Ah, great. Time to be disappointed once more. Next few chapters we'll learn that the emperor actually did love his children, and that by "kill them myself" he meant it purely out of mercy to keep them from suffering hatred in the world -- because the emperor needs to be redeemed, as is the rule for these kinds of bad stories. Nothing will change, the emperor will never apologize for thinking that murdering his own children was okay to save his life. It's an interesting story, but based on what I've been reading so far, the children will forgive the man who fathered them for saying he would have murdered them should that "contract" not been there holding his life for ransom.