How to Hide the Emperor’s Child

As Florin was walking through the hall of the mansion, she found her mother running into the room.

Loud screams could be heard through the half-opened door.

Florin stopped the maid from entering the room to stop her mother.

“Leave her alone.”

Florin clicked her tongue and headed to her own room.

Her mother had been in a bad mood ever since Astelle’s son turned out to be a prince.

‘She’s really in a bad mood.’

In front of everyone, she laughed at the prince, calling him an illegitimate child.

After returning to the capital, the Marchioness continued to act the same as before.

She threw tea parties, went for walks, and went to proms.

The Emperor had forgiven the Marchioness because of her husband, the minister of state affairs.

Even so, her mother acted on her own without a second thought, and she openly insulted Astelle, who the Emperor proposed to at the ball, saying that she was a woman who gave birth to an illegitimate child.

But the child she thought was an illegitimate child was the emperor’s son.

The nobles who were laughing at Astelle belatedly tried to look good in front of her.

The Marchioness, who publicly insulted Astelle, didn’t even have a chance to try.

The Marquis, Florin’s father, forced his wife into the Imperial Palace to reconcile with Astelle, who would become the new empress.

Judging from Marchioness’ reaction, it seemed like she was a complete failure.

‘How pathetic.’

Florin was annoyed by her mother’s thoughtless behavior.

It was Marchioness who was the most embarrassed by Astelle, but it was Florin who felt the greatest wrath.

‘I didn’t expect the Emperor to do things so quickly.’

Without a hitch, Theor became a prince, and Astelle took the empress’ seat.

There is only one seat for the empress.

In order for her to become the empress, Astelle must disappear.

Unlike her mother, Florin accurately grasped the situation.

The Emperor was crazy about Astelle.

Between the two, there is already a prince who will become the crown prince.

In this situation, if she accidentally touched Astelle, she would be killed by the angry emperor.

‘His Majesty must abandon her at all costs.’

Astelle takes the Emperor’s love and gives birth to and raises a prince, but she also has a weakness.

It was her father, the Duke of Reston.

“How was the work about the Duke?”

Florin asked the nanny waiting in the room.

The nanny answered, bringing her warm tea.

“Don’t worry, miss. We have reliable servants.”

Florin was lost in thought again listening to the nanny’s answer.

‘If I reveal the Duke’s treason to the world, no matter how absolute an emperor’s order is, he will have no choice but to kick her out.’

Florin thought about overthrowing the Duke, which would also have a bad effect on Astelle and Theor.

For the past six years, the Duke of Reston has conspired to kill the Emperor many times.

If even one of them proves undeniable, the Duke’s family will be put to death for treason.

No matter how much His Majesty the Emperor loved Astelle, he could not make the traitor’s daughter his empress.

If the Duke was executed, Astelle would also leave the empress palace without her custody.

***

After the blood test at the temple, Kaizen was busy preparing for the wedding. As time was running out, he had more trouble preparing everything quickly.

Most of the work was taken care of by Vellian, but there were still some things that Kaizen had to decide himself.

The wedding dress was one of them.

Originally, the bride’s wedding dress is made by the bride’s family.

But this time he wanted to give Astelle the best dress himself.

“Order the wedding dress from the capital’s dressing room. Tell them to make it the most glamorous, no matter how much money it costs.”

“……yes, Your Majesty.”

Vellian, who was in charge of the wedding preparations for the first time in his life, answered with a gloomy expression.

Vellian has been working day and night these days.

There was already a lot of work piled up, but now I am busy preparing for the wedding of His Majesty the Emperor.

He thought so as he wrote down the emperor’s orders desperately.

‘It is fortunate that the national treasury is abundant and there’s a lot of budgets.’

His Majesty was generously pouring money for the upcoming wedding.

If it goes like this, it would be a grand national marriage unprecedented in history.

‘But I wonder if Lady Astelle will like it……’

Even if she had a grand wedding and a beautiful and luxurious wedding dress, Astelle did not seem to be impressed.

Kaizen got up after he finished talking about the wedding dress.

“What about the pony? Is it ready?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. I have prepared it outside.”

Hearing Vellian’s answer, Kaizen went outside.

A small white pony was waiting at the entrance to the garden.

***

Astelle was walking down the hallway while giving Hannah instructions.

“I’ll leave the wedding preparations to you, Hannah.”

After the blood test at the temple, Astelle spent time managing the Empress Palace.

She was told that the wedding ceremony was prepared at the Imperial Palace, but she had to prepare other things such as makeup, jewelry, and the newlyweds’ bedroom at the Empress Palace.

Astelle didn’t want to worry about such a trivial matter, whether it was a wedding or a bedroom.

As long as it doesn’t go against the rules, she can just prepare it simply.

“Yes, Lady Astelle. I will take responsibility and prepare for it.”

As she was walking down the hallway by the garden, she saw something through the window overlooking the garden.

“Theor?”

Astelle hurriedly ran to the window.

She saw Theor playing in the garden, riding a white pony.

“Theor, what are you doing?”

Astelle opened the window and shouted.

“Mom!”

Theor, riding on the pony, waved to Astelle.

“You have to hold it properly. You can’t let go of this.”

And next to him was Kaizen.

Kaizen himself was holding the pony’s reins and helping Theor ride around.

“You have to keep your upper body upright.”

“Your Majesty, what are you doing?”

Astelle opened the door to the garden and walked over to the two of them.

“I’m here to present Theor with a pony.”

“Theor is still too young to ride a horse.”

Theor was now five years old.

Even a small pony was still dangerous for him.

“He just needs to hold the reins. What do you think? Riding a pony is nice, right?”

“Yes!”

Theor, riding on the pony, exclaimed excitedly.

Then he quickly lost his spirits when he saw Astelle with an angry look.

“……but if Mom doesn’t like it, neither do I.”

Theor bowed his head sullenly.

He’s always liked animals, so he’s probably disappointed.

Kaizen patted his head as if sorry for him.

In an instant, Astelle felt like a bad parent.

She pondered for a moment, then sighed and agreed.

“Your Majesty gave it to you, so today you can ride it for a while, and please be careful.”

“Yes! I will be careful!”

“I’m with him, so don’t worry.”

Kaizen again grabbed the reins.

Astelle quickly called the servant who was waiting near the garden.

“Let the child ride slowly so as not to fall.”

“Yes, Lady Astelle.”

Rather than Kaizen, who had never looked after a child, it seemed better to entrust him to a cautious servant.

Kaizen handed the reins to the servant with regretful eyes.

However, even after the reins were taken, he followed Theor and helped him get into the right position.

“What’s this pony’s name?”

“It doesn’t have a name yet. You can name it.”

Kaizen was playing well with Theor, teaching him about ponies and horseback riding.

Astelle found it strange to see Kaizen taking good care of Theor.

Kaizen originally hated children.

Even when he was young, he hated seeing noble children younger than him and avoided them.

‘Are you so happy to know that he is your son?’

He was in good shape for having found his son.

Thanks to his efforts, he seems to be quite good at taking care of his son.

When he comforted and corrected Theor’s sitting posture, he looked like a father.

She can’t believe Kaizen became a father caring for his son.

She felt like she had found an unexpected side in him.

Theor was also talking to him with a bright face.

After a long conversation with Theor, Kaizen approached Astelle.

His eyes were full of pride and affection.

“He’s good at horse riding. He’s brave and talented. I think he looks like me.”

Kaizen congratulated himself while joking.

Astelle didn’t answer.

She thought it would be better to have a father who was worried about what might happen to his child, than a brave father who gave a pony to a five-year-old.

When Astelle didn’t respond, he added hesitantly.

“Still, he rode carefully and gently.”

“In that respect, it seems that he does not resemble Your Majesty.”

Astelle said in a calm voice.

Unlike Kaizen, who is careless and selfish, Theor is an obedient child. Kaizen who was listening to that smiled in satisfaction.

“Yeah, of course, his calm side must resemble you.”

Because he is our son.

He meant it that way.

“There’s nothing for you to worry about. The Imperial Palace is safe.”

“……”

Astelle didn’t answer this time either.

Theor rode a pony through the garden and waved at the two of them.

Kaizen turned to look at Theor.

“Since he can ride a pony so well, he can start training. At this point, I think it would be good to find a tutor and a swordsmanship teacher.”

“Isn’t it too early to learn swordsmanship?”

Astelle thought learning swordsmanship is too early for Theor, who is only five years old. He must be at least seven years old.

Kaizen disagreed with her.

“I started at that age too, so it’s not too early.”

“With all due respect, but Your Majesty learned swordsmanship since the age of six.”

Kaizen looked back at Astelle, slightly surprised.

“How do you know that?”

She heard it from Fritz.

Young Astelle, who fell in love with her first love, wanted to know anything about Kaizen.

What he hates and what he likes.

She memorized everything.

Seeing Astelle who was silent this time too, Kaizen suddenly changed the topic.

“But it’s good to learn basic posture. Whenever I have time, I’ll come and teach him. Let him practice horseback riding.”

He brought a pony to say this.

He must want to come here every day and play with Theor on the pretext of teaching horseback riding and swordsmanship.

However, Astelle did not want to entrust Theor to Kaizen with horseback riding or swordsmanship.

Kaizen has excellent skills, but he lacked caution in dealing with young children.

“Thank you, but your Majesty must be busy, so I will find a teacher separately.”

Kaizen raised his eyebrows and tried to refute her, but Theor, who got off the pony, ran towards the two of them.

Kaizen asked with a smile.

“Did you have fun?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

As Theor hugged Astelle, he looked back at Kaizen as if he remembered it belatedly.

“Thank you, Your Majesty.”

For a moment, a sad expression appeared on Kaizen’s face.

Kaizen brought up a pony himself to give it to Theor.

Theor liked the pony, but still, he didn’t call Kaizen his father.

Kaizen stroked Theor’s cheek with a slightly sad look.

“Okay. As long as you have fun.”