Chapter 74

* * *
Translated by Sylph

Read only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net.
* * *

‘What is this place?’

Looking at the ornate door, it seemed to be a room where important books were kept.

Looking inside, there was a small table by the window.

‘It’s an empty seat!’

Furthermore, since this room was in a corner, other children did not come near.

After more time passed, someone would surely come, but it was a room that seemed likely to be quiet for a while.

‘Is it okay to use it?’

Since there was no particular sign telling her not to enter, Evi went inside cautiously.

It was a room full of luxurious bookshelves, with even the wood being different from the ones outside.

Just like the bookshelves, the books plugged inside them were also ornate in their outward appearance.

The dark red leather sparkled, and the corners were even reinforced with metal so they wouldn’t be damaged.

At the luxurious books she had never seen in the upper school, Evi looked at the title of a book.

“Royal Genealogy?”

Upon seeing the name, she realized why the book was excessively ornate.

It was only natural, as it was the Royal Genealogy, which organized the successive Emperors and their families.

Ordinary people usually do not know much about the imperial family except for the Emperor and his immediate family.

‘Because I only know about the name of His Majesty the Emperor…’

Evi recalled the name of the Emperor that had been shining beneath her admission permit.

‘Clois Arellkian Harkia.’

In fact, there were many people who could not remember the Emperor’s full name.

It was because there was no occasion for them to call the Emperor’s name.

Emperor. Empress. Crown Prince. Knowing only that much was enough.

Furthermore, since the Emperor currently had no family, only the Emperor needed to be known.

Knowledge more detailed than that was the part for nobles, not commoners, to learn.

Because nobles had many occasions to meet the Emperor or other members of the imperial family someday, and it was their duty to serve them.

‘They said we would learn about it starting from next semester.’

Because of that, they said that in the Gifted Center, starting from the liberal arts hour next semester, they would learn about the imperial family and various noble families of the Empire, as well as many related etiquettes.

To that announcement, the reaction of the children of noble families was one of boredom.

It was because it was content they had already learned since they were young.

At that time, the names of the books they would see were written in the notice, and looking at it now, it seemed those books were all kept here.

‘Should I look at it a bit?’

Even though she thought she had to study, she was already distracted by the ornate book she was touching for the first time.

Evi, who hesitated several times, took out the book and sat at the desk by the window.

“Hup.”

Evi was instantly engrossed in the book, which was so heavy even in its cover that it had to be turned with two hands.

The names of the imperial family members and their genealogy, which were full to the point of being crowded, were drawn on the first page.

Looking through more pages, the names of the Emperors, when they were born, what achievements they left, and what happened during their reigns were written.

Usually, it is common for such books to only briefly organize existing facts.

However, those made in the Imperial Palace contained more detailed stories than those in other noble families.

“It’s the story of the Battle of Erkaten.”

It was a battle that was always spoken of as the most important event in imperial history.

In fact, the battle itself was not of a very large scale.

However, in that battle, the Emperor and dozens of his subordinates faced and won against an army of thousands.

It was a nonsensical story, but this battle was a fact for which too much evidence remained.

After that, whenever there was an occasion to praise the imperial family, this story would always come out first.

In the history books of the upper school, it was just written in text, but in the book she was currently seeing, the appearance of that battle was drawn.

Evi could not take her eyes off the finely drawn picture.

The picture was a scene where the Emperor was raising his hand toward the swarming enemies, and a flashing light was swirling in his hand.

“Uh?”

Then one part caught Evi’s eye. It was exactly the back of the Emperor’s hand in the picture.

It was a small part, but clearly, something like a strange drawing was drawn on the back of the Emperor’s hand.

At a glance, it was something that looked like a stain.

“…”

Evi looked at her own hand. Even while thinking it couldn’t be, she thought that the stain drawn in the picture was similar to the one that appeared on her hand.

Evi looked at her hand, which currently had nothing on its back, and then turned the page again.

She was looking at this book out of curiosity, but she had to study for the exams quickly.

‘I really have to study now…’

However, Evi soon became engrossed in the contents of the book again.

Then she realized that she had almost reached the end before she knew it.

“Clois Arellkian Harkia…”

On the last page, the name of the current Emperor was written. And there was also a name written next to it.

“Lilian Shell, Evbien Shell Harkia?”

They were names in her memory.

Who were they? When did she hear these names?

Then Evbien soon remembered where she had seen these names.

“Those graves!”

The forest where she first met Professor Sian. The two tombstones that were inside it. They were the names written on those tombstones.

But why were those names in the book?

Evi turned her head to the book again.

They were connected by lines next to the Emperor’s name, and Evbien was the name written below them.

So…

“Lilian Shell is the name of Her Majesty the Empress, and Evbien… is the name of Her Highness the Princess.”

But surely, there was neither an Empress nor a Princess.

In the Empire, there was only one Emperor.

So everyone said that he would adopt one of Arcel or Ruska as his son.

Evi looked at the names of the two again. Dates were written next to the names. Two each.

She knew what that indicated. It was exactly the day they were born and the day they passed away.

The day Lilian Shell and Evbien passed away was the same.

Evi read the book while feeling an unknown tightness in her chest.

The book was faithfully conveying only emotionless facts, just as it had written about other previous Emperors.

So how the Empress and the Princess died was also written truthfully.

Evi, who was reading about the deaths of the two, muttered quietly.

“It must have hurt…”

At the same time, her heart ached. Before the Emperor arrived, the Empress and the Princess were killed by the enemy army.

Then how sad would His Majesty the Emperor be now?

It would be very heart-aching if family members left for a place where they could no longer meet.

It was like that in Elam City too.

Even if it was a city that avoided being embroiled in war because it was at the edge of the Empire, many young people of that city left for the battlefield and could not return.

The families of those people set up tombstones engraved with the names of those who passed away and cried while missing them in front of them.

Yes, just like…

“…Professor Sian.”

Evi remembered the appearance when she first went to where the tombstones were.

In front of the quiet graves where flowers were in full bloom, Professor Sian was crying quietly alone.

‘Why?’

Why was a professor of the Gifted Center crying at the graves of the Empress and the Princess? Was he someone he knew?

No matter how much she thought about it, she couldn’t know the answer.

Evi turned the page while confused. Then, two portraits were drawn there.

Just like portraits of other Emperors were written in front, this part would also be portraits of the Emperor and the Empress.

“This part is empty.”

Previously, there were all portraits of the princes and princesses, but the last one was empty.

There was only the name Evbien.

Evi, who looked at that name for a long time, raised her head. It was because she was curious about the portrait of the current His Majesty the Emperor, which she had not been able to see at the museum last time.

“Uh…!”

But the moment she saw the portrait of the Emperor, Evi ended up standing up abruptly from her chair.

“It’s the professor.”

The person drawn was Professor Sian, whom anyone could see.

“Professor…”

Bright and short golden hair. Very dark blue eyes. Even the face was clearly him.

But there was a difference.

The Emperor in the portrait had no expression. But Professor Sian…

“He smiles well.”

Evi recalled him when he was with her.

At first, he was scary, but now, far from being scary, she was scared that the professor wasn’t there.

Evi, who looked at the portrait for a long time, now looked next to it.

“Lilian Shell.”

The Empress who passed away. She was a person with burning red hair and dark green eyes.

And she was also the person in the portrait who seemed to whisper that it would be okay when she was trapped in the museum.

Evi put her hand on the picture. And she carefully caressed the top of the picture.

As if she really wanted to touch the Empress in the picture.

At that time, the wind came in through the open window, fluttering.

The moment that wind brushed past Evi’s hair, Evi muttered without realizing it.

“…Ma.”

A word she had never called before, so she could barely make only the ending sound.