After Putting the Slayer of the Night to Sleep, I Ran Away - Chapter 51

At that moment, in the Imperial Palace, Count Lucas Hanover and Emperor Friedrich’s first private meeting in ten years was just beginning.

“It must have been a long journey, Count Hanover.”

“It was arduous, but what could I do? I had to rush over when I heard that Leo was getting married so sud.den.ly.”

Friedrich chuckled good-naturedly at Lucas’s barbed reply.

“I’m a poor father, but I tried to use my head to take care of my son who has come of age. Fortunately, Leo has found a partner he likes, so what could be more joyful than this?”

“It’s a bit much to take credit for slipping marriage into the contract that pushed him into a monster’s den, Your Majesty.”

Friedrich didn’t lose his smile even at Lucas’s blunt criticism.

“It was the contract Leo requested. I simply added a condition for him to the conditions he set.”

“I heard that the demand for marriage came from the Empress faction nobles.”

“Indeed. However, if you stay in this position long enough, it becomes a little easier to create the picture you want, Count.”

Friedrich slowly raised his teacup and added with a bitter smile.

“You don’t think I’ve done nothing during the ten years I left Leo in your care, do you?”

“Is that so?”

“I am grateful to the Count. I’ve tried to repay the favor in my own way, but it’s unlikely to meet your standards.”

“It’s good that you know. However, I imagine it was a long and lonely fight.”

“Haha. It’s enough for me if you, of all people, recognize it, Count.”

Friedrich nodded as if he couldn’t ask for anything more.

It was as Lucas said.

Since the sudden passing of his father, the late Emperor, the imperial authority had plummeted.

It had already been over twenty years since he became Emperor instead of his older brother, the Crown Prince.

It was a lonely path that no one acknowledged.

Yet, Friedrich didn’t give up, and as a result, Leo was in the Imperial City.

His son, whom he couldn’t protect.

“The reason I was able to decide on this fight was because of the Count who came to me ten years ago.”

Lucas made a noise of acknowledgement at Friedrich’s words.

He had expected it to some extent, but to think it was true.

Lucas recalled that day ten years ago.

The night he had set out to subjugate the monsters that had appeared near the village.

Thanks to the supermoon that rose brighter than usual, he quickly finished the expedition and returned to the mansion at dawn.

As Lucas was checking to see if the children were sleeping well, he was surprised to find Leo’s room empty and searched the surroundings, finding him on the back hill of the annex where the remains of his ancestors were enshrined.

The place, where people were usually forbidden from entering, was full of traces of fierce battle.

Leo was leaning against a tree stump, covered in blood and gasping for breath, and all but one of the seven assassins were lying dead.

Only then did Lucas realize.

That during the past year he had hidden Leo in the mansion, assassins had come whenever he was away.

That Leo had dealt with them each time and kept it a secret from him.

He couldn’t believe it.

How could a boy who was only in his early teens defeat trained assassins?

The answer came from Dex, whose eyes were filled with tears, instead of Leo, who had lost consciousness.

What abilities Leo had to survive until now, and what he had lost in return.

And what happened to him on nights when the supermoon rose.

Lucas silently stared at Friedrich before him.

At the man who couldn’t even imagine what kind of life his son, whom he had sent away with his own hands, had lived.

“Ten years ago that day, I clearly told Your Majesty.”

“…”

“That I would adopt Leo as my son. That I would find and kill anyone who touched my son from now on, no matter who they were.”

At that time, Lucas couldn’t see anything else.

How dare they try to kill the son of Princess Dorothea, who was under his protection.

The last princess of Eisenfeldt was the reason his father blamed himself whenever he drank, and she was his first love whom he had admired as a child.

“I know that Your Majesty wants to keep him in the Imperial City, but he is also my son.”

“I know, Count.”

“Knowing that, you proposed a Crown Prince competition?”

Wasn’t this cheating?

He knew that Friedrich had endured for a long time, suppressing his miserable heart, but he was the one who had cared for Leo with love during that time.

He couldn’t just stand by and be robbed of him now.

Leo was the son he had given birth to in his heart, and the last of the Eisenfeldt royalty.

Although it had now fallen into a mere northern territory of the Empire, he would rebuild an independent country, starting with this secession of power.

To do so, he had to take Leo back with him.

Because he believed that Leo’s place was in Dorothea’s country, Eisenfeldt.

As Lucas spoke with a determined heart, Friedrich smiled softly and soothed him.

“I hope you don’t take it too sensitively, Count. I will let Leo go whenever he says he wants to stop.”

“Can you swear to that?”

“Swear or whatever, do I even have the right to hold him? He’s not the kind of guy who would be caught even if I tried to catch him.”

Friedrich laughed and pointed out the facts.

“Just think of it as the heart of a poor father who wants to see his son for a little longer. And…”

“?”

“Isn’t it time to give him a chance, even if it’s late?”

“…”

“That’s the fight I’ve been enduring. I’ll give up cleanly if Leo says he doesn’t need it, but if he ever wants it.”

“…”

“Wouldn’t I be able to play the role of a father even then?”

That afternoon, in the office.

Dex frowned as he noticed Leo pressing his temples as if he had a headache while looking through documents.

“How many days has it been?”

“What.”

“How many days haven’t you slept?”

At Dex’s question, Leo guessed in his head and answered.

“Not much. About five days?”

The day after the supermoon rose.

He had closed his eyes for a while in the carriage while returning from Ayla and the Imperial Palace, so it was exactly five days today.

As if he had inferred that, Dex asked back with a surprised face.

“Could it be that the only sleep you got was that little bit in the carriage that day, then?”

“Yeah.”

“Ha. This is driving me crazy.”

Dex ruffled his hair roughly as if frustrated by the situation, then continued.

“I thought he’d figure it out, that he’d do something if we waited a bit, and I, uh? I held back what I wanted to say so many times, but I can’t take it anymore.”

“What are you talking about?”

“The princess, the princess! The solution is right here, right in front of us. The artifact is in that state too, so why aren’t you doing anything?”

“I did.”

“What did you do?”

“Marriage.”

At Leo’s curt reply, Dex sighed as if he knew it.

He thought that a guy who had no interest in anything other than swinging a sword had suddenly met a woman and was even going to get married, so he wasn’t such a blockhead after all.

He even believed that he would act more actively than anyone else since it was related to his curse.

Dex rubbed his face wearily and protested.

“You said you have to touch her. That’s how the artifact’s color changes, and that’s how you can sleep. Then you have to think about sharing a room, visiting her every night, or being together.”

“You’re crazy. The wedding hasn’t even happened yet, what are you talking about.”

“That’s the problem. The wedding is still a long way off.”

“It would have been next week if the Count hadn’t opposed it.”

“…Father was the problem.”

Dex facepalmed at the late realization.

Come to think of it, Lucas, who had entered the palace around lunchtime, had not yet returned.

As if thinking the same thing, Leo, who had turned his gaze out the window, estimated the time and said.

“He’s later than I thought.”

“Yeah.”

“I told him to come back before it gets dark.”

“What? Why would you say that?”

At Dex’s absurd question, Leo closed his eyes instead of answering.

Only then did Dex, who had realized that the person Leo was waiting for was not Lucas, shine his eyes.

‘Look at this.’

Dex’s eyes narrowed as he watched Leo.

To be honest, he only thought of Ayla and Leo’s marriage as a way to ‘suppress the curse.’

To do so, he thought it didn’t matter if the other party, Ayla, was Everett.

If Leo, who had his nights stolen, could have normal nights through his marriage with her.

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