Chapter 1 - Part 1
Huge thanks to Risev for the kofi!
Here’s an extra chapter as a token of apology for posting this chapter late 🙂
Request you all to read the notes in Chapter 127.
My Childhood Friends Are Trying To Kill Me now has extra chapters up on kofi-shop! Buy them now, only at https://ko-fi.com/rainofsnow/shop ! Tier 1 with 3 advance chaps is for 5$, tier 2 with 7 advance chaps is for 12$, and tier 3 with 10 advance chapters is for 18$~
***
In front of Emperor Auraria’s office.
The loud rupture from the inside made the servants look pale at the door.
‘What’s wrong with him?’
‘He’s been like that for a few days. Is it because you fought with Her Majesty?’
The servants could not speak with their mouths, only exchanged glances.
A few seconds for the stillness to flow.
Bang!
The sound from the inside made the servants shrug their shoulders and swallow their fears.
The atmosphere of the Imperial Palace has been thin ice for two days now.
It was after a woman came to the emperor, and many rumors started circulating.
‘Apparently, she was the emperor’s ex-lover, which caused the emperor and the empress to quarrel.’
It was such a scandal.
In addition to that, the issue of succession was emerging.
The emperor tried to establish one of the already grown twin princes as his successor, but the empress had different ideas.
Since the emperor is still healthy, she said to watch more than make a hasty decision.
But there was no one who didn’t know what was going on inside.
The empress wanted to set her own blood as the successor, the newly born young prince.
At that time, a man with a serious expression approached the office. As soon as the servants saw him, they opened the door as if a savior had appeared.
Count Adolf, one of the most trusted subjects of Emperor Perseus.
“……!”
Entering the house, Count Adolf watched the situation in the Emperor’s office and sighed.
‘What the hell happened?’
The emperor, who was fine a few days ago, was acting like he was out of his mind.
“Sigh…”
The drunken emperor sat on the sofa with a dazed face.
It was a mess around here.
The whole thing was thrown and smashed.
It wasn’t long after the servants cleaned up the interior, but it became like this again.
Fortunately, dangerous items such as glass were removed, but as it was in the Office, minimal fixtures were needed.
“Your Majesty, please come to your senses…!”
The Count Adolf, who approached him, pleaded in a sad voice.
He has been close to Perseus since he was a crown prince.
Looking at the haggard emperor’s face, Count Adolf recalled a long time ago.
It was the first time Perseus had seen this since he lost his wife by his own brother.
Almost twenty years later, it can’t have happened again..
‘There must have been something as big as that.’
Count Adolf approached the insane emperor and spoke carefully.
“How upsetting would Elizabeth be to see this… So you need to get your act together, Your Majesty!”
“…Elle, Elizabeth… Elle… Elizabeth?
It was a name that he had never mentioned in the past 20 years.
But Count Adolf knew.
She was the only reason why Perseus was still here.
Elizabeth always asked him to do so.
‘You have to be a great emperor. For Auraria that the whole empire will be proud of, you must be strong for the Empire of Auraria.’
Perseus had to give up a lot to keep the word, which was like a will.
Knowing that, Count Adolf was forced to mention the name.
But Perseus’ reaction was strange.
Tears welled up in the eyes of the emperor, who was muttering Elizabeth’s name, and began to fall.
“Your Majesty!”
It was the first time since Elizabeth’s death that he had seen the emperor cry like this.
“Your Majesty, Your Majesty…”
“Count Adolf… Count….”
“Yes, yes, Your Majesty.”
“What do you want me to do? What can I do?”
Looking at the distorted emperor’s expression, the count intuitively sensed that something unusual had happened.
Why would an emperor become so hopeless? What the hell…?
“My child who died as soon as he was born… I thought he was dead. Elizabeth and my child.”
“Your Majesty, what the hell are you talking about…!”
“That kid, of all things, that kid!”
“Your Majesty!”
“Argh!”
Perseus started screaming and crying. He grabbed his head and couldn’t tear it off, so he punched my chest.
He cried his heart out.
He felt like his stomach was turning upside down.
It was so hot that it burned to death, and then it froze and became so cold.
No way, it can’t be.
Even though he denied reality, he faced a lightning strike of truth.
The nanny, who had raised the child at the behest of Empress Iris, gave him a small piece of gold as a token.
When she ran away from the child, she stole it for money, but she couldn’t sell it.
When he left his wife behind at the time, it was a gift he gave Elizabeth.
Flashback
“Elizabeth, if a child is born, put it on his ankle.”
“This is….”
“I’m sorry I cannot be with you. I will come back safely and protect our child and you for the rest of my life.”
It was a custom of Auraria.
To attach a gold bell to a newborn child’s ankle.
Wherever the child is, wherever he is headed.
It was an object of parents’ affection that they would listen to the sound and follow it for the rest of their lives and protect it forever.
It was a token of wish for the child to grow healthy and safe.
At the moment Perseus had to go a long way, the object was a precious treasure to connect the two with peace of mind.
‘Yeah, I was sure I made up my mind then.’
Flashback
‘I’ll protect him forever. I will remember the sound with my heart and protect it even if I am blind or deaf.’
But what happened?
Perseus had a terrible sight in his head.
A space burned to ashes without a trace.
A humble little grave where he buried a dead child as soon as he was born.
It was the motionless bodies of his loved ones that welcomed him back from the brink of death.
As soon as he lost his child, he thought of his wife who was burned to death.
But, the child is….
She is alive.
‘The kid I thought was Iris’s daughter is my daughter?’
‘The kid that I kicked out with my hands, that’s Elizabeth’s blood?’
“Ugh… Ugh… Argh!”
“Your Majesty, Your Majesty!”
It was as difficult to come to his senses as being tortured.
At the thought that followed, he frowned painfully as if he was getting strangled.
Flashback
“It’s not a place where Iris’s blood can go. Answer me. Why did you go there?”
“Well, there’s nothing to eat. So….”
“What?”
“I’m so hungry… I went to look for something to eat. But I didn’t steal anything! I just saw it and came out right away!”
“…….”
“I’m sorry, but I didn’t steal anything. Forgive me, I’m sorry….”
‘I remembered a child who had begged with both hands.’
The child, who was pitifully skinny… The kid who was hiding like a rat because she had nothing to eat.
It was painful as if his heart was rubbing with heated iron.
‘How was the first time I met her?’
He felt displeased when he saw the light green eyes that resembled his wife.
He thought the eyes that looked at him full of fear were creepy and messy.
‘Why, why didn’t I recognize you?’
‘How did I not recognize her?’
‘How the hell did I not recognise those eyes?’
“Ugh….”
Looking at the emperor, who couldn’t breathe properly and sobbed, Count Adolf ordered the servants to hurry up and call his doctor.
Bloodshot eyes turned red. As if he were shedding tears of blood, he clenched his fists and sobbed.
He remembered how annoyed he was, and ordered with his subjects by telling them not to mention the child’s name.
‘When the child went missing, I thought it was better.’
‘She should rather disappear before my eyes, she was going to die anyway.’
‘I’m glad I don’t have to clean up the mess…’
When he recalled the memory, he couldn’t help but hate himself.
It was as painful as he could breathe.
“Argh! Argh! Argh!”
Count Adolf, who was restless when he saw the emperor sobbing as if he was having a seizure, shouted to hurry as he saw the emperor’s doctors come in.
“Come on, come on! Go ahead and take a look at Your Majesty!”
The doctors grabbed the ferocious emperor and tried to sedate him in a hurry.
However, the emperor cried like a beast, pushing those who caught me with force.
After a long time, he soon blacked out.
***
At a similar time.
Lelia was also recalling her childhood.
There were three friends beside her.
So far, two days after the magic of gold words has been lifted and the truth has been confessed…Unfortunately, Kalix disappeared again.
But according to the maids, he didn’t leave the castle.
‘Is it that confusing?’
Lelia was sorry and sorry for not confessing the truth earlier.
“So, did you leave them alone?”
Romeo asked irritably.
Lelia nodded quietly and laughed.
The vast flower garden of the castle.
Four people, except Kalix, had tea time at the table as if they were on a picnic.
Since the rain stopped, it has been a peaceful landscape because of the good weather.
However, the story we were sharing was not very peaceful.
After that day, Romeo began prying into her childhood….
When she came to her senses, she was telling the whole story after returning from the neutral zone to the Imperial castle.
Those were terrible memories for Lelia that she didn’t want to relive.
However, at this moment, all the memories seemed to be fine because she was in front of her friends.
So she confessed without realizing it.
As she said it, she was embarrassed to the point where her face was burning.
She felt like she was a child who told her parents about what she was bullied about.
Instead, she felt relieved to see my friends getting angry.
However, Oscar was a little worried.
Lelia hurriedly excused herself.
“…But I didn’t really care.”
“What’s wrong with them? I knew it. How can they not recognize their sister?”
Romeo replied irritably.
However, he crumpled his forehead to see if something came to his mind.
He also realized that he had nothing to say because he didn’t recognize Lelia at first.
Lelia smiled awkwardly and looked at Oscar’s eyes.
Oscar was expressionless the whole time he heard the story. Oscar was always that expressionless just before he killed someone.
She was worried that Oscar might visit Cedric and Damien and kill them.
Lelia hastily opened her mouth as if to excuse herself.
***