Edon was a commoner with no family name. He graduated from the Knights Academy with excellent grades, but he became a knight of the monstrous Crown Prince, a position which everyone was reluctant to take on.
Everyone laughed at him for being assigned to such a job, but Edon quite liked his young master.
He also swore to himself that he would do anything for this boy.
“Edon, take off your shirt.”
However, this current order was rather absurd.
“….Yes, Your Highness.”
I took off my shirt since I didn’t have the right to refuse the Crown Prince’s order.
Blake looked at Edon's body. His body was not as good as the Emperor, but he had a fine body and his muscles were firmly packed. Blake carefully touched his hard abs.
“Edon, what does one have to do to look like that?”
“Your Highness, would you like to have abs?”
Blake touched his belly. Rather than the defined muscles, they were drawing a gentle curve.
Blake was not hurt by the Emperor who sent him out. It was Ancia.
‘She said she had never seen a man's body before…but I’m a man too.’
He felt sullen and touched his soft belly.
“Yes. It’s because I have a big tummy…”
“It’s not a big tummy!” said Edon with a warm smile. When Blake heard him, his eyes glistened with hope.
“Then?”
“Your highness, you still have a cute ‘baby’s belly’.”
“……”
***
Unfortunately, his words were no consolation to Blake.
For some reason, Blake was acting strange today. He insisted that he would not take off his clothes when taking a bath, and covered his stomach with his hands throughout the bath.
It was a little different from being shy. He seemed to be upset.
Anyway, after much back and forth, I tried to wash his body, but he kept turning to the other side.
“Your Highness, you should look straight at me.”
I grabbed him by the shoulder, turned him, and removed the hand covering his stomach. Blake’s cheeks puffed up in discontentment.
“….”
I knew he was upset with me, but he was so cute.
“Oh, my husband, it looks like your cheeks will burst.”
I pressed his soft cheeks. Then, Blake suddenly shouted, “It won’t burst!”
He was cute even when he was angry.
“I mean that you’re really cute.”
“……”
Blake's expression hardened instantly. No matter how cute he was, I thought that I shouldn’t tease him anymore. Let's stop here for today.
“Your Majesty, the cauldron is coming tomorrow. I'll cook a lot of delicious food for you.”
“I don’t want it.”
“You'll really be surprised, the food will taste so delicious.”
“I'm not going to eat anymore.”
“Why? Are you feeling sick?”
Did he have a stomachache? He quickly hid his belly in his hand and looked worried.
“Don’t look!”
“Your Highness…”
Was it the sentences engraved on his body again?
Blake murmured in a sullen voice.
“I don’t have a man’s body yet..”
“Pardon?”
“I’ll exercise too!”
Oh, I realized why Blake was angry.
“I-I'm sorry. It's my first time seeing a man’s body.”
What I said to the Emperor must have been bothering him. I smiled brightly.
“I'm sorry. My husband is a man too, but I forgot for a moment.”
“How can I completely slip out of your mind!”
I thought it’d be okay if I apologized, but Blake was even more furious.
“I'm gonna have abs, too! I'm not even going to eat!”
“Don't do that. I like you as you are now.”
I rubbed his round belly.
“It’s very cute…”
“It’s not a baby’s belly!”
Blake cut me off and shouted.
How did he know I was going to say ‘baby‘s belly’? Did he have mind reading skills?
When I looked at him in amazement, Blake hurried off to dry himself and ran to his bed.
“Your Highness, I haven't cleaned it yet. You’ll be dirty again then.”
“I don’t care.”
Blake lowered his head.
Ahh….I really don't think I should tease him anymore.
I approached him on the bed and sat next to him.
I blew a raspberry on Blake's belly.
Blake's eyes widened as if his eyes were bulging out.
“K-kiss? Kiss?! Did you kiss it?”
Blake’s face turned red.
He might become upset again so I let him know what it was.
“This is called blowing a raspberry.”
I tried doing it again.
“Look at this. Do you hear the fart?”
“Fart…”
Somehow, he looked disappointed. Didn't kids like this kind of joke? Wasn't he eight?
Anyway, I couldn't let him be upset again.
“Blake! Attack!”
I kept blowing raspberries on his stomach. Thankfully, Blake started laughing.
“Hahaha! It tickles. Ancia, don't! It tickles!”
I stopped and hugged Blake tightly.
“I like you as you are. You don’t need to change.”
“I like you the most too.”
“I'm happiest when you enjoy my cooking. So you have to eat a lot tomorrow, okay?”
“….I need to exercise.”
“You can eat and then exercise. You said you'd like to be taller than me.”
“I will be taller!”
“You should eat a lot then.”
“Okay. I'll eat a lot!”
Blake nodded. I felt better when I saw him smile and forget that he was upset.
***
Emperor Tenstheon recalled the image of Blake he had seen today.
My son has changed a lot. He finally stood up straight and held his companion's hand firmly.
His empty eyes sparkled brilliantly as if he had regained his emotions, and his cheeks were plump and lively, making his face look very healthy.
Tenstheon looked back at the report on the Crown Prince made by his aide. The report was full of compliments for the Crown Princess, which was unlike the usual cold and picky Collin.
“Eunhan.”
When Tenstheon called the name, a boy appeared. The boy had dark hair, dark eyes, and wore black clothes.
His name was ‘Eunhan.'
‘Eunhan' was a boy from the great eastern Empire ‘Chang'. Although he was young, he was capable of using ‘dragon liquor', which was said to be used by borrowing the power of a dragon. He hid his body in a completely different way from using mana and treated his illness.
Tenstheon rescued the wounded and bitter Eunhan, took the child who refused to go out into the world and made him into his own shadow.
He entrusted Eunhan with the things the Emperor could not officially do, and most of them were orders about Blake.
He also got help from Eunhan when he was looking for food ingredients in the East for Blake.
“Please give me your command.”
“Did the Crown Prince and the Crown Princess return safely?”
“Yes, Your Majesty. They took a bath and just fell asleep.”
The Goddess of Light was angry at the betrayal of Emperor Philip, and cursed his descendants. However, even though she hated Philip, she couldn’t completely reap the power of the light from him.
When the Emperor used the power of light, pain would be transmitted to the ‘Heir to the Curse'. The curse spread quickly and took over the entire body. In severe cases, the bearer of the curse could even die.
Many Emperors in the past used the power of light freely, ignoring the pain that the heir to the curse would suffer, but Tenstheon could not do so.
Tenstheon had not used the power of light even once, but there was an inevitable mission that he had as the Emperor of the Empire.
At the west end of the Valley of Chaos, there was a gate leading to the demon world, and it was called ‘The Door of Darkness'.
On the day when ‘The Door of Darkness' fully opened, it was said that the Empire would fall into ruin.
The only thing that could close the Door of Darkness was the ‘power of light'. Therefore, the Emperor of the Empire was responsible for sealing the door and borrowing the power of the Goddess.
But Tenstheon didn't want to seal the Door of Darkness. When he heard that the door had begun to open, he wanted to turn away.
If Tenstheon used the power of light to seal the door, Blake would surely suffer terrible pain.
But he was an Emperor before he was a father. He couldn't risk the Empire just to protect his son.
The Emperor ordered Eunhan to protect Blake, and soon, left for the Valley of Chaos. As soon as he sealed the door, he came back home running.
He entered the palace, worrying about how much more the curse might’ve had spread and how much pain the child must’ve suffered. So he looked for Eunhan right away.
“How’s Blake?”
“He’s been well.”
“Didn't it hurt him?”
“No, he was fine. The curse didn’t spread either.”
Eunhan handed over the video to the Emperor. In the video, he could see Blake smiling brightly while Ancia stood next to him.
Tenstheon used a powerful force of light to seal the Door of Darkness, but Blake wasn't in pain, and the curse didn't spread further.
What the hell was going on here? Was this a sign that the curse would be lifted?
But he could only hope so. In some cases, the effects of using the power of light might appear late.
“Anything else?”
“Brown Hamel, the Crown Prince’s chief servant, has been sent to prison.”
“What?”
Eunhan began to report on the Crown Princess acts for the whole month.
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