The Tyrant Wants To Live Honestly

“Okay, Ethan. Take care and stay healthy, too.”

At that moment, Ethan smiled as if his heart had calmed down.

“Then I must say goodbye now.”

Ethan slipped Dorothea’s letter completely into his arms and looked at her.

And A soft touch on the forehead.

Dorothea for a moment forgot to breathe. It seemed that the heat from her forehead was spreading all over her body.

Ethan’s lips fell slowly, whispering in her ear.

“Goodbye, my twelve-year-old princess.”

Dorothea looked at him blankly.

“It was nice to meet you.”

Ethan said goodbye, unable to take his eyes off Dorothea as if trying to capture Dorothea in his eyes.

* * *

Ray was recently heartbroken by Theon’s indifference.

‘You’re hiding something from me.’

‘I pretend to be okay, but Theon has a secret, a big secret.’

Ray was going to wait until Theon spoke first.

‘There must be a reason why you don’t tell me.’

However, as the days went on, Theon started seeing each other with Julia or shunning Ray more often.

‘Are you two supposed to like that?’

Ray licked his lips and pondered. Clearly, the two looked different from the others.

The affectionate eyes looking at each other, or the appearance of whispering without anyone knowing.

‘So now I have to leave the two of you?’

I hate that.

‘What you two like is what I like, and I hope you can talk and play with me.’

“I have to ask you today. Are you okay, Tommy?”

Ray, who was taking care of the tomatoes, left his seat and stood up. He wiped the dirt off his clothes and headed for Theon’s library.

And before he even got to the library, he ran into Theon.

“Theon!”

“Ray, I was just about to see you.”

Theon grabbed him as if he had waited before Ray could even get his question out.

“Well, why do you want to meet me?”

“I have something to tell you.”

Theon took him into an empty classroom in Episteme. Ray was dazed for a moment, blinking his eyes, and then came to his senses.

‘Now you’re going to tell me too!’

The time has come to reveal a secret that until now only Theon and Julia have shared.

Ray managed to hold onto the corner of his mouth as he tried to climb and faced Theon.

“Uh, what’s going on?”

Ray asked, pretending to be blunt. Then Theon licked his lips and hid it. He hesitated for a while, then slowly opened his mouth.

“Ray… How do you feel when dealing with spirits?”

Theon’s question wasn’t what he expected, so Ray’s blue eyes blinked.

‘I thought you wanted to talk about Julia, but suddenly it’s a spirit.’

“Well… When dealing with spirits, it feels like flowers are blooming in my heart.”

It was an embarrassing question, but Ray answered it seriously.

Calling out spirits like a flower blooming from the heart, and whispering your heart like being showered with spirits, it becomes more abundant. A feeling of being kind and cautious.

At Ray’s answer, Theon’s gaze fell and a shadow fell on his face.

“What’s going on, Theon?”

Ray, who sensed that Theon’s mood was unusual, asked. Unlike his usual soft and calm appearance, he was afraid of something.

“The Spirit…”

“Yes?”

“The spirit doesn’t work for me.”

“What?”

The moment Ray asked, Theon’s red eyes looked at him. The moment he met Theon’s terrified gaze, the air surrounding him became black.

“Theon!”

Ray called out his name in the pitch-black darkness that suddenly came over. The darkness was so thick that Theon couldn’t see right in front of him, which terrified Ray.

Then Theon’s hand grabbed him.

“Help me, Ray.”

In the dark darkness. Theon’s trembling voice reached Rey’s ear.

And then Ray realized. 

After a few generations, a dark spirit appeared in the Fried family.

* * *

Lampas, after a few years, was not unfamiliar at all.

I had lived here for almost 30 years before I died and after returning, so it was not unfamiliar to me that I had only gone to recuperation for three years.

I followed the guidance of the aide who had met me and entered the Imperial Palace. It had been a long time since I stepped on the floor of the imperial family, making me somewhat angry.

And I met Carnan.

“Wait for a moment.”

He brought me from the detached palace up to here and made me wait for him, saying he was busy. I waited quietly in front of him, holding back the words that were about to come out of my lips.

To borrow Joy’s tone from my anger as an excuse, he was a fucking emperor.

Only after the tea following I had cooled down, Carnan looked up to meet me, whom he had called in three years.

Everything in the Imperial Palace was familiar, but Carnan’s face was still unfamiliar.

“Why did you call me?”

I first asked Carnan, who looked at me  It’s not polite to open your mouth before the emperor, but for me, this alone was a lot of patience.

“Once the treatment is over, you should definitely come back.”

Carnan narrowed his brows and spoke with a tone of admonition.

“Come back. You are speaking as if this is where I will be.”

“What do you mean?”

“Is there a place for me here?” asked me.

I am always in the corner palace, he never visits me, just calls me when it is necessary for a ceremonial occasion, and sets me up like a wall clock. Is there any place for Dorothea Milanaire here?

No, it might be more useful to set a clock instead of me. Because a clock can show off its existence by telling the time once an hour.

But Carnan seemed to feel that my question was arrogant.

“You are Milanaire.”

Carnan let out a heavy sigh as if suppressing irritation.

‘Milanaire, that’s Milanaire.’

“What is Milanaire?”

“What?”

“I ask, what is Milanaire so that I should remain in this palace?”

I’ve never felt like a member of the Milanaire, so why does that name hold me like shackles?

At Dorothea’s question, Carnan looked at her as if she were looking at a beggar who had nothing.

And he said it like it was natural.

“The clothes you’re wearing, the shoes you’re wearing, the carriage you’re riding in, the food you ate today, the detached palace where you lived for three years, the servants who helped you. It’s all Milanaire.”

Everything I had. Everything from my hair to my flesh and blood.

So it was only natural that I would have to listen to Carnan’s orders.

‘No, even if you’re not Milanaire, you must obey the Emperor’s orders.’

“Take the Episteme transfer exam.”

Carnan ordered me without further elaboration.

In Episteme, admission tests were held periodically. It is a place where you study hard to enter, but when you enter, there are people who give up and fall behind in a place where more difficult studies await.

However, transfer was more difficult than admission because there were not many of them, and the latecomers who did not pass the admission period desperately flocked to pass through the eye of the needle.

‘But you tell me to take the test?’

Of course, I was confident I would pass the transfer exam. If it’s about the Episteme test, I’m still able to get up from sleep and memorize it.

However.

“I don’t like it.”

I did not obey Carnan’s orders.

‘My dream to go to Episteme? Desperate wish? It’s been a long time since it’s rotten and gone.’

“You don’t like it?”

“Why did you suddenly want to send me to Episteme?”

He didn’t say anything when I entered the Episteme. I was not a toy to play with at Carnan’s whims.

“I’ve always heard that you’re pretty clever. Not long ago, the people of Hark also praised you.”

“….”

‘Just because of that?’

Even before returning, I was much smarter than my peers.

But what’s different now?

‘Not bothering Ray? Something that doesn’t look good in front of you?’

“If you can pass the Episteme, I will think of you differently.”

Carnan’s proposal was surprisingly unappetizing.

In the past, I would have been delighted with this and studied hard and passed the transfer exam. A chance for Carnan to see me differently, for my father to recognize me because that was what Dorothea Milanaire needed the most.

But now there is a question.

‘Why do I have to look different?’

“The exam is in a month. In the meantime, I will give you a teacher so you can prepare for the exam.”

Others take exams that take years of study, but he gives me one teacher for only a month.

Even as he did that, Carnan spoke as if he was doing something really great for me. Is Carnan aware of how unreasonable he is with his commands?

‘Did he know that making such a request to other children sounds like an order to die?’

I looked at Carnan and thought he was still the same.

And I was relieved, not expecting him.

I didn’t even think that he would say a word to his daughter who came back after a few years and missing her.

Thinking so, I shook my head.

“No. You don’t have to give me a teacher.”

Then, Carnan’s brow furrowed even deeper.

“Keep in mind that I am not giving you a choice.”

“I will take the Episteme transfer exam. But you don’t have to attach a teacher. As usual.” said me.

I didn’t want to wrestle long with Carnan.

“You should think about the dignity of the imperial family.”

I refused a teacher, Carnan added sternly. A warning not to bring a result that is so disastrous that it insults the imperial family.

I nodded my head.

“I know.”