My Child's Father is The Emperor - Chapter 4.3
“He definitely doesn’t plan to keep me alive for long.”
Inside the prison, there was no bed, pillow, or even a single blanket.
She crouched down, wrapping her arms around her legs, trying to preserve some warmth. It was the best she could manage.
“There’s probably no way to escape from here, right?”
Even if she somehow managed to break free, there was no way to take Leo along.
She didn’t even know where Leo was staying in this vast palace.
Shivering in the cold, her body felt stiff.
Strangely, her thoughts began to clear.
Emperor Albrecht.
Vanhelm von Albrecht
Van.
“He was half of him.”
There was a reason why she couldn’t find him even though she tried so hard.
The information was wrong from the beginning.
He never claimed to be a knight.
“The knights are corrupt, and there’s no one in this world who wishes for me to live.”
She remembered his words.
That’s why she vaguely thought of him as a knight.
“Van.”
Adele whispered his name faintly.
Alone, raising Leo, she habitually called his name while talking to herself.
When putting Leo to sleep, Adele called Van as she comforted the sleeping child.
“Van. Today, Leo called me Mama.”
“Van. Do you know what baby food is? It’s something babies practice eating a little before having real meals. Today, Leo ate baby food for the first time.”
“Van. Leo walked today.”
When she said his name out loud, the loneliness of raising a child alone momentarily disappeared.
He must be out there somewhere.
“Van. Today, Leo asked about his dad.”
“Van. I’m struggling.”
A man who appeared for just one night, shared a moment of affection, and then vanished.
It was a brief encounter.
Was it too short that only the good memories remained, beautifying and idealizing him in Adele’s memories?
Adele waited for him.
Adel wanted to meet Van again, and she longed for the firm embrace he provided that night.
“Where are you now, Van?”
“I miss you.”
Adele was ridiculously in love with him.
A beautiful and pitiful man.
Despite being unable to meet or see him, her feelings deepened.
The child Van left for her, Leo, became a symbol of hope, as if she could meet Van someday.
She even considered the possibility that he might have already died in her futile search.
However, since she hadn’t heard any news about Van’s death, she wanted to believe that he was still alive somewhere.
It was a vain hope.
‘I shouldn’t have met him in the first place.’
It was a regret, in hindsight.
If only she hadn’t met him, none of this would have happened.
For the first time, Adele regretted turning down her mother’s ‘good fortune to be in the Marquis’s shadow’.
If she had, her heart wouldn’t have ached like it was being torn apart.
A tear rolled down Adele’s cheek.
She wondered how long she’d been locked up. A handful of sunlight peeked through the fist-sized window in her cell.
“The sun is setting.”
Adele thought of Leo.
“Before I die, if I ask to see the child one more time, they won’t grant it, will they?”
Her hair was a mess, and her clothes were torn in various places.
Tears poured out in despair.
Thunk.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
In the distance, the door opened, and footsteps echoed as someone entered.
Adele, startled, rushed to a corner, crouching.
It was an instinctual response born out of a lack of hiding places.
Several figures stood in front of her prison cell, and Ban approached the gate.
Creak.
Van squeezed the grate in his hand, and without even opening the door, the bars snapped.
The sight of it horrified her.
Stabbing, poisoning, strangulation.
She imagined an ordinary death.
‘I’ll just die in his hands.’
Whatever she imagined, it was more than that.
Adele was white as a sheet.
Van entered the cell and pulled her to her feet.
She wanted to pull away, but she was lifted like a paper doll.
“Adele.”
Van’s eyes were grim. It looked as if he was angry.
“This is a misunderstanding.”
