"Come in…" General Farauld deactivated the security array and allowed Leon to enter the command center.
After greeting Emperor Valentin and General Farauld, Leon proceeded to relay his report, "I came here to report about the movement of the Empress. Just as expected with the help of her dark knight Callan and upon knowing your routine which we have purposely leaked with Roman the spy dark knight, she was able to sneak to First Prince Kazimir's room."
The two were not surprised by this matter, instead, they just gestured for Leon to continue.
Understanding the meaning of their gazes, Leon took out a recording stone and explained, "I know you that your time is tight to watch the recordings, however, it may not be appropriate for me to judge the situation that transpired in the conversation. In here was the recording of their conversation."
Then he carefully placed the recording stone in front of a clear white wall and had it projected the contents of the stone.
The stone projected Kazimir's bedroom in an angle that shows him sleeping while a shadow coming from the window appeared.
–
It was deep in the night when a shadow of a man, carrying a woman in his arms appeared. The man carefully laid the woman down on the balcony before stealthily sneaking inside Kazimir's chambers.
Kazimir who was still under the torment of the images on his head immediately woke up from the subtle disturbance. Rushing to stand from his bed, his alert voice rang into the chamber as he reached out to his bedside where his sword was placed.
"Uhnnn…" Ariel who was sleeping leaning beside his bed was also disturbed by his rustling, but before she was able to open her eyes, a bolt of light flew straight on her forehead making her fall unconscious.
"Arielle!" Kazimir saw everything and scrambled to go to Arielle's side, his hands immediately checked what happened to her.
"Do not worry son, I just sent a spell for her to be put on a deep sleep…" Before Kazimir realized everything, one of the two shadows talked in a gentle and assuring manner.
"You…" Kazimir's entire body became stiff and his heart became muddled with an alarming turmoil. The person he wanted to see the least right now suddenly visited him.
He was at his most vulnerable time and the fact that the person whom he previously looked up to became someone with questionable trustworthiness made the situation perilous for his emotional state.
But even so, he could not allow his weakness to be exposed right now, especially when the other party had someone by her side.
As such, after an expression of panic and worry towards Arielle, Kazimir made it so that the next expression on his face and the emotion in his tone was that of astonishment, "M-mother…"
'Mother'
This used to be his favorite word to utter, but now, he had only said it once, yet it almost caused the foundation of his sanity to crumble in an instant.
She used to be the person he singlemindedly listened to. From his childhood to even his adulthood, he obeyed every single word she said, believe every lesson that she thought, and hated every single person she hated. The only thing that he had ever done to defy her was to marry his now wife and princess consort, Arielle.
But now, seeing her standing in front of him, clad in an inconspicuous dark hooded cloak, she was like the grim reaper, coming to take away his life. She now brought him so much fear and confusion.
"Long time no see, my son…" Empress Carolina's voice reached Kazimir's ears, making his body shudder from head to toe. Her right hand found its way to Kazimir's luscious red hair, lovingly patting him like he was still her little boy.
"I've been so worried because I heard of the matter that happened a few days ago. Forgive your mother for only seeing you just now… In truth, the Emperor has been restricting me ever since the sanction of the Vesalas. Your Father has been setting his eyes on me and was already suspicious of me during that time. So I wouldn't dare to defy his orders, lest it would worsen your situation and standing in the race to the throne…"
"Ah… why are you so thin? Have you been eating well? Where are your servants? Why was your wife the only one to attend to you? Has your Father Emperor completely fallen out of you? Tell me, my son, I'll plead to the Emperor to improve the situation!!"
Empress Carolina's expression was so worried and her tone was so loving that Kazimir was almost convinced that this was the same mother whom he deeply loved before - the mother who was not yet a traitor in his eyes.
He didn't know why, but he felt that every part of his body felt like it was smeared with the nastiest manure, he felt like his body was extremely dirty.
It took every ounce of his self-control not to show the disgust and rejection outwardly. This seemingly loving interaction between him as the son, and Empress Carolina as his mother drained the energy and the courage that he had painstakingly recovered from his recent conversation with his father.
"It was my fault… I was not myself these past few days, so I kicked out every servant attending me. It was only Arielle who insisted to stay and check on my well-being." Kazimir answered, acting as if he was the haughty and prideful prince he was once before, however in an angle that her mother cannot see, his fist tightened harshly, trying to remind him of his painful situation.
"En… If that's the case then do not act like this for so long. If you are not aware, the situation in the Capital was already in chaos! The nobles were now oppressed by the coercion of the Emperor to revenge on the people who killed Second Prince Antoine." Empress Carolina felt relieved upon seeing that Kazimir acted like his usual self.
She cupped her son's face caressing it gently, her amethyst eyes looked at his crystal blue eyes. Her son might not have been able to inherit her beautiful amethyst eyes, but every time she sees the shape of his eyes which were identically the same as her Valentin's crystal blue eyes, it reminds her of how victorious she was in having the Seirende family almost in her control through Kazimir.
"Now… now… My son, recover well and get back at your feet. With the nobles getting irritated by the Emperor's oppression, they would certainly push for a new leader to rise up. It would be most likely that they would force your father to abdicate. With the death of Antoine, the nobles would surely choose you as the sole successor to the throne. As for the third prince, he was not even a choice to consider!" Empress Carolina's eyes brightened as her tone grew more excited.
Upon the mention of Antoine's death, Kazimir fell into a daze and the torment in his mind immediately flooded his inner being. A surge of a painful headache assaulted his head making him groan and cling to his head like he was afraid and insecure.
This startled the Empress as she didn't expect Kazimir to have such a peculiar reaction. She saw her son shivering and losing himself upon hearing her words, it made her feel anxious and clueless. What did she say that triggered her son's reaction?
"I… killed Antoine… I caused the death of my sibling… I am a murderer…" Kazimir's delirious mumbles reached Empress. It was like a streak of lightning striking her head, 'Ah… the death of the second prince affected my son in such a way?'
Unable to properly digest this discovery, her expression became disgruntled as she stared at Kazimir in panic, subconsciously biting her fingers as she was deeply thinking.
The bed-chamber only had the hysterical Kazimir and the troubled Carolina staying like this for a few minutes.
After some time, a thought seemingly reached Empress Carolina as she started to move and tried to relax Kazimir.
"Son… my son. It is not your fault that this happened. It was because your sibling is weak… and he is not destined for the throne… Only you were destined for the throne, that's why you were spared. That is why you survived!" She seemed to be extremely convinced in this fact that she herself told these words to Kazimir with conviction.
"I… am destined to the throne?" Kazimir was still hiding his facial expression under the cover of his arms, but a streak of sanity already came back to his eyes.
Finally seeing a reaction from her son, Empress Carolina became more hopeful and continued to hype up Kazimir,
"Yes… yes! The reason why the second prince died was that he was not destined for the throne. Soon, it will be your third brother's turn! Look at it, only you were spared! You are the destined one… The only person whom even the perpetrators of this chaos never pointed their blades to!"
