Children of the Holy Emperor
chapter-152

The day of the birthday banquet had dawned.

Seongjin, who had lacked sleep from wandering around outside the palace the night before, ended up sleeping in completely that day.

Skipping morning training and dozing off with food in his mouth during breakfast, Edith was shocked to see Seongjin’s state like that.

“Oh my goodness, Your Highness! What’s with your face!”

“Huh? Why?”

“It’s completely withered and swollen! On this important day when you should be showing your best appearance, what kind of unexpected disaster is this? Huh?”

Hmm, is it so exaggerated that she’s making a fuss? Although he felt a bit heavy in his body.

However, it seemed different in the eyes of the maids.

Because the other maids who came running one after another at Edith’s call showed a truly variety of reactions upon seeing Seongjin’s face.

As a result, Seongjin had to quietly stay in his room with his face covered in strange things like packs and whatnot right after finishing breakfast.

“Yawn.”

Seongjin didn’t rush to the training grounds like usual. His body felt unusually tired and sluggish.

And didn’t he have the skill of meditating while lying down that he had recently mastered?

While receiving the maids’ care and alternating between dozing off and meditating, Edith grumbled as she wiped Seongjin’s face with cold water.

“Your Highness, why did you choose to do an all-night meditation on the night before the birthday banquet of all days?”

“Huh?”

All-night meditation?

“Since you weren’t sleep-talking unlike usual, I went to find the guard knight, and he said he received a warning from Commander Bruno. He said that Your Highness was in the middle of an important meditation and not to disturb you until morning.”

“The commander?”

When Seongjin turned to the side, Commander Bruno was stroking his mustache, looking at Seongjin with a meaningful gaze.

‘…He knows.’

Well, he didn’t expect to be able to sneak out of the palace secretly as a former Decalon Knight.

He probably got a general idea of the situation through Arenja and prevented it from becoming a big commotion like before.

At the very least, it was a great relief that Sir Masain wasn’t present at the moment. He would have definitely noticed something and tried to question Seongjin.

Sir Masain had returned to his residence in the capital the previous evening for a change. He also had many things to prepare for the birthday banquet as a member of the imperial family.

‘But sleep-talking, what could it be…?’

Edith had a history of being the first to notice Seongjin’s absence before.

So when he asked for details, she said that Seongjin would sleep-talk for a few minutes every day after midnight at the same time.

She said it started after he had suffered from a fever, so it was probably a habit that Morres didn’t have.

Seongjin was very perplexed because he had never heard of having such a sleeping habit before. So when he asked her what kind of sleep-talking he did.

-Well, I’m not sure? It sounded like mumbling, so I couldn’t understand it well. Sometimes it seemed like it wasn’t the Delcross language.

Edith spoke with a nonchalant face, but Seongjin felt a bit eerie upon hearing that answer.

This child said it without much thought, but what if another servant had heard it?

The prince they serve sleep-talks in an unknown dialect in the middle of the night, wouldn’t they suspect that he was possessed by a demon or something?

When he asked the Demon King, his answer was even more absurd.

-I don’t know what it means either? Maybe it wasn’t proper words, but just baby talk. Don’t give it much thought.

Baby talk, are you joking right now?

Seongjin was dumbfounded, but the Demon King refused to speak any further with a somewhat dubious look after that.

‘It’s bothering me…’

However, there was no time to ponder more about the sleep-talking. Amelia and Logan had come to visit Pearl Palace early in the morning.

Seeing Seongjin with his face covered in something, they found it amusing for some reason and sat down on either side of him.

“You of all people stayed up the night before the birthday banquet. Don’t you know how important today is?”

“Yeah, Morres. I guess you’ll have to spend the whole morning just taking care of your face.”

“No, why is everyone making such a fuss? It’s not like the banquet is only today…”

As Seongjin grumbled like that, the two looked at each other and nodded.

“It seems he really doesn’t know how things work.”

“Right. He said he doesn’t have any previous memories at all.”

Then Amelia calmly explained to Seongjin.

“Listen well, Morres. There’s a reason why the maids are acting like this. It’s no exaggeration to say that today’s banquet is the most important one of the year.”

The birthday banquet is held over a total of three days around the Holy Emperor’s birthday.

At first glance, it may seem like the second day is the main event, but upon closer look, the situation is a bit different.

If the main banquet is a ceremony-focused event led by the Holy Emperor, and the banquet on the last day has a slightly lighter atmosphere, like an after-party.

The banquet on the first day is the event where people attend with the most excitement, giving off the feeling of a “grand party.”

In any case, since it’s an event attended by royalty and famous figures from each country, it’s an important day to make a first impression on them.

“Moreover, since Father won’t be present, the first day will have a rather free atmosphere. Father probably won’t attend the banquet except for the ceremony on the second day. That’s how it has been so far.”

In other words, it’s like a company dinner without the boss.

“But why does Father do that?”

Isn’t it his own birthday? Why are the guests enjoying the birthday party among themselves?

As Seongjin wondered, Amelia smiled and said.

“Perhaps he’s being considerate of the attendees. Who could comfortably enjoy the banquet under the watchful gaze of the Proxy of the Gods, who is closest to God?”

“Hmm…”

Well, Seongjin could bet his entire fortune that the man wasn’t showing up because he found it bothersome.

Although, it was all the fortune he received from his father anyway.

“By the way, what brings you here? Aren’t you all busy preparing for the birthday banquet?”

“We have something to discuss together. I have to attend the grand mass soon, so I probably won’t have time except for now.”

The matter Logan brought up after opening his mouth was as follows.

The state church had decided to have Seo Yi-seo attend the birthday banquet along with Sisle.

“I’m worried about letting her and Cardmos loose in the banquet hall as they are.”

Logan seemed to have found it quite threatening when Cardmos almost collapsed the main palace the other day.

“I’ll escort her. I’ll keep a close eye on her without letting her out of my sight for a moment. We don’t know when or what kind of unexpected situation that Cardmos might create.”

Seo Yi-seo and Cardmos. Both of them were individuals to be wary of in different ways. Of course, Seongjin could understand Logan’s concern.

However…

“Then what about Sisle?”

“Come to think of it, I did hear that something happened to Lady Scarcepino…”

“…?”

“So I was thinking, why don’t we ask Young Master Siegmund?”

Seongjin was appalled by Amelia’s answer.

“What?”

No way, I absolutely cannot agree to that!

Entrusting the little one to such a delinquent-like guy!

As Seongjin protested vehemently, almost tearing off the packs on his face, Amelia added softly.

“Sisle needs a partner of a certain status. As of now, Young Master Siegmund is probably the only viable option. Even though he’s a regional nobleman, the prestige of Margrave Siegmund is by no means inferior to the central high nobles.”

Even Logan had a positive reaction.

“He’s quite a promising friend. I’ve only seen him a few times at the previous birthday banquets, but he seemed like a rather reticent yet sincere friend, unlike the typical youth these days.”

How can this be! Am I really the only one who knows his true nature?

How can everyone have such poor eyes for people? Especially Logan, isn’t he in his second life now?

[Seeing how they fawn over a guy like you, they’re definitely too naive.]

‘Shut up!’

While having a fierce internal quarrel with the Demon King, Logan carefully picked up the fallen packs and stuck them back on Seongjin’s face.

“Hey, dude! Are you putting the stuff that fell on the floor back on someone’s face?”

“…Is that not allowed?”

Seeing that innocent face staring blankly at Seongjin, not understanding the situation, his head started to ache.

Ah, my blood pressure is rising.

Meanwhile, Amelia continued with a very worried expression.

“By the way, I’m really worried about Lady Scarcepino. I hope nothing serious has happened to her…”

“…”

“Morres, you should also send a letter inquiring about the well-being of the Scarcepino family as soon as possible. And check on her as soon as the birthday banquet is over. Although it’s unofficial, she has been your fiancée for a long time.”

Well, Seongjin was quite skeptical about Isabella’s condition.

Although she managed to save her life thanks to the Holy Emperor, even if she regains consciousness, her state is still unknown.

If it’s as Seongjin guessed, the Holy Emperor probably completely severed her from Sigurd Sigurdsson by striking her head.

However…

-Do you intend to harm this innocent and pitiful person who has almost lost her self-awareness?

If what he said was true, Isabella’s personality could be considered to have already disappeared.

If she were to experience a mental disturbance like Ricardo, it would definitely be as severe, if not worse than him.

Still, that might be better. If she still believes herself to be the Storyteller of Dimensions…

‘She’ll probably think and act thoroughly as Sigurd Sigurdson, won’t she?’

Then how should Seongjin perceive and respond to her?

Time passed quickly while being led by the maids to make various preparations.

Finally, when evening came, the maids burst into praise one after another upon seeing Seongjin dressed impeccably in formal attire.

“Your appearance is incomparably dashing!”

“The dark formal wear really makes Your Highness’s golden hair stand out, doesn’t it?”

“Oh my, even the cuffs and small ornaments match Your Highness’s eye color so well!”

“Ah, I think I’ll fall in love at first sight!”

…Do they receive training as a group?

Why are their compliments all exactly the same?

Meanwhile, Edith looked at the red jewelry in one corner of the jewelry box with lingering eyes.

“Your Highness, why aren’t you wearing such precious gifts that arrived? I heard from the maids of other palaces that red gold is a big trend for this birthday banquet. Everyone is desperate to get their hands on at least one red gold accessory.”

Those accessories were expensive gifts sent from the Rabizuri Marquis family not long ago.

I heard that Amelia also received a set of high-end jewelry. It was meant as an apology for the disturbance caused by the guard knights at a local restaurant the other day.

Amelia had carefully placed those gifts in her room and never touched them at all.

Of course, part of the reason was that she was dumbfounded to suddenly receive expensive gifts from a foreign nobleman she had never met before, not knowing the full story behind the incident.

However, there was a more fundamental reason why she didn’t wear red gold accessories.

-It’s beautifully crafted, but strangely, I find that red luster quite unpleasant, Morres.

That’s what Amelia had said.

Indeed, Seongjin also didn’t particularly like the metal that shone with a reddish color as if stained with blood.

So the two of them had agreed in advance to wear other accessories while coordinating their dress code, instead of red gold.

“But Grand Duke Asein will be disappointed if he finds out. Red gold is a specialty product of the Asein Duchy.”

Grand Duke Asein is Morres’s maternal grandfather.

Hearing Edith’s words, Seongjin tilted his head.

“By any chance, are there any red gold accessories sent directly from Asein, not Rabizuri?”

“What? No. There hasn’t been anything like that…”

“Then it’s fine. Don’t worry about it.”

Since Grand Duke Asein’s power was so great, Seongjin had also heard various rumors about him. Like he was a miser who could make merchants who had been in business for decades cry.

But still, even so, how come he hasn’t inquired about his grandson’s well-being even once after he nearly died?

I’m not expecting him to send herbal tonics, but to this extent, it’s safe to say there’s almost no affection as family, right?

On top of that, surely he doesn’t expect his grandson to directly purchase red gold and even advertise it for him, does he?

***

[Wow…]

‘Wow…’

Arriving in front of Silver Rose Palace, Seongjin and the Demon King simultaneously let out an exclamation in their minds.

Although he already thought of her as a wingless angel walking on earth, Amelia, who had dressed up with determination, truly looked like the goddess of roses who had descended from the heavens.

Wrapped in a dress like intense red petals, Amelia smiled shyly and extended her hand to Seongjin.

“Isn’t it a bit awkward?”

“…No, sister. It suits you very well. Truly.”

How can a person be so extremely glamorous yet innocent at the same time? She was truly a remarkable beauty.

The problem was that Amelia’s appearance was so overwhelming that even that bastard Orden, who had arrived to escort Sisle, couldn’t take his eyes off her for a while, completely dazed.

‘You bastard, won’t you look away? You’re dead!’

As Seongjin glared fiercely, the guy finally hurriedly shifted his gaze to the little saint he was supposed to escort.

What kind of rudeness is this, getting enchanted by someone else in front of your partner?

Fortunately, the little saintess, who had been deeply immersed in something, didn’t seem to notice that fact at all.

“…it is. Today is truly… night…”

The saintess was muttering something incessantly, mumbling with her small lips.

When Orden, who had become curious, carefully listened with his hearing enhanced by aura, the saintess was repeatedly saying the following words.

“…It’s night. Today is truly a beautiful night. Today is truly beautiful…”

“…?”

Tilting his head for a moment, Orden slowly extended his hand towards the saintess.

At that time, he had no idea that it was a precursor to the bomb that would suddenly be dropped on the banquet hall that day.