The Maid Who Became a Knight - Chapter 117

Chapter 117

Side Story 2-1

Elnos liked his mother like the sunshine of early summer. His mother was kind and warm.

His mother’s hair was blond, as fine as gold thread, and her eyes were blue like a clear sky. Elnos liked to look up at her.

His mother always stretched out her arms to lovingly hug Elnos. Unlike his father, she would give him plenty of love. She always kissed his cheek and smiled sweetly.

Today was the same as usual. Elnos held the Empress’ hand and enjoyed tea time in the Imperial Palace garden. The Empress looked at Elnos with a big smile.

[El, you’re a special child.]

[Why?)

[I’ll show you.]

She rolled up the sleeves of Elnos’ long robe, when the maids were out of sight. Then, he saw a blurred line behind his elbow.

Did I have this on my body? Elnos blinked his black eyes in surprise. The straight line seemed unnoticeable.

The Empress also extended her left hand and showed her palm. A faint black line was drawn on it.

The two had the same thick line on their bodies. Elnos could not resist the curiosity and asked.

[What’s this?]

[It’s proof of our blood.]

If it was their blood, then his mother was from the Yvette family of the Cromus Empire. Elnos asked in a small voice as if he were telling a secret.

[The Yvette family?]

[Our El is brilliant.]

The Empress smiled bitterly and patted Elnos’ head. Her son always had to suffer from assassination threats because he was from a family of witches.

And the threat had become worse. This was because Elnos was better in every way compared to the other princes. Everyone recognized Elnos’ brilliance, as if he could cover the sky with his palm, and the words spread rapidly.

Rumors that Elnos would become the next Emperor quickly took over the Imperial Palace. The Empress felt that this would have a bad effect on him.

In particular, the Emperor, close to them, was the problem. When the Emperor brought her from the Cromus Empire to the Harknon Empire, she was blinded by love, but now questions had sprouted in her mind. The Emperor was truly suspicious. He seemed to have married her to use her blood.

‘Even if I didn’t feel that way at first…’

The Empress had a sad face. Her heart ached when she remembered a handsome black-haired man looking at her, mesmerized.

She felt foolish to have believed in love. She regretted the past when she left her sister.

Elnos was restless as the Empress wept. She forced herself to smile at her lovely son.

[Elnos. Why don’t you read a book?]

[A book?]

[Yes. I will recommend you a good book.]

The Empress beckoned the imperial maid waiting behind her. Then the maid took out a book she had prepared in advance and politely handed it to Elnos.

The thick book intrigued Elnos. He grabbed it to read right away, and the Empress whispered low.

[You have to read it by tomorrow. Make sure you do it when you are alone.]

[Yes, Mother.]

Elnos followed the Empress’ words well. He laid in his bedroom where there was no one, and opened the book.

But then, he saw a faint line drawn on the letters in the book. Elnos, who had been looking at it for a long time, found out that the letters made up a sentence.

Imperial Palace Archives B 12

It’s a treasure hunt! Elnos jumped up and headed to the B12 area of the Imperial Palace archives. His mother often made funny treasure hunts for him.

When Elnos entered the Imperial Palace archives, his attendant and maid waited outside. He began to search the archives, looking for the treasure his mother had prepared.

He saw a wooden box piled up on the floor of B12. At first glance, it seemed to have accumulated dust. Elnos removed the dust and opened the box.

There were four old parchments in it, not treasures.

[Yvette’s secret?… What’s this?]

Elnos rolled up the parchment and put it in his pocket. Then he put the wooden box back on the floor.

[Ah!]

At that moment, the wooden box caught fire and disappeared like dust. After a brief pause, Elnos went to his mother’s bedroom. His mother was not a person to do this without meaning.

The Empress’ palace was colder than usual when he arrived. Elnos trembled as he entered the palace where there was no human presence. He moved his stiff legs and opened the bedroom door.

Elnos stared blankly at the woman with her eyes closed on the bed. There was a small dagger stuck in the middle of her chest.

The bloody bed sheet poked his eyes and nose. With shaking legs, Elnos approached his mother.

[Mother… Mother…]

When he grabbed his mother’s arm on the bed, he got goosebumps all over. The first feeling of death was cruel and heavy for a young boy to handle.

Elnos slowly stepped back and left the bedroom. The servants passing by the Imperial Palace were surprised and called Elnos.

[Your Highness the Crown Prince?]

[Move… Get out of the way!]

I can trust my teacher. Maybe he will save my mother. Elnos ran down the long palace corridor in tears.

He arrived at his private reception room. At this time, his teacher would surely be preparing and waiting for the chess lesson.

He could not trust anyone, but he believed in his teacher Marquis Kyun. Out of breath, Elnos opened the door wide.

The reception room was empty. Elnos looked blankly at the black leather sofa and shook his head. He had no time. If his teacher was not there, he had to find the priest first.

Elnos ran like death was after him. His sweat dripped on the floor of the Imperial Palace.

But then, he bumped into someone. Angry, Elnos opened his eyes wide. It was Marquis Kyun, the teacher he had been looking for.

[Where are you going in such a hurry?]

[Mother… She’s in critical condition! Teacher, help me! Please!)

Relief appeared on Elnos’ face. He grabbed the hem of his teacher’s clothes and kept shouting. But Marquis Kyun removed his hands as if his clothes had been stained with dirt.

[Devil child.]

[… Teacher?]

[Do you know how much your mother’s dirty blood is shaking this Empire?]

It must be a dream. Elnos cried with tears in his eyes. However, the cruel Marquis Kyun stroke his fist in his weak stomach.

Elnos gasped and bent his upper body. He fell to the floor with a dying pain all over his body.

[The problem of people living and dying depends on God’s hands. If you have time like this, pray to God.]

Elnos’ expression froze. Marquis Kyun slowly approached him. Then he whispered, gently sweeping his stiff back.

[Of course God won’t have time to listen to your little prayers.]

With those words, his vision went dark.

*

*

*

The culprit who assassinated the Empress was a concubine, who used a recently appointed maid. She admitted to killing Elnos’ mother out of greed for the Empress’ position.

However, the concubine was not punished despite the assassination of the Empress. The reason was that the Emperor could now have the girl he wanted so much.

Elnos visited the Emperor’s bedroom every day and made requests. However, the Emperor kicked him out, and his aides, who usually followed the Empress, made no effort to help him.

Only the dead became fools. Far from being sad, people laughed at the dead Empress and despised her. Since the Yvette family had come to this point, there were many people who thought it would be best to move away from her.

After the Empress’ assassination, the concubine was crowned as the new Empress. The Emperor repudiated the dead Empress and did not bury her in a proper tomb.

Elnos was shocked to lose his mother. The Emperor accused him of being weak, like his mother.

It was a kind of self-defense. The Emperor knew that the former Empress had lost everything because of him. But he wanted to deny it, so he put all the blame on her.

There was no candle in the dark bedroom. The bedroom was a mess because of an assassin who just came in. If it were not for the parchment left by her mother, he would have already died.

People’s eyes were scarier than the lack of sleep. Elnos covered his ears, recalling people’s fingers pointing at him and their contempt.

[That devil child!]

[The former Empress tried to destroy our Empire. Tsk. Anyway, the people from the Yvette’s family…]

‘No. My mother never did that!

Elnos slammed his head on the cold ground. His forehead was torn and blood flowed. He repeated this action until dawn.

Before Elnos knew it, the sun rose. The blood on his blank face, with his wounded forehead and black hair, was clearly revealed.

Elnos laughed. He laughed as if to remove all the air from his lungs. Come to think of it, it was not their fault. Maybe she was just weak. Death was the only end for the powerless and weak.

Elnos decided not to die like his mother. He took out the parchment he had in his pocket and read it. All the truths and secrets of the Yvette family left by his mother were written on it.

‘And I’ll avenge you.’

Elnos held the parchment tightly in his hand. Mean people came to his mind.

Marquis Kyun, who had approached his mother, become his teacher and introduced the greedy concubine, the Emperor who brought his mother here to use her, and the nobles who despised her.

Even if it takes my whole life, I will have my revenge on them. Elnos’ lively black eyes shone terribly.