Kays Translations

Chapter 149: The Foolish Prince’s Mother Weeps①

(What was the purpose of my life, I wonder?)

“Hah…”

Inside the intermittently swaying carriage, a woman in her early forties let out a short sigh. Dressed in a black dress, she hid her face with a veil, even though she was alone in the carriage.

Her name was Emerald Iwood. No, since she was already divorced, she should be called Emerald Geisel now. 

(Or perhaps Emerald Schlag? It’s truly laughable that I don’t even know who I am anymore.)

Emerald mocked herself and faintly smiled beneath her veil.

Emerald had married into the Iwood Kingdom as a princess of the Geisel Empire. However, she wasn’t a true-born princess; she was originally a noblewoman of lower rank with royal blood. 

Twenty years ago, following the death of the previous Iwood king, who was known as a tyrant, Emerald was adopted by the emperor and married off to the kingdom to stabilize the international situation. It was a political marriage, to say the least.

As a concubine, Emerald had a son. However, she had to speak of him in the past tense because that son had now died from drinking poison. Her son’s name was Rodel Iwood, the third prince of the Iwood Kingdom, who had been accused of leading a rebellion. Rodel was sentenced to death by poison for his crime, but Emerald, who had married from a neighboring country, was only divorced out of consideration for her homeland.

Even so, she wasn’t allowed to stay in the Iwood Kingdom and was being sent back to her homeland, the Geisel Empire.

(I married into the kingdom for the empire’s sake, bore a son… was never allowed to bond with him as a mother, and now I’m being exiled because of my child’s crime… What was the meaning of my twenty years here?)

Emerald had married into the Iwood Kingdom as a princess of the Geisel Empire to foster friendly relations between the two countries. It was a straightforward political marriage. 

Perhaps it had yielded some results. At least, it had brought stability to both countries for the twenty years since the death of the tyrant king.

However, that era of peace was about to end. The death of Prince Rodel, who was supposed to be a bridge of peace, was the catalyst. For several years, there had been signs of this. A faction within the empire advocating for an invasion of the kingdom was gaining momentum. The pro-war faction had always existed, but with the aging and weakening health of the emperor, a moderate ruler, their influence had grown significantly.

(I failed to be a bridge between the two countries. And I failed as a mother.)

Although Emerald had given birth to Rodel, she had no involvement in raising him. He was taken from her immediately after birth and raised by the queen dowager. It wasn’t that she had no love for the child she bore. However, Emerald lacked the power, courage, and recklessness. She couldn’t defy the intentions of the queen dowager, the highest authority at the time. She had no part in Rodel’s upbringing or education and never acted as a mother to him.

(And yet… to think that I would end up crying…)

Before leaving the royal palace, Emerald was granted some time to meet with Rodel. Although they had barely had any parent-child interaction, seeing her son’s face for the first time in a long time—and for the last time—brought tears to Emerald’s eyes. She was surprised to discover that she still had motherly feelings within her.

(If only I had been involved in his upbringing… would anything have been different?)

As she thought about this while being rocked by the carriage, she knew it was an impossible scenario. When Rodel was born, the queen dowager held immense power—so much so that even the king was secondary. Emerald, a foreign princess with hardly any allies in this country, could never have opposed the queen dowager. If she had been involved, even in a minor way, she might have also been executed as a principal instigator of the rebellion.

(This outcome was inevitable… but now that I’m being sent back to my homeland, what am I supposed to do? I have no place to go back to…)

Emerald knew she wouldn’t be welcomed back in the empire. To the moderates who wanted peace between the two countries, she was a failure who couldn’t fulfill her mission. To the hardliners who wanted war with the kingdom, she was an annoying presence. At her age, she was no longer useful as a pawn for another political marriage. Even if she returned to her family, she would be treated as a burden.

“What was the purpose of my life?”

She muttered to herself, but immediately afterward, the carriage jolted violently, and she heard shouts and sounds of a struggle coming from outside.

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