『Why…why hadn’t you returned until now?』

The voice generated using magic had a deep tone and was somewhat nerve-wracking.

However, such a voice was familiar to Juan.

Ras lifted his head up as he touched and felt Juan’s face with his trembling hand. Ras continued to stare at Juan, but the face of a young boy seemed unfamiliar to him no matter how long he stared for. Ras soon realized how rude it was to touch and stare at Juan, and withdrew his hand in haste.

“It’s okay. You’ve never once acted like a child in front of me in the past. You can touch my face all you want.”

Ras faltered and hesitated at Juan’s words, but slowly reached out his hand once again to stroke Juan’s face.

『It feels strange to see Your Majesty being so much smaller than me. In my eyes, you’ve always been big enough to touch the skies.』

“It’s a body that I can’t get used to either. Anyway, you recognized me right away. The others wouldn’t believe me even when I directly told them my identity, and they refused to acknowledge me as the Emperor. Some even said that they will pretend not to know my identity.”

Ras remained silent.

Juan felt bitter about the fact that he would no longer be able to see Ras’ face anymore. Juan wouldn’t see his bright smile or shy expression ever again. All Juan could do was to let Ras touch his face all he wanted.

“What happened while I was gone? I heard that you were…”

‘… branded a traitor.’

Juan didn’t finish, but...