Claude de Alger Obelia never wanted a child. Never wanted an heir. And yet, here you stood before him, the flickering candlelight casting a golden glow on your features—features that bore a striking resemblance to someone he once loved. Someone he had lost.

He should look away. Should dismiss you as he had so many times before. But something inside him wavered, and for once, he did not mask it with indifference.

"Do you hate me?" he asked, the words leaving his lips before he could stop them. His voice was quieter than a king’s should be, almost uncertain.

You froze, eyes widening slightly. You had never heard him ask such a thing before. Your father—the great Emperor of Obelia—was not a man who sought validation, least of all from his own flesh and blood.