I Became the Narrow-Eyed Character in the Little Prince Game-Chapter 151: For Elize (5)

Valcaros agonized.

Valcaros Lantana von Staufen.

This was duty.

From the moment he was born into the name of Staufen, it had been a burden placed upon his unworthy shoulders.

And now, standing at the threshold of choice, he hesitated.

Which path should he take?

"I..."

The safety of the empire.

Or.

His daughter’s life.

A cruel dilemma.

Valcaros could not make a decision.

Countless shadows clawed at his feet, holding him back.

What was right?

Could his love alone be justification enough?

Could such a weak excuse allow him to accept his own death?

"I don’t know."

Was it right to sacrifice the few for the many?

But what if that "few" was his everything?

Could he truly choose the many without hesitation?

"What... should I do?"

As an emperor, what choice was befitting?

Updat𝒆d fr𝒐m freewebnσvel.cøm.

As a father, what choice was right?

What was a ruler?

What was a father?

By what measure should one judge right and wrong?

And in the end, when forced to decide, which should he choose?

Valcaros found himself drowning in the questions that flooded his mind.

"Valcaros."

A chain of conflict.

And yet, in the midst of it all, there was one person who had always pushed him forward.

This time, too—it was her.

"Even if I am gone... please, take care of our children."

"I was happy... because I loved you."

Her voice.

That painfully shy confession.

The final words of a withering flower.

Valcaros could not break the promise he had made to his empress.

He had neither the strength nor the will to endure the sorrow of losing another loved one.

In the end, Valcaros was nothing but a coward.

"It doesn’t matter."

Yes.

None of it mattered.

Even if he was a coward.

Even if this choice was nothing more than an act of escape.

As long as Elize could live, he prayed for nothing else.

"What is a ruler?"

"How must the sun shine?"

Valcaros did not care for such questions.

Instead, he wrapped the chains of sin around his own neck.

By abandoning his duty.

By turning his back on the empire.

He chose the path of the worst emperor in history.

That was the original sin he willingly embraced.

"Oh, gods."

"Do not forgive your sun."

"For I have lost my light."

The emperor prepared for the ritual.

Only a handful of his most trusted aides knew the truth—no one else was allowed even a whisper of suspicion.

With a few murmured incantations, Valcaros took the curse of the rose upon himself.

The loss of emotion that would follow as a side effect troubled him.

But he believed—that even if he was no longer there, Charlotte would take care [N O V E L I G H T] of her younger sister.

Even if the end of this path was ruin.

"......"

Just before the ritual was completed.

Valcaros held the sleeping rose in his arms.

For one last time, he prayed in the warmth of her fragile body.

Along with the tears that fell.

"My beloved child."

Please.

"Let my sacrifice be the soil that allows you to bloom in happiness."

After that.

The emperor took a step from which he could never return.

***

Ten years had passed.

Days withered away, one by one.

Elize had reached seventeen, and her curse was approaching its limit.

The effects of the ritual had long since erased Valcaros's emotions.

Inside him, nothing remained.

Only the hollow, gaping void of a heart long abandoned.

The emperor had become a machine, driven by pure logic.

"I still don’t understand."

Because of this—

Valcaros could no longer comprehend his past self.

His emotions had faded with time, leaving nothing behind.

Why had he made that sacrifice?

Why was he still protecting the Rose?

He had even forgotten the original purpose behind it all.

"Why did I choose the second princess?"

When weighing the empire against the second princess, logic dictated that the former should have won.

Why had he made such a foolish choice?

The memories of that time were the greatest mystery to the emperor.

Even so—

The reason he continued to protect Elize was because of a reminder left behind by his former self.

Valcaros always carried it with him.

[Guidelines for the Second Princess]

Valcaros, ten years ago.

He had feared that, once he lost his emotions, he would fail in his duties.

So before accepting the curse, he wrote down the tasks and rules he must follow.

To ensure he would not betray or disregard them, he even placed a restriction upon his heart.

Because of that—

Even after losing his emotions, Valcaros had no choice but to continue protecting Elize.

Even though he no longer felt a shred of affection for her.

"Hmph."

Her confinement was also part of those guidelines.

Curse Sharing.

The ritual kept the body’s mana in an extremely sensitive state, making it vulnerable to outside interference.

Repeated exposure to foreign mana could cause instability, or worse—damage the body itself.

As a fully grown adult and the recipient of the curse, Valcaros could endure it.

But for Elize, who was only seven years old at the time, and the original bearer of the curse—

It was far too dangerous.

That was why she needed to be completely isolated.

And that was why Valcaros had not assigned anyone to the Imperial Annex.

As a result, Elize had spent ten years utterly alone in that place.

"The guidelines say ‘protect’ her, not ‘imprison’ her... Well, I suppose this was just an interpretation on my part."

Fortunately—

Elize had Charlotte by her side.

And later, she had Tanya, the maid who had joined them.

With them, she had managed to endure those agonizingly lonely years.

Valcaros simply watched from a distance.

"Cough...!"

So the days passed.

The emperor showed no weakness, but the curse was growing stronger.

It would not be much longer before he fully absorbed the disease from Elize.

At this point, he could not even function without layering pain relief magic over his entire body.

And yet—

Valcaros accepted his fate without resistance.

[Guidelines for the Second Princess]

No one must discover the Curse Sharing ritual.The emperor must fulfill his duties until the second princess has fully recovered.In other words—he must continue to act.

Even these details had been carefully documented.

So the emperor continued to pile magic upon his body and carried on with his daily life.

"It’s almost over."

The end was in sight.

The wretchedly long ritual was finally coming to its conclusion.

Once it was over, he would have less than a year left to live.

But at the very least—

He had accomplished his goal.

Valcaros simply waited.

And then—

"Your Majesty."

"Someone has entered the Rose’s palace."

Charlotte had brought someone to Elize.

At first, Valcaros dismissed it as another fraud—but when reports came that Elize’s condition had improved, he became curious.

He immediately summoned the boy.

"It is an honor to stand before the Supreme Sun of the Empire."

An amusing boy.

His abilities seemed genuine, and he spoke with certainty about his ability to cure Elize.

Valcaros watched him carefully, waiting to see his true intentions.

And then, a few days later—

"I wish to take the second princess from the annex to the academy."

"I humbly ask for Your Majesty’s permission."

A bold request.

The emperor hesitated for a moment.

Then—

After a pause, he nodded.

Since the curse transfer was almost complete, it was time to end her confinement.

This was a convenient opportunity.

Besides—

"Gaston Galimar."

That old man was at the academy.

Somehow, he had known about the Imperial Archives, a place even Valcaros himself had never fully understood.

It was a curious place.

And so, Valcaros allowed Elize to leave.

With Charlotte accompanying her, there was no need to worry about her safety.

And so—

Valcaros remained alone in the palace.

A man with less than a year left to live.

"Now... all that’s left is to wait for death."

His final duty had been fulfilled.

Valcaros, a man who had long lost his emotions, now simply waited for his heart to stop beating.

The autumn in which his daughters had departed passed.

Then winter followed—spent in solitude.

And just as spring was approaching—

"Your Majesty."

The boy he thought he would never see again returned.

Standing beside his two daughters.

***

Back to the present.

The emperor, seated upon his throne, gazed downward.

"So it was you, Your Majesty."

"......"

"You took your daughter's curse upon yourself."

The boy, looking up at him, spoke.

But the emperor—

A man who had long since lost his emotions—felt nothing.

His heart, frozen and lifeless.

His mind, rotted and decayed.

His body, now mere days away from death.

Valcaros was nothing more than a soulless doll, a man with no heart left to beat.

But.

"Valcaros."

"I was happy... because I loved you."

There was one memory that had never faded.

That he had to protect his children.

He had long forgotten why, but at the very least—

He had never forgotten the goal itself.

He had spent the rest of his life following that purpose.

"Your Majesty."

A call, waiting for an answer.

There was no guideline prepared for a situation like this.

Perhaps—

At this point, he could allow himself to react however he pleased.

Three pairs of eyes looked up at him beneath the radiance of the sun.

A pair of blue eyes, dazed and unfocused.

A pair of green eyes, filled with shock.

And—

A pair of white eyes, carrying a sorrow he could not understand.

For a brief moment, the emperor met their gazes.

Then, he nodded.

"You are correct."

Valcaros had never once made his choices for the empire.

If you are reading this translation anywhere other than Novelight.net or SilkRoadTL, it has been stolen.

And yet, for some reason, that statement left him with an odd thirst.

A strange ache pressed against his chest.

For reasons he could not understand.

A faint pain pulsed within his lungs.

[Guidelines for the Second Princess]

I am afraid of losing my emotions.I fear that, in this disastrous beginning, I will eventually forget my purpose.That is why I am writing this down before the ritual begins.Even if I forget everything else, this must never be forgotten.Because this sentence proves that I am still their father.

A passage written at the beginning of the guidelines.

Recalling the next words, Valcaros spoke.

"Everything."

Everything he did—

Was for his beloved daughters.

"I took the second princess’s curse upon myself."

Yes.

For Elize.