If a Tyrant Becomes a Father

Pressing her hand against the injured area, Collis stood crookedly and laughed.

“Not the best place to die, is it?”

“Who, you?”

“No, you.”

“I’m not going to die.”

“Before, you even promised to end your own life, remember?”

“Back then, it might have been like that, but now it’s different. Because there’s someone who doesn’t want me to disappear. Lucerne didn’t want me to vanish. Even if it wasn’t for Hye-rim but for Astia, it didn’t matter. I also wanted to stay by his side. The children wanted me too. Geo accepted me as a mother.”

 

Thinking of Lucerne and the children made me smile. Collis shouted in frustration, “Are you laughing? How dare you laugh now? Ha, looks like you still don’t understand the situation?”

Collis, with arms spread wide, shouted so violently that it seemed as if she might vomit blood.

“This is a teleportation spell I painstakingly created! I chose a rocky island far away from the tower and demons to prevent anyone from finding us! Lucerne, who always rescued and protected you, is not adept at teleportation spells. It means he can’t come to rescue you!”

“So what?”

“If you can’t touch me because of some defense spell, then I’ll just kill you without touching you! Cold, wind, crumbling rocky island, hunger, waves. Which one of these do you think will kill you?”

“Well, I won’t die from anything you just mentioned.”

Only after hearing my calm voice did Collis seem to realize something and gritted her teeth. The edge of the rocky island crumbled bit by bit with each wave, but the ground I stood on was firm and unyielding. Despite the wind, my clothes and hair didn’t flutter. Though giant waves pounded the island, I remained dry. The sun didn’t shine, but I felt no cold.

 

The children protected me. The feeble magic faintly illuminating the area around me safeguarded my body and soul.

Collis had said Lucerne couldn’t come to rescue me, but both she and I knew it would only take time.

She laughed, embracing her arms with both hands.

“I won’t die with just this. I trust the children and Lucerne.”

“Oh no, this can’t be! Agh!”

In the end, Collis knelt to the ground, sinking down.

“I put so much effort into preparing this magic! To see it crumble so miserably is unbelievable…! Does this mean I have to leave Lucerne in the clutches of that woman? What am I supposed to do now…?”

 

Approaching Collis, who was muttering like a sob, I startled her as she tried to retreat, but behind her was a cliff, and the sea roared with distant waves.

As our proximity increased, the inexperienced magic of the children protected not only me but also Collis. The ground underfoot solidified, and droplets and wind veered away from her. Her pale complexion gradually regained color.

“…What now? Are you planning to push me or something?”

Collis’s blue magic, which had hovered around the wounds inflicted by Lucerne, now spread throughout her entire body. It seemed she chose to use magic to protect herself instead of healing the injuries.

The once confident and arrogant Collis now resembled a cornered mouse.

I shook my head. “I won’t harm or push you. I don’t have the strength for that, but if you disappear, Lucerne will be sad.”

“Ha. Lucerne would be sad?”

At the mention of her brother’s name, Collis shivered.

Perhaps she felt a sense of betrayal.

“Collis.”

“Don’t call me so casually.”

“Why on earth do you hate me this much?” I asked, and Collis snorted as if my question was absurd.

“Do you not know that’s why you’re asking? You’re really stupid.”

“Because I’m Astia, because Astia, from the noble faction that threatened Lucerne, hated and hurt him. Right?”

“You know it well.”

“Then you’re wrong. I’m not Astia; I’m Hye-rim. I’m neither from the noble faction nor someone who hated and hurt Lucerne.”

“Are you trying to lecture me?”

“It’s not a lecture; it’s correcting a mistake.”

We should have had this conversation from the beginning—before Collis tried to harm me, before she laid a hand on the children. We’ve faced danger several times, and Lucerne and Collis have both been wounded. But now, we needed to talk before something even more significant happened, before someone got killed or injured.

“I have no reason to treat you like this.”

“Don’t talk nonsense. Even if Astia was a noble, you’re nothing more than a lowly woman. Don’t dare to speak such ridiculous things as surpassing the empress.”

“Empress…”

Come to think of it, I had never considered it. An empress? If Lucerne is the emperor, and I marry him, I would become the empress. I hadn’t thought about carrying the title; I had only considered being by his side.

Feeling flustered, I shrugged my shoulders slightly.

When I blurred the end of my words and didn’t respond further, Collis seized the opportunity.

“You said you’re not Astia, right? But you are Astia. That damn woman existed openly until not long ago, and you are that woman’s living legacy.”

“I slapped you across the face, the face of the woman who dared to hit Lucerne’s cheek every time we met!”

There was no rebuttal. Lucerne couldn’t kill me because of my face, and he had kept me by his side until now.

“Lucerne will recall painful memories every time he sees you. If you’re by his side, that woman won’t be a memory he occasionally recalls but a nightmare he has to face every day!”

A nightmare… Is that what I am?

“You bewitched Lucerne! He’s currently in a state where he can’t assess the situation properly. If you disappear, Lucerne will regain his senses!”

Back to square one. Lucerne is bewitched, and she is normal. Convincing Collis logically was impossible when there was no means to obscure the integrity of her mind. Perhaps what Collis said might be true. I might be a nightmare to Lucerne, recalling the Astia of his past every time he sees me. But that didn’t mean I should die and disappear, just like I didn’t kill my aunt, who was my nightmare.

I sighed deeply and raised my head.

“Please stop. To Lucerne, you’re a precious person. I don’t want to see him struggling because of you anymore. You’ll only become more isolated and hurt in the process.”

“Isolation? Hurt?”

Collis shuddered as she echoed the words I spoke. She lifted the corners of her mouth, but her eyes did not smile. The emotions reflected on her peculiar face were close to repulsion.

“Can I become more isolated than this? Lucerne, whom I wanted to protect with everything I had, stabbed me. I can’t endure any more pain or isolation.”

“Collis…”

It might be an oversimplified thought, but I felt sorry for Collis. I wanted to protect and cherish her, and somehow, it ended up like this. Though the means may have gone astray, it was still love.

I thought of my four lovely children. They weren’t biologically mine, but I loved them. If I were in Collis’s situation, how would I be if the children didn’t understand my feelings and instead, stung me with criticism? How much would I be hurt?

Somehow, Collis’s inflicted wounds seemed understandable and saddening.

As I bowed my head deeply, Collis screamed.

“Wipe away that expression!”

Suddenly rushing towards me, Collis grabbed me tightly as I was embraced by her without understanding a word. Following her lead, we stumbled backward, and I soon realized that we were on a narrow rocky island.

“Wait, Collis, this is dangerous…!”

“Ah!”

Even as we reached the edge of the rocky island, Collis didn’t stop, and we plunged together into the sea.

Foolish Collis.

The magic Rie had cast enveloped me in a sphere, and the waves swallowed Collis.

Gurgle…

In the magic water droplets, I reached out to Collis several times. With the faint light emitted by Rie’s magic, I managed to grasp her clothes a few times, but each time, she pushed my hand away.

Collis’s wounds, which had healed somewhat due to the vigorous movements and the strong waves, burst open again. Black blood flowed out and wrapped around her.

Collis struggled, tossed around by the waves, and soon found a shiny bead in her pocket. It was the teleportation bead I had seen when she moved to Lucerne in the tower.

With a flash of light, Collis disappeared, and I felt a sense of emptiness along with relief.

Fortunately, Collis escaped, so there wouldn’t be any reason for Lucerne to be sad.

Now, what about me?

I closed my eyes.

In the silent black sea, I drifted. Despite Rie’s magic protecting me from the water, it also prevented me from determining the direction to move. I just floated.

Perhaps it was silent around me. I, too, felt serene.

Am I going to die like this?

Strangely, I wasn’t scared or uneasy.

“Sun. No, Hye-rim.”

Luce…

The voice of Lucerne calling me resonated in my mind.

I remembered the song Seti used to sing, and I laughed, improvising the lyrics.

It was embarrassing, but, in fact, I didn’t mind being called “Sun.” It made me happy to be someone’s sun, the reason for their life. It was something I hadn’t wished for.

“Sun.”

Once again, Lucerne’s voice echoed.

I continued to smile, but tears streamed down my face. My lower lip trembled, and I clenched my jaw tightly.

Lucerne.

 

I miss you.

I don’t want to sink into the sea like this.

I want to live, by your side.

“…Lucerne.”

As I whispered the name of the person I loved, the magic that had been protecting me broke. The salty water engulfed me in an instant. My laughter turned into sobs as I struggled to control the trembling of my lower lip.

At that moment, something firm grasped onto me, and a bright light flashed before my eyes.