Fabian’s arms were warm. They had been hugging each other like that for a long time. Even when Sir Philip came and examined her again a moment later, Fabian still didn’t let her go.
Sir Philip then checked Evelyn’s symptoms, and he quietly shook his head and opened his mouth, “I don’t know the cause, but this isn’t a disease; it doesn’t harm your body. In my opinion, this is just nervousness … Princess, have you been worried in many ways lately?”
“That’s… …yes”, Evelyn answered lowly.
“It’s probably because of that. When there’s a sudden change, usually, our body reacts first. First of all, I’ll prescribe a tranquilizer for you to take when you sleep and a nutrient supplement to replenish your body’s energy.”
“Is that enough?” Fabian looked at Philip and asked him in a solemn voice. When Philip was still an Imperial doctor, Fabian never wondered about his wound, so he was a little embarrassed to ask this question.
“First of all, follow my prescription and take medicine until it runs out. When you’re tired, you should take a stabilizer and sleep more. But after that, you have to compensate for it by eating a lot.”
Evelyn still complained about her dizziness and headaches. In that case, it was better to rest than to eat as she had no appetite.
“All right,” Fabian answered him instead of Evelyn, even though the prescription was given to her.
“Princess, this syrup.” Sir Philip handed over the exact amount in a spoon, and Evelyn swallowed it with a slight frown. Philip sighed after she had finished drinking her medicine as if he was done with his job.
“All right, let’s go. I can’t go through the secret passage anymore, so I’d better go out of Your Majesty’s bedroom. “
Fabian glared at Philip as he said so.
“…… Of course, that passage is for Your Majesty only, but you can make an exception. Please take a look at this old man.” Philip tried to use his age as an excuse.
The secret passage from the Inner Palace to the Chamber of Secret was very narrow. So, it was embarrassing and hard for Philip, who had fat-belly in his old age.
“It’s up to you which way you want to go through. It doesn’t matter for me,” said Fabian indifferently.
“Huh?” asked Philip. “Your Majesty is not going?”
“No.,” he said.
Usually, it was time for Fabian to finish his morning dress-up and start his official duties.
“No…? …then…… a council or your job?”
“The doctor seems to be free these days. Are there any developments in Adrian’s treatment?” When Fabian attacked him with a critical question, Philip noticed it right away and decided to shut his mouth.
“This old man will go back now.”
After Fabian nodded, Philip sighed and escaped from the room. However, he was a bit worried about how to slip his fat-belly between the narrow walls of the Inner Palace.
“You heard what Sir Philip had said, didn’t you?”
“Yes…I think it’s because of my nervousness.” Evelyn whispered.
“Not that part……he told you to sleep more.”
Evelyn nodded, “But, I want to meet Nora and see Adrian first, and after that, I’ll rest.” she begged. “No, you can’t.” Fabian, however, refused with a firm voice.
“Adrian has more than enough energy to get an Emperor worn-out. Far more tiring than doing state work.”
Evelyn wasn’t willing to refute it. In fact, The great King Arthur, Miriam, Nora, and the rest of the maids raised both hands and feet to handle Adrian’s overflowing energy.
“And I already asked Nora to take care of him,” said Fabian.
Evelyn was delighted to hear that it was Nora, who took care of Adrian. It wasn’t a big problem then, as Sir Philip said, she only needed to sleep for half a day and get up to eat.
“But Your Majesty, why you……” Evelyn was stunned when Fabian took off his outer jacket and hung it on a chair. And her eyes widened when he started unbuttoning the top of his white shirt. “Wh-what are you doing..!” she snapped quickly.
“Hmm? You have to follow the doctor’s prescription.”
Fabian, with a nonchalant face, climbed to the bed in a plain shirt. But, he didn’t stop there; Evelyn bit her lip in embarrassment when Fabian suddenly hugged her waist from behind.
“Y-Your Majesty…Well, I’m… that, you know, ….I-I need to prepare …er……” Evelyn’s face turned red. It was rather fortunate that Fabian was behind her back, so he couldn’t see it.
“Do you need to prepare for a nap, too?” Fabian curiously asked her.
Blinking, Evelyn closed her eyes and then opened it again. It was a frequent occurrence while dealing with Fabian. “That’s not it! Why should I sleep with Your Majesty?! “Evelyn’s face became redder when he grasped this situation. She’d rather die if Fabian knew what she was thinking right now.
“Because I said I’d stay with you.” However, Fabian didn’t seem to know Evelyn’s suspicious thoughts. Still, she felt very awkward sleeping with him in the same bed.
“I’m already fine now.”
“There’s no guarantee you’re fully healed.”
After a moment of silence, Fabian pulled Evelyn and laid her in his arms. She couldn’t remember how long it had been since she lay on his shoulder, but her body got used to finding its place.
As she leaned her head in a slightly recessed place under his broad shoulder, Evelyn could feel Fabian’s pulse. It made her feel at ease, and she stayed in that position for a while.
“Your Majesty…..”
Suddenly, she wanted to call him.
“I’ll feed you more syrup if you ask me anything related to my work.”
“……I am not a child,” she muttered low. The syrup was very bitter. Fabian must have noticed it immediately from Evelyn’s face when she drank it.
“This may be my selfishness, but ……” Evelyn paused and barely spoke. “I wish Your Majesty wouldn’t go anywhere now …….” When she said so, Evelyn’s cheeks were hotter than she expected, and quickly buried her face halfway in Fabian’s chest.
Fabian reached out, stroking Evelyn’s hair gently, and said, “Your nightmare was nothing, it’s just something bad.” He didn’t mean to say anything bad, but Evelyn’s body hardened. Fabian, who was hugging her, could feel it.
“… … No. Whether it’s a nightmare or reality, I’ll protect you, so there’s no need to be afraid. How bad was your nightmare…?” He tried to soothe her.
“I can’t remember it well. But it’s very……I was lonely and afraid.” Evelyn already knew what the scene was like. It was the thirty-year-old her who was dying alone and, sadly, neglected by Fabian. In her nightmare, Evelyn wished to die in despair. There was no reason to live, and dying was salvation for her.
“I don’t want to…….” Evelyn’s lips muttered a little. Fabian, who was listening to her, looked puzzled. “What do you mean?”
“What? What did I just say?”
“Surely, you said ‘I don’t want to’…….”
“I don’t… …want to?” Evelyn, whose eyes began to close as the sedative took effect, slowly repeated Fabian’s phrase. It seemed that something like this had happened before. Was it also the effect of nightmares? At that time, Evelyn was still alive and well, without losing her mind.
“I don’t want to die.” Evelyn suddenly raised her upper body and shouted it clearly into the air.
In the darkness, whether it’s a nightmare, a fantasy, or a memory, Evelyn said she didn’t want to die. Over and over again.
“Evelyn, are you all right?” Fabian also got up and looked at Evelyn anxiously.
“Just… … I remember my nightmare… all of a sudden.”
Evelyn was mildly surrounded by a complicated mind. Fabian, however, couldn’t dispel his fears and took her back in his arms. “That’s a terrible nightmare. I don’t want to imagine you dying.” he recited low.
It’s peculiar to see him like this. In her previous life, Fabian would abandon her when she was dying and go back to work.
“Evelyn, even if this Empire is destroyed, I won’t let you die lonely and in vain.”
Her body that Fabian touched felt warm, and Evelyn’s head became confused.
“Someday… …when I’m as old as Sir Philip, the day before I die, that’s the only day you can die.”
It was a lovely word. But the mist in her heart didn’t go away. As Evelyn stopped talking, Fabian quietly closed his eyes, leaning his head against her to see if it was a stabilizing effect.
[‘I don’t want to die.’]
The words burned hotly like a tattoo that just carved in the flesh. It wasn’t a mere nightmare when Evelyn saw it with that intense vision like a deja vu. There was nothing more incredible about Evelyn, who had died and returned to twenty again.
In the past, Evelyn knew herself as a woman waiting to die miserably. All her memories were like that, and sometimes her moment of death that followed was awful. But the desperate voice that she heard today in the darkness was clearly hers. So she could be sure that it was real.
She didn’t want to die at all ……yes, until the last…she didn’t want to die.
It was a moment that reminded Evelyn of herself, who had been begging until the end of her life. Then the scene of her death, which she had never doubted before, was totally reversed.
The effect of the stabilizer and the confusion in her head got mixed up. When asked which one was true, it was both. Since Evelyn, herself, was the subject of her memory.
The memories were very subjective and easy to distort, especially at moments of intense emotion.
[‘My other memories …… are they still intact? ‘]
For the first time, Evelyn had doubts about her death. She thought she remembered everything, but just missing a single word changed the meaning of her death.
[‘Something is missing, ….maybe there’s more?’]
Her doubts continued to raise questions. But again, a white mist began to reappear in Evelyn’s head.
It’s also hard to tell when it happened. Since when did that dark and mysterious white mist start to cover her memories? Evelyn couldn’t recall it at all.
“Hmm.” At that time, Fabian, who had soundly fallen asleep, turned back and naturally pulled Evelyn aside. As was his old habit, he put one leg on top of Evelyn, something that hadn’t changed. When the warmth of Fabian’s body touched closer, the fog in her memory seemed to fade away.
“Eve…..Lynn.” He was calling his name in silence.
Evelyn wrapped the back of Fabian’s hand with her arms. Same as Adrian’s little hands, now, Fabian’s hands were precious to her as well.
“Fabian…” Evelyn whispered small to herself, so she wouldn’t wake him up.
“Maybe, I missed you, too.”
Now Fabian’s warmness enveloped her was indescribably calm. Everything remained where it was, and there was no change in his breath or body scent.
As soon as she confessed her heart, Evelyn put herself in his arms and hugged him tightly. She finally realized how much she missed him all this time.
“Like this… deeply.”
Evelyn just didn’t want to admit that she always missed his embrace.
***
The top floor of the glass-lined tower was filled with sunshine, which made it sting.
That place usually had thick curtains. It was a rather unique building since David and the Pope were the only people who could come in and out. Mostly, the top floor was so narrow that even one person could barely enter.
“Ha…….”
David was sitting alone in the middle of the small room. An unknown pattern was painted on the floor, centering around his chair. There were six thin glass bottles filled with a mysterious colored liquid scattered around it.
“It’s getting even more complicated now.”
Instead of the seven pieces of glass that had already shattered, thirteen other bottles of glass stood in a circle. One of them exploded last night with a sharp tone.
Only
But that wasn’t the end of it. David was staring at the glass bottle, which had begun to crack.
Clink, clink!
Sure enough, the cracked glass bottle exploded with a loud crash. One of the fragments scratched David’s cheek and shed red blood.
“Is that woman trying to break her seal of memory?” David muttered with cold eyes. As always, he still couldn’t understand why the poor woman named Evelyn tried to break the seal.
“Why do humans… … want to repeat vain things?”
His violet eyes stayed in the broken glass bottle. Now that half of the totems needed for the spell had been broken, the Evelyn’s seal would soon lose its power.
And David had a responsibility to stop the tyrant’s awakening who would break the balance of this continent.
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