If You Take the Enemy Prince as Your Knight Chapter 105

I, too, felt a cold sweat trail meaninglessly down the back of my neck.

 

The mad emperor’s deranged actions were impossible to predict. He cast a glance into the cradle. After looking at the blood-red newborn wrapped in a thin blanket, he gave an order. “Dominic.”

 

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

 

“Pick up the child.”

 

“…Me?”

 

“You’ll be a father someday. Consider it practice.”

 

“I shall heed Your Majesty’s profound intent.” Dominic looked once at my expressionless face and once at Sister Vivian’s anxious one before removing his gloves. Then, unusually careful for him, he lifted the baby.

 

“How is it?”

 

“Light.”

 

“Show it to me.”

 

As though presenting a seated doll, Dominic awkwardly held the baby upright and displayed it to the mad emperor. Bravely enough, the baby did not cry.

 

“Oh.” A deliberately disappointed exclamation slipped from the mad emperor’s lips. “It’s ugly, takes after Lord Ronde. Something this wrinkled couldn’t have come from your womb, Vivian.”

 

“Y-Your Majesty! T-The baby is only just born…!”

 

“And besides.”

 

“…”

 

Now comes the real point.

 

“It isn’t a daughter, is it?”

 

His obsession with gender. It was by no means mere disappointment. What lay within that bleak murmur was unmistakable killing intent.

 

Watching the situation unfold, I momentarily stopped breathing. This is… ominous.

 

Sister Vivian forced a smile with all her strength. But her trembling eyes and lips only twisted her expression into one that looked ready to burst into tears. “I-I apologize for not giving you a granddaughter.”

 

“Yes, I am deeply grieved. To have borne a son.”

 

“Y-Your Majesty… Still, it is your first grandchild, so p-please look upon him fondly—”

 

“Vivian.”

 

An absolute ruler has no need to conceal his mood. In the mad emperor’s low call, his sunken displeasure was laid bare.

 

“Ever since I learned of your pregnancy, my sleep has not been peaceful.”

 

“What?”

 

“I frequently dreamed prophetic dreams.”

 

“…!”

 

Sharp intakes of breath sounded from all around. Everyone knew. His neurotic obsession with prophecies and his paranoia. When that flared up, the mad emperor always did something insane.”

 

“Y-Your Majesty… p-please…” Sister Vivian’s voice, pale as death and trembling, was almost indistinguishable from a sob.

 

As no one stepped forward, I urged myself on. If I remained silent and did nothing here, I would suffer from the memory of this moment for the rest of my life. “Your Majesty.” My throat felt tight, but I forced the words out. “He does not even cry and is gentle. A baby who resembles Sister Vivian and behaves so charmingly, how could he possibly dare to threaten Your Majesty?”

 

“The fact that he does not cry makes him all the more extraordinary. In my presence, and already showing such spirit?”

 

“…”

 

“Sasha, be quiet.” Feigning the manner of a kind father, the mad emperor warned me. There was only one chance for a pardonable remonstration. “Now, where was I? Ah, yes. The prophecy.”

 

With a crooked smile, the mad emperor continued. “How strange. I clearly eliminated the danger foretold in the prophecy, yet why does this discomfort remain? As a test, I even killed Count Gawain, but my mood did not improve at all. So I gave it some thought.” He turned his head toward the doorway. “Lord Ronde.”

 

“Y-Yes, Your Majesty.”

 

“Stand beside the cradle.”

 

On the left, the baby’s cradle. On the right, Lord Ronde. The mad emperor placed them symmetrically within his field of vision, as though suspending them on an invisible scale.

 

“So I thought. A grandson is a son, and a son-in-law is also a son, is he not?”

 

“Y-Your Majesty!”

 

Sister Vivian and Lord Ronde cried out at the same time.

 

“Who is the problem, I wonder.”

 

“Your Majesty, please…!”

 

“The grandson? Or the son-in-law?”

 

“Father!”

 

“Or both?”

 

“I, your daughter, beg you like this. I beg you earnestly, please…!”

 

Pleading did not reach the monster who had shut his eyes and ears.

 

“Lord Ronde, what do you think? Of the two, you are the only one who has a mouth capable of reason. Care to give your opinion?”

 

“S-Spare us! Please spare us, Your Majesty!”

 

“So then, whom?”

 

“…!”

 

Hope flickered in the eyes of Lord Ronde, who had been prostrated and trembling on the floor. The mad emperor had clearly given him the choice.

 

Lord Ronde turned toward Sister Vivian. “Princess Vivian.”

 

“E-Elimond…?”

 

“We can have another child. Right?”

 

“…!” Vivian was too shocked to even scream.

 

Aah, so it comes to this. Today, the mad emperor and Lord Ronde once again proved the common truth of the imperial palace. A father kills his child. He kills, in the end.

 

“It’s decided. Dominic, deal with it.”

 

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

 

Unlike before, Dominic put his gloves back on before lifting the child and heading toward the door. Even the mad emperor didn’t stop him from handling it outside.

 

“No! Nooo—!” Sister Vivian rolled violently off the bed, seemingly unable to feel even the pain. Unable to rise, she tried to chase after Dominic on her knees.

 

At that, the mad emperor signaled the maids of the Blue Wave Room. They wrapped themselves around their mistress and held her back with their whole bodies. The princess and maids alike were weeping in ruin.

 

After a while, Dominic returned. He held out a blood-soaked dagger as proof.

 

“Hm? I thought you’d at least cut off a piece to bring back.”

 

“Please be lenient, Your Majesty. I cannot afford to lose more points here, can I?”

 

“Aah, afraid Rosasia might be shocked? How very attentive of you.”

 

In a room steeped in despair, only the tongues of the master and his servant were at ease.

 

“Ah, aah… Aah… Aaaargh!” Driven to her limit, Vivian clawed at her own face as she screamed. She did something that would have been unimaginable for her usual self. “Mad Emperor!” Bloodshot eyes turned toward her father. “Must you kill even your child’s child to be satisfied? You fathers! Why are you so desperate to kill your own children!”

 

“…”

 

“I hate you. I will curse you until this soul burns to ashes, Mad Emperor!”

 

“…”

 

Those were words only someone staking her life could utter. Everyone was stunned by the sight of her, so unlike her usual gentle, weak self. But the mad emperor merely curved his eyes softly and looked at Vivian with a smile. I knew that look in his eyes.

 

“Indeed, a flower is most beautiful when it bears poison and thorns.”

 

It was the gaze he wore when admiring a prized possession.

 

“It seems my eldest daughter has lost her sanity. Until I decide her punishment, she is to remain in confinement in her chambers.”

 

“…”

 

“Self-harm will not be tolerated. Should that occur, I will have the maids of the Blue Wave Room beheaded.” With that command, the mad emperor rose from the stool. He strode past the princesses, who hurriedly bowed their heads, and headed toward the bedroom door. “Oh, that’s right.”

 

Just before crossing the threshold, he stopped. As if recalling something forgotten, he turned back to look at Lord Ronde. “Since he dared choose to harm the imperial blood, deal with Lord Ronde as well.”

 

“Y-Your Majesty? W-Weren’t you going to spare—?”

 

“Let’s go, Lord Ronde.” Dominic seized Lord Ronde’s arm and dragged him away under the guise of a polite escort.

 

“T-This can’t be! P-Please spare me, Your Majesty!”

 

This time, none of the princesses were surprised. They had known it would end this way.

 

From the chambers now under confinement, we princesses, including myself, were driven out as though chased away. It seemed that walking out of the room on their own feet had already been the limit of their strength. One by one, they staggered. The personal knights who had been waiting in the parlor hurried to their respective princesses and supported them.

 

“Sasha.”

 

I did not collapse. There was something I had to do, so I clenched my teeth and endured. Grabbing hold of Regen’s arm, I stared into the empty air. “There’s somewhere I need to go.”