Chapter 58

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Translator: Harry Potta
Chapter: 58
Chapter Title: The Birth of the Grand Duke and Duchess
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The Traon Empire had won a great victory in the war that had lasted three years. After forcing the Kalpen Kingdom into a humiliating treaty, Cesare returned to the empire. The entire way back, he thought of the child’s smiling face.
He had thought he should give a small gift to the child who must have been eagerly awaiting his return. But that was not what greeted him.
What awaited Cesare was Aileen’s death. As Leone delivered the tragic news with a somber face, Cesare slowly closed and opened his eyes. Then he asked again.
“Why?”
If his brother, the Emperor, had personally stepped in to protect her, the child would not have died. Or, at the very least, he could have stalled for time until Cesare’s return by letting it be known that she was precious to the Grand Duke of Erzet. It made no logical sense.
But Leone could not bring himself to speak. Cesare waited patiently for his answer. After a long silence, he finally spoke, but it was not the answer Cesare had wanted.
“I’m sorry, Cesare.”
Tears welled in his blue eyes. Watching the man whose cheeks were stained with tears, Cesare asked his question a second time.
“I asked you why, brother.”
“Aileen Elorde… chose death herself.”
Leone, his voice barely a whisper, uttered the words he dreaded most.
“For the honor of the Grand Duke of Erzet.”
Cesare stared blankly at Leone, then twisted his lips into a hollow laugh.
What was his honor that it should cause that child to die? The words could never belong together.
“The nobles tried to use this incident as a pretext to attack the Imperial Family.”
Cesare listened to Leone’s desperate explanation from beginning to end.
After the previous emperor died of a drug addiction, Leone, newly ascended to the throne, had enacted a law with severe punishments related to drug distribution.
It was a strategic move to catch the anti-royalist nobles who had created a funding pipeline by illegally distributing drugs during the empire’s civil war.
If he had saved Aileen, who had broken the national law, it could have become the very incident that handed the Imperial Family’s hard-won supremacy back to the nobles.
Abandoning a noble cause to save Aileen, the daughter of a mere baronial family, was a highly inefficient act and a severe political loss. The decision Leone made was rational and logical.
Moreover, Aileen herself had requested the death penalty. She had not once begged for her life.
Leone had tried to save Aileen by any means necessary, but when Aileen learned of the whole situation, she knelt and pleaded with the Emperor when he visited her in prison.
She begged him to handle her case according to the law. She desperately pleaded for her execution before the Grand Duke could return and forcibly save her. It was all to protect the honor of the Grand Duke of Erzet.
Thus, the Emperor of the Traon Empire made a reasonable judgment. Not informing the commander-in-chief of this situation when the war was in its final stages was also an extremely appropriate action. After all, Cesare had a history of deserting the battlefield for Aileen.
Cesare had poured all his strength into conquering Kalpen. He had believed that with Leone remaining in the capital, the child would be protected no matter what, but it had been a complete miscalculation. Leone had acted not as Cesare’s brother, but as the Emperor of Traon.
Thanks to him, Cesare had not even been able to witness the child’s death. Unaware of anything, he had simply returned wearing the laurel crown of victory for the empire.
“Brother.”
Cesare gazed at Leone with tranquil eyes. He posed a question to his brother, who was confessing his sins, his face an emotionless mask.
“Why do you think I made you emperor?”
The child was dead.
The dead could not return. That was an immutable law. Believing in the return of the deceased was something his dead mother might have done.
“I’m sorry. I’m truly sorry, Cesare… I wanted to protect everything…”
Leone removed the imperial crown from his head and offered it to Cesare. He sobbed, begging for forgiveness.
“I waited to return this to you. I am no longer worthy…”
Looking at the golden crown, Cesare laughed. He stared at it for a while with his cold red eyes, then snatched it from his brother’s hand and placed it back on his head.
“No, keep it on. You must pay the price, too.”
“Cesare…”
“Just as I must pay mine.”
It was Cesare who had caused the previous emperor to die of a drug addiction. Like a storm caused by the flutter of a butterfly’s wings, the sum of every choice had led to the child’s death.
But regretting the past was meaningless. Cesare coolly recognized reality. And so, he decided to do what he could.
He would make those involved in the child’s death pay the price.
It was not particularly for the child’s sake. How would the dead child know what he was doing? This was merely a requiem for his own peace of mind.
That was the moment the sword that protected Traon turned against the empire.
Foolishly, he had thought it would be alright. He had thought that turning the Traon Empire into a living hell would bring peace to his heart.
“Aileen.”
Cesare adjusted the child in his arms and called her name.
“Aileen, Aileen…”
He couldn’t bring himself to wake the peacefully sleeping girl, instead whispering her name as he nuzzled the soft skin of her neck with his tongue and teeth.
Perhaps he had been too persistent, for Aileen, who had fainted and gone limp, furrowed her brow and let out a pained sound.
“Stop… Your Highness, I want to stop now…”
Cesare smiled faintly at her whimpering sleep-talk. He then carried Aileen to the bed. He let her use his arm as a pillow and, instead of covering her with a blanket, pulled her tightly into his arms.
His body temperature ran high, so she wouldn't be cold while she slept. Besides, the weather had been warm lately.
He held her small body snugly, leaving no gaps, and caressed her all over. He touched her again and again, confirming her existence, and lingered for a long time on the finger that wore his ring. Finally, after parting her closed lips and kissing her deeply, he closed his eyes.
He had a feeling he would be able to sleep soundly tonight. Just for tonight.
***
Aileen regained consciousness with a throbbing ache all over her body. But she did not open her eyes, keeping them squeezed shut as she lay limp for a while.
Unfortunately, the events of last night were all too vivid. She remembered every single embarrassing thing she had done. Aileen wanted to run to her second-floor bedroom in the brick house and hide under the covers.
But she couldn't. The hard body wrapped tightly around her prevented it. The newlyweds lay in bed, their limbs entangled, their bodies pressed close.
Aileen cautiously opened her eyes. Right in front of her, Cesare was asleep. A single sliver of sunlight, seeping through a small gap in the curtains, tickled the sleeping man.
She carefully studied the light-dusted face. Like a mortal daring to secretly gaze upon the face of a sleeping god, she looked at Cesare, little by little. She couldn't believe this beautiful man was her husband.
As she watched him without even blinking, her chest tickled as if brushed by a feather. This was not a dream; it was reality.
Cesare was Aileen’s husband.
Just then, his eyelids slid open, revealing red eyes. Clear red eyes, completely devoid of sleepiness, took in the sight of Aileen.
Aileen froze, still staring at Cesare. He gave a faint smile to the girl who had stiffened in surprise.
“Sleep well?”
Her eyes darted around for a moment before she offered a morning greeting.
“Good morning… Did you sleep well…?”
“Not particularly well. It was our wedding night, and my wife fell asleep before her husband.”
She hadn’t fallen asleep, she’d fainted… But she was too ashamed of last night’s behavior to argue, and as she mumbled, Cesare said something that made her feel even more wronged.
“Were you disappointed I didn’t fill you up?”
Aileen’s mouth fell open, and she stared at him as if he were shameless. But Cesare, unfazed by her glare, simply twirled a lock of her hair around his finger, playing with it. His eyes curved slightly.
“Next time, will you see it through to the end with your husband?”
Aileen, startled, asked back.
“That wasn't the end?”
“It was only once.”
“People do that… twice?”
“Twice is too few.”
“Then three times…?”
Cesare didn’t answer, just chuckled. Then, without another word, he kissed her and got out of bed. He pulled a cord by the bedside to summon a servant.
“Lie here for a bit. I’ll have them bring breakfast.”
Before long, Cesare returned, carrying a tray of breakfast himself, and placed it on the lap of Aileen, who was sitting up in bed. A servant who followed him in set up a tea service on a table and neatly arranged several newspapers.
Every morning, Cesare skimmed through all the newspapers published in the empire. He would quickly scan the headlines, and today, the day after his wedding, he stuck to his routine without fail.
Aileen looked for *La Verita*, then dropped her head. She was afraid of what kind of article might be in it.
But she was also curious. After struggling with herself for a long while, Aileen finally gave in to her curiosity and peeked, just a tiny little bit, out of the corner of her eye.
The front page of the newspaper was covered by a large, full-page photograph. Aileen’s eyes widened as she saw it.
Next to Cesare, who was dressed in his wedding uniform, stood an unfamiliar woman in a wedding dress. Startled, she belatedly read the headline—a concise, two-line sentence.
[The Birth of the Grand Duke and Duchess of Erzet. The Founding Myth of the Traon Empire Is Recreated.]