Became the Tyrant’s Pet

“You kept looking at me like I’m crazy, but now you know!?”

Well, he was aware of it.

But now he admits it?

Adillot’s face darkened.

Mia’s expression, on the other hand, was tinged with hostility and a sense of regret.

“Why are you leaving them like that, like an idiot? You’re the emperor! It made me angry when I heard it!”

“……Why are you reacting like this?”

Mia came to a halt.

‘I am well aware of your sufferings and your past!’

…I can’t say that.

“Ugh!”

Mia clenched her fists in frustration. After holding her breath for a while, she folded her arms and shook her head.

“Anyways, do something about her!”

Adillot came to his senses belatedly and concluded.

“In the end, you have no intention of saving her.”

“Yes…ah!”

Mia had no idea what she had done until it dawned on her.

“But I have one thing to ask you…”

Where did the sudden courage from her small body go? In an instant, she returned to her usual timid figure, like a rabbit.

“Yes?”

Adillot’s red eyes were looking at her.

“It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t kill her. No, it’s not like that…”

Mia shook her head in frustration as she struggled to come up with the perfect sentence.

“W- when I look at it, I think I’ll remember it when I eat…Can I leave first…?”

“…….”

“I can’t see anything scary…….”

Adillot was stunned seeing her change. 

He shook his head after a while.

“Are you actually courageous or not?”

“I don’t know…”

Adillot nodded at her.

“Are you going up now?”

“Well then, excuse me…”

“My lady! No way! Help me! Help me……!”

Mia had abandoned Mary and moved away from prison with her ears covered. What happened after that, she didn’t know, because she didn’t see it.

* * *

“Why did you commit such a terrible crime…Mary, you’re such a moron….”

Mia sighed as she sat by the prison’s main entrance.

Although there were a number of knights patrolling the entrance to the prison, they didn’t even bother to look at Mia.

Mia waited for Adillot, and not long after, Adillot arrived. His face was calmer than before.

Mia caught a glimpse of his blade as it was slid back into its sheath.

“It’s done?”

“Yes.”

Mia’s face became pale as she heard that.

“I wish she could become a good person when she is reborn…….”

Adillot opened his mouth.

“…She isn’t dead yet. She was going to be hanged, so we just visited her.”

“I see…”

“…….”

And silence followed.

As she gazed at him, Mia tilted her head slightly.

“I get it.”

“……Is that it?”

“What do you want?”

Mia inquired, a childlike expression on her face.

After a while, Adillot said,

“You’re a little weird…”

“……”

I don’t want to hear from him……

Mia secretly cursed and avoided his gaze.

“Aren’t you sad?”

At that moment, Adillot asked abruptly.

“What?”

“Some of the people you saved are like that.”

“Ugh! I wish I had known in advance!”

“……Is that how you feel?”

Mia paused for a moment, then smiled.

“What else should I feel?”

“It’s a shame I didn’t kill you, you could have been killed for a garbage like that.”

“But I lived!”

Adillot frowned at the playful remarks.

“Ahaha! I’m joking!”

Mia smiled broadly, brushed off her dress and stood up.

“Your Majesty.”

She said after a moment of silence.

“Do you think that Empress Leah’s sacrifice was in vain?”

The expression on Adillot’s face disappeared at the unexpected words. It was because Mia’s words pierced him. Adillot recalled the final moment of Empress Leah’s life.

He remembered vividly how his mother, who was sweet and wise, was about to be executed.

Her offense is defamation.

They said she encouraged her own country, Gentaria, to start a war with the country she is in right now, Orquenina. Thereby, she damaged the honor of the imperial family and incite chaos everywhere. However, even in the eyes of Adillot, who was only nine years old at that time, it was absurd.

Besides, Adillot knew.

“The long-awaited stage had arrived.”

The culprit behind all this was not his mother, but the Empress Dowager Chrysor who was sitting next to him on the day of the execution.

She deliberately sat next to him. 

And she sneered at the young Adillot, who had his eyes closed.

“They will kill the naughty girl who separated Orquenina and Gentaria. If you don’t open your eyes, I’ll have no choice but to think that you are the bloodline of a rebel and send you away.”

The young Adillot was afraid of the threat. As a result, he turned his back on his mother.

“No……. Please, please don’t send me over there…”

Despite the fact that it was entirely Chrysor’s fault.

He was afraid to die, so he turned away from his mother and survived.

“Then open your eyes and take a good look. Look at what kind of person your mother is.”

‘…….’

That was something he shouldn’t have done.

Adillot had always regretted the talk he had that day. The most terrifying thing was that only he survived at the expense of his wise mother.

Still, he covered it up and everything went well.

The moment he met Mia Celestial for the first time, memories of the past came back to him. 

He was taken aback when he realized that she was willing to die for others. 

She was serious when she said that.

So he wanted to tell her.

Her death serves no purpose.

Even if brave people like her make the sacrifice, only cowards like him will live to see another day.

“……Of course. My mother’s death meant nothing.”

As soon as Adillot stated that, his hand felt warm. 

When he looked down, Mia Celestiel was holding his hand.

The moment he lifted his gaze a little more and saw her face, a sigh escaped from Adillot’s mouth.

“……Why are you crying?”