As Sovieshu awaited the knight's return, he was so nervous that his lips were dry. Unable to sit up, he wandered between the drawing room and the baby's room, occasionally checking the princess's face.
Time passed very slowly. But unlike the impatient Sovieshu, the baby slept comfortably.
Finally, he heard a heavy voice call out to him.
"Your Majesty."
Moments later, the knight entered with a man holding a small child in his arms.
Although the man the knight brought was not Viscount Roteschu, neither was he a completely unfamiliar face.
"You must be..."
Sovieshu remembered the man who came to the audience chamber to ask for the child to be blessed. Yes. It was the same man who had held Rashta's first child in his arms.
"Alan Rimwell, Your Majesty. Viscount Roteschu's son."
But it wasn't this man he wanted to see.
"Did I send for you?"
Alan responded in a fearful voice to Sovieshu's words.
"My sister has not returned for several weeks... my father is away because of it."
"Sister? Ah. Yes, your sister."
Sovieshu, who was about to reprimand Alan, softened at his explanation. Certainly, Viscount Roteschu must be very busy now.
'It's okay. Anyway, it didn't make much difference whether Viscount Roteschu or Alan came.'
After some reflection, Sovieshu ordered,
"Come closer with the child."
Alan looked at Sovieshu in terror and took two steps back, startled at the sudden order.
"What for?"
Hugging the child firmly, Alan asked,
"What for, what for..."
He had found it strange that Emperor Sovieshu suddenly asked him to bring the child. But he found this even stranger.
"I have something to check."
When Alan took another step back, Sovieshu's eyebrows rose accordingly.
He didn't intend to hurt the baby, he just wanted to look at him closely for a moment.
'Why was he running away?'
Viscount Roteschu had told him that he didn't know who the child's father was, so he had no idea it was Alan. Both Alan and Viscount Roteschu only cared for Rashta's child.
But that protective attitude seemed strange enough to raise suspicions.
"I ordered you to come closer."
Sovieshu repeated the order slowly and clearly.
Only then did Alan realize that he could not oppose the emperor, so he went over and handed the baby to him.
'What a strange young man.'
Sovieshu accepted the baby, disgusted with Alan for how he treated him.
But as soon as Sovieshu saw the baby, his thoughts about Alan disappeared. His face turned darker. The baby looked more like Glorym than he remembered. Then a slight suspicion arose.
'How can they be so similar? Is this child's father the same as Glorym's...?'
Sovieshu inwardly denied it.
