thought like others that he didn’t like his son because his son was lacking too much. As if he was surprised at my unexpected question, the emperor smiled bitterly and said, “Who else can be strict to him?”

“… ”

“He grew up without being loved by his mother. He felt better for some time thanks to your mother’s caring… your mother also quickly died.”

He mentioned my mother, but it was not time for me to ask about it. So I just listened silently.

“Why don’t I want to give love to my son who doesn’t know what love is? If I had been a commoner, not a noble, I would have loved him a lot. As you know, Rube is not an ordinary child. He is supposed to rule the empire after me. I had to scold rather than soothe him when he played the baby and reprimand rather than forgive him when he did wrong. Even when I praised him, I had to scold him for fear he might be lazy.”

“… Your Majesty.”