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Six years later, in Emperor Rubena's bedroom.
It was a deep night, with the noble moonlight pouring in through the window.
"Hngh!"
Iana sat on the bed, endlessly shedding tears.
"Empress..."
Charles, sitting across from her, tried to soothe Iana, but she couldn't stop crying.
"Iana."
"I, I know, but I'm worried Theo will get sick again like last year..."
Iana couldn't finish her sentence and only shed sorrowful tears.
In three days, she had to leave for military training in the northern Rubena Mountains, where the monster habitat was located.
"As the Archmage Empress, I will take responsibility for the security of the Empire."
It was something she had declared when she became Empress.
However, immediately after ascending to the throne, she gave birth to Prince Theo, and then, the following year, she became pregnant with Princess Lulu, preventing her from participating in military training.
Iana first participated in military training last year.
When she left the Imperial Palace for twenty days, Theo, missing his mother, became listless and ill.
Charles, unable to bear it any longer, hugged Iana and comforted her.
"Since I'm participating anyway, you don't have to go."
"But that would be breaking my promise to the people of the Empire."
"Then, shall we take the children with us?"
"The children?"
"That way, the people of the Empire won't think of the northern region as a dangerous place anymore."
"But they're still too young."
Iana, nestled in Charles' broad chest, swallowed her tears.
Theo had been weak since birth.
The child didn't eat well and was often sick.
Iana felt a deep sense of guilt.
It felt like it was all her fault for being afflicted by black magic.
With Charles' permission, Iana took care of Theo herself, except for the time she spent on Empress' duties.
Theo, now five years old, had become healthier, but he still had a very hard time being separated from Iana.
Charles looked down at the sobbing Iana and chuckled.
"It's amazing how your crying face looks exactly like Lulu's, the more I see it."
"Are you kidding me right now? Theo is secretly crying because he knows I'm going to the border!"
Iana questioned him with a displeased expression.
Charles, unconcerned, pulled her into a tight embrace and lay down.
"I can't breathe! What kind of prank are you planning now?"
Charles lay on his side, facing Iana. He brushed her disheveled hair from her forehead and spoke softly.
"Seeing how much the Empress cares for Theo makes me miss my mother."
After speaking, his gray eyes seemed full of longing.
Seeing that, Iana hesitated for a moment before reaching out her arms and saying,
"Your Majesty, shall I hug you?"
"I would appreciate that."
Iana slightly lifted herself and embraced his head.
"But, Your Majesty..."
"Hmm?"
"When I think about it, I don't even have a mother to miss."
Her mother was someone who had sided with her father, who had cast black magic.
Charles held her tightly in his arms and gave her a short kiss on the forehead.
"Now, I am your husband, your father, and your mother."
Iana looked at him with a momentarily touched expression before smiling wryly and joking.
"Isn't my mother a little too big?"
"Is that so? I'll have to check."
After speaking, Charles leaned over Iana.
"Your Majesty, you're heavy. You're heavy!"
As Iana struggled, Charles said something out of the blue.
"Empress, I love you too."
While the two were bickering, the night grew deeper. The stars shone in the night sky, more beautifully than ever.
✦ ✦ ✦
The next morning, Iana, with swollen eyes, headed to where the children were.
She first arrived at the Princess Palace, which was close to the Empress Palace.
As she approached the door of Princess Lulu's room, she saw the nanny and maids looking through the crack in the door and smiling.
Baroness Agnes spoke first.
"What's going on?"
The nanny and maids, who had been watching through the crack in the door, finally looked surprised and bowed at the same time.
"Greetings to the Empress."
Just as Iana was about to ask what was going on, Lulu's angry voice could be heard from inside the room.
"Did you do wrong?"
"Why is Lulu so angry?"
The nanny approached Iana and whispered softly.
"Her Highness the Princess is currently disciplining the rabbit."
"Disciplining the rabbit?"
Iana, along with the nanny, looked into the room through the crack in the door.
Lulu's room, who was madly in love with rabbits, was filled with rabbit-shaped decorations.
In front of the bed, an angry Lulu was scolding the magic rabbit, Momo.
Peach-colored chubby cheeks and golden hair braided into pigtails.
Lulu, who was three years old this year, was wearing a white pajama dress and pointing to the maid's hand, which had bite marks on it.
"Momo, I told you it hurts to bite!"
The small Momo twitched its nose as if protesting. Momo was the offspring of Iana's magic rabbits, Ru and Lara.
Around them, Ru and Lara were lying on their backs, exposing their white bellies.
The nanny said to Iana in a low voice.
"Her Highness the Princess is quite strict when she disciplines the rabbits."
"But why is everyone out here?"
Iana asked, looking puzzled, and the nanny replied with a smile.
"She said Momo would be embarrassed if she was scolded in front of many people."
Lulu sternly scolded Momo with slurred pronunciation.
Iana smiled softly at how cute it was.
"Don't bite again. Got it?"
"..."
"Momo, come here. I'll give you a hug."
As Lulu reached out her small, fern-like hand as if to soothe it, Momo hopped over.
"Our baby is good."
The child stroked Momo, comforting it like a gentle mother.
"Who's calling who a baby?"
Iana watched the scene through the crack in the door with a pleased expression.
✦ ✦ ✦
While Lulu was comforting Momo, Iana moved her steps to the Prince Palace, where Theo was.
As she entered Theo's room, Baroness Amela, the Head Maid and nanny of the Prince Palace, and the maids bowed deeply.
The Baroness approached and pointed to the door connected to the drawing room, pretending to cry.
Iana asked in a small voice.
"Is it because I'm going to the north?"
"Yes, after hearing that Her Highness the Empress was going to defeat the monsters for the sake of the people of the Empire, he said he wouldn't be sad anymore, but..."
The Baroness trailed off with a pitiful expression.
"Your Highness the Prince, Her Highness the Empress has arrived."
"...Ung."
Theo replied in a trembling voice.
Iana dismissed all the nannies and maids and remained alone in the room.
Creak-.
The door opened, and Theo came out.
Wavy silver hair and sparkling gray eyes.
Theo looked just like Charles.
"Greetings to Her Highness the Empress!"
The child, with reddened eyes, greeted her, pretending not to cry.
Iana stared intently at Theo.
Until she became Empress and gave birth to Theo, all sorts of scandals followed her.
From rumors that the pregnant child was Carrion's child to rumors that he was a cursed child afflicted by black magic.
However, with Theo's appearance resembling Charles, the rumors that he was Carrion's child disappeared.
"Prince, did you cry?"
Iana asked, looking at Theo with a pained expression.
"N-no, I didn't cry."
Theo shook his head slightly.
Iana knelt down and made eye contact with Theo.
"It's okay to be honest."
"I-if Theo cries, Y-Your Majesty will be sad..."
Theo couldn't finish his sentence and wiped his eyes with his sleeve.
A child who was delicate and considerate, resembling Charles.
Iana's heart ached at Theo's tears.
"Theo, you don't have to be mature just because you're a prince, and you don't have to read my mind."
"..."
"Theo is still a child, so it's okay to cry if you want to."
As Iana finished speaking, thick tears fell from Theo's silver eyes.
"It's more upsetting when Theo cries alone."
At that moment, Lulu's crying voice could be heard from the door.
"Waaah, don't cry, Oppa!"
Iana and Theo turned their heads towards the sound.
Charles, who had arrived at some point, was standing there with Lulu in his arms, looking upset.
"Greetings to H-His Majesty the Emperor."
Theo, while crying, greeted Charles with courtesy.
Charles lowered himself and reached out a hand towards Theo.
"Theo, come here. I'll give you a hug."
At that moment, Iana remembered what Lulu had said at the Princess Palace.
"Momo, come here. I'll give you a hug."
It seemed that Lulu's way of speaking was imitating Charles.
Iana chuckled.
Theo ran and jumped into Charles' arms.
Charles held the children in both arms and alternately kissed Theo and Lulu on the cheeks.
The two children laughed as if they had never cried.
Charles hesitated for a moment before speaking as if throwing it out there.
"Empress."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"Let's take the children with us. To the north."
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