I Won’t Accept Your Regrets

"What's so important? In any case, Carlisle isn’t a prince. And I will not let him live the life of a prince.”

"But you… You are going to the Empire?"

"Ha. Yes I am. My father is in trouble, so I'm going home."

"Then how do you plan to hide Carlisle? Have you thought about leaving him here?"

"Of course not. So Jed, I need your help."

"My?"

"Oh yeah. And… I need a fake marriage certificate."

"Will you marry another man for a child from? Is there any other way? If you say you married someone else… how will His Majesty react? You were husband and wife…"

Jed looked at me anxiously.

In fact, I once thought about marrying my aunt's son for Carlisle if something happened.

The reason I chose the Lund Kingdom in the first place was because my aunt lived here.

And rumors about me spread throughout the Empire that I was seeking refuge with an aunt living in a foreign country.

However, my aunt had been dead for a long time to be checked.

For a bribe, I could correct my aunt's death certificate as I pleased. But I didn't like the idea of ​​using someone who is already dead.

And I also didn’t want to pass my child off as someone else's.

Or else I would have to stop Carlisle from calling me Mom.

But I could lower Carlisle's age by one year so that Raymond doesn't think that the child is his.

As Jed said, Raymond might get angry, but he made me make this choice himself.

He never gave me hope for a happy life.

"He can't be angry with me. No, I don't deserve this kind of anger."

Seeing my determined gaze, Jed immediately nodded.

"Good. What difference does it make if the Emperor doesn't even know your new face?"

"Everyone who understands magic bracelets can understand something. Hmm… I need to replace it with something invisible. Is that possible? I heard that the magic of polymorphism leaves traces, because its technique is so complex…"

"I know a person who could do this. I know a wizard who was once kicked out of the tower. He'll give you a little magical shit that won't catch your eye."

Jed smiled confidently.

At first he was shocked and hesitated, but now he began to make plans with more enthusiasm than me.

Then Jed suddenly looked at me.

"By the way, when are you sailing?"

"The sooner the better. Not later than in two days."

"So soon? We need to hurry."

"It's because the situation is crap. And Carlisle's presence… I'm thinking of hiding him to the last."

In the worst case, I will have to reveal Carlisle as my child, who has nothing to do with Raymond, but it would be better to hide him as much as possible.

If it turns out that I have children, there will be an uproar and rumor that is difficult for a child to cope with.

It was best to leave Carlisle in a safe place for a while until his grandfather's situation was cleared up, and then immediately swim back.

"Good… The situation with Duke Croft… This is some kind of nonsense."

"Contact our branch in the Empire and ask them to arrange a secret place for me."

"Good."

"And Jed…"

"Yes?"

"Learn more about that kingdom, their bargaining fraud."

It took proof to clear my father's name.

The Order of the Phoenix now covered the entire continent, and our intelligence was nearly the best on the continent.

Jed and I decided that the most important thing was information, so we invested generously in the work of informants.

"I already ordered them to find out. When you mentioned Duke Croft that time, your face twitched. It was clear that you were connected with him."

"Jed…"

I knew he was a meticulous person, but now he gave me such attention.

He scratched his cheek as if helpless to answer.

"No, what… I just did it in advance because I knew I would have to anyway."

"Thanks a lot anyway."

"This is nothing compared to my saved life. So, Eli, focus on your future. Freeing your father… It won't be easy."

"I'm ready."

I looked at Jed with determined eyes.

"Good. Then I'll go. I think you have a lot to do. Let me know when the decision is made. I will tell the department in the Empire to send someone to the port."

"Yeah."

I really had a lot to do.

Now I had to seriously prepare for my departure.

The first thing I had to do was go and watch the departing ships.

* * *

Agrita Empire. Sun palace.

"Your Majesty, His Highness the First Prince has arrived."

Raymond looked up from the papers on the desk. He looked at the sky outside the window and turned his gaze to the clock.

It's time for an audience with Edmund.

"Let him in."

Then the door opened and Edmund entered.

"Father."

Edmund smiled brightly at him.

"Please bring tea."

Raymond ordered the servant on duty, got up from the table and sat down on the sofa with Edmund.

Warm tea was put on the table, and Raymond looked at Edmund with sparkling eyes.

Edmund's black eyes, the same as his, were full of affection and some anticipation.

That light in his eyes showed love and interest.

This is kind of embarrassing, Raymond thought, staring intently.

"Count Shiloh praised you very much. I’m proud that you study hard."

"No, it's all thanks to the fact that you taught me well as a child. And the teacher told me: I am so smart because I look like my father."

Edmund laughed as if he were embarrassed.

"…Good."

He gently stroked Edmund's head, but his mouth was no longer open.

6 years.

It had already been six years since Edmund arrived at the Imperial Palace. However, oddly enough, Raymond didn’t become attached to this child.

Everyone praised him for being like him, for being so smart and peculiar, but sometimes he got a strange feeling of rejection when meeting Edmund.

Does he really look like me?

Obviously the same eyes and hair color, but over the years, as Edmund grew up, Raymond found him more and more strange.

This is probably because we have not been together since his very birth.

He tried to convince himself of this.

"I will continue to work hard to become Your Majesty's good son," said Edmund with a determined face. The servants laughed, as if the young prince's stubborn vow seemed to them a sweet deed.

Raymond spoke at last:

"Don't go to extremes. If you get sick, your mother will worry."

He mechanically spat out the duty words.

"Yes, father."

Guilt hit Raymond's chest as he looked at Edmund, smiling with his eyes closed.

Am I a man without paternal feelings?

Looking back, we can say that he also never loved his father. The former Emperor didn’t even recognize him as a child.

Raymond barely survived and ended up committing paricide.

”I wouldn't be upset if she had a miscarriage! A small mistake that night, and now I have this in my hands.”

The Emperor was always ashamed of his child from a maid.

"This parasite persists, everything survives!"

Endless insults.

He wasn’t taught anything and was not allowed to learn.

Only the maids sometimes helped with this.

Whereas fatherly affection was something he didn’t dare to hope for, and his existence was just humiliation and pain.

"Don’t think about it. You are not your father. I believe you will be a good father."

At some point, Ellie's words resurfaced in his memory.

If her child had been born… He would have already been the same age as Edmund.

When he remembered the unborn child and her gone, he could no longer squeeze out his fake smile.

"Edmund, it's getting late, so go get some rest."

"Yes, and dad better go to bed early, too."

Edmund smiled and left the office.

"Everyone leave."

Raymond rudely dismissed all the servants and fell onto the couch, no longer hiding the disappointment on his face.