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That belief had sustained him, allowing him to endure each day.
But now, the thought that everything he had believed in might crumble weighed heavily on his heart.
‘If I’m not of the Imperial bloodline…’
Then, would all the efforts he had made until now be meaningless?
Darian frowned and downed another mouthful of bitter liquor.
But no matter how much he emptied the glass, the emptiness and fear gnawing at his heart did not diminish.
‘Then what should I do now?’
If he revealed this fact before the people, there would surely be a tremendous upheaval. He couldn't easily guarantee his own safety, let alone his mother's.
The thought sent a cold chill down his spine.
‘But to pretend I don’t know and live as a Prince, my conscience…'
Besides, Ayla seemed to know the whole truth already.
If he kept silent, pretending not to know, there was no telling how she would react.
Darian was deeply troubled and lowered his head when suddenly,
the hallway outside became noisy. He faintly heard someone arguing, trying to stop someone.
Soon, a familiar voice echoed from outside the door.
"Darian! Darian! Can you hear your mother? Come out here at once!"
"Your Majesty the Empress…!"
It seemed his mother had heard the news and come all the way here.
He could hear the voices of the palace staff and aides trying to stop her, overlapping each other.
"What on earth is going on! How have you been taking care of the Prince that he's locked himself in his room like this!"
"W-Well, I'm not sure either. At first, we thought he was unwell, but then he kept drinking…"
"Enough. Open the door! I need to see what's going on myself."
"I apologize, but the door is locked from the inside. The only way is to break it down…"
Darian sat there blankly for a while, listening to the commotion. But then, as if snapping out of it, he staggered to his feet.
As he did, a liquor bottle at his feet rolled away weakly, making a sound.
Crash-!
But Darian paid no mind and slowly moved towards the door.
It was time to finally face the truth he had been avoiding.
‘How could he be drinking when this is such a crucial time?’
The Empress had received a report that Darian had been holed up in his room for days, not attending to any of his duties, and her heart had felt like it was collapsing.
When she asked why they hadn't reported it sooner, they said they had thought he was just tired and had refrained from speaking up.
But when it reached the fourth day, they realized something was wrong and reported it to her.
‘Why is he suddenly acting like this?’
Darian had always acted as she wished and had only shown the image of a model Prince.
The Empress felt extreme anxiety at these unusual signs from her son.
‘Could it be… that he’s found out everything?’
The mere thought made her body tremble and her fingertips tingle.
In the end, the Empress couldn't stay still for a moment and hurried to the Prince's palace.
"Come out, Darian! Let's talk, son."
"Your Majesty, you'll hurt yourself!"
The maids desperately tried to stop her as she pounded on the door, but the Empress roughly shook them off.
"Never mind me, step aside. This is a matter between me and my son."
The maids were terrified by her fierce gaze and retreated without further resistance.
Leaving the frozen palace staff behind, the Empress began to knock on the door again.
"Darian, open the door now!"
Her angry voice echoed to the end of the hallway. Just when it seemed this struggle would continue forever,
Click-.
Finally, the lock on the tightly closed door was released. The door swung open, and the man inside appeared.
The people gathered in front of the door gasped in unison at the Prince's disheveled appearance, which was usually so neat.
"Goodness."
"P-Prince Darian…"
Bloodshot eyes, a messy, disheveled head of hair, and even his bare chest revealed between the loosened front of his robes.
The Empress was also momentarily speechless at her son's miserable appearance, which she was seeing for the first time.
The fact that Darian, who had always shown a proper and restrained image, had broken down like this was not something to be taken lightly.
Then, Darian's tightly closed lips slowly opened.
"Why aren't you coming in, Mother."
His low, cracked voice broke the silence in the hallway. The Empress immediately went to him, adjusted his gown, and asked.
"Darian, how much have you been drinking?"
"Is that what you're curious about?"
The Empress bit her lip at the sarcastic question.
"No, never mind."
She pushed her son into the bedchamber and then turned to the maids, giving a firm order.
"Close the door and leave."
The maids hesitated for a moment, but in the end, they couldn't resist the Empress's cold gaze and closed the door.
Thud.
Silence fell in an instant.
Darian staggered and turned back into the room. A liquor bottle rolled from his feet, scraping the floor.
The Empress narrowed her eyes and slowly followed Darian inside.
"The room is a mess. What on earth has been going on?"
With every step, pieces of broken porcelain crunched under her shoes.
It seemed he had lost his temper and thrown all the ornaments in the room, smashing them to pieces.
The curtains were half-torn and hanging on the floor, and a musty smell wafted from the alcohol-soaked carpet.
‘Darian did all this?’
Just as the Empress was frowning at the unbelievable sight,
Darian, who had been walking ahead, turned slowly towards her, his back to the light streaming in through the window.
His calm yet sharp gaze seemed to pierce through her, making her mouth run dry.
"…Tell me what's wrong. You need to confide in your mother so I can somehow fix it."
Despite her son's unfamiliar demeanor, the Empress tried to sound as gentle as possible.
As if she could make all his problems disappear just by him telling her.
Darian chuckled at that familiar attitude.
"…Fix it. You always say that, Mother."
His hollow laughter echoed in the room. The Empress frowned at his unusual reaction.
"Why are you laughing like that, Darian?"
Instead of answering, Darian strode up to her and stood before her.
The Empress unknowingly took a step back at the sudden sense of intimidation.
"Do you know, Mother, that I have always respected you since I was a child?"
The Empress flinched as Darian's low voice struck her ear.
"…That's a sudden thing to say."
"I mean it. Whenever I was lost, you always gave me advice. Thanks to that, I did my best and rose to where I am now."
"Yes, I know your efforts better than anyone. So why are you acting like this now?"
The Empress's voice was filled with pity.
But Darian's voice that returned to her was so cold that it seemed to freeze her.
"It was all a foolish thing to do. I should have realized sooner that all that effort was in vain."
The Empress's eyes widened at his sudden words. She tried to hide her confusion and asked.
"What are you talking about all of a sudden?"
Darian was silent for a moment. His lips opened and closed meaninglessly.
In the end, he barely managed to squeeze out a voice, borrowing the courage from the alcohol.
"Tell me honestly, Mother."
It was hard even to say these words, but he couldn't bear it any longer without asking.
"Am I really the Emperor's biological son?"
"…What?"
The Empress's eyes widened.
It was as if someone had poured cold water on her, and goosebumps rose all over her body.
She had thought that the day would come when she would have to tell Darian directly, but she never expected that day to come so suddenly.
The bigger problem was that the atmosphere was such that if she answered his question in the affirmative, he would go completely astray.
Sensing something was amiss, the Empress decided to play dumb for now.
"I don't know what you're talking about. You're not the Emperor's biological son? You're the universally recognized First Prince of the Empire. The parentage verification magic tool results also…"
"Ha."
Darian chuckled and sneered.
"Don't lie. I already know that the Parentage verification magic tool can be manipulated as much as you want."
"D-Darian…"
"Don't change the subject and answer me. Am I my real father's son? Or, like that Princess Consort who was recently proven to be fake, am I also fake?"
The Empress's eyes shook wildly with horror.
It was only then that she realized where the root of Darian's suspicion had sprouted from.
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