My Child's Father is The Emperor - Chapter 12.2
Van looked at the watch placed on his desk.
‘This was definitely given to Adele.’
He couldn’t understand why it was found in his room.
When Adele attempted to return the watch, he had accepted her instead.
So he thought Adele would have taken it back.
He must have dropped on Adele’s bed in the first place.
Adele mentioned it was found ‘in the room,’ after all.
‘Did I unknowingly put it in my pocket?’
If Adele had placed the watch somewhere near the bed.
He wondered if it was his habit to put familiar items in his pocket without remembering.
“Shouldn’t I return it?”
If Adele tries to return the watch again, Van plans to accept something else from her.
Van opened the window of the Emperor’s office. The night breeze was fresh.
Without hesitation, he jumped out of the window.
He quickly arrived at Adele’s room, he stood on the terrace, checking for any signs of her inside, then quietly opened the window.
Van slowly approached the bed.
“Adele.”
That was when it happened.
Adele threw off the blanket and sat up abruptly.
Even a swordmaster would be taken aback by such a surprise.
“Ah, Adele?”
Adele was usually asleep. He had wanted to see her so badly that he needed to gently disturb her awake.
“Did you come a bit early today?”
“Uh, well, yes.”
“Weren’t you too busy?”
“Yes.”
Van was disconcerted by Adele’s all too clear tone. She didn’t seem like someone who had been sleeping.
Adele had a tendency to be somewhat grumpy when woken. When stroked on the head, she would cuddle like a small, adorable kitten.
In all these years, he’d known her, there had never been an instance when Adele sensed his presence and sat up like this.
For Van, a swordmaster, concealing his presence was as easy as eating cold porridge.
“Van.”
Adele called his name.
Van calmed his startled heart.
It seemed right to Adele that this was a dream.
“Am I pretty?”
Van nodded.
“How much?”
“I have never seen a woman more beautiful than you.”
“You lie.”
Adele made a sulky face.
“I saw someone truly beautiful today.”
Adele narrowed her eyes as if recalling the memory.
“I’ve never seen someone so beautiful before.”
Ironically, Adele, who claimed to have seen someone beautiful, seemed unaware of how lovely she herself was.
Van gently reached out and stroked Adele’s hair.
“Is that so?”
“Aren’t you curious about who she is?”
“That’s not important. To me, there’s only you, Adele.”
“She’s going to be the Empress.”
The hand that was petting Adele’s hair stiffened.
“Van. Why? You’re only in my dreams, so you wouldn’t know her, right?”
“Uh, yes, that’s right.”
Van felt odd.
It almost seemed like Adele knew everything and was interrogating him.
‘That can’t be.’
If she didn’t think this was a dream, if she thought Van wasn’t just Van but the Emperor, she wouldn’t act this way.
“The Emperor would like such a beautiful woman, wouldn’t he?”
“No.”
“Pfft. Van, you’re not the Emperor.”
No, I am!
Van felt wronged.
“Well. The Emperor has eyes too. He wouldn’t call just any woman beautiful.”
“If he has eyes, he would find that woman beautiful. Unless he’s blind.”
Suddenly, Van was reduced to being blind.
‘Was Adele always like this?’
She was exceptionally negative today.
However, since she didn’t scold him for touching her cheeks and hair, he decided to pursue the small but certain happiness.
“Adele. Don’t worry about such things.”
As time passed, Adele’s eyes, half-closed with sleepiness, blinked.
“You’re the only one for me. Just as it has been, so it will be in the future.”
Soon, Adele fell asleep.
Van embraced Adele and sought sleep as well.
The only place where he could rest.
A place from which he must reluctantly withdraw from at the break of dawn.
Van was someone who could only live by seeing Adele in this way.
* * *
The next morning, upon waking, Adele groped around the bed with bleary eyes.
Clink.
A metallic sound followed, and as Adele pulled on the cord, the familiar watch appeared.
“He left it behind.”
Adele had thought that if the Emperor found the watch in his pocket unknowingly, he would try to return it.
“So, the Emperor was indeed Van.”
Adele clutched the watch tightly.
Knowing this didn’t immediately provide her with a course of action.
First, she needed to organize her thoughts.
After encountering Velota yesterday, whether the person visiting her at night was Van or the Emperor seemed less important.
Adele quickly got ready and headed to the dining room.
“Mommy!”
“Leo. Did you sleep well?”
“Yes.”
Adele scrutinized Leo. He seemed oddly listless, which concerned her.
Shortly after, the Emperor took his seat.
“Greetings, Your Majesty.”
“Be at ease.”
Adele sat down and began eating her soup.
‘What’s wrong with Leo?’
Today, the table was laden with many of Leo’s favorite dishes.
Normally, he would be thrilled and eat heartily on such days, but even without spinach, he showed no sign of happiness.
“Leo. Are you feeling ill?”
At Adele’s question, the Emperor also looked at Leo.
“No. I’m not sick.”
Leo seemed hesitant, as if he wanted to say something.
“Leopold, what is it? Speak.”
“Um. You see.”
Adele was worried; she had never seen Leo like this before.
“Why don’t Mom and Dad sleep together at night?”
