IYAMD 196

Their stay in Ziras was shorter than expected. This was because news of the sultan’s sudden death had arrived.

Since Fa’ab had to return to the capital to attend the funeral, Jaha and Marsilia also decided to return to the palace earlier than originally planned.

During their stay, Jaha and Marsilia were busy fighting several battles to eliminate the remaining monsters, while the aides, who were not combatants, looked completely refreshed after just a few days.

Gerald looked almost like a different person now that the shadow hanging down to his chin had disappeared.

The one who had changed the most was Serez. For the first few days, he had been so anxious (perhaps because the work he had left behind kept haunting him) that he couldn’t focus, but not long after, he had grown accustomed to a life of leisure. Now, even with the emperor right in front of him, he lay on the sofa with no intention of getting up.

“Your Majesty, I think it’s time for me to retire. I never knew a life of doing nothing could be so peaceful… Please, would you mind leaving me behind?”

The one most horrified by those words was none other than Emileo.

“No way. What are you talking about? You’re going to retire and leave all that work Read on to me? I’d rather die than let that happen. I’m absolutely against it.”

“Then quit with me.”

Emileo’s face lit up at the casual suggestion.

“S-should we?”

Marsilia, who had been watching the two aides with a cold gaze, commented,

“Bullshit.”

“Your Majesty… You must maintain your dignity. What do you mean, ‘bullshit’?”

Even as they argued, Serez lay on the sofa as if he were about to melt.

“Is even breathing a bother? Shall I make it easier for you?”

Serez looked at Jaha with a pleading expression, but Jaha turned away from him. Even if someone who needed his help was right in front of him, he didn’t want to go out of his way unless there was a reason to do so.

Serez, who had been kicked in the butt by Marsilia, barely managed to get up from the sofa, and Emileo ran out of the room before he could suffer the same fate

It would take some time for Serez to return to work normally.

“It only takes a moment for a person to become lazy.”

As Jaha muttered in amazement, Marsilia clicked his tongue in disappointment.

“The one who should have been lazing around spent the whole time working instead.”

Come to think of it, that was true. He had intended to let Marsilia rest a bit.

“You brought this on yourself.”

Jaha wanted him to rest. But Marsilia was the one who insisted on tagging along every time Jaha led the knights out. He reaped what he sowed.

“We still have some vacation days left. Should we go take a break just the two of us?”

“What about the kids?”

It wasn’t only the twins anymore. Jaha now had to look after Myeongun as well.

“We can just take the kids with us. We’ll send Serez and the knights ahead first. We should probably bring Malek and a few attendants.”

“You want to go without the kids’ nannies?”

“We can take care of them ourselves.”

“I’m not confident I can.”

Ever since the children were born, most of the care had fallen to the nannies and maids.

He had occasionally fed them, wiped their mouths, or put them to sleep, but he had never once spent an entire day tending to the children.

Even if the children were a little older and it was easier, what if something went wrong?

“Then I’ll handle it myself.”

What difference would it make? Although Jaha was skeptical of Marsilia’s words, he was desperate to spend time with him, so he decided to take him at his word.

“Where should we go?”

“Shall we go to your territory? The children still haven’t seen it even once.”

“I suppose so….”

Since he had been planning to visit at least once once winter came, he figured it wouldn’t be a bad idea to go ahead and check it out. Besides, a new Department of Magic Engineering was scheduled to open at the Academy next year, so he needed to go see that as well.

Marsilia wanted to invest in magic in preparation for when the Goddess’s power faded.

Even though the quality of mages had declined, they still needed a clever mind to learn magic. He believed that it was a waste to let such talent go to waste, so he pushed the mages of the Magic Tower to their limits.

However, due to a severe shortage of talent, Marsilia had proposed establishing a new Department of Magical Engineering at Dandelion Academy.

The reason was that, since the Imperial Academy was run primarily for the nobility, the Dandelion Academy was simply more accessible. The goal was to discover commoners with magical talent.

So, after a year of preparation, they decided to finally accept freshmen into the Department of Magical Engineering next year. The mages from the Magic Tower who were assigned to teach had also recently gone down to Jaha’s territory to accelerate preparations.

Even though Jaha wouldn’t understand it, he couldn’t just ignore it, so it was time to pay a visit.

“I have a feeling we’ll just end up working the whole time again.”

“That’s true.”

“Still, we should go. I’m the one who suggested it.”

In the end, the two decided to split the group in two and return home, and they informed everyone of their plan.

Serez asked if they were going off to have fun and leaving him behind, but once he understood the situation, he looked at Marsilia with a sympathetic expression.

“Please don’t come looking for me, Your Majesty, even if you need me. I’m a complete novice when it comes to magic, so I wouldn’t be much help.”

The next day, after Serez and the rest of the party had left.

Jaha and Marsilia, accompanied by the children and a few knights, bid farewell to Fa’ab.

The departure was delayed a bit because the twins and Karim, who ​unauthorized copy​had come to see them off, threw a tantrum because they didn’t want to be separated, but they were finally able to part ways after promising to visit them sometime.

However, before returning to his father’s side, Karim knelt before Lotis with a look of determination.

“When I grow up, may I ask for the princess’s hand in marriage?”

Jaha, Marsilia, and Fa’ab each smiled awkwardly. Lotis, unconcerned with adult matters, answered without the slightest hesitation.

“Loti’s going to marry Papa and Heli, so no.”

Rejected, Karim’s eyes widened before he lowered his gaze. A fleeting look of disappointment crossed his face, only to vanish just as quickly.

“I’m fine with being third, Your Highness.”

Only then did Lotis begin to ponder the matter. The child clutched a rabbit doll tightly to her chest and thought for a long moment. Not long after, she nodded decisively.

“All right. Then Karim will be third. But I’m going to live with Papa in unauthorized copythe palace for a long, long time. So Karim has to go get married in Arhen.”

Before Lotis could finish speaking, Marsilia couldn’t hold back his laughter anymore.

“She’s definitely her father’s daughter, so clear-headed.”

As Jaha sighed, Helios, who was standing beside him, clung to his leg and tugged at his pant leg.

“Papa, Heli doesn’t want anyone else. I’m going to marry Papa.”

“Really? Then Heli is promising to marry Papa?”

“Mm-hmm. Promise.”

Jaha hooked his finger through the one Helios held out. Just as the two of them were wiggling their little fingers together, Marsilia tactlessly butted in.

“Helios, if you marry Papa Jaha, what will happen to this Papa? I’ll be so lonely.”

“Hmm…”

Helios suddenly smiled and lifted his head.

“Papa’s fine because he has Papa Jaha.”

“But Papa Jaha is also fine because he has me?”

“Um… is that so?”

Marsilia picked Helios up, pressed his lips to his cheek, and blew a raspberry. Helios giggled from the tickling sensation, and as he soothed the squirming child, Marsilia kept asking him the same question.

“Yeah, so Papa Jaha belongs to Papa, and our Helio should marry someone else. Okay?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“Who does our Helio take after to be so innocent?”

Unable to stand it any longer, Jaha grumbled, and Marsilia turned his cheeky face toward Helios.

“Well, he’s the spitting image of me.”

“I think only his face resembles you.”

“What are you talking about? When I was little…”

While Jaha and Marsilia bickered, Lotis got Karim to promise her that he would come live with them as a son-in-law once he came of age.

Jaha wondered if it was wise to make such a decision so early, but he decided to let it be. He wanted to preserve the child’s innocence, and besides, they might change their minds as they get older.

With that eventful farewell finally over, the group set off again. Since the carriage visit our site had been sent back with the nannies, the children were each assigned to ride in front with one of the adults.

Myeongun rode with Sasha, while Jaha rode with Lotis and Marsilia with Helios.

Jaha glanced over at Marsilia and nodded to himself. Upon observing them riding together, they looked remarkably alike. He wasn’t sure about their personalities, but Helios’s face was a spitting image of Marsilia’s.

Marsilia must have been just as gentle and cute when he was little. The fact that such a thought crossed his mind first made him certain he was definitely head over heels in love.

Because they had to walk the horses slowly for the children’s sake, their progress was very slow. However, as people who had always lived a busy life, this newfound leisure made the surrounding scenery look different.

Clouds streaming across the blue sky, dazzling sunlight, and the chirping of birds flying through the air.

Jaha enjoyed this leisurely pace. He carefully observed things he hadn’t noticed before. Since this leisure was bound to disappear soon, he decided to enjoy it to the fullest while he could.

Marsilia felt the same way, but he wasn’t as relaxed as expected.

“Papa, what kind of bird is that?”

“That’s a red-breasted warbler.”

“Then what about that one?”

“Let me see… looks like a titmouse?”

The man, who glanced back at his knights for confirmation, had a simple expression on his face. He didn’t look like the emperor he usually was, but rather like an ordinary parent.

Even as he answered the child’s endless questions, Marsilia’s expression remained nothing but gentle. He never once showed any annoyance as he answered Helios’s questions.

After spending some time searching for whatever Helios was pointing at, his gaze finally met Jaha’s. The man winked and smiled, and Jaha returned the smile.

He was a kind and endearing man, no matter how often he saw him. He was such a good person that it was hard to believe Jaha’s first impression of him had been that he was irritating.

No matter how much he thought about it, he felt he should thank the goddess who had brought them together. He wanted to tell her that, thanks to her, he had found a wonderful partner. Marsilia would probably be sarcastic Read on and complain about it, but he wouldn’t object if that was what Jaha wanted.

Maybe he’d visit the temple as soon as he returned home. Jaha had never once visited the temple on his own initiative, except when there was an event. Since Marsilia never forced religion on him, he never felt the need to go.

But this time, he wanted to pay a visit and say hello. If he went with the children, perhaps she would be delighted to see her grandchildren.

Jaha felt that he had gained so much from this trip.

He’d been given the chance to repay his past benefactor, however modestly, and had even gained an unexpected disciple.

And though he didn’t know what the future held, he’d gained a son-in-law, and his affection for Marsilia had grown stronger. Along with his gratitude for the goddess’s providence, he had a premonition that he would gain something more on the journey still ahead.

Things like that, trivial yet joyful moments, such as a new side of that man with his innocent expression.

If I keep collecting those little things one by one, will the day come when I can look back and say my life was happy?

Will I reminisce about those simple moments when my hair is finally covered in white frost?

And then, finally, the day will come when I can smile with him and say it was a happy life.

He hoped, and hoped again, that he could live his life filled with such trivial things, and that not only him, but also Marsilia and the twins, would be able to do the same.

That was his most fervent wish.

< If You Are My Destiny (Side Story 3) – The End >