A Contract Marriage with My Child’s Father - Chapter 57

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 57

“Yes, Duke. Have you been well all this time?”

“Yes.”

“….”

A concise answer.

Indeed, his response to greetings was as bleak now as it had always been.

The Emperor clicked his tongue and pressed on.

“Duke. Aren’t you curious about how I’ve been? Hm? It’s been so long since we’ve met, yet you’re being so cold.”

“….”

“Hm? Shouldn’t you at least ask if I’ve been well all this time?”

As Walter deliberately became more bothersome, Cain asked with soulless eyes, displaying not an ounce of creativity and doing exactly as told.

“Have Your Majesty been well all this time?”

“Yes! I’ve been doing great, of course. I couldn’t help but be well. You have no idea how wonderful things have been lately.”

Though it was like bowing to receive worship, the Emperor didn’t mind at all.

As if he had been waiting, Walter began pouring out his boastful chatter.

“Oh, look at this. When we were young, my Empress gave me this handkerchief, you see? But this time, our Remiel gave me something like this.”

The Emperor fumbled around in his chest and pulled out two items.

The first was a handkerchief with elaborate eagle embroidery, but worn and faded with the traces of time.

And the other was a new handkerchief with the same embroidery, crooked but somehow recognizable.

Seeing this, the Empress grabbed the Emperor’s sleeve in horror.

“Your Majesty! How many times have I told you to please throw away that worn-out thing? Please maintain your dignity as the Emperor of the Empire!”

“Empress. Are you telling me to throw away my treasure? Even though you’re my wife, I cannot listen to those words.”

The Emperor and Empress had a small quarrel.

The Empress averted her gaze with a reddened face as if embarrassed….

Not only the emotionless Cain, but even the attendants around could tell.

This was nothing more than showing off disguised as a quarrel.

My wife gave me a handkerchief filled with love when she was young, I still treasure that precious thing, and even my lovely daughter who resembles my wife gave me a gift with the same embroidery sewn with clumsy hands.

—It was a very highly calculated form of bragging.

Cain, hoping the story would end, gave the response he had learned the Emperor preferred.

“What a harmonious family. You must be happy.”

But the Emperor didn’t stop. He grumbled with a troubled expression.

“Not quite. It’s not all good things, you know. Just today, for instance. It’s our Max’s twelfth birthday, but does this make sense?”

The Emperor called his son Maximilian by his nickname and added in a lamenting tone.

“I wanted to hold a grand banquet since it’s the Crown Prince’s birthday, but Max was so stubborn about wanting to spend this one quietly with just family. These are the problems that arise when a family is harmonious.”

“….”

“Hm? Do you understand this father’s heart, unable to even throw a birthday banquet for his son despite being Emperor?”

“Oh, Father!”

Maximilian, who had been tense ever since Cain’s arrival, scolded as if embarrassed.

“Please stop it!”

“My. When family members get angry, I can’t say a word. Duke! Stand up. Let’s continue the rest of our conversation outside the greenhouse.”

Walter grumbled as if being pushed out by his family’s nagging and led Cain outside.

However, even the bird sitting on that tree branch and the flower petals swaying below knew.

This too was nothing but showing off.

I want to give my son only the best, but my wise Crown Prince values simple family memories more than lavish banquets. Our son is so modest and filial.

Something like that kind of bragging.

Originally, the highly developed speech patterns of middle-aged men were no different from the social conversation patterns of noble young ladies.

Despite taking this entire bombardment of nonsense head-on, there was no change in Cain’s expression.

He was already somewhat accustomed to it, so he had long since let it go in one ear and out the other.

Of course, Walter wasn’t one to let this slide.

“Duke. What’s with that cold expression? Hm? Are you envious?”

Once they were outside the greenhouse and alone, the Emperor threw out a pointed joke while laughing heartily.

“A person should have a better disposition. Haha! If you’re that envious, why don’t you get married too?”

Perhaps somewhat tired of it as well, Cain, who had been silently unresponsive, gave his first proper retort.

“If it’s so wonderful, why don’t you do it every year?”

“…!”

Even though it was clearly sarcastic, Walter only replied with a pleased face.

“Actually, when I asked if we could hold another ceremony for our wedding anniversary this time, the Empress scolded me for wasting the national treasury.”

Oh, my poor fate.

A frivolous sigh that didn’t match the dignified and noble face of the distinguished middle-aged man flowed from his lips.

When they reached about the middle of the greenhouse, the Emperor’s playful eyes suddenly changed.

A different kind of seriousness settled in his previously light pupils.

“Duke. Marriage is a good thing.”

That was sincerity disguised as a joke.

The Emperor hadn’t called Cain to such a harmonious gathering just to act troublesome for no reason.

Of course, it was partly to deceive any potential watching eyes.

But more than that, it was because he wanted to show Cain the happiness called family in his own way.

‘Though the Duke probably thinks I’ve gone senile and am being ridiculous.’

In truth, the Emperor genuinely cared for Cain.

On some day long ago, now only a hazy memory.

His sister had once told him that when he truly met someone to love, only then would he come to love the Empire and its people even more.

He didn’t understand the meaning in his youth, but now he does.

Those we love are the source that makes us want to live in this world.

Walter had originally cared for his people, but becoming devoted to his wife and having and raising children made him an even more dedicated monarch.

So that his wife could be happy.

And so that his children could be happy.

It was thanks to the intense desire to protect the people his family loved.

Perhaps because of such experience, Walter hoped that Cain too would someday come to know such emotions.

People can only love other things when they are in love.

Though he was now no different from a machine moving only on duty, if Cain Ashern also came to know love, something might change.

So even knowing it wouldn’t have much effect, Walter found himself nagging Cain to get married every time they met.

Even knowing it was his own unnecessary desire.

The Emperor gazed quietly at Cain standing silently.

‘But it seems this year is also a lost cause.’

At twenty-six, it was time to find a partner.

True to his emotionless dragon blood nature, he had shown no such signs yet.

Even when he tried to arrange matches, Cain would refuse like a blade.

‘I wish someone would take this stoic fellow away.’

Being such an impregnable fortress, it didn’t seem likely.

But unusually, Cain opened his mouth in a dry voice.

“I don’t really understand what emotions like liking and disliking are in the first place.”

Hmm.

“Don’t think about it too complicatedly. It might be a much simpler matter than you think.”

Even knowing that Cain hadn’t spoken seeking a specific explanation, the Emperor continued his words carefully.

“To like something, you see. It means thinking about it continuously. No matter what you do, whatever you see, it keeps coming to mind.”

“….”

“When I see flowers blooming on the roadside, I think of the Empress, and even when I eat something delicious, I think of the Empress first. Don’t you have such an existence?”

Cain unusually listened to the Emperor’s words.

Something that comes to mind.

Flowers are just flowers. Nothing more or less than plants.

It was the same with food. It was merely a means to survive, nothing more—he felt no response to it.

That’s how it had always been his entire life, and it would never change in the future—

That was the moment.

Suddenly, some voice brushed through his desolate mind.

“Wow. These are silver moon flowers! I heard they’re incredibly difficult to grow, so the gardener must be really skilled.”

That voice that had laughed cheerfully while gently caressing the white petals.

It was Viola.

For some reason, Cain was thinking of Viola.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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