T/N: Culturally, calling your in-law ‘father’ or ‘mother’ is a sign of kinship and shows that you have accepted them as your own. Just in case, anyone is confused.
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Father, father, father…
‘She said father!’
Nephther’s body began to shake.
With his head lowered, he covered his face with one hand. Even his hands were shaking.
Aristine looked at Nephther with confusion. Why was he suddenly acting like this?
Right at that moment, a single, decisive word spilled from Nephther’s lips.
“Again.”
“Huh?”
“Say it again.”
Nephther repeated, lowering his hand that covered his face.
His turquoise eyes stared down at Aristine with an inexplicable burning passion.
Aristine flinched from the intensity of his gaze.
‘Maybe he’s angry.’
When she thought about it, she realized she might have spoken too candidly. She shouldn’t have asked him to help out of nowhere.
“…I apologize but I have a request to make of Your Royal Majesty. There is a target on my brother, Launelian in Silvanus and—.”
“No, not that.”
Nephther immediately raised his hand. His gaze became even more serious.
Aristine’s forehead creased, feeling both confused and sorry. Other than that, she didn’t really say anything else in particular.
When she looked back on everything she said earlier, Aristine’s eyes widened.
‘No way?’
That couldn’t possibly be it but apart from that, there was nothing else she said.
With a doubtful look on her face, Aristine cautiously called out to Nephther.
“Father…?”
When he heard those words, Nephther began to tremble again.
He covered his face again, and a tiny voice squeezed from under his palm, “Wow, really…”
Seeing the same unusual reaction from earlier, Aristine finally realized her mistake and bowed his head.
“Ah, forgive my discourtesy… I carelessly called Your Royal Majesty in a private manner. I will not dare to call Your Majesty ‘father’ again from now on.”
“What?!”
Nephther was taken out of his thrill and his head shot up at that bolt out of the blue.
“What are you talking about!”
“I made a mistake…”
“You’re saying that was a mistake?!”
“Huh?”
Aristine’s eyes widened when the King urged her like he was hurt.
“Don’t say such horrible things to your father.”
“Huh?”
“That’s right, help Launelian? Yes, yes, this father will listen to anything. I can do anything my bwaby asks for.”
Aristine narrowed her eyes and stared at Nephther, who was holding her shoulder and beaming glowingly.
‘This reaction…did he like me calling him father…?’
“Now, Rineh, call me.”
“…father?”
“Yes, your father is here.”
Nephther had a big smile on his face.
Honestly, he looked happier than when Aristine showed him the scalpel she made.
‘Hmm…’
She couldn’t understand his intense reaction but, in any case, rather than feeling offended, it looked like he was actually pleased.
Tarkan clicked his tongue and glanced at his father who was acting silly.
He wondered if people could really change this much.
Yet he failed to realize that the person who had changed the most was actually Tarkan himself.
“Hmm, so you want me to help Prince Launelian? Tell me what happened. And there’s something else I’d like to hear about.”
Nephther said while glancing at Aristine’s hair and eyes, which had returned to their original color.
Not only did he know the story that was passed down in the Irugo royal family, but he had also seen the news in the Silvanus newspaper.
He had a good guess, but he wanted to hear it directly.
Aristine wet her lips with her tongue. She wasn’t swallowing because she was nervous. After all, she had full faith in Nephther.
She was just preparing herself to tell a long story.
* * *
Episode 39: The other side of the mirror
She felt like she had gone blind.
In a darkness blacker than an abyss, the queen clenched her fists tight.
The only thing keeping her together in a place where she couldn’t even see the shape of her own body was a venom even thicker than this darkness.
‘Just a little longer…’
Her long nails dug into her palm as she tried to keep her mind from going crazy.
Right then, a faint light burned through the abyss, crawling into the tower.
Through that weak light, the queen confirmed that she wasn’t blind.
She groped around and moved her body towards the door.
After her eyes adjusted a few times, she was met with the smooth and elegant face of a man.
“Hamill, my son!”
The queen stretched out her thin hand.
As it was in the middle of winter, the cold, frozen metal of the iron window felt like it was stinging her skin.
But without a care for that, she grabbed the window bars.
“Why, why did you come so late? Do you know how long this mother of yours has been waiting for you…No. Now that you’ve come, everything is well. You have to think about your next move and move quickly. Your grandfather has already played his hand.”
“Royal mother.”
Hamill’s harsh voice interrupted the queen.
“Why did you do that?”
His blue, turquoise-lit eyes stared straight at the queen.
The queen’s face slowly hardened. The delight that appeared in her heart began to turn into anger.
Only a pair of eyes shone piercingly on her rough and thin face.
“You really don’t know?” she spat.
“If you wanted to reduce Tarkan’s power, there were other ways. You almost—.”
“Almost did what? While your mother is being humiliated like this, you’re getting angry because that wench almost got scared?!”
The queen’s voice echoed like scraping metal.
Seeing Hamill’s face devoid of any smile, the queen laughed.
“Ha, if only it really happened then you would have come to your senses.”
“Royal mother!”
“Did you think I don’t know? About you giving your heart to that sly wench…!”
Hamill’s face stiffened at those words.
“It’s nothing like that.”
The rims of his eyes twisted in pain as he denied it.
“…The reason I didn’t defend royal mother at the banquet and remained quiet, was because everything would be destroyed if I got involved too, not because of the Princess Consort.”
“Right, indeed. You made the correct judgment.”
If they had used this as a reason to deprive Hamill of his right to succession, everything would fall apart.
“And there must not be anything other reason.”
Even in the darkness, the queen’s eyes gleamed as she glared at Hamill.
Hamill gazed at the queen with sadness in his eyes, then he placed his hand over hers, which was clutching the iron bars.
Her fingers were cut and stained with dried blood, as if she had been combing through the darkness, unable to see even an inch in front of her.
“Royal mother, let’s stop here. I will persuade grandfather, so royal mother, you should also—.”
“It is not over yet.”
The queen’s voice was resolute, dismissing his words like there was nothing more to hear.
“Hamill, I see you are still young. To feel guilty just because you are swayed by the likes of love.”
The queen looked at her son, whom she considered her pride.
Everything she was proud of before; she could no longer see it in the man who was bowing his head in front of her.
Her lips parted, “But you’re being a hypocrite, don’t you think?”
Hearing that, Hamill lifted his head to look at the queen.
“If your feelings were so clear and fond, you wouldn’t have cooperated with Silvanus and messed around with the miliary transmission stone.”
The queen’s pale lips curved into a smile.
“Wasn’t it because you wanted to kill Tarkan and make that wench yours?”
Hamill could not deny it.
He wanted Aristine to see him; he wanted to imprint himself in her gaze.
Even desperate hatred was good. He wanted her to feel the the most intense emotions towards him.
“I might have come up with the plan at the time, it was you, Hamill, who made the final decision.”
Seeing Hamill’s face distort, the queen squeezed his hand tightly.
“Indeed, if you want something, you should get it.”
To get what you want, you must use every means possible within your grasp.
That was how she got her position as queen, and it would be how she obtained her son’s throne.
If Hamill wanted Aristine that much, he just needed to get his hands on her, one way or the other.
And that desire will soon lead him to the throne.
“There is no need to wallow in unnecessary sentiment. This is your last chance, Hamill. When you win, that wench will land in your arms.”
She was betting everything on this, both as the Queen, and as the Skiela Duchy.
“But if you can’t have it.”
The queen’s eyes glistened with a strange heat. The light in her eyes was closer to madness than heat.
“Won’t it be better to destroy it so that no one else can?”
The corners of the queen’s mouth curved up strangely in a twisted manner.
Hamill laughed bitterly.
His royal mother wanted to have the throne even if it meant destroying it.
That was why she interfered with the demonic beat subjugation, even though she knew it would be a threat to Irugo’s safety.
His laughter was filled with self-mockery.
He belatedly realized it.
Although they wanted different things, he had inherited her mother’s blood more deeply than anyone else.
Thanks for the update, as always. Anyway, i knew that hamil is just a shit littered with gold.
I never liked or trusted him from the beginning, even though unrequited love is sad to watch. It’s different when you let yourself fall in love with your in-law. It’s just weird and pathetic at that point.
Hopefully, he won’t be foolish enough to make an enemy out of Rineh. But we’ll see.
Thank you for the update and great translation as always, Miss Ruby.
Well, I can’t say I’m surprised by either the queen nor Hamill joining the darkside fully. The queen is especially crazy. Hamill showed promise, but he is the queen’s son, no matter how much he looks down on some of her antics.
However, with Nephther and Tarkan by her side and the Monach’s Sight to guide, Aristine has no need to be concerned. They’ll be able to overcome this as they have before.