* * *

Claude, who had a lot of fun today, was excited for a while, and then fell asleep, unable to overcome his drowsiness. Ethan sat in a chair and listened and listened to the child’s chatter, and now he was about to get up and go.

“……Hihi.”

At that moment, a small laugh escaped Claude’s mouth. Looking back, he saw a faint smile spread across Claude’s lips, who was asleep with his blushed cheeks. It must have been a good dream.

“Don’t wake up and have a good dream.”

Ethan gently stroked Claude’s hair with his ringed hand. As he looked at the twinkling ring, he was seized with a new feeling.

‘From now on, I will give you my power every time. Lest my power run short.’

As soon as Sarah recovered her body, the first thing she did was to infuse Ethan’s ring with her mana. The ring, which had been cracked, was replaced as if it were new. Now, he was no longer afraid to touch Claude. The change was so miraculous that Ethan sometimes felt it was like a dream while he was with Claude.

“Did Little Master fall asleep?”

After closing Claude’s door and leaving, Veron cautiously approached and asked.

“Yes. What about Sarah?”

“She must have been tired and went to bed early.”

Ethan’s eyebrows narrowed at Veron’s words. He said in a displeased voice.

“I heard she didn’t even eat dinner.”

“I and Ronda have recommended it several times but……, she said she was more sleepy.”

“Her body may not be fully recovered yet, so you should pay more attention to her meals in the future.”

“Yes, Master.”

Sarah’s room was not far from Claude’s room. Today, her smiling face next to Claude, which was like sunshine, continuously came to his mind and disappeared. He unknowingly realized that his left foot turned that way.

“……”

Just once, he wanted to go and see her. It was an awful part in the corner of his mind, so he didn’t know when he started to be aware of that feeling or when it started to grow. It was almost impossible to know when such a desperate feeling had inflated without him knowing it. Ethan thought for a while and soon turned around. Looking at her sleeping face, it seemed that he could not contain the intense emotions that were bulging out.

“And the Third Prince says he will set a date soon and send Young Master Elexa to the mansion.”

“……Claude will love it.”

Ethan put his hand on his head and let out a long sigh. The Second Prince and the Third Prince who had visited earlier returned after achieving their respective goals. The Second Prince confirmed that Sarah was safe, and the Third Prince succeeded in secretly asking him for personal help.

‘I don’t know if you knew, but Elexa is my son. If the child is not known to the Imperial family, he will be able to continue his good relationship with Young Lord Ambrosia in the future.’

‘I just want Claude to be a good friend with Elexa, not Young Lord Ambrosia. It’s a low-key situation for adults, so my son doesn’t have to know.’

‘……If you do so, I will surely repay this favor. The situation of adults is low-key, but the grace I’ll pay back won’t be low-key.’

‘I like it. I’ll remember, Your Highness.’

Although Eleon was overly polite, Ethan liked him for being proactive in his son’s problems. He was known for his soft and greedless nature, but to his family, he was a man who was greedy.

“When Elexa comes, he’ll stay for a few days, so set up a room. I hope it’s close to Claude’s room.”

“We will prepare it so that he can use it whenever he comes.”

“And the Second Prince……”

Ethan paused for a moment. When he thought of Ilior’s face, what had been bothering him like a thorn from before revealed its presence.

“For the time being, don’t even let him get close to Ambrosia.”

“That means……”

“From now on, we will not accept informal visits from the Imperial family. Reject all invitations from the Imperial Palace.”

“I understand.”

At Ethan’s order, Veron thought deeply about something and then added.

“I will also decline all invitations to Countess Millen for health reasons.”

“Good.”

Ethan tapped Veron on the shoulder once, then moved on again. It was then that Veron knew that his thoughts were correct.

“……”

Veron, who was looking at the back of his master walking ahead for a while, raised his hand and covered his mouth.

* * *

He had a dream that night. He dreamed of his mother after a very long time.

‘You will give birth to a child just like you and die by his hand!’

When his mother said that with her hand hitting him hard, it was when she was pregnant with Hugell in her stomach. As his father’s powers were manifested in Ethan, his mother gradually began to fear him, and soon began to reject her son at all due to extreme anxiety. She wrapped her swollen stomach and acted as if he would harm his brother in her stomach at any moment.

‘A disgusting thing, a cursed thing, just like your father―!’

His mother’s screaming struck the young Ethan like a thunderbolt.

‘I’m sorry, Mother. It’s my fault……’

Ethan washed his body every day, as his mother said he was a cursed and filthy creature. Nevertheless, his mother’s frown, as if she had seen something dirty, had never been warm to him. Time passed and his younger brother, Hugel Ambrosia, was born, but he never saw the face of his real brother up close.

‘He will kill him! That damn filthy Ambrosia demon will kill my child!’

It was because she had a seizure and foamed her mouth when she saw Ethan’s face in the vicinity of Hugel. His mother was extremely confined in the room and did not come out. The only Ambrosia that could enter her room was the Hugel. Ethan could see his mother from afar once a year, and his mother, who made eye contact with him, flashed her eyes and cursed.

‘I couldn’t have given birth to such a monster. I couldn’t have done that!’

‘Don’t make anything precious. I’m sure they’ll be unhappy if they’re next to you. Just like me.’

‘I’m scared, I’m scared, I’m scared…….’

His mother became increasingly haggard, and the voice that cursed Ethan while looking at him gradually lost its strength. When Ethan finally came of age, she even tried to kill Ethan in order to make Hugel the Duke of Ambrosia until the end. It was the poisoned milk that his mother, who had never approached him, had handed him with her trembling hand and the kind tone she had worked so hard to embellish.

‘When, when you were young, I really liked you……, didn’t you like……’

It was the delusion that without Ethan, the cursed blood would be cut off from his generation and Hugel would become the Duke of Ambrosia.

‘……Yes, Mother.’

Even though he knew it all, he was willing to drink the poison his mother gave him. His mother, unaware that Ethan had been poisoned by his father little by little since he was young, had a serious convulsion when she saw him not dying even after drinking poison.

‘There will be no one who will love something like you. No one……!’

His mother was finally killed by Ambrosia’s power, who was so afraid of that power. This was because she was caught up when the power of his father, the predecessor, ran rampant. At that time, Ethan was there.

‘Sa, save me……, Ethan!’

When Ethan ran to save his mother, she called him by his name for the first time. Ethan thought as he embraced the bodies of his father, who had been consumed by the power without leaving a trace, and his mother, who had died with wide eyes. This power was truly a curse.