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Chapter 4 - What Happened in the Banquet Hall
Translated by Wook
Edited by Wook
On the day of Leon’s birthday banquet, Elisha woke up earlier than usual.
Even though the 2nd Palace was located in a remote area within the Imperial Palace, and was quite small in scale, it was still superior to an ordinary mansion.
Elisha left the central building, which had several rooms, including a parlor and a dining room, and headed to the right annex on a separate building.
It was used by Leon, who was not given a palace because he was still young and Elisha was in a weak position.
As Elisha approached, the two knights guarding the annex looked surprised.
She seldom came to visit the 3rd Prince, but Elisha wondered if they did not know that she puts the child to sleep before going back to bed these days.
Until she entered the annex.
The moment the face of the maid turned blue when she entered, Elisa felt that there was something wrong.
The energy inside the annex was also unusually low.
Elisha raised one of her hands to prevent the handmaiden from turning away.
“Sshh.”
And spread her other index finger and placed it in front of her lips.
Elisha didn’t know what kind of gaze she had, but as the handmaiden stood still, her body shook like she’s about to faint.
Elisha ignored the maid and moved closer to the door.
As she was holding her breath, the voice of Mrs. SuarĂ©, the child’s nanny, came through the crack in the door.
“Your Highness, can’t you hold yourself from wetting the bed? How disappointed the 2nd Empress would be when she knew? Rumors will spread throughout the Imperial Palace during the day that the 2nd Empress’ son is not good enough to do anything aside from wetting his bed like an idiot even though he has reached this age. The 2nd Empress will not be able to carry her face
”
Elisha did not ask the maid next to her what was going on. She didn’t even check if this was a common occurrence.
Gwang!
Elisha smashed her door open and strode into the room.
What caught her eye was the scene of a middle-aged woman standing in the corner while holding a wet bed sheet in her hand, and a child sitting at the edge of the bed opposite her, cowering even more in his little body.
The sight of him shivering with his face lowered made the child, who had always acted like an adult, look his age, or even younger than that at the moment.
“Y- Your Majesty. What brings you here at this hour
”
Mrs. Suaré realized too late and tried to rectify the situation.
She didn’t know how far Elisha had heard, so she kept blinking to ask the maid who was looking at them through the open door, but the maid still had not come to her senses.
Elisha approached her child and hid him behind her back before facing Mrs. Suaré.
Silver wick bloomed in Elisha’s sky blue eyes, thorns sprouted and formed a vine.
It was alive.
“Hiiiiy!”
Mrs. Suaré stepped back and fell on her buttocks.
The bed sheet that was soaked in urine was draped over the hem of her skirt.
“I didn’t know you cared so much about my face. Enough to persecute my child like this.”
“Don’t you know, Your Majesty, I have raised the children of many noble families. In the field of succession wars where all kinds of conspiracies are waged, I have never agreed to a back deal. I speak on my honor, I am innocent. All this is for the 3rd Prince and the 2nd Empress
!”
Elisha cut off Madame Suaré’s words coldly.
“I believe in the innocence of your hands. But is your tongue as innocent as your hands?”
After saying these words, Elisha ground her teeth.
She had especially asked Asensio to choose a nanny who was well-known in this field.
It is said that there have been occasional problems with her rather strict discipline, but Elisha appreciated this character.
There were others who wanted her aside from the 3rd Prince, but Mrs. SuarĂ© wanted to have career experience in caring for the Imperial family, so she and Elisha respected each other’s territories in the unity of their interests.
By chance, when Elisha found out that Leon was unable to hold his urine in the past when he was 8 years old, Mrs. Suaré said that it was the first time.
At that time, Leon, who was very reluctant to eat with Elisha, pretended to eat together, but later could not stand the pressure. Mrs. Suaré advised her to keep a little distance from the child to put his mind at ease, and Elisha agreed.
Later, when Elisha checked Leon’s condition, she heard that he was already better.
Mrs. Suaré left the Imperial Palace when Leon started formal education at the age of 9. It was said that she had gone somewhere with better treatment with career experience as a nanny to the Imperial family.
But that wasn’t the case.
The child had had this problem for a long time, and had to hide it without even telling his mother, Ellisa.
No, he had to follow Mrs. Suaré’s words while receiving threats that she would tell Elisa if he behaved badly.
“If I had known that your strict discipline is the kind that corroded my docile, lovable child, I would never have allowed you to come.”
“Your Majesty!”
“Get out this instant! Go out and wait! I will deal with this later! Disappear before my child!”
Elisha might have torn and killed Mrs. Suaré right away, had it not been for the little child trembling behind her.
In the end, Mrs. Suaré got her body up and staggered out.
As soon as Mrs. Suaré left the annex along with the dazed maid, the surroundings soon became silent.
Elisha looked at the bed sheet that Mrs. Suaré had thrown aside and turned around.
Her child still had not lifted his head.
Elisha leaned over her body and placed one of her knees on the floor.
She was now at the height at which the child’s top of the head is directly visible.
Elisha’s finger rested on the child’s head.
Tok, tok.
Her fingertips moved gently to tap his head.
Elisha waited until the child calmed down.
Some time passed.
“I’m sorry, Mother.”
“For what?”
“I made a mistake, and made Mother ashamed.”
“But, this mother doesn’t feel ashamed at all though?”
At those words, the child raised his face slightly.
Elisha looked into the boy’s blue eyes and spoke once more.
“What is there to be ashamed of?”
“But it’s dirty.”
“Is your urine that dirty? In her childhood, this mother was so thirsty at one time that she thought she would drink even drink urine.”
“
 What?”
This time, Leon completely raised his face and met Elisha’s gaze.
Elisha bent her eyes a little, thinking that she’s finally taking care of him like a mother should.
Leon then said that his mother must be joking.
But of course, Elisha did not know how to joke.
***
It was early and the child had been startled, so Elisha insisted on putting the child on the bed and letting him rest a little more.
How can he not feel humiliated just because he’s young?
In most cases, the adults are the reason why young children, who can’t even do much, are put in such situations. Usually, it is not the child’s fault.
Children have not yet learned why they have to put up with today to continue tomorrow.
The current wound, which will leave marks as soon as they are pressed, will be too great for the child.
As the body and mind grow, the wounds will become smaller, but will the pain that shook the source be lessened as well?
The deep-rooted pain must have penetrated to the very end and had already affected the child.
So, although it may not be possible to get rid of the wounds that have already occurred entirely, Elisha whispered several times so that he could heal well and as quickly as possible.
“Anyone can make mistakes. It’s bad for someone like Mrs. SuarĂ© to threaten people with their mistakes as an excuse. It’s Mother’s fault for not recognizing such a person sooner. Do you understand? Mother is sorry, Leon.”
“I understand. Please stop it, Mother,” said Leon, who was lying down between a new bed sheet and a blanket.
Rather than saying embarrassing things over and over again, Elisha brought up a topic she thought she would have to ask sooner or later.
“Leon, what do you want to be?”
At the sudden question, Leon pulled his head out of the blanket and stared at Elisha.
“It’s what you want to become in the future. For example
 an emperor.”
“Who will sit on the next great throne has already been decided, Mother.”
“Any prince can become an emperor, Leon.”
“But I don’t want it. Brother Asensio is more worthy of the throne than anyone else. I don’t want to fight him, Mother.”
“That’s right. I should have asked you earlier. What you want. What I think is the biggest and best thing you want may be different, but I didn’t know that.
The tragedy had been decided from then on.
But that’s fine.
The time to come will be different from before.
After confirming Leon’s answer, Elisha planned to reestablish her relationship between Crown Prince Asensio and Marquis Blemir.
Meanwhile, when Elisha was silent, Leon tossed and turned.
“Would you like to sleep some more, Leon?”
“No, it’s just that
 Actually, there was something I wanted to be.”
Hmm?
“There was something I wanted to be, and I did try to be, but I couldn’t. They said I’m a child because I believe in that. How could they say that?”
The child had just been scolded for wetting the bed a while ago, but Elisha found his dissatisfaction right now funny. Her eyes were twinkling, which is unlike her usual self.
So, Elisha agreed with him because she was feeling good.
“That’s right. Our Leon is not a child, so they shouldn’t say that. So, what did you want to be? Tell me.”
Elisha was determined to make it happen, so she focused her attention.
“Dragon.”
“
Dragon?”
You want to become a dragon from legend?
No matter how Elisha was, this was too much.
Elisha remained silent, as if she had never been so embarrassed even if she had added all of her past and present life, and remained silent.
“Well, you could be that I guess. But, why a dragon?”
Elisha tried to sympathize with him as much as possible without being awkward.
However, Leon looked at his mother as if he found her absurd.
“How can a person become a dragon, Mother?”
“But, you
”
As Elisha tried to implore with her mouth slightly open, Leon shrugged his shoulders.
“I’m not stupid. But still, Mother, I won’t be a dragon, but I will definitely be a dragon’s friend.”
This time, he was so serious that anyone could immediately tell that it wasn’t a joke.
In gratitude for the innocence remaining within these blue eyes, Elisha curled up her lips.
“Is that so? A dragon’s friend, that’s great.”
“Isn’t it? To be a dragon’s friend, you have to study really hard and become a good person. Dragons aren’t going to be friends with anyone.”
“You’re right.”
“So when we become friends, there is something I want to ask the dragon.”
“Ask the dragon? What do you want to ask? Will you tell me?”
As Elisha’s eyes lit up, Leon said, putting his hand on the back of her hand, which was patting his chest.
“To give me half of his heart. If I can be a dragon, I can just take mine off, but since I can’t, I’ll have to ask my dragon friend.”
“Half of his heart? Will the dragon give it to you?”
A dragon’s heart is the treasure of heaven and the core of a dragon’s power.
“We’re friends. Why won’t he give it to me? I think if my friend’s mom is sick and needs half of my heart, I’ll take it off.”
In an instant, Elisha lost her words.
He thought that if it was a dragon’s heart, a crystallization of the power of a dragon, it would be able to fix his mother’s body that was broken while giving birth to him.
When did he know about this?
Who told the child about what his mother had to lose because of him?
Would his mother have been hurt if it weren’t for him?
Elisha, who had been smiling at the young child ever since the first time she saw him, was crying.
“Mother, are you crying again? Why did you become a crybaby? Mother told me a secret, so I told you one too. Did you not like it?”
“No. I’m crying because I’m happy. I should give happiness to you, Leon, but I keep getting it instead. I’m sorry.”
Leon tilted his head as if he didn’t understand Elisha’s words, but eventually got up and hugged his mother.
Elisha spoke into her son’s ear.
“Happy birthday, Leon. Thank you for being born. I never once resented you. Thank you for coming to me.  I’ve always, always thought so. I just couldn’t say it.”
Little Leon listened to his mother’s words over and over again and patted her on the back as she had done to him.
The mother and child shared each other’s warmth like that.
Until the morning of the banquet dawned.