* * *
Just as the Crown Prince was preparing to lead his troops out of the Imperial Palace, the Emperor’s attendant arrived and knelt before him.
“Your Highness, His Majesty the Emperor summons you.”
“I have urgent business. I will visit my father later.”
“Your Highness!”
The Crown Prince paid no attention to the attendant as he finished fastening his sword belt around his waist.
At this moment, clearing Joel’s name was far more important than visiting his father’s sickbed.
“Your Highness, do you truly intend to ignore the summons of your father, who has only just regained consciousness after being in a coma for three days?”
“And if I do?”
Faced with the Crown Prince’s unabashed attitude, the attendant looked flustered and speechless.
His face betrayed a genuine lack of understanding as to why the Crown Prince was so concerned over the death of a mere Omega.
But would they have acted as if it were just the death of a fly if the Omega killed so unjustly had been Benjamin or another high noble?
The Crown Prince asked fiercely:
“It’s good you’re here, as I had something I was curious about. Let me ask you one thing. I heard an interesting story during the investigation. Not long after the letter I sent arrived at the Lucas estate, it is said that the Emperor’s attendant visited the mansion. Is that true?”
“T-that is…”
“What was the message my father left for Count Lucas? You delivered it personally, so you must know.” The Crown Prince was already convinced that his father had intervened in Joel’s death. He didn’t want to suspect the father who had promised to spare Joel’s life, but the accident was clearly intentional, and Count Lucas had no reason to kill Joel.
The quick-witted Count would surely have realized the moment he received the letter that the Crown Prince still had feelings for Joel.
He was not a short-sighted man who would kill Joel—who still had utility—just for a momentary vent of anger.
After a silence, the attendant spoke.
“Forgive me for being unable to answer your question. More importantly, Your Highness, you must see His Majesty right now.”
The Crown Prince let out a hollow laugh.
Just as he was about to demand if the attendant was threatening him, a man rushed over and prostrated himself at his feet.
“Y-Your Highness. Young Master Joel’s body has disappeared!”
“What?”
The one who reported this was the knight guarding the basement under the Crown Prince’s orders.
For the past week, the Crown Prince had moved Joel’s body to the cool basement to prevent decay and ordered it to be strictly guarded.
He knew he had to hold a funeral, but he simply could not bring himself to bury Joel in the cold ground like this.
That obsession grew stronger because Joel’s body remained in a state that looked as if he were merely sleeping.
Whether it was due to the cold winter weather or, as the palace people whispered, because Joel’s soul was lingering, the body had not decayed even slightly for a whole week.
Whenever he had a spare moment, the Crown Prince visited Joel, stroking his cheek and kissing his forehead, promising to reveal the injustice and hold a funeral befitting a Crown Princess.
But for Joel to suddenly disappear—it was impossible.
The panicked Crown Prince looked around and locked eyes with the attendant.
The attendant’s eyes glinted meaningfully.
‘Damn it.’
The Crown Prince gritted his teeth. He knew that to them, including his father, Joel had never been seen as an equal human being.
But touching a corpse was a profanation that went too far.
Rage boiled within him at their cold-bloodedness, showing Joel not even a shred of respect.
Furious, the Crown Prince pushed past the attendant and strode toward the Emperor’s bedroom.
“Just how long do you plan to waste your time like this!”
A thunderous scolding fell upon the Crown Prince as he crossed the threshold of the bedroom.
He looked toward his father, who was leaning against the bed with the support of maids.
His father’s condition, after three days of unconsciousness, was now visibly dire.
His cheeks were hollow like those of a dying man, and his eyes were deeply sunken.
Yet, even in that state, his gaze remained piercing.
Even facing his dying father, the Crown Prince felt resentment before sadness, likely because of the cruel actions taken against Joel.
He spoke quietly.
“Where is Joel?”
“Why do you care about a corpse?”
“Father!”
The Emperor, as if his energy had been depleted, leaned on the maid’s shoulder and breathed heavily.
He was in no condition to argue with his son.
The Crown Prince’s heart softened for a moment, but in the next second, when his father said coldly, “I had it cleared away,” he felt his anger surge again.
“Where? Where did you ‘clear away’ that poor child!”
“Since you were so distracted by something useless, I had no choice but to clear it away.”
“Father, Joel is innocent. The matter from before was actually…”
Just as the Crown Prince was about to report the truth of the pregnancy fraud, the Emperor raised a hand to stop him.
“That is not a matter of importance. While this old, sick father was struggling on the border of life and death, you were so preoccupied with useless things that you forgot your duty as the heir to the throne. I heard you haven’t even looked at the portraits of the Crown Princess candidates I sent to your palace?”
The Emperor was pointing out the promise the Crown Prince had made to enter a political marriage in exchange for not executing Joel.
But wasn’t the other side equally guilty of not keeping their word?
The Crown Prince looked at his father, unable to hide his resentment, but the Emperor spoke with an expressionless face as if nothing were wrong.
“There is no more time to drag this out. Hasten the marriage with Princess Josephine of the Kingdom of Palain.”
“…I will. However, clearing Count Lucas’s crimes comes first.” The Crown Prince was certain that even if his cold father didn’t pity Joel, he would agree to bringing down Count Lucas. Unexpectedly, however, the Emperor shook his head.
“Now is not the right time. Information that the domestic situation is unstable seems to have leaked to the Duchy of Luten. Their movements are suspicious, so for the sake of checking them, we must hurry the marriage. Right now, solidifying your foundation is more important than anything else. Count Lucas suffered massive losses from the previous incident, so revenge can wait until after you ascend the throne.”
The Emperor, whose eyes had been shining sharply the whole time, avoided his son’s gaze only when discussing the punishment of Count Lucas.
Through this, the Crown Prince became certain that his suspicion was correct: the Emperor had made some sort of deal with the Count.
In other words, the cold-hearted Emperor could never forgive Joel for daring to stain the honor of the Imperial family.
Or perhaps, seeing that his son would harbor lingering feelings, he wanted to remove the root of the trouble in advance.
“Father, you promised. You promised to save that child…”
Crown Prince Carlyle knew that compassion was not a mandatory virtue for a monarch, but he couldn’t help but ask in a choked voice.
“Do not disappoint me.”
The Emperor’s answer to that question was brief.
After those words, the Emperor lost consciousness.
He never woke up again.
As the Emperor reached a state where he was barely clinging to life, his health status could no longer be hidden.
Because the situation at home and abroad was unfavorable, the Crown Prince was ultimately forced to delay his revenge for Joel.
At this rate, there was a risk that the coronation would take place before the wedding.
The Crown Prince felt a momentary suspicion regarding the strange streak of luck following Count Lucas, but he had to fold his doubts without any gains.
It was practically impossible for a Count who had lost his political foundation and was holed up in his estate to pull strings in the capital.
Thus, Joel eventually met his end amidst the accusations and mockery of the people.
Count Lucas managed to survive the crisis by pinning all the blame on Joel.
Joel, who had been used by Count Lucas his entire life, ended up being used politically by his stepfather even in death.
In the end, the Crown Prince, who had kept none of the promises he made before Joel’s body, began to suffer from extreme guilt.
He searched day and night for Joel’s body to at least give him a proper funeral, but no one would tell him the whereabouts of the remains.
It was because the Emperor had issued a gag order before losing consciousness.
A few days later, when a maid—unable to watch the Crown Prince suffer from Joel’s hallucinations—secretly told him that she had seen masked men carrying Joel’s body toward the incinerator, everything had already been finished.
* * *
Oh he’s gonna go insane, isn’t he?
It’s either that or he’s just gonna become a shell of himself
Ok.