I Don't Need the Grand Duke's Regret - Chapter 108
“Charles doesn’t have a father. So, if you’re thinking of claiming any rights to the Segolinde royal family, forget about it. I will never acknowledge you as such.”
“I hadn’t even thought of that.”
Ricardo quickly got and approached Mirabel, kneeling before her.
“I know I don’t have the right to ask for anything. So please, just don’t send me away.”
“If you know you’re not fit to be a parent, then don’t even dare mention that Charles is your child.”
Mirabel looked coldly at Ricardo and continued.
“I have never once thought of that child as yours. Charles is my child alone, not a child of the Grand Duke.”
“Yes, that child is… yours. I am nothing to him.”
“Then it seems we are done here. Please leave.”
Mirabel pointed to the door with an expressionless face, but Ricardo did not immediately get up. He hesitated, then looked up earnestly.
“If it’s alright with you.”
“What is it?”
“May I see him just once more?”
“Why?”
Mirabel’s guard went up at Ricardo’s request. Noticing her reaction, he quickly added.
“I only caught a glimpse earlier, and I… I just want to see him properly.”
“You know what I’m going to say.”
It was a polite but firm refusal. All this was the result of his own sins.
Ricardo gave a bitter smile.
At least the child was born safely. He should be grateful for that.
The moment Princess Mirabel was revealed to be Armilla, Ricardo thought of the child she had carried.
He wondered what had become of that child.
Was it alive, or had it died?
But he couldn’t bring himself to ask. He had no right, more than anyone in the world. So he just watched Mirabel. He felt relieved when he learned that she had safely given birth to the child.
“I’m sorry for the hardship. Raising a child alone is not easy, even for a princess.”
“Don’t be mistaken.”
Mirabel crossed her arms and looked up at him. Her voice was icy as she spoke.
“No matter how hard it was, it was nothing compared to when I was by your side. I was very happy. I still am.”
“…Yes.”
Ricardo nodded weakly. Although he heard that she was happy, strangely, it didn’t lift his spirits.
Probably because he knew what he meant to Mirabel.
The most hated person in the world, the most resented person, and the most detested person.
There seemed to be no room for love there.
And that fact saddened Ricardo.
* * *
Durante entered the imperial palace’s hallway with a triumphant expression. At the end of his path was the Emperor’s bedroom.
The Emperor’s illness had worsened, and audiences with common nobles were forbidden.
However, as a senior member of the council of nobles and a close friend of the Emperor, Durante was an exception. He was one of the few nobles who could come and go in the palace as if it were his own home.
“Announce me.”
Durante commanded a guard at the entrance to the opulent, gold-decorated door. One of the guards went inside.
Durante waited while whistling softly.
Soon it would be the third anniversary of the Grand Duchess’s death.
This meant that the time for the Grand Duke to remarry was approaching. The high nobility of the Empire could remarry after three years of widowhood.
“Please enter, Count Adalberto.”
The chief attendant’s polite invitation came after the guard returned. Durante’s eyes sparkled.
Now was the time to make his move. The only thing left was to persuade the Emperor.
With a strut, Durante walked into the Emperor’s bedroom. The door closed behind him with a thud, leaving a chill in the corridor.
Inside the bed draped with a canopy, a dark figure sat up. It was the Emperor.
Durante observed the Emperor, who was barely sitting up with the help of a servant. He himself was now sitting on a large sofa placed in the Emperor’s bedroom.
“You seem to be growing thinner.”
“Cough, cough!”
Instead of a verbal response, the Emperor’s coughs filled the air.
The Emperor had been frail since birth. Thus, when the previous Emperor passed away, there were talks about the former Emperor’s younger brother, the previous Grand Duke, taking over as he was the first in line for the throne.
The Emperor, who was ambitious for the throne, sought advice from Durante. Durante then asked him how far he was willing to sacrifice.
The Emperor had said he would give anything but his life.
A few days later, the previous Grand Duke married the Emperor’s lover. The Emperor was furious and despondent, but in return, he received the throne. Few knew this fact.
The parties involved and perhaps Durante.
After ascending to the throne, the Emperor did not give up his love. It was a choice characteristic of his desire to have everything.
Due to his selfishness, the previous Grand Duchess carried the Emperor’s seed and ultimately took her own life. The Emperor mourned her death, but that was all.
The grand love that had been touted as a romance of the century had a pitiful end.
And the Emperor’s own end was set to be just as pitiful.
“You need to regain your strength.”
Durante made a hollow comment. According to the imperial doctor, the Emperor had at most six months left.
But with the gold Durante had given the doctor, the Emperor’s life would be even shorter.
“Strength? Did I ever have that?”
Keeping up with the Emperor’s irritable mood was also coming to an end soon.
“Of course, you did.”
Durante smiled thinly, tapping his cane lightly on the carpet.
“Have you forgotten? In your days at the academy, Your Majesty was truly like the sun itself.”
“Was I?”
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