The Sweet Alpha Crown Prince Loves Me So Much Chapter 134

Chapter 134

“My goodness, what happened to you, Adrian?”

The Empress covered her mouth with her hand, repeatedly examining Adrian’s face.

“Nothing happened.”

Adrian, his hands clasped behind his back, answered nonchalantly, but the Emperor clicked his tongue openly.

“What do you mean, nothing happened? Your mother went to the trouble of giving you that handsome face, but right now, it’s not a pretty sight.”

Adrian pouted and turned his head away sharply.

He may have been a top-tier Alpha and the Crown Prince, but he was still only human, and his eyes were swollen shut after crying all night.

“The carp living in that pond over there is better-looking today.”

“What are you talking about? My dear, it’s all right. You’re still more handsome.”

The Emperor and Empress had a grand time gossiping as they admired their son’s puffy face.

It had been three days since Carl Lindbergh’s return. They had stayed put, as he needed absolute rest after the great ordeal, but they were glad to see Adrian, who had arrived late for his duties, looking immensely relieved.

For the past two days, he had worn a face like death whenever he showed up, so they had been worried sick.

It wasn’t as if they didn’t know why Adrian had been so morose.

The news that Carl Lindbergh had faced Mugicha alone had eventually reached the Empress’s ears, and that night, her belly had tightened.

The Emperor had thrown a fit, saying he ought to spank Carl Lindbergh, while the Empress had to calm her husband down.

“So, when will that boy, Carl, recover?”

After a good while of laughing and talking, Glenn’s expression changed as he asked Adrian.

“Well. They say he needs to rest for at least another week.”

At his somewhat cagey attitude, Theresa’s eyes narrowed.

“You’re not planning to keep him in that state forever, are you?”

Hit right on the mark, Adrian tilted his head.

“Of course not. It just seemed that rushing his treatment wouldn’t be good, so I’ve taken measures to have him recover as slowly as possible.”

The Emperor crossed his arms and declared that they should tie Carl’s feet, and the Empress, after slapping his back, widened her eyes.

“Recovering slowly is fine, but you’re not planning to keep him completely bedridden in the meantime, are you?”

“I’m not sure about that either. The physician said absolute rest…”

Again, he turned his head away, avoiding the Empress’s gaze. It was an all-too-familiar situation, and the Empress couldn’t even smile as she called, “Adrian, my son.”

Emperor Glenn clapped his hands and pushed the Crown Prince’s back.

“Just lock the door. What will you do if he wanders around like a lovesick puppy and gets hurt again?”

“I would love nothing more, but as you know, he gets sick at heart if he doesn’t meet people.”

Adrian’s eyes drooped as if he truly lamented his inability to tie Carl down.

“Ah, what, is he never going to meet anyone again? Just try locking the door for a year or two. The world will seem so scary he won’t dare step out. That’s what humans are like…!”

As the saying goes, blood is thicker than water, and the Emperor, sympathizing with Adrian’s pain as a fellow Alpha, chimed in enthusiastically. That is, until his cheek grew hot under the Empress’s blazing glare, and he shut his mouth.

The Empress sighed, shaking her head.

“Adrian, I’m asking you this earnestly. Please let that child be free, at least within the palace walls. If it’s really not possible, at least let him see my face.”

“…..”

Adrian couldn’t bring himself to say no and simply clamped his mouth shut.

Carl Lindbergh must be getting antsy by now, but Adrian still wasn’t confident. Understanding him and ruminating on the image of him turning away were two different things.

What if, by a one-in-a-million chance…

“Adrian, please ask him for me. Ask if your mother may come to see him.”

Adrian, who had as much of a weak spot for the Empress as Emperor Glenn did, made a reluctant face but soon nodded.

After Adrian left, Glenn swept the Empress up in his arms as if he had been waiting.

“Why do you wish to see that child?”

“I want to comfort him.”

She wanted to see Carl Lindbergh as soon as possible. She was worried about how lonely the parentless child must have been while at odds with his one and only mate.

“Comfort him? He needs a stern scolding.”

Tsk. To worry his parents without knowing his place in the world.

Glenn wore a displeased expression, but Theresa knew. She knew he had been secretly regretting his decision and worrying his heart out.

This grumbling was likely a reaction to that.

“My love.”

“What is it?”

Glenn’s voice was sullen as he carried the Empress toward the bedroom.

“Don’t be too hard on Carl. He surely acted that way because he’s used to deciding and doing everything on his own.”

The Empress leaned against her husband’s chest.

Carl Lindbergh. He was as good as someone without parents.

Theresa was well aware of what the King and Queen of Lindbergh had been like.

Though the current emperor, Glenn, was practically at odds with Lindbergh, news of them continued to reach him.

The way they had raised the Lindbergh siblings was truly akin to abuse.

There was no affection, only utility, by which they distinguished their children—neglecting one and raising the other to be ill-mannered.

It was a good thing Carl had lost his memories midway through; otherwise, it was all too obvious that his life was on a path destined to end in ruin.

Was it because she was a mother herself? To the Empress’s eyes, Carl’s shortcomings and his desperate struggles, because he knew them all too well, were clearly visible.

“Even if you call it a weed, it sprouts from a seed and takes root. A flower in the garden is raised with a canopy for shade and watered at the right times, but that child had to choose the very ground to root himself in. With delicate roots that would wither if he didn’t live desperately. I find that so very pitiful.”

A child cannot choose their parents, can they?

Since we will be family anyway, we should be his shield. To the Empress, who asked if he would raise a switch to a grown child first, Glenn could only nod.

Glenn, too, knew it vaguely.

Carl’s posture, lowered to withstand the harsh storms of life, was precarious, but when he stood tall, it was always because there was something he wanted to protect behind him.

“He is a good child. I hope he comes to want more. I hope he learns to reach out his hand first, rather than just taking one that’s offered.”

The Empress opened her arms and hugged her husband tightly.

As her belly was pressed, the baby, who had been quiet, gave a little leap. Because of this, the Empress, who had been joyfully hugging him, had to stop and hold her belly.

Glenn frowned and glared at the Empress’s belly.

“This one always has to interfere.”

His tone was gruff, but the hand stroking the Empress’s belly was gentle.

Glenn’s precious second baby would soon see the light of the world. The birth of a lovely child would be met with everyone’s admiration. But Carl Lindbergh. What had his life been like?

There was a time I found that child annoying and, to be blunt, detestable. But looking back, he must have been anxious, living a life without a fence to protect him.

That was why he had secretly looked forward to the child’s change, and it was true that he had been happy watching him grow day by day.

Glenn played with his hand as if greeting the baby in the womb, then pressed a kiss to the Empress’s hair.

“How could I ever win against you? Let us be his windbreak.”

“As I thought, there’s no one like you.”

A wide grin spread across Glenn’s face.

It was thanks to the words, “There’s no one like you,” which he had heard about a hundred times in his life.

 

***

 

Carl Lindbergh sat facing the Empress, feeling like a sinner.

As Carl continuously fidgeted with his fingers, Adrian stroked his back.

The Emperor, who was in a good mood after receiving a bellyful of the Empress’s praises, had hurried his son along. It was because he was concerned his wife’s silent suffering would drag on.

When Adrian had asked Carl if he wanted to see the Empress, he had nodded without hesitation.

Thanks to that, Theresa, who had graciously paid a visit that evening, clicked her tongue repeatedly upon seeing Carl’s swollen wrist.

“And this isn’t a broken bone?”

“It’s because it was dislocated and then forcefully set without a proper splint.”

When the Empress’s face fell at Adrian’s explanation, Carl added that there was less pain than it looked, comforting her.

The Empress inspected Carl from head to toe.

His red eyes and nose were likely for the same reason as her son’s, and his swollen lips were…

The Empress’s sharp gaze turned to Adrian, who feigned ignorance, needlessly adjusting Carl Lindbergh’s collar.

What did you do to a sick child?

He’s becoming more like his father by the day.

As Carl grew restless under the Empress’s piercing glare, he was the first to speak.

“Um, Your Majesty the Empress. How is your health?”

“Better than ever. I’m as excited as I was for my first birth.”

The Empress patted the spot next to her.

After a moment’s hesitation, Carl moved to sit beside Theresa.

“Would you like to touch it?”

Wiping his hands on his trousers, Carl placed a hand on Theresa’s belly, his expression filled with wonder.

“Ah, it’s moving.”

The birth was imminent, so the movements weren’t as vigorous as before, but it felt as though the baby was tapping on the belly from inside. It even seemed to welcome Carl’s touch, moving delicately along with his hand.

“I think he likes his brother and brother-in-law very much. Whenever he hears Adrian’s and Carl’s voices, it seems he wakes up and says he wants to play.”

Theresa gently closed her eyes.

As if to share the fetal movement with him, she placed her hand over Carl’s.

It was a little different from Adrian’s, but a warm, smooth hand slowly patted the back of Carl’s hand.

At the silent comfort, Carl couldn’t hold back and offered Theresa an apology.

“I am sorry, Your Majesty. I almost got Adrian…”

I almost hurt him. Carl wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

“Carl, don’t apologize.”

Adrian opened his mouth to stop Carl, but Theresa was a step ahead. She still had her eyes closed.

“You were only trying to sacrifice yourself in place of Adrian and those around you. Adrian may have gotten angry first, worried that something might happen to you, but it all worked out in the end, didn’t it? There’s no need to apologize to me.”

Theresa had come here because she was curious about Carl. She had come to soothe him and see if he was all right, not to receive an apology.

“But your son…”

Perfect lineage, an untarnished reputation, and a strong family bond.

Could he, Carl, ever mix with them? A belated fear spread through him.

A prince in name only. An outsider who didn’t even properly understand the world he was in. A fierce wave crashed in the heart of the weakened Carl Lindbergh.

Am I not just a sandcastle, doomed to crumble once the foundation is exposed?

At Carl’s anxious appearance, Theresa gave him a gentle smile.

“I am worried about you, Carl Lindbergh, so why are you thinking of other things? You are like a son to me, Carl. Do you see me only as Adrian’s mother?”

Though she drew out her words as if she were disappointed, an empress was still an empress. At her dignified tone, Carl shook his head.

“No. That’s not it.”

“Then why are you apologizing? Should I be rebuking you? How is that any different from me scolding Adrian in front of you because you came back hurt?”

As she spoke, patting the back of his hand in a steady rhythm, the storm in Carl’s heart subsided.

“I was being short-sighted.”

Theresa smiled like a young girl.

“I am only grateful that you endured it well, even though it must have been frightening and painful, Carl Lindbergh.”

In the end, tears welled up in Carl’s eyes.

What a crybaby. Theresa playfully stroked Carl Lindbergh’s head.

Watching the two of them look so affectionate, Adrian cast aside his dignity as Crown Prince and chose to join in.

The sight of them all lined up on one sofa, hands layered on the Empress’s belly in a close embrace, was so comical that a servant who entered at just the right moment broke into a broad grin.