I Don't Want To Work! - Chapter 68
CHAPTER 68
A few more words were exchanged in silence.
Short questions, short answers, and then silence again.
But the silence wasn’t as awkward or heavy as it was before.
“Can I ask just one thing?”
“You can ask anything.”
My father looked at me with a softer expression than before.
“Well…”
I hesitated for a moment, fidgeting with my teacup before speaking.
“What was mother like?”
At those words, my father stiffened briefly before speaking again.
“She was a good person. A beautiful person.”
As if he had prepared the answer long ago, the words flowed effortlessly.
“I first met your mother… quite a long time ago.”
Quite a long time ago.
There was a moment of silence before those words came out.
In that brief silence, I narrowed my eyes, sensing something.
“At that time, Pandelion was just opening up new trade routes, and many people were coming and going.”
Exotic goods and animals, merchants, jesters, bards, acrobats, and travelers – new things poured in like shooting stars every day.
“Your mother was one of those who came to the capital.”
My father chuckled softly.
“I thought she was one of those people.”
New things often caused a stir.
So, sometimes, he, Aaron would dress as a commoner and patrol the streets.
That day was one of those days.
The day they ventured out onto the streets, just in case something happened, Gerol and him.
“She didn’t have weapons to be a mercenary or traveler, her belongings were too few to be a merchant.”
Her attire didn’t match that of a jester, and she didn’t have any musical instruments to be a bard.
It caught their attention as if she had dropped from the sky right into the middle of the square.
That’s how it happened.
“We had to check. She could have been a strange person.”
Approaching her to talk, when she slowly turned around, he fell in love.
“It sounds cliché, but it felt like a novel.”
Silver hair cascaded from her robe, and pink eyes widened in surprise.
She was lovely, someone he couldn’t help but love.
The Emperor chuckled softly.
“It was cheesy afterward too.”
Feeling a mutual attraction, talking, meeting again, falling in love, and deepening it.
Yet every day felt like walking on a sparkling star path.
“Your mother didn’t say anything. But since I couldn’t either, I just let it go.”
Since he couldn’t reveal he was the prince of the empire, silence was comforting.
What her favorite food was, what she disliked, what kind of sky she liked.
Such trivial information is accumulated every day, but words like age or status are never exchanged.
“All we shared were our names.”
“Names, huh?”
“Yes.”
The Emperor nodded.
“Your mother introduced herself as Ronen.”
Ronen. I pondered over the name for a moment before looking up.
“It sounds like a language from the southern part of the continent, is it?”
It wasn’t a name typical of the eastern continent where Pandelion was situated.
It was a name suitable for countries located in the southern part of the continent.
“I don’t know.”
The Emperor shook his head.
“She didn’t tell me anything except her name.”
The Emperor continued his story slowly.
“So, we met for a year.”
There were a few precarious moments during that time.
Encounters nobles who recognize his face on the street, almost revealing his identity.
The Good Empress found out he was meeting someone and didn’t even know her own identity.
Not knowing what to say, he went to see her that same night.
But surprisingly, his mother didn’t show much interest.
She said he could meet her if he wanted and even marry her if he wished, but she mentioned that it would be tough for him since he had given up an easy path by not engaging in strategic marriages.
All she said was that he just had to show her a stronger empire.
In essence, it was almost permission.
How happy he was to hear those words.
“I thought I could reveal my identity now. So, as soon as the day broke, I rushed to see her.”
“Aaron, you’ve come.”
Before he could say anything.
“I’m going back to my homeland now.”
He heard the words of parting.
“I held onto her clothes, begging her not to leave, but I couldn’t bring myself to get angry.”
That day, he laughed bitterly, saying it was the first time he cried as an adult.
“At first, I told her not to go, but she was so determined. So, I begged her to at least allow me to write letters.”
But even that was rejected.
Was that warm person real? Was that gentle spring-like presence real?
It was such despair.
“That’s how that day ended.”
The next day, the day he went to see her, determined to cling on somehow.
“No one was there.”
She disappeared in an instant.
Without leaving a single trace, she vanished like smoke.
“… And then?”
I asked cautiously. The Emperor chuckled and took a sip of his tea, smiling.
“I searched while waiting. Waiting was the only thing I could do.”
He even tried to untangle people, but it was always in vain.
And so, five years passed.
“I couldn’t bear it anymore.”
Taking a deep breath, he continued.
“Meanwhile, I ascended to the throne. When I was the Crown Prince, I could bear it somehow…”
The Emperor laughed, moving his fingers, showing traces of the years.
“Once I became Emperor, I couldn’t bear to be alone anymore.”
Even after becoming Emperor, he waited quite a long time for his love.
But now, it was a definite limit.
Even the Crown Princess, who was subtly pressuring him, was beginning to hint at the importance of his marriage.
“And then, I met Clea, the current Empress Consort.”
Both were in similar situations.
Clea also had someone she loved.
Her lover was a knight without titles, incredibly affectionate, and loved her dearly.
He faced death at the hands of his enemies.
Clea, who cried loudly in front of her lover’s corpse, and now himself, who even dried his tears.
Although they couldn’t be lovers, they thought they could be good companions.
“Phew.”
The Emperor, who had finished his long story, let out a deep sigh.
As if exhausted, he finished the half-cold tea in one go.
“Well, then.”
I hesitantly brought up the last remaining question, fidgeting with my fingers.
“If by any chance, I mean, if my mother were to come back now, would you accept her?”
“No.”
The answer came quickly and firmly.
“I’m sorry to you, but it can’t be. I already have an Empress.”
The Emperor poured himself more tea into his now empty cup and finished his statement.
“I don’t want the Empress to be hurt again.”
I nodded, and he looked at me.
“I’m sorry to you.”
“It’s okay, I was just curious.”
Hmm, I cleared my throat for a moment, then spoke again.
“Well, actually, a memory from before coming to the palace came to mind.”
“What?”
The Emperor’s eyes widened.
“What memory was it?”
“The village was on fire. It seemed like there was an attack… People were running away, and some were chasing after them.”
The Emperor listened intently to my story without saying a word.
“The house I lived in was also on fire, and I was sitting on the street, crying.”
“…”
“And then someone came, and I called that person ‘momma.'”
Or rather, I called her ‘mother’ in broken pronunciation.
“She hugged me and said she would save me somehow.”
“By any chance.”
The Emperor, who had been quietly listening, spoke for the first time.
“Was she injured? Your mother, I mean.”
“Oh, um, I’m not sure, but it didn’t seem like she was injured.”
“I see.”
The Emperor took a short breath and leaned towards me.
“And? Is that all?”
“Yes.”
I nodded.
I deliberately didn’t mention the big tree story.
I needed a little more certainty.
‘I was also hoping to get some hints by bringing up my mother’s story.’
Misunderstandings about my father were cleared up.
I apologized inwardly for bringing up the topic so suddenly.
Just as I was thinking about it, the chamberlain was approaching.
“Your Majesty, I apologize, but it’s time for the meeting with Count Ines.”
“Already? That time has come already.”
The Emperor made a troubled expression.
It seemed like he wanted to talk to me more.
“I’ll be going now.”
I stood up, smiling at the Emperor and the chamberlain.
“We can talk more later, right? I’ll be at the palace all the time, right? Father.”
I won’t disappear suddenly like my mother did.
That’s what I hinted at.
“Yes.”
Right.
I almost forgot about that.
“Chamberlain, sorry to bother you, but could you bring my maid? I have something to give to His Majesty the Emperor.”
“Something to give to Your Majesty? Yes, Your Highness. Please wait a moment.”
The chamberlain brought Betty.
Betty, as if she had been waiting to be called, came running with eager eyes.
“Did you bring it?”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Betty handed me a bag she was holding carefully.
I opened it and placed it on the table.
“Lottie, what’s this?”
“It’s medicine.”
Inside the bag was the medicine I had made myself and a spirit flower.
“Take the medicine before you go to sleep every night and put the flower on the bedside table.”
“What kind of medicine is it?”
The Emperor asked as he took out the medicine bottle.
“It’s for insomnia.”
The Emperor’s ailment was insomnia.
In a way, it was a common ailment.
But there were few diseases as subtly draining and deadly as this one.
‘Especially with recent wars, it might have worsened.’
Even for those who survived, war was the one thing that haunted them for a lifetime.
It made people more sharp and sensitive.
Especially for someone like the Emperor, who had countless lives in his hands, it would be even more so.
So, I mixed some herbs into the medicine to help him have more peaceful dreams.
“You’ll be able to sleep deeply.”
Because I made it myself.