Chapter 87
Joo Yi-Gyeol did not answer. He couldn’t say anything.
“…I see. So that’s how it is.” The Emperor, seeing the butterfly whose wings had stopped fluttering altogether, seemed to understand Joo Yi-Gyeol’s state without needing words.
‘Did he think there was no need to speak, or…’ The Emperor couldn’t be sure, but perhaps Sethian had kept silent for a “human” reason.
‘I suppose I should feel sorry for Sethian.’
Despite thinking of Sethian’s emotionless face as he took the head of the child he cherished, the Emperor did not think of stopping his words. “There is no wish without a price. Whatever is desperately desired must be paid for, whether before the wish is fulfilled, or after.” The Emperor’s fingers gently brushed the butterfly’s wings.
The Emperor’s mind turned to the faces of the two people.
Kaen, who had always smiled beautifully at him, and his second son, who resembled him so much.
Kaen had never reproached him for his selfish action of attempting to fulfill his own wish. In return for giving Kaen the healthy body he had longed for and sharing his vitality, the Emperor had sworn to die by Kaen’s side.
But he couldn’t do that for Zair.
From a young age, Zair had instinctively coveted the Emperor’s throne— the highest, the most glorious, the most honorable seat.
He desperately wanted that position, but outwardly he pretended to have no ambition, remaining calm. Even when the third son, Remines, was born, who would rival him for the throne, Zair remained unmoved. At just seven years old, he had already assessed the support base of his older brother, Mendel, and even calculated those who would flock to the third prince. To not lose to them, he showed a surprising level of determination and ruthlessness that was far beyond his years.
Until then, Zair was confident that he would defeat his brothers in competition and ascend to the throne. That was, until three years later, before Sethian was born.
When Sethian was born late to the Empress, all attention shifted to him. Zair, who had been fully focused on the throne, was painfully aware of this. Moreover, Sethian resembled the young Emperor just as Zair did, and even as a child, he was praised as one fit to become Emperor. Even his inhuman cruelty.
The Emperor’s entire attention turned to Sethian.
At the time, the Emperor felt no affection for the concubine who selfishly adorned herself in splendor instead of tending to the people’s sentiments, nor for Mendel, Remines, and Elina, who took after her exactly. On the other hand, Zair, who resembled the Emperor, had received all kinds of love from him until Sethian was born. If Sethian hadn’t been born, rumors even suggested that the crown prince’s position would have been given to Zair much earlier.
But that affection was completely transferred to Sethian when Sethian was born. The Emperor, without realizing the huge shock this caused Zair, only had eyes for Sethian.
Overnight, the gaze of everyone, including the Emperor, turned to Sethian.
No matter how hard Zair tried, no matter how much effort he put in, he could not overcome his birth and nature. Just by meeting Sethian’s gaze from a distance, it was clear that Sethian was the one most suited to the Emperor’s throne.
Zair gradually lost his will. The only friend he had acknowledged; a knight who had promised to do everything to make him Emperor, was dragged away by Sethian’s words died outside the palace. Sethian, anticipating the threat to his life, had intentionally removed his brothers’ closest allies one by one as a warning.
The pressure closing in on him, the pain of losing his friend, and the sight of everything he had built up until then gradually collapsing the moment a single sibling was born dealt the young boy a devastating mental blow.
Perhaps that was why he failed to respond in time to the sudden assassination attempt.
Nothing had been severed, but because of severe bone damage throughout his body, he was left unable to move his arms and legs. According to the Imperial physician, even if he managed to walk, he would limp for the rest of his life. If that fact became known, countless petitions would surely be submitted demanding that his right to inherit the throne be stripped away, saying that a damaged body could not be placed upon the most beautiful and honorable seat.
Zair, who had gradually lost everything from the moment Sethian was born, was ultimately left unable even to walk the path toward becoming Emperor, the very purpose of his life and his deepest wish.
The Emperor, unaware of these developments, approached Zair, who lay bedridden. He took Zair’s hand, covered in wounds, and gently asked the unconscious boy, “What is it that you wish for?”
He asked, wanting to give anything he could to his poor son. Zair, almost unconscious and unable to focus, barely managed to speak.
“My wish… has not changed, even for a single day… I just want to walk the path of Emperor…” In Zair’s unfocused eyes, a faint glimmer of life appeared.
“If I can become Emperor… if I can inherit your position…” Zair continued, struggling to lift the corners of his mouth.
“If you could… look at me again… like you look at Sethian… and… congratulate me on becoming Emperor…”
The Emperor looked down at Zair, a painful expression on his face. Zair gripped his hand tightly, ignoring the pain in his own weakened body. Even though Zair would have been in more pain from squeezing the Emperor’s hand with such force, he paid no attention.
“I… will not give up… I will no longer be weak… If I can sit on the Emperor’s throne… I will do anything…” A flicker of gold briefly flashed in Zair’s eyes. It was the same gold the Emperor had seen when the dying Kaen cried out in his wish to live.
“I want to be Emperor, Father…” Zair’s wish grew stronger, and when he closed his eyes as though sleeping, a golden butterfly with its wings folded sat on his chest.
The Emperor, thinking of Zair’s golden wish, gazed at another wish before him.
Zair, who had gained a new healthy body, did not remember that conversation, but his wish still lingered to this day, albeit in a twisted form.
The price of a wish is harsh. The one who tries to grant the wish must offer up his life as the price, and the one who harbors the wish becomes bound to him and cannot escape until the day he dies. Thinking of Zair, who, without knowing it, must disappear along with him, the Emperor realized that staying silent up until now had been a grave mistake.
The Emperor, thinking of Zair, who was desperately trying to fulfill his wish without knowing that the end was approaching, gently stroked the golden butterfly before him. “Sethian has already made the selfish choice he could not help but make for himself. So you must also know everything and choose for yourself.”
Unlike Sethian, the seemingly fragile soul before him would likely suffer greatly. The Emperor did not want him to be dragged along unaware.
“Living on together with him at the cost of another person’s life requires resolve. Are you prepared for that resolve?”
Joo Yi-Gyeol remained silent for a long time after the Emperor’s question. After some time, the wings that had stopped moving began to flutter.
—I am.
* * *
Following the investigation of the stone tower and Roa’s testimony, Zair was identified as the prime suspect. He thought that this was all a scheme by Sethian and Roa. Perhaps even Joo Yi-Gyeol, who had seemed so fragile, had also had a hand in this.
‘Even so, it’s all in the palm of my hand.’ Zair smiled to himself as he followed the Imperial Knights to the Emperor’s hall. If the Emperor had been asleep or too weak to move as usual, Zair would have been imprisoned in the stone tower for a time, just like Sethian. But since the inside was already stained with blood and the Emperor was awake, he had decided to interrogate him personally.
‘That was what I intended anyway.’ By now, one of the soul butterflies that had received Zair’s orders should already have entered the Emperor. Thanks to this, Zair could tighten his grip on Sethian even more. Soon, Remines and Elina would follow Mendel and die, and all the blame would be placed back on Sethian.
For this, only the possessed Emperor’s decision and influence were required. Holding the most powerful card, Zair entered the hall, guided by the Imperial Knights.
“Approach.”
He kneeled before the Emperor, who was weakly seated on the throne, and offered his respects. He barely managed to suppress a smile that tried to rise.
The Emperor’s voice echoed in his head. Confident that everything was going according to plan, he lifted his head. At that moment, one of the Imperial Knights guarding the entrance shouted loudly, “Fourth Prince Sethian Ren Kinelli has arrived!”
Startled by Sethian’s name, Zair turned around. There, walking in with long strides and the front of his coat open, was Sethian. Blood-stained bandages were visible around his waist and on the exposed parts of his arms beneath his coat.
Sethian, locking eyes with Zair, walked up to him and stopped. “The price you’ll pay for laying a hand on what is mine will be severe, brother.”
“…I see. So that’s how it is.” The Emperor, seeing the butterfly whose wings had stopped fluttering altogether, seemed to understand Joo Yi-Gyeol’s state without needing words.
‘Did he think there was no need to speak, or…’ The Emperor couldn’t be sure, but perhaps Sethian had kept silent for a “human” reason.
‘I suppose I should feel sorry for Sethian.’
Despite thinking of Sethian’s emotionless face as he took the head of the child he cherished, the Emperor did not think of stopping his words. “There is no wish without a price. Whatever is desperately desired must be paid for, whether before the wish is fulfilled, or after.” The Emperor’s fingers gently brushed the butterfly’s wings.
The Emperor’s mind turned to the faces of the two people.
Kaen, who had always smiled beautifully at him, and his second son, who resembled him so much.
Kaen had never reproached him for his selfish action of attempting to fulfill his own wish. In return for giving Kaen the healthy body he had longed for and sharing his vitality, the Emperor had sworn to die by Kaen’s side.
But he couldn’t do that for Zair.
From a young age, Zair had instinctively coveted the Emperor’s throne— the highest, the most glorious, the most honorable seat.
He desperately wanted that position, but outwardly he pretended to have no ambition, remaining calm. Even when the third son, Remines, was born, who would rival him for the throne, Zair remained unmoved. At just seven years old, he had already assessed the support base of his older brother, Mendel, and even calculated those who would flock to the third prince. To not lose to them, he showed a surprising level of determination and ruthlessness that was far beyond his years.
Until then, Zair was confident that he would defeat his brothers in competition and ascend to the throne. That was, until three years later, before Sethian was born.
When Sethian was born late to the Empress, all attention shifted to him. Zair, who had been fully focused on the throne, was painfully aware of this. Moreover, Sethian resembled the young Emperor just as Zair did, and even as a child, he was praised as one fit to become Emperor. Even his inhuman cruelty.
The Emperor’s entire attention turned to Sethian.
At the time, the Emperor felt no affection for the concubine who selfishly adorned herself in splendor instead of tending to the people’s sentiments, nor for Mendel, Remines, and Elina, who took after her exactly. On the other hand, Zair, who resembled the Emperor, had received all kinds of love from him until Sethian was born. If Sethian hadn’t been born, rumors even suggested that the crown prince’s position would have been given to Zair much earlier.
But that affection was completely transferred to Sethian when Sethian was born. The Emperor, without realizing the huge shock this caused Zair, only had eyes for Sethian.
Overnight, the gaze of everyone, including the Emperor, turned to Sethian.
No matter how hard Zair tried, no matter how much effort he put in, he could not overcome his birth and nature. Just by meeting Sethian’s gaze from a distance, it was clear that Sethian was the one most suited to the Emperor’s throne.
Zair gradually lost his will. The only friend he had acknowledged; a knight who had promised to do everything to make him Emperor, was dragged away by Sethian’s words died outside the palace. Sethian, anticipating the threat to his life, had intentionally removed his brothers’ closest allies one by one as a warning.
The pressure closing in on him, the pain of losing his friend, and the sight of everything he had built up until then gradually collapsing the moment a single sibling was born dealt the young boy a devastating mental blow.
Perhaps that was why he failed to respond in time to the sudden assassination attempt.
Nothing had been severed, but because of severe bone damage throughout his body, he was left unable to move his arms and legs. According to the Imperial physician, even if he managed to walk, he would limp for the rest of his life. If that fact became known, countless petitions would surely be submitted demanding that his right to inherit the throne be stripped away, saying that a damaged body could not be placed upon the most beautiful and honorable seat.
Zair, who had gradually lost everything from the moment Sethian was born, was ultimately left unable even to walk the path toward becoming Emperor, the very purpose of his life and his deepest wish.
The Emperor, unaware of these developments, approached Zair, who lay bedridden. He took Zair’s hand, covered in wounds, and gently asked the unconscious boy, “What is it that you wish for?”
He asked, wanting to give anything he could to his poor son. Zair, almost unconscious and unable to focus, barely managed to speak.
“My wish… has not changed, even for a single day… I just want to walk the path of Emperor…” In Zair’s unfocused eyes, a faint glimmer of life appeared.
“If I can become Emperor… if I can inherit your position…” Zair continued, struggling to lift the corners of his mouth.
“If you could… look at me again… like you look at Sethian… and… congratulate me on becoming Emperor…”
The Emperor looked down at Zair, a painful expression on his face. Zair gripped his hand tightly, ignoring the pain in his own weakened body. Even though Zair would have been in more pain from squeezing the Emperor’s hand with such force, he paid no attention.
“I… will not give up… I will no longer be weak… If I can sit on the Emperor’s throne… I will do anything…” A flicker of gold briefly flashed in Zair’s eyes. It was the same gold the Emperor had seen when the dying Kaen cried out in his wish to live.
“I want to be Emperor, Father…” Zair’s wish grew stronger, and when he closed his eyes as though sleeping, a golden butterfly with its wings folded sat on his chest.
The Emperor, thinking of Zair’s golden wish, gazed at another wish before him.
Zair, who had gained a new healthy body, did not remember that conversation, but his wish still lingered to this day, albeit in a twisted form.
The price of a wish is harsh. The one who tries to grant the wish must offer up his life as the price, and the one who harbors the wish becomes bound to him and cannot escape until the day he dies. Thinking of Zair, who, without knowing it, must disappear along with him, the Emperor realized that staying silent up until now had been a grave mistake.
The Emperor, thinking of Zair, who was desperately trying to fulfill his wish without knowing that the end was approaching, gently stroked the golden butterfly before him. “Sethian has already made the selfish choice he could not help but make for himself. So you must also know everything and choose for yourself.”
Unlike Sethian, the seemingly fragile soul before him would likely suffer greatly. The Emperor did not want him to be dragged along unaware.
“Living on together with him at the cost of another person’s life requires resolve. Are you prepared for that resolve?”
Joo Yi-Gyeol remained silent for a long time after the Emperor’s question. After some time, the wings that had stopped moving began to flutter.
—I am.
* * *
Following the investigation of the stone tower and Roa’s testimony, Zair was identified as the prime suspect. He thought that this was all a scheme by Sethian and Roa. Perhaps even Joo Yi-Gyeol, who had seemed so fragile, had also had a hand in this.
‘Even so, it’s all in the palm of my hand.’ Zair smiled to himself as he followed the Imperial Knights to the Emperor’s hall. If the Emperor had been asleep or too weak to move as usual, Zair would have been imprisoned in the stone tower for a time, just like Sethian. But since the inside was already stained with blood and the Emperor was awake, he had decided to interrogate him personally.
‘That was what I intended anyway.’ By now, one of the soul butterflies that had received Zair’s orders should already have entered the Emperor. Thanks to this, Zair could tighten his grip on Sethian even more. Soon, Remines and Elina would follow Mendel and die, and all the blame would be placed back on Sethian.
For this, only the possessed Emperor’s decision and influence were required. Holding the most powerful card, Zair entered the hall, guided by the Imperial Knights.
“Approach.”
He kneeled before the Emperor, who was weakly seated on the throne, and offered his respects. He barely managed to suppress a smile that tried to rise.
The Emperor’s voice echoed in his head. Confident that everything was going according to plan, he lifted his head. At that moment, one of the Imperial Knights guarding the entrance shouted loudly, “Fourth Prince Sethian Ren Kinelli has arrived!”
Startled by Sethian’s name, Zair turned around. There, walking in with long strides and the front of his coat open, was Sethian. Blood-stained bandages were visible around his waist and on the exposed parts of his arms beneath his coat.
Sethian, locking eyes with Zair, walked up to him and stopped. “The price you’ll pay for laying a hand on what is mine will be severe, brother.”
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