I Won’t Accept Your Regrets

"What else?" Raymond asked a reasonable question to the urgent calls of the butler.

Maybe the doctors were wrong? Could it be that Carlisle's life was already slipping through his fingers? The Emperor couldn’t stand the worry.

Now they stood face to face with one of the healers.

Because of what Raymond didn’t see what happened to the boy.

Raymond frowned at the doctor's expression, which was somewhat tense.

"Do injuries are too critical?"

"The reason isn’t in his health…"

The court doctor's words were vague, even embarrassing.

"Speak."

When Raymond's eyes went cold, the doctor immediately bowed his head.

"The victim's hair color suddenly changed. Maybe… I think there's magic involved."

"What?!"

This is quite unexpected news.

He had already personally made sure that there were no magical things with Carlisle.

As Raymond stood there, covering his face with his hand, another Imperial physician said:

"Indeed, Your Majesty. Hair color… It suddenly turned black."

"What, what?"

Now he doubted his ears.

After all, black is the color of his family.

How many times had he thought about it before?

And when it came down to it, he just couldn't take it at its word.

His heart started to bounce.

"Sire. See for yourself."

The doctor stepped to the side. Raymond's trembling eyes turned to the child.

And later they crawled out on his forehead, when he finally saw those small lips, narrow nose and eyes that once looked like Ellie’s.

And hair that was supposed to be silver, but became like ink.

The Emperor's family symbol.

Raymond took a deep breath to calm the shock that was about to erupt on those around him.

He walked over to the child.

Who knows, maybe after all that he has experienced, illusions appear to him.

Everything was as if in a dream.

He reached for Carlisle with a trembling hand.

This continued until his hand touched Carlisle's cheek, and a feeling of warmth came.

This moment was real.

"He has my hair color. But how…"

"On the inside of the auricle there was a shard of a very small earring. Looks like this is it."

The physician said carefully at the side.

Raymond couldn't react now. Because he had nothing to resist his surprise.

When he took the boy by the hand in bewilderment, the servant came up and reported:

"Your Majesty, Duke Croft has arrived."

"Bring him here."

The audience will take place right on the spot.

"The Emperor…"

"Raise your head."

Duke Croft looked up.

His pale face meant that he had already figured out the whole story.

How surprised he must have been to hear that Ellie and the child had been attacked.

But if you think about it, Raymond himself was out of his mind right now.

"Sire! Is the child okay? Where is Ellie now? I need to see my daughter."

"Hold on, Duke."

Raymond cut him off in a low voice.

The Duke was in a hurry, but fell silent at Raymond's strange hint.

Unknown anger lurked in those black eyes, but also confusion.

"What's the matter?"

"See for yourself."

The Duke turned his head slowly. The Duke's purple eyes wavered as he saw Carlisle lying on the bed.

Because Carlisle's hair was black.

"Let’s go for a walk for a while."

Raymond ushered everyone out.

Hearing the door close, Raymond walked over to the Duke. The latter, unable to take his eyes off Carlisle, now turned to the Emperor.

"Explain this."

"Obviously, Ellie couldn't bear your child."

"So why does the child have black hair? Why is it magic? Tell me, Duke! I need answers!"

I wanted to talk calmly, but in the end I lost it.

The Duke was desperate when he felt my pressure.

He resisted to the last, until it became clear to him: how could such an obvious thing be hidden?

Carlisle's magic earring was broken, and now you can’t further insist that this boy is not my blood.

The Duke replied in a languid tone:

"Yes, we have before us the blood and flesh of His Majesty."

"Huh."

Although it was expected, my legs still gave way after such a confession. And my head started spinning, as if someone had hit me hard in the back of the head.

When I found out that Ellie had a son, questions began to circulate: is he from me? But then there was no room left for me to think.

However, how convincing she was, telling me the last time that the kid wasn’t born of me.

But he was mine.

She lied to me without even blushing.

And the Duke also lied in my eyes, covering all of Ellie and the child.

For the past six years, he watched me climb an entire continent, but he didn’t tell me anything.

And now I’m damn angry at such treachery.

"Duke, it doesn't look like you didn't know that."

Duke Croft knelt in front of me, making it clear that he had already said goodbye to everything in the world.

"It's my fault."

"You knew everything! Dare to hide my own son from me?!"

Raymond's angry voice shook the entire room.

"I will gladly accept any punishment. It was worth it."

This was nothing more than the abduction of the heir to the Empire.

Duke Croft knew better than anyone else what he could do for such an offense.

But, nevertheless, he couldn’t ignore the desperate aspirations of his daughter.

He wanted to put his life on the fact that Ellie and Carlisle healed happily away.

The Duke bowed his head and prayed:

"But, Your Majesty, it was all my plan only. Please save Ellie and the child. My daughter… She just followed my orders."

Raymond bent down to look the Duke right in the eye.

Of course he won't believe in new details.

That our Duke Croft to create this plan himself?

It was Ellie who decided that Carlisle wouldn’t grow up to be the son of the Emperor.

Ellie made the sole decision to leave him and go with the child.

"Did you know she was pregnant at the time of the divorce?"

"Yes."

The fact that she filed for divorce while carrying a baby in her belly was truly shocking.

How could he now guess what circumstances forced her to such a tough decision?

However, it was also difficult to demolish the feeling of betrayal hovering around.

"So that's what she was in a hurry to divorce. So that I don’t find out about my son."

Her sudden disappearance from the Empire is now understandable.

Raymond clenched his fists.

“Get out of here.”

He felt that he was about to really lose his temper if the Duke loomed in front of him.

"Your Majesty, please…"

"I don’t want to hear anything. Get out."

Duke Croft rose slowly. He glanced once more at Carlisle, but now he had to leave.

The Duke, glancing anxiously at the child, left and Raymond took a deep breath.

But that is why the fire inside didn’t subside.

Divorced me, pregnant.

Even if after the divorce I knew that Carlisle lives in the Lund Kingdom, I wouldn’t feel so betrayed.

Do you hate me that much?

"Ahh."

In the midst of the Emperor's rampage, a faint groan was heard.

His thoughts now turned to Carlisle.

" Butler!"

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"Bring the doctors of the palace here."

As soon as the healers returned to the room, Raymond said:

"There is something strange with the child."

Carlisle groaned in pain.

The palace doctors quickly checked the child, but suddenly retreated. One of them volunteered to speak:

"Sire. The magic was forcibly extracted and a reaction began in the body. This is a minor internal trauma. I will prepare the remedy."

"Go."

The doctor briskly left the room, and Raymond walked over to Carlisle, who groaned again.

His black hair was damp with sweat.

“The blood and flesh of His Majesty.”

I still couldn't believe that this little child was my son.

Find a son, but to immediately lose?

Can I even be called his father?

After all, I couldn’t save him from such a danger.

He directed his hand to stroke the child's hair, but pulled back halfway.

"Has Duke Croft gone already?"

"For now… he is waiting outside."

"Take him to my bedchamber."

He suffered terrible treachery on the part of the Duke, but didn’t stop him from meeting his daughter.

"Besides that, keep an eye on the courtiers today. Whoever decides to evade the work, he will immediately be strangled, and I don't care what their position is," said Raymond, looking at the doctors of the palace.

As if they sensed the seriousness of his intentions, the palace healers bowed their heads.

The butler left, and Raymond remained seated by the bed.

Waiting until Carlisle wakes up.