𝕋𝕣𝕖𝕡𝕚𝕕𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟♔

𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝟷𝟷. ✶

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3 weeks later

Artemis lay wide awake in his crib. His mind, body, and heart all felt numb. His eyes were red and puffy, and his voice was exhausted from yelling. His mother had left him.

She left him.

He was in shock. He thought to himself,

'I am mentally 20; I should be able to deal with this feeling quickly.'

'I only knew her for a year, that's all.'

'Why did I get so attached to her?'

He had soon forgotten the influence of being in a child's body had. He was beginning to think like a child who had lost his mother would.

While these thoughts swirled around in his mind, he unconsciously brought his feeble hand towards his chest, as if in hopes of easing the heartache he was feeling. But alas, it is hard to heal a heart without all of its pieces.

He stared up at the ceiling and thought long and hard; he had a hard time believing she, his mother in this life, had truly died. This, though, was due to the fact that it felt as though her presence was still lingering around the palace.

On the other side of the palace, an equally depressing aura could be felt: that of the Emperor's. Both father and son reflected each other's emotions, proving to many how similar they truly were.

Ever since she had passed, Claude had begun to throw himself into an unhealthy amount of work and also began drinking far more regularly, despite the worries of those around him.

He made no effort to check up on his son, despite feeling a constant nagging that he should. But he just couldn't.

'He looks so much like her.'

'I can't face him; God, I am pathetic.'

If he saw his son's face, he feared he would remember his wife, as they closely resembled each other, and this would make it hard for him to control his emotions.

His unhealthy and exhausting cycle continued for many days on end. The unhealthy coping method was bound to catch up to him at some point, and it did.

He eventually snapped.

Time had flown by so fast, and it had been 2 months since the Empress' death. In the span of those months, his son's head maid had been pestering him to visit his son.

He refused again and again, that is, until he eventually began to grow annoyed at the constant requests and pestering, and so he eventually agreed in hopes of getting her to stop her ever-growing requests.

'I can't believe I agreed to this.' He thought.

'Was this really necessary?'

'I am sure that child is doing fine on his own without me.'