Side Story 9.1
T/N: I swear I sent out an update note in discord but somehow it never sent 😭. I had to work overtime last weekend so I’ve been tight on time to translate but I finally got it done! Enjoy!
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Aristine stared at her husband, looking utterly perplexed.
Tarkan then whispered into her ear, “Am I wrong?”
“Seriously, you…”
Aristine placed her hand on her husband’s chest.
Her fair hand trailed up his developed, muscular pecs, then she wrapped her arms around his sturdy neck.
“You’re a pervert for even liking the word pervert.”
“And who do we have to thank for that?”
Tarkhan smiled and kissed his wife’s lips.
* * *
“Your Eminence, Honorable Emperor, we don’t know when their Majesties will be back. Why don’t you wait inside…”
“Yes, the wind is cold.”
“Be quiet!”
Nephther dismissed the words of his attendants.
He had been waiting for Aristine and Tarkan to return for hours. Ever since he saw the two of them off, he had not moved from his spot.
“Then at least get something to eat. I’m worried you’ll harm yourself at this rate.”
“Stop worrying, I’m fine!”
They had already done this back and forth so many times.
Finally, Nephther lost his temper.
He simply couldn’t stay still and paced back and forth impatiently.
‘…Hamill, you’re still alive.’
Words could not explain how surprised he was when he heard the truth from Aristine.
《 Then why did you not tell me?! I am his father!》
《 I’m sorry, father.》
《 Knowing he was alive, knowing he wasn’t dead, you should have told me! Even if you didn’t tell anyone else, you should have told me!》
《 …Hamill didn’t want me to. I’m sorry.》
《 …》
He didn’t even want to tell his father that he was alive.
Nephther was so shocked when he heard those words.
He felt resentful of Hamill and Aristine.
‘But what right do I have to resent them?’
Nephther closed his eyes bitterly.
‘The fact that Hamill didn’t tell me is all my fault.’
That foolish child he thought to be dead.
But the truly foolish one was Nephther himself.
He was always a king to his children before he was a father. Hence, Hamill must have chosen not to inform that ‘king’.
‘A king before a father, huh.’
He thought that was the right thing to do.
He thought that was the way things had to be.
However.
‘It wasn’t. I was wrong.’
It was Aristine who made him realize that.
‘I should have been your father, just as I am your king.’
His bones were shackled with regret.
‘Hamill…’
If only he were alive and well.
If only they could meet again.
Nephther squeezed his hands tightly together.
And right at that moment,
“Your, Your Eminence! It’s a carriage! Their Majesties have returned!”
It was a plain carriage with no emblem or design. The disguised carriage that Aristine and Tarkan had left in.
Just seeing that carriage made his heart sink with a thud.
Hamill might be in there.
That simple fact made his body turn stiff.
He had been waiting anxiously, unable to even sit, but when the time came to actually meet Hamill, he was frozen like a stone, unable to even move.
Because he was afraid.
Afraid that they would say it wasn’t Hamill.
That they’d say they never met him.
That even the news of Hamill’s survival was a lie.
The carriage came to a halt.
The door opened, and a tall man stepped out.
His head was full of bright-colored hair, a hue that was rare to find on an Irugoian.
His once long hair had been cut short, only coming down to his shoulders.
The soft lines of his face that seemed to imbue a scholar, had now become a little sharper.
It was his son.
His first child.
He couldn’t help but remember the moment he held his firstborn child in his arms.
“You rascal!”
Nephther yelled. His voice was taut.
“You foolish boy! You silly, absolutely foolish…”
Smack, smack!
Nephther struck Hamill’s shoulders and back without restraint.
Hamill just accepted the blows with a smile.
This was a man who had never hit him once, no matter what he did.
Who had never shown his emotions or poured out resentful words like this.
For the first time in his life, he was seeing the tears of his father.
“No, it’s all my fault. I’m the one who was foolish, I—.”
“Royal father.”
Hamill grabbed his father’s hand.
The hand in his grasp, which he hadn’t felt in such a long time, was dry and rough.
“It’s me that was wrong.”
“…”
“I was wrong, Royal father.”
“…I.”
“…”
“I was wrong, Hamill. I was not a good enough father to you. So–.”
“You were always more than enough of a father to me. Enough for me to respect you and want to follow in your footsteps.”
“…”
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry that I’m only coming to see you now.”
“…”
“I wanted to see you, royal father, when I was no longer ashamed of myself.”
“No matter what is going on, you are my son.”
Nephther held out his arms and embraced his child whom he hadn’t seen in a very long time.
“I missed you.”
“…!”
Hamill never thought he would hear such words from his father.
“I missed you, my son.”
“…I, I missed you too, royal father.”
The two men hugged each other in silence for a while.
Early Access available on Patreon.
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Yeeeyyy it’s here!!! Thankyou miss Ruby 💓
That reunion make me cry 🤧 I love that royal father realised his mistake and correcting it.
Thank you Miss Ruby! We understand life happens. Thank you so much for all the high quality translations. ❤️
I still can’t see Nepheter’s actions as anything more than self-satisfaction…he “apologizes,” but what does that apology actually entail? He has other children he has not apologized to, or even been a father to, and the only one who gets an apology is the one who faked his own death to get away at the point where his father was going to destroy his mother? This feels like a weird version of the prodigal son, except instead of a responsible elder son feeling slighted, the father has multiple other children he broke in the process, but he’s busy trying to pamper a child that’s not even his own (Aristine)?