The atmosphere in the official residence, where Duke Metis lived, seemed a little different than usual. Sagan couldn’t hold his frustration and hit the table with his fist. Stella’s eyes were swollen and teary because she was tired of crying.
“Father… … there’s really not a single lie……… I’m telling you everything.”
Born as the Duke’s precious youngest daughter, Stella felt that her pride had been trampled underfoot for the first time.
When she stepped into the Palace with her aunt, she thought she was going to be an Empress right away. But Evelyn, whom she met, was far from the weak Empress in her imagination.
“Nobody stood up for me even after they heard Lady Akshire’s mockery! Even the Empress Dowager!” cried Stella.
That was the most shocking part for Stella, who had believed in Empress Dowager’s power. Same thing with Sagan. He exhaled a resentful breath and frowned as sharply as he could.
“Oh my God, they told you to marry a widower? How insolent ….”
Stella’s tears kept dripping, there was no sign of stopping. Seeing her daughter, Sagan shook his hand irritably. “Stop it! What gets better with crying?”
“But…” Stella tried to swallow his tears after hearing his father’s loud rebuke. But her grim expression in her face didn’t go away.
“Princess Evelyn or Lady Akshire maybe can do that.”
Evelyn was a woman who once became an Empress. He didn’t know what kind of trick she used, but Evelyn could steal Emperor’s heart which liked a wooden stone and returned to the Imperial Palace with his son.
Although the former Empress looked frail, Sagan had to admit that she was now a strong opponent.
“Did your aunt really just sit there?”
“Yes ……she seems to be taking sides with Princess Evelyn…”
Stella, who had come to the Palace and only trusted the Empress Dowager, suddenly felt both panicked and humiliated.
Evelyn, whom she underestimated at first, turned out that she had a tough heart, not showing her weak side at all. And all the noble wives could only sit on the chairs and bow their heads, making Stella looked even more pathetic.
“Then, when I asked the Empress why, she just said it’s annoying! She didn’t even stop me from leaving the Palace! “
Sagan frowned when Stella started to sob again.
He admitted it, sometimes, his daughter was annoying at times like this. But the Empress’s coldness couldn’t make her feel any better.
But in this incident, the problem was the Empress’s attitude. Stella was having a hard time because the Empress didn’t play her part well from the start.
“Did she say anything else?”
“Ugh… nothing…….” Stella, who was depressed, shook her head.
“Huh, oh my….” Sagan spat out a sigh. Something he was worried about was going on.
The Empress and Fabian didn’t get along well, and that definitely includes his relationship with the Metis family. Maybe, it was a mistake to entrust this job to his sister, who despised the troubled job and was cold-hearted.
“How could the Empress be so ignorant of me? Does she…..hate me?” muttered Stella.
Sagan kicked his tongue and saw his daughter’s messy face. It would be better if her daughter were hated because she was too attractive.
Stella was her daughter, but in his eyes, she wasn’t pretty enough.
“Tomorrow I will go to the Palace and see the Empress.”
“Father…”
“But that doesn’t mean your actions were right.” Sagan cut her hard. “You can only cry and run from trouble ….Have I ever taught you that?”
Stella bit her lips and lowered her head.
Initially, Sagan assumed that his firstborn, Irina, would become the Empress. So he was more focused on educating his eldest daughter. But time had passed since the Emperor chose Evelyn, and only Stella, the youngest who hadn’t married.
Stella was also a daughter who was raised without any special expectation that she would contribute to the family or in a situation like that.
“In the first place, it’s something only the ladies in the Palace should know. And such insinuation usually disappears over time. But now everyone on the street knows that you ran home crying. Was that something you were so proud of?”
Stella couldn’t say anything at her father’s harsh scolding. She thought that his father, who used to be kind to her, had become a different person now.
“I taught you wrong. How could you be so pompous and arrogant? “
“Father…”
“When Princess Evelyn showed up with his successor, we were already at a disadvantage. And look! What have you done? Don’t let your guard down until you get a clear victory, was my teaching that hard to do?”
Stella’s real pride was high in the sky. Then, she felt more the upper hand after entering the Palace. In her heart, she already considered herself as an Empress.
What’s more, Evelyn, who left the Imperial family through a divorce, was a very sad disgrace. That’s why Stella believed that she was different from her.
“Uh… ..father, I’m…… What am I supposed to do?”
“If you can’t be the second Empress, then be the third Empress……is that what she said?”
The Empress Dowager said it as a metaphor. But those words really surprised Stella, and she immediately told her father.
“Yes, I’ve definitely heard it. But I … … I can’t wait without doing anything. If she’s going to become Empress for life, when’s my turn?” Stella said.
“I can’t wait any longer. If her son grows up and takes the throne, then it’s too late!” Sagan sighed. The lament of his youngest daughter was irrelevant to him.
However, the Empire’s successor must be from the Metis family. Truth be told, he always wondered why Stella was the only daughter he had now.
“Stella.”
“Yes, Father”, she answered.
“I have no intention of giving up. How about you.”
“Me too… …I really want to be an Empress!”
Stella’s enthusiasm could fill the gaps in her weaknesses. Sagan nodded, patting his daughter on the shoulder. “Then stop crying and make yourself the next Empress. I’ll take care of the rest.”
It was only then that Stella nodded her head.
“Tomorrow, go to the Palace with me and revisit Empress Dowager. Until then, sleep, heal your swollen eyes.”
“Yes…….”
After Stella stood back, Sagan sighed, “Why are things so twisted?”
Everything would go smoothly if Irina, his first daughter, became the Empress from the beginning. But at a crucial moment, Fabian attacked the Metis family from behind and welcomed Princess Evelyn as his wife.
“Then and now, she’s the same opponent..… This is a hard job.”
Tuk … tuk … Sagan’s finger tapped the mahogany table. As someone began to twist, it looked like a tangled string was loosening out of control.
Starting from Princess Evelyn’s appearance, the Empress’s ambiguous attitude, and Stella’s carelessness. All of them gave Sagan a headache.
“I can find another substitute for that matter. But his successors….” Sagan looked up into the air, he lost in thought for a moment. Empress could be replaced. But the successor was different.
Sagan’s real goal wasn’t to make his daughter an Empress but to keep the Metis’ blood flowing in Imperial’s successor.
“I can’t wait to see that.”
His voice sounded poisonous in the darkness.
***
The next day, the usual peaceful night at the Empress’s Palace turned upside down. This was because of Adrian, who had been sleeping soundly, suddenly struggled and started crying.
Nora and Lily tried to calm him down, thinking that Adrian was just sleepy. But, after the child didn’t stop crying, they quickly ran to find Evelyn and Rebecca.
“Princess, he doesn’t stop crying …….”
“Give him to me, I’ll hold him. Nora, please warm up the milk, and Rebecca waits with Lily. If Adrian is sick all night, we have to take turns looking after him, so you have to rest now.”
Evelyn sat on the sofa carrying Adrian. He was a healthy child, but sometimes, like any other child, he got sick due to flu or toothache.
Even so, whenever her child was sick, Evelyn always took care of Adrian herself and never left him to someone else.
“Adrian, what’s wrong with you?”
When Evelyn asked him gently, Adrian burst into her arms and shed tears.
“Aaaa aaaa… … .” Adrian kept sobbing sadly and continued to look for her with his small clenched fists.
Evelyn felt sorry as she saw him. “Good boy. Adrian’s not a coward. Can you tell me where it hurts?” She looked at him in the eyes.
“Mother…”
Evelyn was pleased, Adrian began to know how to call her with the correct title. This was the result of his etiquette education.
“Yes. What’s wrong with you?”
Adrian shook his head with a little whimper.
“Then …did you have a scary dream?”
Adrian pouted his lips and shook his head again.
“Mother …… Adrian, will die?”
Evelyn’s eyes widened at those random words since it wasn’t something that could come out of the child’s mouth.
“No way. Who said that to you? Adrian won’t die. His Majesty and I will protect you.”
“No? Adrian, …… won’t?”
“What do you mean?” Evelyn’s heart seemed to drop. Adrian wasn’t a child who could tell a fictional story yet.
Now, he managed to settle down by clinging to Evelyn’s arms. But still, it wasn’t normal when he cried hard a while ago.
“Adrian doesn’t exist at first. Then…..die?”
“Who said that? Adrian is here. No one can hurt you. “
“I don’t know… …the demon at the time! Like that demon.”
Evelyn calmly drew her breath, “The demon that bit Adrian?”
“Heung……”
At that time, Fabian said that Adrian looked strange. The demons constantly cried out to kill Adrian. But, there were no demons in this world which could speak human language. And Adrian was too young to understand what death was.
“There’s a demon in your dream?”
Adrian shuddered. His cheeks, moist with tears, looked pitiful.
“The same person….. told me.”
“Did the same person say that when Adrian was attacked by a demon?” Evelyn asked again.
“Heung…Adrian doesn’t exist. Kill Adrian.”
It seemed something was going wrong. Evelyn hugged Adrian tightly to get rid of his fears. Maybe because he heard Evelyn’s heartbeat, Adrian gradually stopped weeping.
“Adrian, it’s all just a dream. It’s called a nightmare.”
“Dream?”
“Yes, it’s all lies. You know what lies are, don’t you?
“Huuh…is lie bad ?”
Adrian couldn’t see it, but there was a dark shade covering Evelyn’s face. The lies that a child could tell was limited. In other words, they couldn’t lie about something they didn’t know yet.
“Adrian is right here. In my arms. right?”
“Heung…Yes…”
“Yeah, now you’ve learned to speak with the manner and have become smarter and more courageous.”
Adrian, who snuggled in her arms, nodded.
“There, demons can’t come here. Because His Majesty and I will protect you.” Evelyn kept her voice as calm as possible to relieve the Adrian’s anxiety.
“Jimoo……”
“Right? No matter how strong the demon is, we will protect you.”
“Jimoo is like a black hawk… He’s strong. . . ..”
“Soon, Adrian will be like him too.” Evelyn patted Adrian’s head. It was certainly strange, but she shouldn’t make it obvious to the child.
“But… …I want to sleep with my mother.”
“Shall we?” Evelyn struggled to smile. Then Adrian nodded again with his tearful face.
She thought Adrian had grown up quite a bit after graduating from the cradle. But a baby was still a baby.
Only
“Adrian, this is a secret, but……in fact, I’m as strong as His Majesty.”
“Really….?”
“Sure. Maybe stronger than the Black Hawk. So, even if the demon tormenting Adrian comes, we will definitely defeat them.”
Adrian’s eyes grew round. It was the moment when he felt that his parents’ arms were the safest place in the world.
“Are you still scared?”
Adrian paused, shaking his head. Then a beautiful smile bloomed around Evelyn’s mouth.
For this child, Evelyn had the confidence to be stronger than anyone else in the world.
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