My Child’s Father Is the Emperor - Chapter 4

“W-where are we?” Adele stammered, her voice trembling as she struggled to process the scene before her.

The emperor answered with a mocking smile.

“Welcome to the imperial palace.”

Adele’s surroundings were surreal, almost impossible to believe.

She stood in the midst of a lush, dense forest, encircled on all sides by an impossibly high stone wall. The wall stretched far into the distance, so far that it seemed almost otherworldly in scale.

Turning around, she caught sight of the imperial castle.

“Wow!” Leo exclaimed in awe from her arms.

The Dreyfus estate had been an impressive stronghold, large and influential in its own right. But compared to the imperial palace, it seemed like a mere corner of this vast domain.

Adele felt overwhelmed, her mind momentarily frozen as she tried to comprehend the enormity of it all.

“You’re braver than I thought,” the emperor remarked, his cold tone shattering her daze.

Startled back into reality, Adele clutched Leo tightly to her chest.

“Mom! Too tight!” Leo squirmed, wriggling against her grasp.

Noticing the boy’s discomfort, the emperor stepped forward and took Leo gently from her arms, setting him down on the ground.

Adele flinched as their eyes met, her body trembling with fear. Even her tongue felt frozen, immobilized by the icy presence radiating from him.

Leo, oblivious to the tension, let out an excited “Wow!” and dashed toward the palace, his carefree laughter echoing through the forest clearing.

Watching her son run off, Adele felt tears welling in her eyes.

I can’t stop him from taking Leo. There’s nothing I can do.

She berated herself silently.

I should have stayed more alert. I shouldn’t have let myself fall asleep so carelessly.

She had only meant to close her eyes for a moment, exhausted from the ordeal. But who could have imagined that the cart would lead them straight into the emperor’s domain?

It was too late now. They were already inside the imperial walls, deep within the heart of his power.

The emperor’s voice interrupted her thoughts.

“While you were cradling the boy, what exactly were you doing?”

What? Did he really just ask me that?

It didn’t make sense. Someone so fearsome couldn’t possibly have asked her something so… gentle.

Then, like a flash of lightning, a memory struck her.

She realized what he meant.

“He’s my child! I carried him in my womb for ten months! What were you doing all that time?”

Adele froze, her breath catching in her throat.

Did I… Did I just say that?

It was the ultimate act of defiance, words that could easily cost her life.

Head bowed, she trembled violently, unable to lift her gaze.

“I walked across lands soaked in blood,” the emperor replied, his voice low and unyielding.

Adele’s eyes widened as the weight of his words pressed down on her.

“I tread upon endless death with every step,” he continued, his tone cold and deliberate.

She could feel his piercing gaze burning into the crown of her head.

“Does that answer your question?”

Adele didn’t dare look up. If she met his eyes, she felt certain she would turn to stone, like a victim of the legendary Medusa.

He means to kill me.

A wave of terror overwhelmed her, leaving her trembling uncontrollably.

“Take her,” the emperor commanded curtly as he turned away.

Knights approached and seized Adele by her arms.

In the distance, Leo had run far ahead, his small figure almost out of sight. Even his cheerful energy seemed to vanish, swallowed by the imposing shadow of the emperor following closely behind him.

“No! Leo! Leo!” Adele screamed, tears streaming down her face as she struggled against the knights holding her.

“Let me go! Leo!”

As the emperor disappeared from view, one of the knights restraining her struck her hard in the stomach.

Adele gasped, her eyes widening in shock and pain.

No… No…

The last thing she saw was the blur of the stone walls above her before everything went dark.

 

* * *

 

Van called out to his young son’s name.

“Leo.”

The child’s exuberant running seemed to blend seamlessly with the vast imperial palace gardens, as though he belonged there.

Hearing his name, Leo turned and sprinted toward him.

Van caught him effortlessly, lifting him high into the air.

“My son,” he said, his voice filled with an unusual warmth.

Black hair, pale skin, and those unmistakable gray eyes—Leo was his mirror image.

The boy’s gray irises sparkled with excitement, reflecting Van’s own.

“Dad,” Leo said, the word slipping naturally from his small, sweet lips.

Van felt a surge of emotion, his heart swelling with a rare sense of fulfillment.

“Yes. I’m your father,” he affirmed, his voice steady yet touched with pride.

Lowering the child gently, Van cradled him in his arms. Leo’s fine hair brushed against his chest, carrying the unmistakable scent of youth and innocence.

Van smiled, unable to hide his satisfaction.

Nearby, the servants exchanged furtive glances.

“Look at His Majesty.”

“I know, right? I always thought he was ruthless, but this… this is something else.”

“How could he? It’s cruel.”

Behind the tender scene of a father’s joy was the shadow of a mother’s agony. Adele, Leo’s mother, had been dragged away in tears, her screams echoing through the palace corridors.

Forcibly separating a child from his mother, the young emperor seemed completely untroubled, even delighted by the act.

The servants, though they dared not voice their opinions aloud, were quietly appalled. His Majesty’s reputation for coldness, it seemed, had only been bolstered by this display.

Oblivious to their judgment, Van continued to bask in the moment, entirely pleased.

After a while, he handed Leo off to the servants, instructing them to take the boy to the great bathhouse for some playtime. Satisfied, Van made his way to the imperial study.

“What of Adele?” he asked as he settled into his chair.

“She’s secured and under strict surveillance, Your Majesty,” a steward replied.

Van let out a short sigh, a hint of weariness creeping into his expression.

“I intended to kill them all.”

The memory of the fury Van had felt when he saw the empty rooms of Dreyfus Castle was still vivid.

He had driven his horse at full speed, heading north. After an hour of riding, he came upon a rattling cart laden with empty wooden crates.

“Your Majesty, we’ve found it. It departed from Dreyfus Castle,” his scout reported.

The cart appeared ordinary, indistinguishable from any other.

“Spare me, Your Majesty!” the food merchant wailed, prostrating himself on the ground, trembling with fear.

Van ignored him and climbed onto the cart.

At its farthest end, a large wooden crate sat conspicuously.

Carefully, Van opened the lid.

Inside, Adele lay asleep, clutching Leo tightly in her arms.

“You haven’t changed a bit.”

She looked just as she had four years ago when he had first claimed her. Her soft skin, her delicate lips—they remained untouched by time, just as if they were frozen in his memory.

Van’s heart raced as he looked at her peaceful, pure face, untroubled even in her sleep. It felt as though he were opening a gift box, the anticipation and joy catching him off guard.

The sight of Adele sleeping so deeply, oblivious to the commotion around her, melted the anger that had consumed him moments before.

Gently, Van closed the lid and stepped off the cart.

“Switch the horses,” he commanded.

“We’re going straight to the imperial palace.”

The draft horses of the rickety cart were replaced with thoroughbreds, and the cart joined the imperial cavalcade, speeding through the countryside.

The finely-prepared carriage that had waited at Dreyfus Castle was now useless.

Van stared out of the window of his mount as the convoy moved, then summoned a servant.

“This evening, I will dine in Adele’s chambers. Have Leo brought there as well,” he ordered.

“Pardon?”

“Neither of them has likely eaten properly all day. Ensure the dinner is plentiful and suitable for a banquet.”

But the servant hesitated, shifting uncomfortably and darting their gaze around nervously.

“Is there a problem?” Van asked, his tone sharp.

“Well… Your Majesty…” The servant stammered, beads of sweat forming on his brow. “Are you… Are you ordering a banquet to be served in… in the prison?”

“What? Prison?”

Van’s eyes turned cold, his gaze cutting like a blade.

 

* * *

 

Had she fallen into an icy abyss in the middle of summer?

Adele shivered uncontrollably.

“Mmm…”

As she regained consciousness, the jagged, uneven surface of the stone floor came into view.

How long had she been lying on this cold, hard surface? Her body protested as she struggled to sit up, every joint aching and sore.

“Where…?”

Adele’s gaze darted around the room, and the realization hit her.

Prison.

A place she had never imagined setting foot in—a cage for criminals. She had lived her life as a law-abiding citizen, always careful to do the right thing. Yet here she was.

The cold stone floor was interrupted by black iron bars embedded firmly into the ground at regular intervals.

She stumbled to her feet and gripped the bars, shaking them with all her strength. They didn’t budge. Even hanging her full weight on them yielded no results.

“Haah…”

Sighing heavily, Adele pressed her bare feet against the uneven floor and began to walk around the small cell.

“Ow!”

Pain shot through her soles. She realized her shoes were missing—likely lost when she’d been dragged here.

Her once pale feet were now scraped and bruised, smeared with dirt and streaks of blood. The sight made her chest tighten, her spirits sinking even further.

“Is it today? Or tomorrow?”

The rough treatment suggested her value had run its course.

They’re not planning to keep me alive for long.

With that grim certainty, tears no longer came.

Adele crouched down, wrapping her arms around her legs in an effort to conserve what little warmth she could find. The freezing stone floor seemed to sap every ounce of heat from her body.

There was no bed, no pillow, not even a blanket to shield her from the biting cold. She curled up tighter, trying to stave off the relentless chill.

“There’s no way out of here, is there?”

Even if by some miracle she managed to escape, how could she retrieve Leo? She had no idea where he was in this massive palace. The thought of leaving without him was unbearable.

The cold seeped into her bones, making her limbs stiff. Yet her mind, perhaps in rebellion against the icy numbness, grew sharper.

Albrecht.

Vanhelm von Albrecht.

Van.

“So… he was Van.”

No wonder she’d never been able to find him.

The truth had been wrong from the start. She had spent years searching for a knight who didn’t exist. He had never once claimed to be a knight.

“Chivalry is dead, sullied by the world. There is no one left who wishes for me to live.”

She remembered his words, the ones that had led her to mistakenly think he was a knight.

“…Van,” Adele murmured his name softly.

Raising Leo alone, she had developed a habit of speaking to him in her solitude, as if he could somehow hear her.

Each night, as she tucked Leo into bed, she would pat her sleeping child and whisper his name.

“Van. Today, Leo called me ‘Mama.’”
“Van. Do you know what baby food is? It’s something babies try before eating real meals. Leo ate it for the first time today.”
“Van. Leo walked today.”

Every time she said his name aloud, the loneliness of raising a child on her own felt a little less suffocating. Saying his name made it seem like he was somewhere out there, listening.

“Van. Today, Leo asked about his father.”
“Van. I’m so tired.”

He had been just a man—one night, fleeting yet unforgettable.

The time they shared had been so brief, too brief to leave anything behind in her memory but an idealized image of him.

And yet, Adele had waited for him.

She had wanted to see Van again, had longed for the strength of his embrace on that night.

“Where are you now, Van?”
“I miss you.”

Adele couldn’t deny it anymore. Against all reason, she had come to love him.

He was beautiful and tragic, a man who was both unattainable and unforgettable.

Though she could not see him, could not meet him, her feelings for him had only deepened over time.

And then there was Leo, the child Van had left behind. To her, Leo was a token of their connection, proof that he had been real.

She had clung to the hope that she might one day see Van again, that he might appear before her and see the child they shared.

There were times she feared the worst, that perhaps he was already dead. But no news ever came—neither of his death nor of his whereabouts.

She wanted to believe he was still alive, somewhere in the world.

But it was all in vain, she thought bitterly, staring at the iron bars that confined her.

“I should never have met him in the first place.”

It was a regret that came far too late.

If she had turned away that night, none of this would have happened.

For the first time, Adele regretted refusing her mother’s offer to rely on the Marquis’s patronage. If she had accepted, perhaps her heart wouldn’t feel as if it were being torn apart, shredded by grief and despair.

Tears rolled down Adele’s cheeks as she sat in her cold, desolate cell.

How long had she been trapped there? A sliver of sunlight crept through the tiny window, casting a faint glow on the stone floor.

“The sun is setting.”

Her thoughts turned to Leo.

“If I begged to see my son one last time before I die… would they grant me that?”

Her hair was a tangled mess, her clothes torn in places from her rough handling.

“Hngh…” A soft sob escaped her lips as tears fell anew, spilling from her hopelessness.

Clang.

The sound of a door opening in the distance reached her ears.

Step. Step. Step.

The measured sound of footsteps grew louder as someone approached.

Adele panicked, instinctively retreating to the corner of her cell and curling up tightly. It was a futile attempt at hiding, driven purely by fear.

A group of figures came into view, stopping before her cell.

Then, parting the others, Van stepped forward.

With one hand, he gripped the iron bars.

Groan.

The bars bent like soft wax under his fingers, the sound of the twisting metal sending a chill down Adele’s spine.

Adele’s breath hitched as she watched his unnatural strength, her mind racing.

“Poison? Strangulation? A knife to the heart?”

She had expected a more conventional death, but this… this was beyond anything she could have imagined.

“He’ll kill me with those hands.”

Her face turned pale, her thoughts spinning out of control.

Van stepped into the cell, his towering presence filling the small space.

With little effort, he lifted her off the ground, her limp body dangling like a doll.

“Adele.”

His voice was sharp, his gaze severe, and his expression stormy as if furious about something.

“This is a misunderstanding.”