When Enoch finally arrived at the entrance of the forest connected to Letina’s palace, he discovered someone standing there.
Before he could even recognize who it was, Letina shouted.
“Kinas!”
And Enoch heard the man’s voice murmuring softly.
“…Damn it.”
The man who had been muttering to himself stepped forward.
Kinas Nasant was dressed in elaborate royal attire. It was the typical clothing of royalty, adorned with golden embroidery and red jewels.
“Shh, Your Majesty the Empress. Please be quiet.”
Kinas, who had warned Letina with a hand over his mouth, turned to look at the boy who stood there with a stunned expression.
“…You said you were sick?”
“Why are you here?”
“I have my own reasons…”
However, Kinas’s words were cut short. It was because Letina had interrupted them.
“Oh my, Enoch! What kind of language is that?”
Letina was genuinely shocked. Kinas wiped his forehead at the sight of the woman with wide, blue eyes.
“Your Majesty, you need to be quiet.”
“How much do you think Kinas thinks about you!”
“Please, it’s late at night,”
“Why do you have to say it so unpleasantly? You’re not usually like this, right?”
Good grief. The man sighed heavily, looking like he wanted to escape the situation.
Letina turned to look at him.
“I’m sorry, Kinas. Enoch seems to be sensitive lately because he’s been sick.”
No, Mother. I just dislike that person. However, Enoch didn’t say that. It was because Kinas, who met his gaze for a moment, shook his head slightly and quickly.
“No, Your Majesty. I’m fine.”
Yet his amber eyes were fixed on Enoch. ‘I understand what you want to say, but please let it go.’ The eyes of the man conveyed a sense of urgency.
So Enoch kept his mouth shut. While he didn’t like the man, he could sense what he wanted to avoid.
Kinas was genuinely tired.
He let out another small sigh and extended his hand toward Letina.
“It’s getting late. You should go back now.”
“Okay.”
Letina replied lightly and released her son’s hand. Usually, Enoch would have felt disappointed, but the man holding Letina’s hand looked so exhausted that Enoch lost his resolve.
Turning to the boy standing still, Letina said,
“You can go back to sleep now.”
“Yes, Mother.”
Nodding lightly, Letina turned away. The man holding her hand also turned his body.
Enoch watched their backs for a moment before turning to leave. That night came to an end just like that.
☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓 ☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓
Two days later, Enoch visited the Fourth Prince’s palace.
There was only one knight guarding the entrance, and he didn’t seem like a proper knight.
Seeing a guest arrive, the knight fumbled for a moment before saying he would inform his master and then disappeared. Enoch stood at the entrance, which was suddenly left unguarded, blinking in surprise. This was a first for him.
The knight soon returned and said the owner wanted him to come to the garden. Enoch didn’t hide his skepticism about the knight’s competence as he nodded.
However, what he saw beyond the wall was even worse. Enoch had never seen a flowerbed so poorly maintained in his life.
The abandoned garden where he had met Bertina was not in such a state. At least that place had the remnants of being cared for at one time. Here, Enoch couldn’t even tell what had been planted, and the sparse patches of dirt exposed all over were certainly not the appearance of a properly tended garden.
When he finally arrived at the garden, Enoch spotted a large cherry blossom tree that hadn’t been pruned and a man sitting beneath it, reading a book.
Kinas looked far more modest than the last time Enoch had seen him. His red hair was casually tied back, and the clothes he wore seemed more suited to a commoner or a servant than royalty.
Naturally, Enoch had expected him to be somewhat dressed up, so he had worn nice clothes himself, so he was momentarily taken aback by Kinas’s appearance. For some reason, Enoch felt embarrassed, even though it was Kinas who was dressed poorly.
It was then that the man closed his book.
“Are you going to just stand there?”
His face remained pale as ever, even in the midday sun. Enoch approached him with stiff steps.
“I came because I wanted to ask you something.”
As soon as he heard this, Kinas complained.
“Stop with the pointless formalities. You’re not doing it willingly anyway.”
That was indeed true. However, it felt wrong to drop the formalities just like that, especially considering Letina weighed on his mind.
Besides, he didn’t want to do what Kinas told him to do just because he said so.
So instead of agreeing to drop the formalities, Enoch continued speaking respectfully.
“Two nights ago, was it you who brought my mother?”
Kinas scrunched up his face, looking annoyed by Enoch’s question.
“What’s it to you?”
“That’s…”
“Don’t bother with useless questions. Besides, you met your mother that night, didn’t you?”
The way he spoke as if that was all there was to it was infuriating. Enoch stepped closer to him.
“Then let me ask something else. How did you meet my mother?”
“That’s an even more useless question.”
To come all this way just to ask something like that, how ridiculous.
Kinas, speaking with annoyance, set his book aside. Standing up, he looked down at Enoch.
“How old are you now? Thirteen?”
Enoch should have shot back, asking why Kinas cares about that, but he was surprised by how much taller the man was than he expected and couldn’t say anything.
Seeing him frozen, Kinas let out a small laugh and said, “Instead of fretting over such trivial things, you should read another book and prepare to survive.”
“…….”
“You know it too. Your mother has no intention of protecting you.”
In fact, Letina was not someone who could protect anyone. She didn’t even think about protecting herself.
Did he think Enoch didn’t know that? Enoch said to the man, who seemed to mock him, “I know.”
“What?”
“I said I know.”
But what am I supposed to do about it?
He meant it. He truly had no idea what he was supposed to do.
He loved his mother. So he tried to take care of her.
He hated to admit it, but he also loved his half-sister Bertina. So he treated her kindly.
Yet, Letina never looked back at him, and Bertina had left him and never returned.
He had clearly made an effort, but he was still alone.
Realizing that fact, the misery that had always lurked in the corner of his heart surged up. Enoch bit his lower lip.
“What am I supposed to do?”
It wasn’t a wise question to ask Kinas. However, he couldn’t suppress the feelings welling up inside him.
“No one comes to see me. The only one who cared even a little was Bertina, and now she’s not even in the palace.”
Bertina. Enoch thought as he said that name. Does this man know about Bertina?
Bertina was in the same situation as him. They were both lonely, and they had grown attached to each other.
But even she had left. She had an older sister who had taken her out of the palace.
“My mother is my only family.”
As soon as Enoch said that, he realized it was true. Letina was all he had left.
So, regardless of whether she loved him or not, he couldn’t escape the hurt she gave him, and he couldn’t shake off the expectations she made him hold.
Kinas didn’t say anything as he saw the child reacting quickly to his few words. Enoch realized that he was staring at him blankly.
It would have been better if Kinas had teased him some more. There was something about silence that made people feel embarrassed. Enoch quickly turned away before his eyes turned red.
Kinas did not catch Enoch, who was running away. He had no reason to do so.
☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓 ☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓
After that awkward encounter, Enoch never visited Kinas again. He couldn’t even understand why he had gone to see Kinas in the first place. What had he expected Kinas to say?
It was only natural that Kinas had laughed at him. Enoch sometimes thought about it late at night, lying in bed. How ridiculous he must have looked.
Of course, thinking about it didn’t make him feel any better. The situation was the same.
Bertina still hadn’t come back; the Emperor would occasionally summon him and treat him cruelly, and Enoch couldn’t feel the magic that Letina had said would appear.
Enoch was still wandering around the palace, feeling miserable. It had become his daily routine.
Sometimes, he even thought about disappearing. Lying down in the abandoned garden, Enoch thought that it would be better if he just vanished. He was truly exhausted. Nothing seemed to be getting better, and everything felt endlessly boring.
That day was no exception, and Enoch was lying down in the thick foliage, gazing up at the sky. The days were getting warmer, and the air was filled with the sounds of birds and insects chirping among the newly sprouted grass and trees.
It was a scene teeming with life, but he watched it all with colorless eyes. He was so lost in thought that he didn’t even notice someone approaching him.
Enoch only became aware of Kinas’s presence when he dropped something right next to him.
With a loud thud, something heavy fell to the ground. Enoch reflexively sat up, startled.
“What are you doing?”
He asked in a sharp voice, and Kinas replied briefly.
