DMEC | Chapter 16

“Roasting potatoes… Is climbing trees also forbidden?”

Hearing this, everyone around couldn’t help but laugh. Eliza shrugged lightly, gathered the pus he had extracted, and stored it separately, then applied a generous amount of ointment to Lute’s sole.

With the pus and blood squeezed out, the inflammation that was about to spread would subside, and there would be no more swelling up to the ankle.

“If you go out on a rainy day with inflammation this severe, it’s like signing your own death warrant. If the inflammation gets inside, there’s nothing we can do. It’s a straight path to death.”

At Eliza’s firm words, Lute flinched but mumbled.

“Then just give me shoes…”

Eliza pointed to the shoe on Lute’s now clean and white left foot and said, “That’s why they gave you these.”

Eliza, finding Lute cute with his pretty, soft demeanor and a bit of a temper, spoke with a hint of laughter in his voice.

“They asked me to tell you that they’re returning the shoes you lost because of them.”

“Then they should come in person… Oh, no, tell them not to come, absolutely not. If they’re going to come.”

Lute looked at Anna and extended his hand. Anna blinked, not understanding at first, then covered her mouth with an “Oh” and furrowed her brows apologetically.

“I’m sorry, Prince. I went to the Supreme Court to get the divorce papers, but it was raining so hard I left them at the inn. Melik will bring them as soon as the rain stops. It’s very simple to fill out, and since we don’t have a seal, we just prick our thumb for a blood stamp, and the divorce is finalized!”

Anna squealed with delight. Lute also smiled brightly and said, “We can finally get divorced? How many days are left?”

“27 days! Only 27 days left!”

Anna and Lute clapped their hands together in joy. Watching them, Eliza and the knight Rodrigo swallowed dryly.

This isn’t going to be easy to stop the divorce.

Lute, with one foot bandaged, sat on the bed and saw Eliza from the palace off, saying, “Please convey my thanks to Alexander the knight commander. Oh, and also tell him that I hope he visits next time. To the Water Palace.”

“…Ah, is it because of the divorce papers?”

Eliza, sweating, asked, and Lute replied with a very happy smile on his lips, “Yes! I’m going to get divorced!”

“But what are you planning to do once you leave…? Wouldn’t it be better to reconcile with His Majesty and live comfortably in the palace?”

Rodrigo, who had been silently standing by, spoke awkwardly with a stiff posture.

“Well, of course, there are… um… things between you two… but still, living as a commoner after being royalty isn’t easy…”

“It seems easy to me.”

Lute spoke bravely and cheerfully, moving to the window. Everyone gathered around the bed to look at the field visible from there.

“See that field? It’s a potato field! We planted potatoes in early winter and harvested them a few days ago. Over there is a cornfield, and in other places, we planted sweet potatoes. There’s also carrots! And we planted something that looks a bit strange… but when you eat it, it cures your ailments as if washed away.”

Lute felt proud and excited as he explained the fields he had cultivated. Potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots…

It seemed he planted anything that could grow from the ground and focused on what grew well. It wasn’t that they deliberately created a forest connecting the north, east, and west. The ancestors had already figured it out.

This land was blessed to grow anything well. In the north, there was an endless water source, and the soil was fertile enough to grow anything.

The strange-looking plant that cured ailments was likely mandrake. Even with good soil, it’s hard to grow, yet here was a farmer who planted mandrake… Eliza’s eyes changed.

Lute accepted Eliza’s gaze confidently and smiled.

“So make sure to tell Alexander the knight commander.”

“Pardon?”

He had forgotten, distracted by the legendary herb mandrake.

“Please give the divorce papers to His Majesty. Since His Majesty wanted to keep me here for ten years, and I have my own desires, I think it’s right for us to divorce.”

“Your own desires?!”

Rodrigo, who had been admiring the garden where fresh flowers grew, snapped back to reality and asked. Lute clenched his fist, eyes blazing, and spoke with determination.

“I must receive alimony, buy land with it, and diligently farm potatoes, sweet potatoes, and carrots…”

Lute looked at the two and smiled brightly.

“I’ll become a grand landowner!”

Eliza and Rodrigo instinctively knew.

Ah, this divorce won’t be easy.

.☘︎ ݁˖

With 26 days left until the divorce, the emperor woke up refreshed to the sound of the first morning prayer bell ringing at dawn.

As the bell rang, the door opened, and maids brought in tools for washing, preparing them by Joel’s bedside. First, a bed tray was laid out, and a bowl of moderately warm water was placed on it.

After Joel washed his face, the maid on the left gently patted his face dry with a soft towel, ensuring not to hurt him. Then the maid on the right handed him tools for light brushing.

It involved putting a pill-like substance made from expensive herbal wax into his mouth, crushing it, rolling it around thoroughly, and rinsing with water before spitting it out.

After finishing that, the emperor got up. The maids stepped back, leaving only a few guards and maids in the room. Stretching, he used magic to open the window.

With his hands on his waist, the emperor looked at the northern forest with satisfaction and lifted the strong milk tea prepared by the maid in charge of tea. Holding the saucer in his left hand and the milk tea in his right, he savored it silently, then laughed aloud and muttered.

“By now, he must be delighted to receive the shoes. Even as a child, despite being sick and dressed as a girl, he always wore leather shoes and climbed trees.”

Though the emotion of happiness no longer resonated in his heart, the feeling remained. Perhaps it was a memory.

The emperor, with an expressionless face, looked towards the Water Palace where Lute would be and traced the memories that suddenly surfaced. Memories appeared like uninvited guests, stirring Joel’s mind, but now he welcomed the pain.

It meant he was gradually learning about Lute, whom he had deliberately forgotten.

“Joel! Look at this!”

Long, luscious pigtails fluttered like rabbit ears. Since Lute came as a tribute, he no longer played with Loue. He was entirely absorbed in playing with Joel. The age gap was twelve years, the difference in status was immense, and Lute was a frail child who could die any day.

The Synthsis family, being royalty, had dressed him as a girl to save him, even though he was a useless boy. There was a folk belief in Synthsis that a weak boy dressed as a strong girl would survive.

Lute, who barely survived a life-threatening situation at birth. The palace staff suggested saving the girl Loue and letting Lute die, but Eliana’s maternal love was strong. She declared she would save both children and, in a country where the eldest daughter inherited, she favored and loved Lute more than Loue. She fed and dressed Lute better than Loue, but as Lute grew weaker, she resorted to the last resort of dressing him as a girl.

Perhaps because of that, contrary to the renowned doctors’ predictions that he wouldn’t live past seven, Lute turned eight.

Yet he continued to dress as a girl. Loue, disliking that Lute was prettier than her, often grabbed his hair and hit him, but with Joel around, those incidents were less frequent.

Was it right to show affection to such a child? Joel pondered, but he needed Lute to survive. If he ended up as Loue or Lua’s whipping boy, he’d be beaten to death before meeting the basilisk as a tribute.

“Joel, I’m really good at climbing trees, right? Mom says I’m like a squirrel! Do you think so too?”

Wearing a purple skirt that fluttered like a butterfly and a matching ribbon in his hair, the boy climbed the tree with practiced ease.

Despite the skirt, he wore knee-high leather shoes and scaled the tree like a real squirrel—fearless and nimble.

Watching him, Joel jumped up and followed after Lute. Lute giggled and settled onto a sturdy branch, hugging the trunk.

As Joel stood on the branch opposite him, looking down, Lute’s eyes sparkled with wonder as he exclaimed in awe.

“Joel, can you stand on the tree? I want to try too!”

“No!”

If you die, it’ll be a disaster! Joel screamed internally. You’re just a tool I need to endure in this country until I can take my revenge.

But if you die…

Then he’d become a host for the basilisk’s eggs, and his country would surely fall apart. Joel needed Lute right now. To bring down Synthsis, he needed Lute.

So he cherished him.

Adored him.