The Cold-Hearted Grand Duke Obsesses Over Me After My Death - Chapter 146

Chapter 146. The Bard’s Song

“Did you call for me, Your Majesty?”

The person who turned around was Asher’s aide.

“Lucian?”

Disappointment crossed Louid’s face.

“Yes, that’s correct.”

Damian was startled inside that the Emperor remembered his name. And he spoke it so naturally, as if they saw each other often.

“You really resemble her,” Louid muttered to himself as he studied his face.

“Who are you referring to?”

His chest tightened, but Damian asked as if nothing was wrong.

“No one. You may go.”

“Yes.”

Louid watched Damian bow his head and walk away.

I must be going mad. To see Emilia in a man.

At this rate, he might start seeing Emilia in every passerby. Still, he had wanted to see that aide who resembled her ever since the coronation, so he felt a quiet sense of satisfaction.

Damian walked away with cold sweat running down his back. He wanted to look back, but he forced himself not to.

Should I grow a beard?

No. The Emperor had called out to him from behind, so growing a beard would not help.

After reaching a safe place, he slowed his steps and tilted his head.

The Emperor was strange.

He was not the same Emperor as before.

His eyes were unfocused, his face haggard with an unshaven beard, and his expression was far too dark.

His roughened skin, parched lips, and sunken cheeks made it seem as if there was something wrong with his health.

He was still handsome, but the Emperor had lost the sharpness in his gaze.

Why has he become like that?

He’d heard that a doll of the Empress appeared at the coronation. But he thought the Emperor’s wandering would be brief. Yet seeing him in person left him confused.

After a moment, he looked back. The Emperor was still standing in the same place.

***

“Does His Majesty still go out of the palace at night these days?”

“Yes, he does.”

A few days later, as dusk fell and Asher was about to leave the palace, he went to the Crown Prince’s palace where Louid was staying. At his question, Adam glanced around and answered in a low voice. These days, Louid rode out of the palace at night and returned at dawn.

Of course, Jamie and Deo guarded him from the shadows, but it was still worrying.

He has been wandering for a long time.

Louid’s mental strength was strong, so Asher thought he would wander briefly and soon return, but there was no telling how long his friend’s wandering would last.

“Your Majesty the Empress, why did you leave so soon?”

That night, Asher lamented as he looked up at the stars.

***

At night, Louid rode out of the imperial palace. And he wandered aimlessly.

Then one day, he came to a stop on the street. Singing could be heard from the square.

Dismounting, he went to stand at the very back of the crowd listening to the song. No one noticed that the Emperor was behind them.

On a small stage, barely large enough for two or three people to stand, a young bard was singing. It was a beautiful voice. Though he was a man, he used falsetto for the high notes, making it sound like a woman’s voice.

After one song ended, a new one began shortly after, and Louid’s body stiffened. His gaze toward the stage gradually sharpened.

He stared so intensely that the bard’s legs trembled as he sang.

Then suddenly, a light drizzle began to fall. The onlookers gradually left one by one, and in the darkened square, only two men remained.

‘I should start getting ready to head back soon….’

Romi glanced toward the farthest edge of the stage.

The twenty-year-old young man had come up from the provinces not long ago to apply for the Grand Temple choir. On the day of the Emperor’s coronation, he had stood by the roadside and waved toward the golden carriage.

“There are no openings in the choir yet, so come back when there is a recruitment notice.”

He had gone to see the person in charge of the choir, but they said there were no vacancies because new members had been recruited recently. If he returned to the countryside like this, he would have no way of knowing when the next recruitment notice would be posted, so he decided to stay in the capital for the time being.

But since he didn’t know anyone in the capital, staying at a small inn cost him a lot in living expenses. So what he came up with was singing in the square. It wasn’t much, but some people put coins in his basket, and some were moved by his songs, which made him feel good. But.

The person staring at him right now made his body tremble the moment their eyes met. He felt like he had seen him somewhere before, but he couldn’t figure out who it was. On top of that, he hadn’t eaten since breakfast and was extremely hungry.

‘It should be fine to leave like this, right?’

Watching the man who stood motionless in the rain, he slung his bag over his shoulder.

“Sing one more.”

As he was about to leave, the man spoke. It was a deep, heavy voice that resonated. The man showed a gold coin in his hand, then threw it precisely into the basket Romi was holding so carefully.

“Gasp.”

Romi’s eyes widened. Since coming to the capital, no, in his entire life, he had never seen such a large sum of money.

“Understood. What song would you like me to sing?”

He immediately set down his bag and asked.

“Peric Harbor.”

The man picked out a single word from the lyrics of the song he had sung earlier.

“Yes, understood.”

Romi immediately began to sing. He had been singing all day, and he was hungry and soaked from the rain, so his throat wasn’t in good condition, but when he thought of the gold coin he had just received, strength surged through him.

A sorrowful melody spread through the square. The only one listening to the song was the man standing in the rain.

[On the day a black moon rose over the lonely harbor of Peric

My lover left for a distant place.

Each time the sea froze, I waited

But the departed soul never returned.

The one who remained wept, saying they were sorry for not being able to love.

The frozen sea was filled with sorrow

And the man cried out his love every day.

But when his lover never returned, he too died in loneliness.]

As the song continued, a different light appeared in Louid’s red eyes, which had lost the will to live.

“What’s your name?”

“It’s Romi.”

“Romi, I wish you success.”

The man threw more gold coins into the basket, then mounted his horse and disappeared.

Romi forgot even to say thank you and simply stared blankly at the man’s retreating figure.

***

“Jamie.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Louid, who was riding his horse at a slow pace, called for his escort knight. A voice answered from the darkness.

“Bring the bard who sings in the square to the palace tomorrow. His name is Romi.”

“Yes, understood.”

The next day, Romi was taken to the imperial palace without even knowing why. From the morning, men in black uniforms had barged into the inn, asked for his identity, and immediately put him into a carriage.

“Wow.”

Trembling because he didn’t know where he was being taken, he widened his eyes the moment he got out of the carriage at the sight of the magnificent palace.

Every building in sight was large and grand, their roofs all golden, and in front of the largest building was a vast and splendid garden with a fountain where water burst upward.

“Wow….”

“Follow me.”

When he couldn’t continue speaking, one of the knights who had brought him led him inside the main palace.

“Yes.”

“Repeat after me. State your hometown and name first, then say, ‘I greet His Majesty, the Sun of the Empire.’”

The knight guiding him was Deo. Before meeting the Emperor, he instructed the country youth.

“State your hometown and name first, then say, ‘I greet His Majesty, the Sun of the Empire.’”

“No, say your name first.”

Deo pressed his forehead with one hand as if exasperated.

“Ah, yes. Romi from Gloa greets His Majesty, the Sun of the Empire.”

“That’s enough. Go inside.”

After making him repeat it several times, Deo stopped in front of a door.

“Yes.”

Romi entered through the door opened by a servant. It was the audience chamber.

“Oh? You’re the one from yesterday….”

In the upper seat of the grand and splendid room sat a man with red eyes.

It was the man he had seen in the square yesterday.

“Show proper respect to His Majesty the Emperor.”

The servant standing by the door scolded him in a low voice.

“Y-Your Majesty the Emperor. I, no, I greet His Majesty, the Sun of the Empire.”

He forgot what Deo had taught him before entering the chamber and barely managed to finish his greeting.

“Romi, where are you from?”

The Emperor had not forgotten his name.

“I’m from Gloa.”

Gloa was a village near Peric Harbor.

“Is the song you sang yesterday one you composed?”

The song he sang yesterday? He had repeated dozens of songs, so he didn’t immediately understand which one the Emperor meant.

Ah!

It must be referring to ‘The Lover of Peric Harbor.’

“No. It’s a folk song that has been passed down in the Peric region.”

Folk songs were passed down orally among the common people of the empire, so nobles were not very familiar with them.

“Sing it.”

“Yes!”

A beautiful song filled the audience chamber. Heard indoors, it sounded even more sorrowful.

“Well done. If there is something you want, say it.”

He had only sung one song, yet the Emperor suddenly told him to state what he wanted, so Romi hesitated and couldn’t answer right away.

“I will grant anything. Speak without hiding it.”

When he hesitated, Louid emphasized it once more.

“I want to sing in the Grand Temple choir.”

Romi stood at attention and shouted his wish. It was difficult to see the Emperor even once in a lifetime, and he didn’t know if he would ever get such a chance again, so he even squeezed his eyes shut.

“Very well. I will let you sing in the temple choir.”

“Gasp, thank you, Your Majesty.”

Romi’s eyes flew open. The joy struck him like thunder. He repeatedly expressed his gratitude to the Emperor.

“He must not have eaten yet. Serve the guest a meal and let him rest comfortably.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

After giving instructions to the servant, Louid ordered Adam to place Romi in the Grand Temple choir and to give him a generous reward.

Romi followed the servant with a delighted expression.

Louid tapped the armrest of the golden chair with his long fingers.

“The sea freezes, huh….”

‘That night, a black moon rose. And the sea froze.’

Emilia is alive!

His heart pounded wildly. Life returned to his previously dull eyes.

“Summon the priest with the longest service.”

“Yes!”