Chapter 91

“Couldn’t I sleep here with Brother and Karen tonight?”

“Pardon?”

“What?”

The two of them stared at each other in disbelief. Feeling awkward all of a sudden, they quickly turned away.

“Joseph said… the subjugation knights will be returning to the castle soon, right? Which means we’ll be going back to the palace. I won’t have a chance to sleep with Karen anymore. And you’ll only get busier, Brother…”

Stella drooped her shoulders, looking downcast.

“Stella.”

Ignis replied in a low voice, making it clear he wasn’t about to indulge her whims. Even so, the little girl didn’t avert her gaze.

“Just this once? Please? When I go back to the palace, I’ll be the perfect, well-behaved princess again. But just for tonight, let me be the queen! Please?”

Ignis’s eyes grew distant.

He parted his lips as if to speak with a difficult expression, but no words came out.

As tears welled up in Stella’s eyes, Karentina felt her resolve wavered. She simply couldn’t bring herself to turn away from the child’s clear, earnest gaze. She knew she shouldn’t give in so easily, and yet… It was always difficult to remain rational when faced with memories of their childhood.

“But the young lady might feel uncomfortable.”

Karentina’s eyes widened in surprise at those unexpected words.

‘So it’s not that he feels uncomfortable because of me, but rather that he’s worried I might be uncomfortable?’

She quickly replied.

“I don’t mind at all.”

Seeing that he shot her a questioning look, Karentina silently mouthed the words out of Stella’s sight.

‘She’s been nodding off for a while now.’

He seemed to catch her meaning that they could simply leave once the child had fallen asleep. Only then did Ignis let out a long sigh.

“This will be the last time. I won’t indulge you again.”

“Okay! I promise, on my name.”

As Ignis let out a faint chuckle at the royal oath, Stella patted the left side of the bed with both hands.

“Karen, you sleep here. I’ll be in the middle. Brother, you take this side.”

Karentina forced a smile and shuffled over to her spot.

Ignis turned off the chandelier’s magic stone and switched on the small lamp sitting atop the table. The little girl, looking thoroughly pleased, poked her face out from under the covers.

‘Once Stella falls asleep, I’ll slip away.’

Perhaps Ignis was thinking the same since he let out a quiet sigh, and the two of them lay down together. Above the bed hung a dreamcatcher, which was a gift from Ignis.

“Lying together like this, it feels just like having Mother and Father here.”

Stella spoke and smiled as if it were the most ordinary thing in the world.

Karentina gazed at her with a small, wistful smile. Ignis, his voice thick with emotion, gently stroked the child’s hair.

“Go on, get some sleep now.”

“Sweet dreams, Princess Stella.”

“Mhm! Good night to you too, Karen, and you as well, Brother.”

The gentle scent of sweet milk lingered on Stella’s bed, and soon, the sound of even, peaceful breathing filled the air. Even though she knew she should get up, Karentina couldn’t resist the wave of fatigue and her eyes fluttered shut.

‘I have to get up…’

Unable to resist the overwhelming drowsiness, she quickly drifted off to sleep.

︵‿୨ ₊‧꒰ა ୨ৎ ໒꒱ ‧₊ ୧‿︵

Ignis quietly sat up at the faint sound of breathing.

Stella, it seemed, was so exhausted that she wouldn’t have noticed if someone tried to carry her away. A quiet chuckle escaped him at the sight, and then, almost instinctively, he turned his gaze to Karentina sleeping at his side and held his breath.

“….”

Without realizing it, he found himself gazing quietly at her face.

Her long, flowing silver hair cascaded gently over the pillow. Elegant features, perfectly suited to her porcelain skin, and a smooth, rounded forehead gave her an air of grace. Her eyelids, shut in slumber, were fringed with thick lashes that cast a delicate shadow across her face. And her lips, full and softly shaped, the color of wild roses… those lips…

In that moment, he felt a sudden rush of heat, as if his whole body had been set ablaze.

‘Haa… it’s a bit warm in here.’

Feeling stifled, he roughly loosened the cravat around his neck.

‘To ascend the throne by just and rightful means…’

It was the first time he had ever revealed his true feelings to anyone.

Ignis recalled, one by one, the words Karentina had spoken to him by the River Stium. To see her blue eyes waver, he was certain that even that look would be beautiful.

But once again, her reaction was nothing like he expected. It wasn’t pity. Nor was it some clumsy attempt at consolation. Her eyes, like the depths of the sea, spoke to him with unwavering sincerity. It was as if she truly believed he would one day wear the imperial crown by just means.

In every gesture and word, he found gentle comfort in her kindness.

‘Does she truly believe in me?’

It was a strange feeling, one he had never known before. It was as if she were soothing his heart, and his chest ached with a bittersweet swell of emotion.

‘Even knowing that being involved with me could bring her danger and I’ve tried to push her away, so why does she keep drawing closer?’

Moonlight streamed in through the window, illuminating Karentina.

He gazed at her, transfixed. The sight of her sleeping like an angel, Stella’s hand clasped tightly in her own, struck him as beautiful. If he were any good with a brush, he thought, he would have wanted to capture that image forever.