The Emperor had always told Kiaros, ever since he was very young:

[Kiaros, you are the future of the Empire. You are my one and only son—the rightful heir of the Imperial Family.]

Maybe it was because of those words that young Kiaros had never once doubted his father’s love.

So the boy Kiaros was the one who pushed the Emperor forward, actively encouraging him to remarry.

The reason was simple:

[Your Majesty deserves to be happy too.]

And so, the Emperor and Fron became happy together. Everything seemed fine.

Only Fron suffered in silence.

[I worry that my presence might become a burden to His Highness the Crown Prince. I’ll try to live in the palace as if I don’t exist.]

[I’ve known Her Majesty the Empress since I was a baby. Don’t say such things.]

[It’s not me I’m afraid of changing—but the people and circumstances around me...]

Kiaros didn’t understand those words for a long time.

But on the day Jaden was born—

“Your Highness.”

One of his tutors from the Kingdom of Emote came to visit him late at night.

“You should prepare for danger.”

“...Danger?”

“I’ll speak frankly. Eventually, both His Majesty the Emperor and Her Majesty the Empress will want to place the young prince on the throne.”

At the time, Kiaros was seventeen, and with the Emperor’s health declining rapidly, he had already taken over state affairs.

“Right now, the Crown Prince plays a major role in the Empire, so such talk is muted. But when Prince Jaden comes of age...”

“Master, you’re overthinking this. Please return. Jaden and I are both His Majesty’s children.”

“You are not the same.”

The tutor shook his head resolutely.

“When the Princess was pregnant with Your Highness, His Majesty never visited her. Not even once.”

By “Princess,” he meant Kiaros’s birth mother—the Princess of the Kingdom of Emote.

When Fron became pregnant, the Emperor never left her side. He had watched over her every single day.

Kiaros frowned slightly.

“Because... the Princess forced that pregnancy upon him.”

And just like that, the tutor revealed the secret the Emperor had kept buried all this time.

That even though the Emperor had loved Fron, he had refused to marry again. That the Emote Princess had fallen for him at first sight and pressured him into marriage. That even after the wedding, the Emperor refused to share a bed.

“Her Majesty the Dowager Empress and the Princess colluded to drug His Majesty.”

And from that one night, Kiaros was conceived...

“On the day of the celebration for her pregnancy, His Majesty didn’t attend. That was also when Sir Fron took her one and only sick leave.”

The Princess died during childbirth.

The entire marriage had been filled with nothing but misery from beginning to end, and Kiaros was the sole outcome.

“His Majesty began declaring you the ‘future of the Empire’ from the moment you were born, because your place was both rightful and... not. He probably wanted to ease your anxiety in case you ever heard the truth.”

“...”

“But paradoxically, the need to emphasize the obvious only means there’s something unstable underneath.”

The tutor spoke with urgency.

“Your very existence is a deep wound to both of them. Unlike the prince now, who symbolizes love and happiness...”

“Master, it’s late. You should go.”

“You may not want to hear it, but you must. Prince Jaden is still young, and Her Majesty hasn’t yet developed a sense of urgency. So while you can... a mild poison...”

“I think it’s time for you to return to your homeland.”

Kiaros cut in coldly.

“I’ll make arrangements for a ship to depart immediately.”

“Your Highness!”

“Consider this my final show of mercy to a long-serving teacher.”

Even after that, many tried to convince Kiaros to eliminate Jaden behind the scenes. Kiaros rejected them all, with icy clarity.

At the same time, he began to understand why Fron isolated herself. Why someone so loyal had refused the Empress’s seat for so long.

[Please remember my words. In the end, Your Highness will be pushed aside.]

Hearing that, Kiaros wondered—was he not always meant to be pushed aside?

[I’ll try to live in the palace as if I don’t exist.]

Was the true burden not Fron—but himself?

Maybe the one who truly had no place in the palace was him.

Realizing that now, after all this time, only made it more painful—especially knowing that the Emperor and Empress had gone to such lengths to keep that truth hidden, to protect him.

Kiaros spent that entire night wide awake.

But the next morning, he went to see Jaden with a smile.

“I’m truly happy to have a younger sibling.”

The Emperor and Fron, gazing lovingly at the tiny wriggling child.

Kiaros avoided imagining what his own infancy had looked like.

“Look at this—his hair looks just like the Crown Prince’s.”

Fron tried desperately to include him, chatting nervously so he wouldn’t feel left out.

Still, the Emperor remained ill, and Jaden was just a child.

The Empire needed Kiaros. He was still “the future of the Empire.”

Even if, in a palace filled with love and joy, he was just a foreign object jammed in by force.

***

After finishing the story, there was a pause. Then he spoke in a low voice.

“Now that I’ve loved someone... I finally understand.”

“Your Highness...”

“How my existence might have been an excruciating wound for them...”

This wasn’t the time to offer meaningless platitudes like “Their Majesties truly love you, Your Highness.”

He already knew that too well.

And because he knew... he probably couldn’t blame anyone.

“Ah...”

My lips trembled.

Kiaros had done nothing wrong. Neither had the Emperor or the Empress.

Yet the wound buried deep inside his polished and disciplined exterior... hurt to even think about.

“Imagine how horrible it must be, huh?”

Kiaros spoke quietly.

“That I love you this much... and then I’m forced to marry someone else, and—without even realizing—end up with a child...”

The day the Emperor, Empress, and Jaden all sobbed and finally reconciled thanks to me—

That day, the one who came to see me was both Kibon and Kiaros.

I wasn’t the only one who had thought, ‘It’s time for me to step aside.’

Without realizing it, tears welled up in my eyes.

“On the other hand... imagine I knew you loved me too, but then you were forced to marry someone else and had a child...”

Kiaros continued slowly.

“Sure, let’s say I can live with the marriage part. But if a child came out of it...”

He wore an expression of pure agony.

He was the rightful heir to the Empire, but not the rightful child of that family.

“It’s a relief that His Majesty has recovered.”

Kiaros smiled faintly.

“So now I can leave. Maybe... maybe this was never my place to begin with.”

He brought my hand up to his face and whispered,

“His Majesty always told me to stay with the one I love. So don’t worry. Namia, please—for once, just think about us.”

“But still...”

I knew Kiaros in public better than anyone.

Always serious, composed, unshakeably rational. And now here he was, trying to soothe and coax me like a lost child.

“You said you liked my shell more than Kibon’s, right? Then how about this—just think of me as Kibon ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) wearing a Kiaros mask and live with me forever?”

He gave me that same soft eye smile he’d shown when hiding in the Scroll Department to catch spies.

That playful smile, those puffed cheeks—it was the same one that had once made me blurt out the name of our hypothetical child...

He pressed my hand more firmly to his cheek and whispered again.

“I want to be happy now... too.”