If the side effects do not accumulate significantly, that is enough
Yasiris lowered her gaze.
She saw Kazan's blood-stained hand surrounding her wound.
How severe were the side effects?
How is he now?
She didn't know.
Of course, she didn't intend to ask.
Even if he sensed the change and asked her, she intended to keep her mouth shut.
She didn't want to give a man obsessed with her another reason.
But Kazan, who somehow interpreted Yasiris's silence, opened his mouth again.
“Do you want proof?
That I will gladly let you stab me.”
"No need.
Isn't your majesty already injured?"
“That is for the oath, which is a separate matter.”
“I do not intend to see needless blood.
Moreover, if something happens to Your Majesty, I will be forced to bear the wrath of the Empire.”
Yasiris felt, as she responded logically, that there was something strange in her words.
The content itself was not a problem, but her new realization that Kazan was the Emperor of Ozevia raised many questions.
"Did you come here alone?
What about the guards?"
“I'm alone.
The barrier prevents others from entering.”
“...Can you be absent from the throne for such a long time?”
“I finished the discussion with the Prime Minister.
I did not expect you to be worried about Osifia.”
“I'm not necessarily worried.
I'm just making sure that Your Majesty still holds the throne.”
Yasiris ended the conversation coldly, and silence fell for a few moments.
Then Kazan was the first to speak again.
"You returned to the courtyard alone as well.
Is Michael in the village?"
“Never mind Michael.”
“Isn’t he your son and my son?”
“He is my son.
Not our son.”
With her extremely bold attitude, Kazan was almost convinced for a moment.
But the claim was illogical, and his response came quickly.
“It is certain that my blood runs in the child’s veins.”
“Not everyone who shares blood is family.”
“If not family, then what?”
“Your Majesty, who himself exterminated his own relatives, knows the answer, doesn’t he?”
Kazan closed his mouth.
He looked at Yasiris, who was speechless, and then sighed.
“Didn’t I swear by Tinilath’s oath not to harm Michael?”
“Yes, you did.”
"So why are you trying to hide the child from me for no reason?
There's nothing I can do anyway.
No matter how much I hate it, it doesn't change that I am his father."
It was Yasiris's turn to be silent.
There were many reasons, but they were not necessarily great enough to separate father and son.
Yasiris did not want to admit that her son, whom she loved, had Kazan blood.
She was afraid that the resemblance between them would appear if they were placed side by side.
She did not know what she would do if Michael Kazan called him “dad,” so she did not want to meet them.
She gave birth to him alone and loved him alone.
She couldn't imagine Kazan's presence, like a foreign body, in her and Michael's world.
“Don't think about playing father now.
I will raise Michael alone.”
Kazan had only asked about the child's whereabouts, but he found himself deprived of his rights as a father, so he looked at Yasiris calmly.
Frankly, he didn't have a special connection with Michael yet.
There was a slight wave of emotion because he was his son by the woman he loved, but his world was overly biased towards Yasaris.
His past without family affection also played a role.
He who lived under the threat of death from the previous emperor, and was forced to hide his identity and flee to Beren, would have known nothing about the affection of fatherhood.
Therefore, he could consider taking Michael hostage.
The fact that he was a new weakness for Isaris was more important than the fact that he was his son.
...But after his oath, there was nothing he could do.
"Anyway, even if Your Majesty wanted to meet Michael, you can't.
I left him in a safe place."
“You are very confident in yourself.”
“Let's say it's the result of careful preparation.”
Careful preparation.
This description was completely accurate.
Kazan could guess what Yasiris had done during the day.
Perhaps she feigned a light stroll to avoid any possible spying.
She left Michael with a safe person in a safe place.
She brought a hidden dagger to stab him with complete precision.
Come to think of it, the black dress seemed like a calculated outfit.
Maybe she had it ready for her funeral in case things went wrong.
She spent an entire day preparing to die.
What a cruel woman.
Isaris, whom I loved, was so smart and bold.
“So you appeared at the meeting place at dawn?”
"If you were expecting an apology for being late, that's a shame.
We haven't set an exact time, have we?"
“I wasn't going to ask for an apology.
Just...”
Kazan chose his words carefully.
He carefully offered his heart, which he had refined and refined, to the woman he could not help but love.
“While I was waiting for you, I missed you.
That's all I wanted to say.”
Yasiris's face became tired from Kazan's attitude, which she had not yet become accustomed to.
She knew from the beginning that he was not fully sane, but she began to suspect that his madness had taken a strange path.
Wouldn't it be more appropriate for him to try to get revenge on her for being late?
Yasiris wondered how long Kazan would continue to wear this mask.
It was annoying that he was acting like a normal person now.
She would have felt more comfortable if he had shown the ugly and impure face that befits a man who has earned her hatred.
Therefore, she deliberately said provocative words to expose Kazan's falsehood.
“Too bad.
We won’t see each other again, so you’ll have to keep missing me.”
“Why won’t we meet?
I said I wouldn’t just take you by force.”
“You mean it's okay as long as it's not by force?”
As soon as Yasiris thought, “As I expected,” a response came that was beyond her expectations.
“Since you don't want to come to Ozevia, I can stay here.
I want to keep seeing you.”
Yasiris felt her eyes widen unconsciously.
What is this man saying now?
That he will stay here?
“By whose will…no, before that.
Are you saying that you will leave the empire and live as a commoner?
You, His Majesty the Emperor?”
“If you, as a former Empress, can do it, there is no reason why I can’t.”
"There's going to be a disturbance.
Aren't you the only Tinilath left in Osivia?"
“Without you, nothing has meaning.
Not the throne, not the empire, not this world.
So, it doesn’t matter to me.”
“Are you saying you'll drop everything and come to me?”
“Yes.
If this is the only way I can be with you.”
Yasiris's mind became confused.
She didn't trust Kazan, but the fact that he would say such words made it unreal.
To suspect him of falsely whispering love to get her back, there was no reason for the Emperor of Osivia, of all nations, to do that.
Especially for an empress who ran away and remained hidden for a long time.
“Why exactly...”
“Yasaris.”
Kazan's call became frightening to Yasiris.
What would he say this time, and why was he looking at her with such a serious and sad face?
Without knowing or ignoring her tension, Kazan began speaking slowly.
“It's okay if you think it's an obsession.
It's okay if you don't believe every word I say.
I'm not going to ask you to understand my feelings, just...”
His voice paused for a moment, then continued heavy.
“Let me stay by your side.”
Silence fell.
They looked at each other with eyes of opposite colors for a long time.
Finally, the faint light of dawn penetrated a narrow gap in the curtains.
The long night passed and morning came.
At the end of the flow of time that was like swimming in water, Yarisis finally opened her mouth.