I Won’t Accept Your Regrets

Even though a smile spread across his lips, the unknown fire in his eyes promised us nothing good.

Are you thinking of taking revenge on Jeremy right now?

The latter bowed his head, hesitating at the sight of those keen eyes.

"Yes. I was here as an intruder. Once again I apologize for bringing confusion to your evening."

Jeremy looked at me sternly.

Unaware that Raymond already knew about the relationship between me and Jeremy, he thought to draw a line between us in case the Emperor wanted to complicate my life.

"Then let me take my leave, sire. We will meet again, if fate permits."

"I will remember you."

In an instant, the smile disappeared from Raymond's lips. It was a sad look in which there was clear hostility.

Jeremy was not afraid of the Emperor's gaze.

As a result, Raymond's resentment only rose to a higher level. And at that moment, when the atmosphere of an imminent explosion enveloped us, Jeremy simply left.

I looked at his back as he left us, and suddenly my gaze turned to a new obstacle.

It was Raymond who now appeared before me.

"How long will you look at him?"

"When are you going back to the palace?"

I answered the question with a question.

As if he didn't like that answer, he frowned.

"Did he really come uninvited?"

His dark eyes slid over my face, studying my reaction.

"No. I invited him."

"Of course, this is the same one that six years ago…"

"Yes, yes. We met by chance and are still good friends."

"Ha, friends."

He was acting truly absurd.

"This is Drua, not anyone else. Ellie. Have you ever wondered what his intentions were when he approached you?"

"Jeremy may be a Drua, but he’s a different Drua."

"And it differs from the inside only because he looks different? I don’t know what kind of mutant came from the Drua family, but he’s Drua, he’s devoted to my father!"

He screamed like an angry animal.

Jeremy was without black hair, the symbol of Drua.

The word mutant was annoying, but not that Raymond's anger was meaningless.

House Drua was the former Emperor's staunchest champion, and even Drua's name alone reminded Ray of his terrible past.

When Jeremy planned to take root in the Empire, he never thought that he could convince Raymond on the first try.

"Sire. I, too, despise Duke Drua. Duke Drua supported the tyrant."

I spoke calmly to sound as objective as possible.

"But Jeremy is a completely different matter. At first, the Duke loved him, but when he grew up…"

"I don’t want to hear anything," Raymond snapped in a cold voice. "Don't you dare cover it up in front of me. I don't need to know anything else. Don't mess with this family."

"Do you order me?"

"This is an order… Are you going to disobey?"

"If this is an order… I will be punished for disobedience."

"Huh."

His eyes flashed with threat as he spat out a sneer.

"How about this? If you approach him, I will hang everyone with the name of Drua."

"Sire!" I shouted reflexively to such terrible words.

"So that I don't see you together again."

Raymond's black eyes flashed.

He really said he would kill Jeremy.

"No matter how much he pretends to be a sheep, you cannot know what is hidden in his mind.”

“…”

"I'm not telling you this as an Emperor. But, Ellie, I'm worried about you. The Drua are too dangerous."

"If you're worried about me, you don't need to do this anymore. If my relationship with Jeremy is uncomfortable for you, you can just turn away."

"How can I turn your back on you? I…!"

He fell silent and looked at me intently. It was a sickly face, an overwhelming desire to vent strong emotions.

I looked at Raymond with insensible eyes.

"Why can't you? Haven't you tried your best to avoid me in the past?"

I didn’t hide my ridicule. Raymond wasn’t upset, although I went to frankly insult the Emperor.

He just looked at me with complex emotions in his eyes.

Obviously he had a lot to say, but I really didn't want to hear it.

How long can a watershed be drawn? We talked about this only recently.

"If His Majesty kills the heir of Drua for no good reason, I will no longer be faithful to you. Please be wiser than that."

"Are you threatening me now?"

"Requesting."

"Requesting…"

"I'm going back to the party. Thank you for your visit, sire."

I left, looking away from his distorted face with irritation.

Raymond couldn't take his eyes off Ellie's back.

After Ellie returned, he no longer noticed anything around.

“Why can't you? Haven't you tried your best to avoid me in the past?”

Yeah.

But she was right.

I once did just fine without her.

When she needed me, I didn’t. I left her alone, surrounded by indifference.

This is not ironed out with simple apologies.

I don't even dare to guess how deep the wound would be to make excuses for this.

How can I beg you for forgiveness?

Can I get it at all?

The more I look into the past, there remains only resentment and regret.

I didn't know that unrequited love brings so much pain and struggle.

Ellie endured this painful unrequited love alone for many years.

I really can't ask for forgiveness.

If you really want to leave…

I have to let her go.

It seems that she’s already living a new life, and clinging to her is like chasing the wind.

"But not now."

Raymond remembered Jeremy Drua.

A man with an appearance that didn’t represent his family.

It wasn’t a black panther, but rather a lion.

Drua founded the Agrita Empire with the first Emperor.

They were proud of the symbol of the royal family, the blood of the first Emperor, who was a demonic swordsman who ascended to a pedestal to the gods.

Having received the symbol of the imperial family, the Drua earned the most generous reward in exchange for loyalty to the royal family.

And this unwritten contract has not been broken for many years.

Even during the reign of the previous tyrant, the Drua were his tame dog.

And if Raymond hadn’t usurped the throne, Drua's relationship with the imperial family would have been strong.

Of course, everything collapsed after the uprising.

The heir of Drua, who appeared in such a situation, and with a mutation…

As if the contract between the Emperor's family and the Drua House had been violated and they were stripped of the symbol of the imperial family.

That is why the Duke desperately hid him.

For Drua, the symbol of the imperial family was an honor that they didn’t want to miss. No, that was their whole life.

It was because of this honor that Ray spared the Drua family.

But now such an honor can be trampled on as much as my heart desires.

The Duke's house could be razed to the ground right now, just give me one reason.

“If His Majesty kills the heir of Drua for no good reason, I will no longer be faithful to you.”

I saw the eyes with which this Jeremy was looking at Ellie.

He was pretending to be a stranger, but his gaze was fixed on her.

The feelings in those amber eyes were clearly not friendly.

They have a deeper relationship than she showed me.

If I kill him, will Ellie disappear forever?

I again remembered those amber eyes, the emotions in which are more than obvious to me.

A fire broke out from within, but now I have nowhere to pour it out.