SYMDF 43

Chapter 43

 

Camillus had always believed his father was a man incapable of love, one who only knew how to use others.
He wish he had remained so, but now his father claimed that Camillus’s mother had loved him, and that he still loved her.
Yet what this man—a father—spat at the son of the woman he loved were words of baseless hatred. Truly a cruel man. And yet, this was the message he delivered on the verge of death.
If his intent was to etch a lasting impression in memory, the effect was sure.
Camillus roughly brushed aside the Emperor’s hand, which was still stroking his face. A single tear traced down from the Emperor’s eyes and settled on his chin.

“So you locked me away? Do you think those words alone justify your actions? What did I do wrong? Why did I have to live in that hell?”

“Child.”

“Shut up!”

Unable to endure any longer, Camillus suddenly stood up. Dizziness nearly threw him off balance, but he barely held steady.
He stepped backward, and noticing his father’s eyes following him, he turned his gaze away, resting his hand on the window sill. Only then did he realize he was trembling.
Feeling a sudden tightness in his throat, he loosened a couple of buttons on his dress shirt, but the choking sensation remained.

“I—I still can’t forgive you. No matter how much I think about it. I can’t.”

“Do not forgive. I will not ask for it.”

The man was shameless.
If not for his imminent death, Camillus might have cursed and spat at him. It was horrific that such a man was his father.

“Then why are you here? If you’re not here to apologize.”

“I came to give you something.”

Camillus already knew what he meant to give, but in such a situation, there was no delight in receiving anything.

“No, what I need, I will find and take myself.”

Yet the Emperor continued plainly. Having burned through his life reaching from the capital to Iodin, it was unacceptable that he fail in his purpose.

“This is my last will. I need at least five witnesses, so call people. Cal is steadfast, and if he joins the five, everyone will believe.”

Camillus frowned, and a coldness tinged his words.

“You are still as arbitrary as ever, Your Majesty. But I refuse.”

“…”

“Since this is where we part, I might as well be willful once.”

Removing the tears from his eyes, now replaced by venomous bitterness, Camillus leaned against the window sill, folding his arms.

“If you don’t answer my questions, I will not call any witnesses. So think carefully and speak.”

“What questions?”

The Emperor feigned ignorance about what was coming. Camillus took twisted pleasure simply in knowing his father found the topic uncomfortable.
So he had no reason to quell his curiosity.

“Who is my mother? The woman whom you missed and loved so dearly that you braved the biting cold to come see a resemblance on my face just before your death.”

The Emperor’s slowly blinking, trembling eyelids were visible.

“Will you answer? Am I too unworthy to know who she is? Or do you hate me so much you won’t share even her name?”

“That is a question beyond your bearing.”

“Who are you to judge what I can bear?”

At that sharp retort, the Emperor turned his face to Camillus. He seemed near death, his chest rising and falling more than when he first arrived. His voice wavered metallically.

“Child.”

But Camillus felt no pity for him.

“Stop with that disgusting address.”

A hush fell over the room. Camillus only stared as the Emperor prepared to speak, a tactic he often used to make the person he addressed yield first.

The Emperor inhaled and exhaled repeatedly, then nodded slightly.

“Very well… Call the witnesses. I will speak before everyone.”

But Camillus did not believe him easily. The man who scarred him for life and branded him a pariah before all was his father.

“What trick are you planning now? Surely you won’t ruin my life at the last moment by calling me a witch’s child or similar nonsense?”

The Emperor sighed and shook his head in discomfort.

“No, I will tell the truth. So stop calling people. My time is short.”

“…”

“Be good, child.”

Camillus raised his body from leaning silently. Not because he was comforted but because the Emperor truly looked like he was dying.

Passing by the bed where the Emperor lay, opening the door, Camillus stepped outside. Since everyone else had left the manor, he had to walk to the main entrance to summon people himself.

Click…

The sound of the front door opening and immediately entering were Cal, captain of the Noah Knights, and his subordinate Pedro.

Leading five others, they returned to the chamber where the Emperor was coughing up blood.

Startled by the severity, Cal rushed forth, yet the Emperor rejected magic even for momentary relief.

Among labored breaths, the Emperor began his will.

“To Camillus Valderas Clodel, Marcher Lord of Iodin, I bestow the territories known as Beatrice, Tempus, and Ielaem, all part of northern O’Brien. I grant you the title of Duke and the name Virensium, to shine eternally through the generations.”

At those words, everyone in the room held their breath, observing Camillus’s reaction carefully.

Yet the newly appointed Duke’s face remained calm. The Emperor gestured him over as if beckoning.

Camillus paused a moment, then approached and knelt beside the bed. The Emperor’s gaze lingered on the bowed figure with a hint of vexation—the first sign of resentment he had shown.

“Child, you are now free. You can go wherever you desire.”

Words and actions spoken only after the Emperor had become half a corpse cut Camillus deeply. The Emperor showed no intention of comforting him and immediately voiced selfish wishes.

“Won’t you show your face…?”

Only after that plea did Camillus finally lift his face. The Emperor’s bony fingers swept across his broad forehead, gentle eyes, straight nose, strong cheekbones, soft lips, and sharp jawline in turn.

Within that touch, the Emperor’s expression was indescribably sad, discovering traces of an old love he had deeply cherished but failed to protect.

“My hatred for you is my sin.”

“…”

“But to you, I am but a resentful father. Feel free to resent me… you deserve it.”

Camillus closed his eyes tightly. Though he had vowed never to forgive, he needed that one word of regret from the father he longed for. Clutching the Emperor’s hand on his face, he begged,

“Say you’re sorry, just once.”

“Child.”

“If you don’t want me to grow more miserable, please…”

But the Emperor never spoke those words. Instead, he kept a final promise to Camillus.

“Let all here bear witness. The mother of Prince Camillus Valderas Clodel is…”

Suddenly, through tearful eyes, Camillus saw the Emperor gasping for breath. Yet the expression was calm, perhaps knowing he was soon to be with his beloved.

His dry lips softly whispered a name.

“Rosenia Miableda.”

At the instant Camillus heard the name and recognized whose it was, he was stunned.

Rosenia Miableda.

Camillus knew the name. He could not have been otherwise.
She was the first wife of the current Emperor.
And the ill-fated Empress who had jumped from the palace tower where Camillus had been imprisoned to her death.

Everyone present froze, shocked beyond words. Although Camillus wanted to argue the absurdity of it, he had no chance.

The Emperor uttered his final words before death.

“I proclaim this in front of Blanche, the primal guardian who protects the O’Brien Empire; from this moment forth, this shall be regarded as an unchangeable law…”

And then, the 42nd Emperor of O’Brien passed away—
A humble end before the son he abused and hated all his life.

Footnotes

Rosania Miableda (로제니아 미아블레다): The first Empress of the current Emperor and the tragic figure who died by suicide from the palace tower, deeply tied to Camillus’s past.