I Won’t Pick Up The T*ash I Threw Away Again - Chapter 202

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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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#202

“Leilah, how much do you know about me?”

It’s not about the imperial consort… is it?

No, the conversation wasn’t completely over yet, so I couldn’t feel relieved.

I steadied my unsteady, wavering heart and looked at Kalian.

Right now, answering Kalian’s question was the priority.

“In what sense are you asking?”

“Anything. You can tell me everything you know about me.”

It was a question that demanded too broad an answer.

Not knowing where or how to start, I organized my thoughts for a moment, then began with the most basic thing.

“Your Majesty is Emperor Callian de Chepel Yusbeldya, who rules the Cardrin Empire that occupies more than half the continent.”

“I thought you’d tell me something else first, but you start with that from the beginning.”

Kalian smiled bitterly as he picked up his wine glass.

“You know how I became emperor, don’t you?”

“…Yes.”

How could I not know?

The fact that he killed his half-brothers and imperial consorts to become emperor was something all the empire’s citizens knew.

“Do you also know why I made that choice?”

“To survive… wasn’t it?”

Most people believed that, but this was just speculation.

Kalian had never once officially stated why he made that choice.

But it wasn’t baseless speculation. Considering the background of how he lived, it was quite possible.

Moreover, historically, imperial heirs killing each other to become emperor was a frequent occurrence, so everyone including myself thought Kalian was the same.

Kalian chuckled at my answer.

“To survive. That’s right.”

So my guess was correct after all.

I thought it might not be, but there was no surpri…

“Though the subject of survival wasn’t me.”

…there was no surprise?

At his cryptic words, I looked at Kalian, and he smiled as he set down his empty wine glass.

“You know I’m a bastard born from a maid’s womb, right?”

“Yes.”

“And you know that a bastard, especially one with the blood of a mere maid, has a very poor position.”

Of course I knew. I was in the same situation myself.

“Thanks to having blue hair and blue eyes as proof of the Blue Dragon’s blessing, and the power to control water, I was acknowledged as a prince, but that was all. I received no treatment as a prince whatsoever.”

Kalian poured wine into his empty glass.

“I had no attendants, let alone proper servants, and received no education as a prince. My other brothers would point fingers and mock me.”

Veins stood out slightly on Kalian’s hand as he picked up the wine glass again.

“Even my father, the former emperor, who made such a great contribution to my birth, ignored me.”

Kalian’s eyes darkened.

Looking at those eyes, I suddenly recalled a phrase written in the materials Kalian had given me before.

Why can’t children choose their parents?

There were many other phrases written there, but this sentence remained most memorable.

“I, who lived being treated worse than a beast, only received proper treatment after meeting the former Empress.”

“When you say former Empress, do you mean Empress Solia?”

There were two former empresses in total, so I needed to clarify precisely.

“Yes. She saved me when I had fallen into the gutter.”

I recalled Empress Solia, whom I had seen just once from a distance.

Sollia de Chepel Yusbeldia.

Her name before marriage was Sollia Giltian.

She was the second daughter of the Giltian Duchy who became crown princess at 15, and naturally became empress when the former emperor ascended the throne at 25.

“I met her when I was 8 years old.”

Kalian began a rather long story while tilting his wine glass.

Empress Solia was publicly a virtuous and highly respected good empress, but she had one major problem.

She couldn’t bear a legitimate heir to continue the lineage.

Because of this, princes born to imperial consorts ran rampant, and Empress Solia’s position became increasingly narrow.

“As her position narrowed, Her Majesty the Empress suffered greatly in her heart. She always wished to bear a son, and perhaps because of that, she cherished me like her own son.”

When the wine glass became empty, I silently refilled it.

Kalian nodded his thanks and continued speaking.

“Thanks to that, I was finally able to receive treatment befitting a prince. Her Majesty the Empress even held my first birthday celebration.”

Perhaps recalling that time, Kalian smiled faintly while tracing around his wine glass with his finger.

It was a genuinely happy smile.

From his smile, I could glimpse how much Kalian had loved Empress Solia.

“I’m only saying this now, but I hoped Her Majesty the Empress would never bear a prince.”

“…Because you were afraid of losing her love?”

“Yes. It’s quite a childish thought, isn’t it?”

Kalian asked with a self-deprecating laugh.

“No.”

“You don’t need to comfort me with lies.”

“I truly don’t think it was childish.”

Kalian would have been at most around 10 years old at the time. It was a reasonable age to have such thoughts, and he was in a position to think that way.

I would have done the same in his position.

That’s why I answered no, but Kalian looked at me with slight surprise.

“…I’m happy you say that.”

He scratched around his chin somewhat bashfully, then began his story again.

“Fortunately, Her Majesty the Empress continued to cherish me like her own son even after Hes was born. Hes also followed me like a real brother. I too thought of Hes as my real younger brother and took care of him in various ways.”

So this was why Kalian and Prince Hes had an unusually good relationship despite being half-brothers.

This must also be why Kalian spared Prince Hes when he killed all his other half-brothers.

Finally, I understood.

“People around us found it strange that I received Her Majesty the Empress’s favor and whispered about some conspiracy, but I didn’t care. I wasn’t the type to worry about others’ opinions anyway, and I thought it was enough if we were happy.”

“We” must refer to him, Empress Solia, and Prince Hes.

“But happiness didn’t last long. Her Majesty the Empress passed away.”

Right, that’s what happened. And a year later, the former emperor appointed one of the imperial consorts as empress.

That empress also left this world not long after the war broke out.

“Do you know why Empress Solia passed away?”

“Yes. I heard it was from illness.”

“Illness… Yes, that’s what was announced.”

Why is he smiling like that?

Is there some other secret hidden?

“Wasn’t Empress Solia’s death from illness?”

“No.”

Kalian’s expression hardened.

“Her Majesty the Empress was poisoned.”

Not illness but poisoning.

That means someone assassinated Empress Solia.

“That’s impossible…”

It was so absurd and unbelievable that I gasped.

Kalian smiled as if he understood my reaction.

“I also thought she died from illness at first. Her Majesty the Empress had become very weak after giving birth to Hes.”

Thud-!

Kalian violently slammed down his wine glass.

“But… it wasn’t.”

Blue veins bulged on the hand gripping the wine glass.

“Her Majesty the Empress was poisoned to death.”

Seeing how certain he was, it seemed definite that Empress Solia had been poisoned.

Good heavens, poisoning. It was shocking.

Even I, who had no connection to Empress Solia, was this shocked, so how much more so must Kalian be.

“…”

I was about to ask Kalian if he was alright, but I didn’t.

Because of course he wouldn’t be alright. Asking such a thing would only be forcing him to answer that he was fine.

So instead of asking, I gently wrapped my hands around his hand that was gripping the wine glass tightly.

Then Kalian looked at me with slightly surprised eyes.

“…Sorry.”

Soon he smiled dimly and gently clasped my hand in return.

“I got too emotional.”

“It’s okay. So what happened? Did you catch the culprit who dared to poison the Former Empress?”

“No. We couldn’t catch them.”

So they couldn’t catch them after all. It was the answer I had expected.

If they had caught them, the false information that Empress Solia had died of illness wouldn’t be circulating.

“After learning that Her Majesty the Empress had been poisoned, I’ve been steadily trying to catch the culprit until now, but I couldn’t even find a clue.”

“Are there no leads at all?”

“Almost none, I’d say. I only discovered that fact two years after Her Majesty the Empress passed away.”

Two years. It was enough time for the culprit to eliminate evidence and disappear.

“Before Her Majesty the Empress passed away, she repeatedly asked me to take good care of Hes. I did my best to keep that promise.”

But war broke out, and Kalian was ordered by the Former Emperor to participate in the battlefield.

“That’s when problems arose. While I was away, unsavory groups began moving to kill Hes, the legitimate prince.”

“Those groups couldn’t be…”

“That’s right. My half-brothers and their mothers. Especially the 1st Prince was determined to kill Hes.”

The 1st Prince, who had lost his first-place succession rights when Prince Hes was born, tried to kill Prince Hes to regain that qualification.

“Learning of this through Duke Giltian, I hurriedly returned to the capital. And I found Hes hovering between life and death from poison.”

Kalian clasped both hands tightly together. A chilling murderous intent appeared in his darkly sunken eyes.

“So I killed them all. Whether they were my half-brothers or imperial consorts, I killed every single one who tried to kill Hes.”

It was a story that sent chills down my spine just hearing it. Not knowing how to react, I kept my mouth tightly shut.

“While I was causing a bloodbath, the Former Emperor, shocked by it all, suddenly passed away from a heart attack, so someone had to become emperor.”

Kalian’s story continued.

“I naturally tried to make Hes emperor, but then Duke Giltian said something to me.”

“…”

“He told me to become emperor in Hes’s place.”

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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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