Chapter 34

Duke Rossild looked at me.

His gaze was not favorable.

However, he asked politely on the surface.

“What do you mean, Your Highness?”

“Lady Reina called my friend a toy.”

“People don’t usually call animals their friends.”

“And she asked me to sell my friend. Even though I repeatedly said he was not a toy, but a friend.”

“What’s important now is that the animal bit my daughter and she has a deep wound.”

I knew he would react like this.

I shook my head.

“What’s more important is that Lady Reina insulted our Bilotian Imperial Family.”

“……”

Reina screamed, “Eek!” as she clung to her father’s arms.

“Your Highness, do you still not understand what’s important?”

Duke Rossild patted his daughter’s back. His touch looked very affectionate.

I found it funny and, at the same time, envious.

‘No matter what, Duke Rossild will be on Reina’s side.’

Having a father.

Having someone who is firmly on my side.

Someone who will embrace me with open arms even if I make a mistake.

I was a little envious because I never had that.

‘But well, I have a father too!’

Even though he’s sitting there with a blank expression right now.

Even though he seems like the type to tell me if I’m wrong logically.

‘I have a father too!’

And he’s incredibly handsome.

Compared to my father, Duke Rossild looked like a squid.

The squid spoke.

“Insulting the Imperial Family? Do you understand the gravity of your words?”

“Of course.”

I looked at Honey Badger.

Looking at Honey Badger after the squid made my heart feel warm.

“Kim Beolkkul.”

Honey Badger, who was in my arms, slipped out like a loach and stood on the ground.

He stood up on two legs like a human.

“See? He responds to his name.”

“Even a trained dog responds to its name.”

He reacted as if to say, ‘So what?’

“The name Beolkkul was given by my older brother, Michael Bilotian, and I gave him the full name Kim Beolkkul.”

I looked directly at Duke Rossild.

This was the most important part.

“It means that a member of the Imperial Family gave him his name.”

It is significant when a member of the Imperial Family personally gives a name.

Giving a name means declaring that it is completely one’s own.

“I clearly mentioned in my first meeting with Lady Reina that my brother and I gave Kim Beolkkul his name.”

This time, I looked at Reina.

“Isn’t that right, Lady Reina?”

“Tha, that’s……!”

That Honey Badger wasn’t a toy, that Honey Badger was a friend.

Actually, those words were a smokescreen.

I casually dropped the most important part at the beginning.

‘Yes, my brother and I gave him his name.’

I said it nonchalantly at first, so she might not have noticed it properly, but I definitely stated it.

That a Bilotian gave him his name.

“She kept coveting something that was personally named by a member of the Imperial Family.”

“……”

“But I kindly refused. I wanted to be friends with Lady Reina.”

Reina’s expression darkened as she finally grasped the situation. Tears welled up in her eyes.

“Am I still in the wrong? Was this punishment too much? Isn’t it clear who is at fault?”

Duke Rossild sighed deeply.

He patted his daughter and put her down on the floor.

“I apologize.”

“N, no!”

Reina raised her index finger.

She showed off her finger wrapped in a thick bandage.

“It hurt.”

But my father, who had been silent, spoke up.

“The Bilotian Imperial Family only reprimands for one mistake once. Consider yourself lucky.”

It meant that since she had already been punished by Honey Badger, they wouldn’t pursue the matter further.

Conversely, it also meant that if she hadn’t been bitten by Honey Badger, the Emperor himself might have punished her.

My father looked at Duke Rossild.

Duke Rossild bowed his head respectfully.

“I apologize. I failed to educate my daughter properly. I will return and give her a stern warning.”

In the end, Reina had to apologize to me, even if it was begrudgingly.

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.”

I smiled brightly and held out my hand.

“Let’s be friends, Reina-eonni.”

I knew exactly how to act in this kind of situation to my advantage.

Reina’s body was trembling.

✦✦✦✦✦✦

For a while now, Ron had been struggling to control his anger.

So he desperately hid his emotions with a poker face.

‘Why am I so angry?’

He hated their looks.

They didn’t truly respect the Bilotian Imperial Family in the first place.

‘I knew that from the beginning, and it didn’t matter.’

They had a mutually beneficial relationship with the Rossild Dukedom.

The Bilotian Imperial Family provides strong military power, and the Rossild Dukedom reciprocates with matching financial power.

They had different roles.

From the beginning, they didn’t have deep respect for each other, and they didn’t expect it either.

So it was understandable that they didn’t revere the Princess.

That night, Serna said,

“I think you’re angry at yourself, Your Majesty.”

“At myself?”

“The Duke would have shielded and protected Reina, right? Regardless of the circumstances, he would have simply sided with his daughter.”

“……”

“Although it’s not right, Reina would have thought of her father as a very reliable shield. She would have felt extremely secure in his arms.”

Thinking about it, it seemed that way.

“But Your Majesty would have tried to distinguish right from wrong and examine the circumstances, right? You would have also been late to intervene because of your relationship with the Rossild Dukedom.”

“……”

“If Reina had been in the right, you might not have taken your daughter’s side.”

Serna, lying on the large bed, turned on her side.

She faced Ron, who was looking at her.

Serna held Ron’s hand tightly.

“Perhaps you were worried that you wouldn’t be a good father to Isabel?”

“……”

Ron had devoted himself to swordsmanship from a young age. He was very clumsy with anything other than swords.

It was the same with his emotions.

Especially emotions like anxiety and fear.

‘Anxiety. It’s an emotion I’ve never felt before.’

He was just angry, without even having time to examine his own heart.

“Don’t worry. Your Majesty can be a much better father than Duke Rossild.”

The Bilotian Imperial Family doesn’t usually show much affection to their children.

They are merely successors to inherit Bilotian.

That’s how it used to be.

A good father.

He had never even thought about it.

“I’m not interested in such things.”

Serna smiled gently.

She wasn’t rushing.

Because she knew better than anyone that Ron had been changing little by little since their daughter was born.

She just quietly held Ron’s hand tightly.

She could clearly see the turmoil in his eyes.

It seemed he was confused because everything he had believed in was being shaken to its core.

‘I understand.’

She snuggled into Ron’s arms.

Even if it’s a little late, Your Majesty can be a good father.

Instead of saying that,

“I love you. Good night.”

She ended it with those words.

She wrapped her arms around Ron’s waist and fell asleep.

Ron stared at Serna’s face for a long time.

Suddenly, he realized something strange.

‘But…… did I say I was angry?’

He hadn’t said anything.

Even though he hadn’t said anything, Serna already knew everything.

The one who ruled the continent was the Emperor, but the one who ruled the Emperor was the Empress.

✦✦✦✦✦✦

Reina cried her eyes out inside the carriage on the way back to the Dukedom.

“I hate you, Father!”

Duke Rossild didn’t know what to do.

All he could do in the face of his only daughter’s tears was to sigh deeply and pat her back.

“I’m sorry.”

Reina screamed in frustration.

“I hate the Princess. I hate her so much. I hate the Emperor too! I hate the whole Imperial Family!”

Especially the last part was spectacular.

At the very end, the Princess smiled gently and held out her hand, saying, ‘Let’s be friends, Reina-eonni.’

If she hadn’t taken that hand, she would have become the wicked young lady who rejected even the Princess’s last gesture of friendship.

She felt completely trapped.

‘This is so annoying!!’

Reina had no choice but to take her hand.

Facing the Princess’s smile, Reina tasted a humiliating sense of defeat.

“That barbaric, penniless half-Princess!”

“……”

“Barbarians with not a single ounce of refinement!”

She apologized reluctantly, but she was furious.

Duke Rossild was busy comforting his daughter.

“Just you wait. I’ll make her pay later. I’ll make her realize how much wealth we have.”

“Yes, yes. Father will do that for you. So stop crying. Our pretty daughter, you have a runny nose.”

✦✦✦✦✦✦

Meanwhile, upon meeting Kim Beolkkul, Teyselon let out a strange, “Ohonghonghong!” laugh.

He successfully touched Kim Beolkkul’s body.

He was truly covered in soft fur.

“Kyaak!”

Kim Beolkkul was about to give a warning but stopped.

‘Honey Badger, please be nice to him. I’m begging you.’

It was because Isabel pleaded earnestly.

Teyselon’s touch was very uncomfortable and unpleasant, but he endured it because of Isabel’s request.

“Ohonghonghonghong! It’s true. It’s really true. His fur is so soft!”

Animal lover Teyselon.

He couldn’t control his love.

In the end, he hugged the merciless Kim Beolkkul tightly, sparing no one except Isabel.