Chapter 59: Meeting the Emperor’s children

The silence of the field was absolute, broken only by the frantic, uneven thudding of Julian’s own heart.

Out here, under the vast, uncaring blue of the Southern sky, Julian felt smaller than he ever had in the frozen wastes of the North.

In the North, the danger was the cold—it was honest, it was predictable, and he could save himself with his winterizing balm. But here, the danger was a smile and a glass of blood-orange juice. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

He lay there, paralyzed by the realization that he was a pawn in a game between two brothers.

Once again, he was thankful for Duke Alaric’s sudden protectiveness at the table, but that protectiveness had only painted a larger target on his chest. Every time the Duke looked at him with that raw, guilt-ridden longing, it was another nail in Julian’s coffin.

It was another reason for the Emperor to look at him with his dangerous obsession.

"I didn’t ask for this," Julian whispered into the dirt, his voice muffled and shaking. "I just wanted to survive. I just wanted to teach the boy and stay out of the way... out of the plot."

But the heat from the garden and the sin on the bed had changed everything. He wasn’t just a tutor anymore; he was the wedge being driven between the two most powerful men in the Empire.

And the Emperor was making it very clear that if Julian didn’t break, he would simply be removed.

What a psycho.

Julian closed his eyes and let the wind that was sweeping through the field sweep away his worries. It was a gentle wave that should have been soothing, but it didn’t do much for him.

He rolled onto his back, staring up at the clouds with lifeless, exhausted eyes.

"What do I do now?"

Suddenly, the system window flickered into existence, hovering in the bright sunlight.

> [CURRENT MENTAL STABILITY: 31%]

> [ALERT: Survival Instinct is at Maximum Capacity.]

> [PROMPT: You are currently lying on a ’Lesser Leyline’ node. Mana density is high. Spend 50 SP to trigger ’Environmental Camouflage’ and hide from searching eyes?]

Julian stared at the blue light. Searching eyes. He wasn’t even sure if the Duke or the guards were looking for him yet, but the mere thought of being seen in this state made his stomach churn.

So, he spent 50 SP and triggered the ’environmental camouflage’. With this, he felt he could close his eyes without worrying about anything.

Even sleeping would not give him the peace he craved for.

He looked at the system window that kept hovering over his eyes.

He had 355 SP left.

He closed his eyes briefly, planning to just enjoy the solitude, enjoy the way the wind washed over him, when he heard tiny footsteps approaching.

Didn’t the system say he wouldn’t be found? By searching eyes, yes, but then who was it that came to the middle of nowhere?

’I’ll just ignore them. If they’re not here for me, then they won’t mind me being here,’ he thought, but there was no way a young boy who had marked this area as his territory would ignore a total stranger sleeping there.

One pair of tiny footsteps turned into two pairs, and they stopped right in front of Julian, their little shadows blocking the ray of light from his face.

"Who is it?" A small, curious female voice asked.

"I don’t know, but he’s trespassing." A small male voice followed, sounding annoyed.

"But he’s sleeping so peacefully. Shouldn’t we just let him be?" The girl asked, and Julian felt she was quite smart.

It was rude to wake your elders. He thought.

"Hmph, I don’t care. He didn’t take permission before lying here." The boy said.

But of course, in this world, status seemed to hold more respect than one’s age.

And so, the boy began to poke Julian’s face with the skeletal stick in his hand.

He poked gently at first, as if scared Julian would just flare up and suddenly attack them as a monster would.

"What do we do now, Brother? He’s not waking up." The girl said.

Julian wondered if it would be better to keep ignoring them or just stand up and address them. If he stayed asleep, they might just employ a rougher method to try to wake him up.

"I don’t like this," the boy said. "He’s in our land, so he should get up and leave."

Judging from the rude tone of the boy, he was definitely going to use a rougher method to wake Julian up, so Julian decided to stand on his own.

Julian yawned and then lifted his body, sitting up. He didn’t look up at first; he just stayed there before turning his head to look at the two kids who had been startled by his sudden wake.

To his horror, they had the same golden eyes that had haunted him a few minutes back.

These kids... they were definitely the Emperor’s children.

The girl stood behind her brother’s outstretched arm, and then the brother frowned at Julian.

They were small and short, but Julian could tell right away that they had the Emperor’s blood flowing through them just by looking at their golden eyes and golden hair.

Really, the children of this world looked like mini versions of their fathers. It was so much that it was hard not to guess their parents.

"You!" The boy called, pointing his skeletal stick at Julian. "Who are you? And what are you doing here?"

Julian sighed and then turned to put up his professional teacher expression.

"Greetings, your highnesses," Etiquette came first. "I am Julian Von Astrea. A tutor and currently a guest at the Palace. May I assist you in any way?"

The children looked at Julian for a while and then tilted their heads.

"A tutor?" The boy asked.

"A guest?" The girl asked.

They looked at him with eyes that were seemingly surprised and amused at the same time, as if those terms were ones they had never come across before.

Surely, that was impossible. The children of the Emperor must have renowned teachers, and must have seen several guests come in and out of the Palace.

"Brother," the girl called. "Do you think he’s the one father brought in to replace Teacher Howard?"

Say what?