Chapter 8: Angelina Sings at Dusk
MARFA walked through the North Star Sanctuary at dusk. Twilight colors dyed the formerly blue heavens. One by one, the black shadows of birds returning to their nests soared across the sky.
Suddenly, Marfa heard soft singing from the Guidepost Tree Garden. “This is a Yulan lullaby…” she muttered to herself.
Recognizing the nostalgic language of her homeland, Marfa came to a halt. She searched for the singer surreptitiously from the corridor of the sanctuary. Before long, she found Kyril cradling Angelina in his arms while singing a lullaby. As Angelina looked up at her brother, her eyes sparkled with joy. She mouthed the words that Kyril sang, giving her full concentration on memorizing the lyrics.
Meanwhile, Ryuho frolicked at Kyril’s feet in his feline form. To be precise, he was protesting Kyril’s hold of Angelina. To Marfa, however, he appeared to be playing around. This altogether normal sight caused her chest to tighten painfully. After all this time, Angelina had found happiness.
As a young girl, Angelina had lived in a rundown storage shed. Despite being the emperor’s daughter, the unfortunate princess hadn’t received proper food, clothing, or shelter. Unable to do much else, Marfa had sung this very song to Angelina on behalf of the deceased empress. It was a forgotten lullaby from the ruined country of Yule that few people could still sing. If Kyril and Angelina stopped singing it, the ephemeral lullaby would disappear from the world.
“So, Prince Kyril remembered this song…” Marfa muttered to herself again.
Pressing a hand to her trembling lips, she recalled the deceased Empress Phaenna. She’d once sung this lullaby to Kyril, simultaneously patting his head and rubbing her pregnant belly. While the song lulled children into a peaceful sleep, it also prayed for them to grow up safe and sound.
Jinlongian royalty didn’t rear their own children. When Phaenna had broken this tradition to raise Kyril herself, she’d received a great deal of criticism from the nobility. Though Phaenna had appeared gentle and sickly, she’d stood her ground on this issue. “I will take care of my own children,” she’d argued stubbornly, and Feilong had allowed her to do so.
She was a strong mother, Marfa thought. If Kyril hadn’t spent those days with her, he wouldn’t have grown up so kind and honest.
Kyril’s singing suddenly halted. An impassive Feilong had come to stand in front of him. Ignoring his children’s discomfiture, he took Angelina from Kyril to hold her in his arms.
“No, Fodder!” Angelina cried, defying the emperor in an impudent tone. “Big Brudder was singing to me!”
Marfa found this sight charming as well. Though Angelina had once feared her father, she’d now relaxed her guard enough to defy him.
“I can sing too,” Feilong answered sullenly.
A memory sprang to Kyril’s mind, causing his chest to ache. When Phaenna was still alive, she and Feilong had sung Yulan songs to Kyril together. Such memories inspired warmth, nostalgia, and bittersweet sorrow. Those distant days seemed like a dream or an illusion.
Ryuho’s eyes widened. “You’re going to sing?”
Without answering, Feilong sang a Yulan lullaby he’d learned from Phaenna. The song spilled from his thin, seemingly frigid lips. His soft, low voice enfolded the garden, ringing out both powerfully and sweetly. Ryuho looked up at the emperor with genuine surprise. Though the lyrics resembled what Kyril had been singing, the words differed here and there. At several intervals, the names Kyril and Lina were mixed into the lullaby. Feilong had replaced the Yulan words for my children with their names as he sang.
Kyril bit his lip. He was already an adult who’d undergone the Crown Prince Ascension Ceremony. He couldn’t cry so easily. Nevertheless, something warm welled up from deep within his chest and began to thaw his frigid heart. The ice melted into water, longing to pour outwards.
While looking down and turning his head sideways, Kyril fought to suppress his tears. No matter what, he didn’t want his father to see him crying. As the person who would someday succeed the cruel emperor, he needed to be stronger than anyone else. Yet to Kyril’s surprise, Feilong spread out his cape, covered him with it, and patted him on the head. That finally caused the tears to spill from his eyes.
Kyril had felt uneasy as of late. I’m only needed as the successor to the throne, he’d thought. I mustn’t seek Father’s love as his child. Since he knew about Angelina’s unhappy upbringing, he’d considered himself blessed. He’d even convinced himself that he shouldn’t wish for anything more.
Angelina is adorable, Kyril had thought. It’s only natural that Father would dote on her. Though he hadn’t hated or begrudged Angelina for this, he had felt lonely. Now, Feilong’s singing brought back happy memories of the days Kyril had spent with his parents. However, Angelina had no such memories. For that reason, Kyril had decided to protect his little sister in their mother’s stead. At the same time, he’d also convinced himself not to seek their father’s love any further.
But Father called out my name while singing Mother’s song, Kyril thought. Not only Lina’s… but also mine. Would it be okay for me to reach out my hand?
As Kyril gripped Feilong’s cloak lightly, the emperor could hear his son sniffling beneath the fabric. In response, Feilong wrapped his arm around Kyril’s shoulder, pulled him close, and stopped singing.
“I’m sorry,” Feilong apologized. “It must have hurt.”
“Yes,” Kyril replied in a nasal voice. “It did hurt.”
Feilong smiled awkwardly. “Sorry for being such a bad father.”
Then, he began singing the lullaby again.
“Hey, what do those lyrics mean?” Ryuho asked.
He’d asked Kyril the same question earlier, but the prince hadn’t known either.
“My children are more precious to me than any gemstone,” Feilong replied curtly. “Be it silver, gold, or pearls.”
Angelina squeezed her arms around Feilong’s neck. At the same time, Kyril rested his head against Feilong’s arm beneath the cloak.
“Oh, cool!” Ryuho shouted. “I like that song! It sounds nice even when a jerk like you sings it! Keep going!”
“You still haven’t learned how to speak to your betters, have you…?” Feilong asked. “Well, maybe it’s good that you can’t study. Keep being an idiot forever.”
“The hell did you just say to me?!” Ryuho hissed. “I’m studying like a pro!”
After snorting contemptuously, Feilong resumed singing. Kyril joined in, Angelina hummed the parts she remembered, and Ryuho sang the names Kyril and Lina. All the while, flowers began budding on the Guidepost Tree one after another.
Marfa pressed down on the inner corners of her eyes. To her knowledge, Feilong had never sung a lullaby to Angelina. That made perfect sense, for only Phaenna and Kyril had ever heard the emperor sing.
Suppressing her sobs, Marfa left the corridor. If Feilong noticed her, he would probably stop singing, after all.