Chapter 151
Valkaros agonized.
'Valkaros Lantana von Staufen.'
This was duty.
From the moment he was born with the Staufen name, it had constantly been placed on those shabby shoulders.
Therefore, Valkaros couldn't help but hesitate at the threshold of choice.
Which side to choose.
'I.'
The empire's peace?
Or his daughter's life?
A cruel dilemma.
Valkaros couldn't readily make a choice.
Because countless shadows held his ankles.
What is right?
Can the words of just acting for one's love be an excuse?
Can that thin word justify suicide?
'I don't know.'
Is it right to sacrifice the many for the few?
But what if that few is an existence no different from everything to oneself?
Can one truly choose the many without hesitation?
'Really.'
Which choice is fitting as a monarch's virtue?
Conversely, which choice is fitting as a father's aspect?
What is a monarch in the first place?
And what is a father?
What should be judged as right or wrong?
After making a judgment, which should be chosen between right and wrong?
Valkaros sank among jumbled questions at every moment.
-Valkaros.
A chain of conflicts.
If there was someone who pushed his back amid that, it was her this time too.
-Even if I'm gone... please take care of the children.
-I was happy loving you.
Voice.
A confession so shy it was sad.
Last words of crumbling flower petals.
Valkaros absolutely couldn't betray his promise with the empress.
He had no strength left to endure, no confidence to live on, such sorrow as losing his loved one.
Therefore, Valkaros was sufficiently a coward.
'It doesn't matter.'
Yes.
It didn't matter.
Even if he was a coward.
Even if it was a choice that was just running away.
He just prayed for Elise to live.
-What is a monarch?
-How should the sun shine properly?
Valkaros wasn't bound by such words.
Instead, he put the chain of sin around his neck.
By abandoning proper duty.
By turning his back on the empire.
He chose the path of becoming the worst emperor.
That was the man's damn original sin.
-God.
-Do not forgive your sun.
-I have lost my light.
The emperor prepared the ritual.
He only informed a few trusted close aides of the truth, and managed so that not even small information leaked otherwise.
Valkaros contained the rose's curse in himself along with a few words of spells.
Though he was concerned about the loss of emotions that would come as a side effect.
He believed Charlotte would take good care of her sister even if he wasn't there.
Though knowing the end was ruin.
"......"
Right before performing the ritual.
Valkaros embraced the deeply sleeping rose, and prayed for the last time to that delicate body heat.
Along with flowing tears.
"My beloved child."
Please.
"May you be happy with me as fertilizer."
Afterwards.
The emperor took steps he couldn't return from.
***
Time passed and 10 years went by.
Days withering day by day.
Elise had already turned seventeen, and the curse was also gradually reaching a critical point.
Valkaros's emotions had long been lost due to the aftermath of the magic.
Nothing remained in his inner self anymore.
Only the cross-section of his hollowly pierced heart shimmered.
The emperor had already become an inorganic being pursuing rationality.
'I still don't understand.'
Therefore.
Valkaros could hardly understand his past self.
Because it was after forgetting emotions accumulated for a long time.
Why he made such a sacrifice.
Why he protected the rose even afterwards.
He even forgot the original goal.
'Why did I choose the Second Imperial Princess?'
If weighing the empire and the Second Imperial Princess, choosing the former would be rational.
Why did he make such a foolish choice?
The memories of that time were the most mysterious unknown to the emperor.
The reason he could continue protecting the rose amid that was thanks to the instructions left by his past self.
Valkaros always kept that memo in his breast.
[Instructions regarding the Second Imperial Princess]
Valkaros from 10 years ago.
He worried that his emotionless self might ruin things.
Therefore, before receiving the curse sharing, he wrote down a few rules and things he had to handle himself.
And he even placed restrictions on his heart so he couldn't violate or reveal them.
Thanks to that, the emperor had no choice but to continue protecting the rose even after losing his emotions.
While not feeling even a trace of affection.
'Hmm.'
Confining the rose was also part of the instructions.
Curse sharing.
The magic maintained the mana in the body in a sensitive state, so it was easily affected by others' mana.
If this process repeated, there were concerns that problems could arise with the magic, or strain could be placed on the person's body.
Valkaros was fine since he was a healthy adult and in the position of receiving the curse.
But for Elise who was in the position of transferring the curse and just a 7-year-old girl, it was too dangerous a burden.
Therefore, the rose needed to be thoroughly isolated from her surroundings.
The reason the emperor didn't place people in the separate palace was also in that context.
Thanks to that, Elise had to stay for 10 years in a place left alone.
'Though the instructions said [protect] not confine... well, this much interpretation should be fine.'
Fortunately.
Because Charlotte was by Elise's side, and because there was a maid named Tanya who arrived later.
She was able to endure terribly lonely times.
Valkaros just watched from afar.
"Cough...!"
Days flowing like that.
Though the emperor didn't show it outwardly, the curse seeping in was becoming clearer as time passed.
Not much time remained until completely stealing the disease from the rose.
Now it was to the extent that daily life was impossible without placing pain-relieving magic on his whole body.
But Valkaros calmly accepted his choice.
[Instructions regarding the Second Imperial Princess]
-'Curse sharing' must not be discovered by anyone.
-The emperor's role and duties must be fulfilled at least until the Second Imperial Princess fully recovers.
-In short, one must act.
Because even such parts were recorded in the instructions.
The emperor continued his daily life while overlapping magic to the extent of straining his body.
'Is it almost over?'
The goal was gradually in sight.
The damn long magic was coming to an end.
Though his fate was to die within 1 year after all processes ended.
Anyway, he could accomplish his past goal.
Valkaros quietly waited.
That's when.
-Your Majesty.
-Someone has set foot in the Rose Palace.
Charlotte brought someone before Elise.
He tried to dismiss it as a quack as usual, but his interest was piqued at news of actual improvement.
The emperor immediately sought him out.
-I greet the empire's supreme sun.
He was an interesting boy.
From what he heard, he seemed skilled, and also had confidence he could cure the disease.
Valkaros decided to watch what his intentions were for now.
And a few days later.
-I will take the Second Imperial Princess from the separate palace to the academy.
-I hope Your Majesty will grant permission.
A bold request flew in.
The emperor pondering for a moment.
Valkaros who had been taking his time soon nodded.
As the curse transfer was gradually ending, he was thinking it was time to end the rose's confinement.
It seemed like a good opportunity.
Moreover.
'Gaston Galimar.'
That old man was at the academy too.
Though he didn't know how he found out, the old man who had informed him of information from the archives even the emperor himself didn't know.
He allowed the rose's outing as it was an interesting place in various ways.
It seemed there was no need to worry about safety since Charlotte was going together.
Like that.
Valkaros remained alone in the palace.
While holding a lifespan not even reaching 1 year.
'Now... is only waiting for death left?'
The emperor who had put a period on his calling.
Valkaros was a dead man waiting for his heart to finally stop, following his dead emotions.
Autumn when the children left passed.
Winter spent alone flowed.
Just before spring.
"Your Majesty."
The boy he thought he would never see again came.
Along with his two daughters.
***
Returning to the present.
The emperor sitting on the throne looked down.
"It was you, Your Majesty."
"......"
"Your Majesty... took your daughter's curse."
The boy looking up and speaking.
Already dead emotions couldn't feel any impressions.
A coldly dead heart, rotted insides, a body condition with only a day or two left until death now.
Valkaros was already like a doll without a heart.
But.
-Valkaros.
-I was happy loving you.
Because there was one unchanging memory.
That he had to protect the children.
Though he had long forgotten the reason, at least he had never forgotten the goal.
Because he had lived his remaining lifetime according to that intention.
"Your Majesty."
A call hoping for an answer.
As instructions for this situation weren't prepared, he thought it would be fine to react as he pleased at this point.
Three pairs of eyes were looking up at him from below the high sun.
Blue as if blankly dazed.
Green with a surprised look.
And.
White eyes that somehow felt sad.
The emperor who had briefly crossed gazes soon nodded.
"Your words are correct."
Valkaros had never once acted for the empire's sake.
He felt a strange thirst from that sentence today.
He couldn't understand why.
A faint pain poked his lungs.
[Instructions regarding the Second Imperial Princess]
-I'm afraid of losing emotions.
-Because it feels like I'll forget there was a goal even in this mess of a start.
-Therefore, before starting the instructions, I want to write this down first.
-Even if other instructions are forgotten, this must never be forgotten.
-Because it's words proving I'm still their father.
Content written at the beginning of the instructions.
Valkaros opened his mouth recalling the sentence that came next.
"Everything."
All for my beloved daughter.
"I took the Second Imperial Princess's curse."
Yes.
For Elise's sake.