Chapter 52
Even to his eyes, Clois had been rapidly deteriorating this year.
She spent the entire day staring blankly out the window with no expression on her face.
It was the same during meetings. For seven years, she had relentlessly pushed her ministers, personally verifying everything herself.
Thanks to her, many matters proceeded swiftly and without disruption.
If even the slightest hint of corruption or deceit was found, the person involved truly had to prepare for death.
Because Clois drove herself madly to work so hard, the empire quickly regained its prosperity.
But Clois herself quickly fell apart.
He had thought she would somehow hold on…
“This is really the limit now. She’s refusing medication, and at this rate, it will become a serious problem…”
The prime minister said this as he anxiously looked at the window where Clois often stood.
He couldn’t say it outright, but he was subtly suggesting that the emperor might take her own life.
But even knowing the emperor’s condition and its cause, there was no way to heal her.
Dead people cannot come back to life.
So the prime minister tried everything to at least slow the emperor’s decline.
Naturally, none of those efforts had any results.
“But…”
Recently, Clois’s condition had changed.
The person who had sat dazedly without any will began to move. A faint expression gradually appeared on her cold face.
“When did that start?”
The prime minister thought back to what had happened around the time Clois began to change.
He soon remembered.
“The gifted academy opened.”
But there was no way Clois would like that.
She had opposed it repeatedly, even when the ministers insisted on opening it quickly.
Moreover, whenever she saw children, she was reminded of the deceased princess, which made her even more depressed.
So there was no way opening the gifted academy would make her better…
The prime minister was struggling to find a reason why she had improved when Clois put down her pen.
“This much confirmation is enough. Handle the rest yourself.”
Saying this, Clois got up from her seat.
“Your Majesty?”
The surprised prime minister stood up as well.
It was strange after all.
Usually, she would have personally verified every last detail, but this time, she passed off the work after only checking the essential parts.
“Do you have other appointments?”
“No, it’s not that. I just… want to take a walk. Well then, I leave it to you.”
The prime minister bowed his head in response.
Clois was walking, reflecting on his earlier behavior.
“Not checking everything to the end.”
It was something that would never have happened before.
If he even let his eyes or hands rest for a moment, sad thoughts would flood in, and he would sometimes imagine things that weren’t even there.
Yet, he had passed on much of the work to the prime minister and hurried outside.
And now, as if he had an appointment, he was heading toward the graves of Lilian and Evbien.
The guards at the entrance of the grave recognized the emperor and bowed their heads.
Clois briefly greeted them.
“You’re doing a good job.”
The guards’ shoulders twitched at the words.
“Why is that?”
“Well, it’s just… it’s the first time Your Majesty has spoken to us first like this… Ah, no, nothing.”
The guard’s embarrassed voice was quickly cut off.
Clois was equally surprised.
“Was it so?”
Thinking back, every time he had come here before, it had felt like walking through a dark, deep swamp.
He couldn’t even breathe properly; just stepping forward was hard. He had no strength to look around and barely endured.
So he had never had the leisure to greet these people.
Now, for the first time, he properly saw those who had always been here.
Clois smiled bitterly.
“I’ve always been grateful.”
The guards bowed even deeper at the emperor’s greeting.
Clois lightly raised a hand in return and headed inside.
Passing through the narrow path, he noticed something had changed.
The sadness he always felt here had faded somewhat.
“Why is that?”
People said that time would erase his sorrow.
That the blessing of forgetting, allowed to humans, would also bury his past deep within his heart.
Soon, he stepped out of the path and was greeted by the familiar graves of his wife and child.
But…
“…”
Clois brushed his face with one hand.
It was strange.
Today, his throat did not tighten.
His eyes did not grow hot with tears.
The sadness had not disappeared. It still lived deep in his heart.
But why…
As he stared blankly at the grave, a rustling sound came from the bushes behind him.
“…!”
Clois quickly approached the noise.
A small child parted the bushes and appeared.
The child who had been lying down rose and looked up at him. Her green eyes softened as they met his.
“Professor!”
With her arms stretched out as if asking to be held, Clois approached almost entranced and lifted her into his arms.
The small warm body was held tightly against him.
“Evi?”
“Yes! It’s been a long time!”
The voice mixed with laughter murmured inside his embrace.
Clois tightened his arms around the child.
Perhaps because he held on too tightly, when he heard a struggling sound, he regained his senses and hurriedly sat Evi down on a nearby bench.
Evi, who had come through the bushes, was a mess.
Her hair was disheveled, and leaves and dirt clung here and there to her clothes.
Clois knelt down in front of her, met her eyes, and picked off the debris.
“Are you hurt anywhere?”
“No. I’m fine.”
He thought she was just saying that, but after removing the leaves, he saw that she truly had no wounds.
“What a surprise.”
Her clothes showed scratches and slight damage, but Evi’s body had no injuries.
It was as if the bushes had moved aside to avoid hurting her.
He turned his head to look at the bushes.
“I almost ordered them blocked.”
If he had given the order, that path would have been closed that very day.
Maybe a wall would have been erected in the forest so no one could pass.
But in the end, he did not give that order.
After tidying up her hair, the child looked much better.
“When I first saw Evi on the gifted academy’s opening day, I sighed.”
She was small, with skinny limbs.
She lacked the usual baby fat one would expect at her age.
Her dry, dull hair made her even more pitiful.
But now, it wasn’t like that.
Was she eating well? Her once rough skin and hair now had luster.
Her previously sunken cheeks had filled out and a healthy blush showed.
Even the clothes, which had been too large despite being the smallest size, seemed to fit somewhat now, and the protruding bones on her wrists were no longer visible.
And…
“By the way, thank you so much for the gift!”
Her smile held no shadows at all as she looked at him.
Clois looked at Evi silently for a moment.
She was a child who had smiled well even when they first met.
She had approached him, gave him a handkerchief, greeted him, and told him who she was.
But back then, tension was clearly visible despite the smile.
Compared to then…
“She looks like a child who’s lived here her whole life.”
Now there was no tension in Evi’s attitude.
She acted as if she were wandering around her own backyard, with familiarity and ease.
“The gifted academy suits her well.”
A smile appeared on Clois’s face too.
His reluctance to open the gifted academy stemmed partly from problems with the nobles, but more so from concern for the children.
He worried about children who had to come alone from far away at such a young age.
So starting this year, he ordered that days off when children could return home be maximized.
Thanks to that, the gifted academy now had more holidays and longer breaks.
Weekend visits home were also allowed.
But that was only good if the family lived nearby.
Children from distant cities could hardly see their families unless it was vacation time.
Moreover, once they left the gifted academy, they were responsible for themselves.
For children like Evi who came from far away and whose families were not well off, visiting was practically impossible.
So he had thought Evi would be anxious about being far from home, but she did not show any signs of that.
