A groan flowed from the sleeping Evelyn’s lips.
There was a cold sweat flowing out of her forehead. Her body tossed and twisted as if she wanted to wake up from the nightmare, but her eyes were hardly opened. She couldn’t tell whether or not the dream that came from a shallow sleep was real.
“Ummm,····.”
In that dream, Evelyn walked around at the empty Imperial palace. She didn’t know why she was there, but everything was the same as she remembered. And even the air and the blowing wind were vivid.
At the end of the long corridor, she saw a large-familiar-back.
‘Your Majesty?’
That terms jumped out freely. The gentle wind somehow aroused her fear. Then, the large-back slowly turned around towards Evelyn. She was short of breath at that moment when she saw Adrian was sleeping in Fabian’s arms.
‘Adrian? Your Majesty, why is Adrian…’
But in the nightmare, Evelyn couldn’t move forward. Fabian was staring at Evelyn with his emotionless eyes.
‘Adrian!’
Evelyn screamed anxiously, but Fabian didn’t turn around, holding the child in his arms.
‘Your Majesty, please return Adrian!’
Fabian’s back grew farther away.
‘Where are you taking my child…?’
Her cry couldn’t reach Fabian. So the two men were gradually gone.
Evelyn felt like her feet kept sinking as if she had fallen from the high. She wanted to go right away and take Adrian, but her vision was darkened.
‘No, Adrian!’
The moment Evelyn squeezed all her strength and shouted, the nightmare was over. Unknowingly, her hands that stretched out toward the air were shaking.
“Hah…hah, hah…….” Breathing hard, Evelyn finally woke up from her nightmare. Her dream was too scary and vivid to be regarded just as a dream.
“Why did I have this dream all of a sudden …”
Evelyn’s heart still thumped. Adrian was already a Prince of Felice Kingdom. The dream she had just a while ago must be a worry that was already over.
“No, it’s a meaningless dream……”
Her anxiety was over. There were several breathtaking moments, but Fabian didn’t doubt Adrian’s birth. Evelyn was sure because she knew Fabian’s cool-headed personality. He wasn’t a man who pretended he didn’t know if he had a successor.
“Yes. No matter how much I cried and begged, he would have taken Adrian away if he had noticed it.”
Fabian would have done the same thing with him. He would definitely take him into the Imperial family. So clearly, it was a proof that the secret of Adrian’s birth hadn’t been leaked out.
Besides, Adrian was already two years old. Now it was time to relax, but Evelyn wondered why she had a new nightmare.
“I bring you tea. Princess…..?” Nora entered the room with a silver tray and opened her eyes as she saw Evelyn sweating cold. Evelyn, who woke up a beat late, barely seeing her.
“Are you okay? Your face looks so pale.”
“No…..”
Slowly, her sense returned. In reality, the time had only passed in a short time. Evelyn fell asleep while reading a book, leaning on a long sofa, and in the meantime, Nora brought her tea.
“I guess I fell asleep without realizing it.”
“Oh, my God. Look at this sweat.”
Nora quickly came to Evelyn’s side and wiped the cold sweat on her forehead with a handkerchief. Evelyn said nothing, but Nora knew that she must have had a nightmare.
“Are you sure you’re all right?”
“Yes.”
“You shouldn’t overdo it. You’ve had a lot of work lately.”
It wasn’t just her title, Evelyn was really faithful to her role as a Finance Minister. She also didn’t forget to fulfil her official duties as a Princess and paid close attention to Adrian’s upbringing.
Not long ago, after sending all the black hawks that were gifts from the Emperor, She felt like she was trying to fill the routine on purpose.
“I’m fine. I just had some bad dreams.”
“I’m glad to hear that.”
Nora poured the tea into the teacup, looking relieved. When Evelyn took a sip of the tea, she felt Lily was standing by the door and glanced at her. Nora approached Lily quietly. Then, she said something and quickly disappeared.
“What’s going on?”
“Lady Akshire come to the palace in a hurry.”
“Rebecca?”
“Yes. Just now, her carriage passed through the Royal Palace’s main gate.”
Evelyn looked confused. No matter how near their residence and how close they were, did she have to come in such a hurry?
However, given by Rebecca’s disposition, Evelyn thought there must be a reason.
“Nora, prepare a bedroom for Rebecca to stay. When she arrives, please guides her right away.”
“Yes, and I will boil the tea again.”
“Yes.”
The conversation seemed to take a long time. Evelyn tried to shake off her previous nightmare. To avoid this from happening, so that fear didn’t lead to misfortune.
Nightmares just made you stay in nightmares.
How long time had passed?
Soon a breathless-Rebecca came and bent her knees. Evelyn stood up and hit her shoulder, holding her hand tenderly and giving her some cold water.
“Rebecca, what has brought you here in such a hurry?”
Rebecca gulped down a glass of water at once and took a quick breath.
“······I do not know.” Rebecca, who managed to open her mouth, said something unknown. Evelyn tilted one of her eyebrows, waiting for Rebecca’s next word.
“I can’t judge whether this is important or not. But if I say this after we relax first, I think it’s too late.”
“Yes, good to see you. It’s better to discuss anything together.”
Evelyn’s calm response made Rebecca hesitated for a moment what to say first. Because she had to cross a line before she could bring up the story she wanted to tell. Rebecca couldn’t affirm whether it was a good thing for their friendship or not.
“The Duke of Akshire had a midwife who helped to deliver our children from generation to generation. She’s the most skilled midwife in the southern continent. “
Rebecca prepared her heart and took out the topic. Contrary to expectations, Evelyn wasn’t surprised. Instead, her blue eyes peacefully looked at Rebecca.
“The midwife doesn’t have a family, but she’s been really sick lately because of her old age, so my father let her stay at our place.”
“Really? I didn’t know that.”
After Evelyn gave birth, Queen Miriam was responsible for taking care of everything behind the scenes to avoid unnecessary worries. One of them was the midwife’s whereabouts. Evelyn had absolutely no idea that she was the Duke of Akshire’s midwife.
“You knew….” Evelyn said calmly.
Rebecca, of course, even Liam who never said anything, knew about her secret. Thinking about it now, it was Evelyn, who was too indifferent.
Liam might be, but it didn’t make sense that Rebecca, the same woman and close friend, didn’t notice.
“Did Liam know that?”
“Yes, it was King Majesty’s request. I’m sorry.”
The Akshire’s siblings kept that secret and considered it as ‘nothing’ as the Queen had expressly ordered them to shut up.
Liam reluctantly shut his mouth, thinking deeply about Evelyn, and Rebecca said nothing. However, they didn’t want to ask any questions about that fact as it might hurt Evelyn.
“No. I’m sorry I put pressure on you,” said Evelyn.
“No, it’s not.” Rebecca hurriedly shook her hand.
“Since you accepted Adrian as your little brother, so we thought so too. And I think that’s the right thing to do.”
“Thank you.”
Once again, the attitude of the two siblings touched Evelyn’s heart deeply.
There was a reason why Rebecca loved Adrian and supported Evelyn’s overflowing love for her ‘brother’. They both respected Evelyn’s decision and helped her to hide the truth. Even if it might be considered a rebellion against the Empire.
“I don’t know what to say but thank you for that.”
Evelyn smiled faintly. Rebecca took Evelyn’s hand instead of answering. Without a word, some sincerity was conveyed by body temperature.
“But what’s going on with you telling the story right now?”
“That’s……I’m not as sure as I said before.”
“It’s all right, tell me anything.”
Rebecca nodded.
“The midwife’s health has been terrible lately. She was almost out of her mind, so the maid was taking care of her, but her whereabouts were unknown a few days ago.”
Thump…
Evelyn’s heart seemed to fall. The sense of nightmare that she had earlier climbed up slowly.
“The maid had a hard time because she disappeared several times before. It would be nice if she were like that again… but no matter how hard we look for her, we can’t find her.”
“Is her sickness so severe? I met her a few times, but she’s a very wise person.”
“My father also said so. However, she seemed to have lost her mind as his condition had worsened recently. Liam is still searching for her, so maybe she will be found soon….. “
Rebecca blurred the end of her words as if she were trying to dispel a terrifying thought.
“But there is no sign of her at the Duke’s residence or in our territories.”
Evelyn closed her eyes for a moment. She had to shake off a nightmare, and look very closely at reality.
“Princess.”
At Rebecca’s call, Evelyn opened her eyes again. There was a worry shone from her blue eyes.
If it’s Fabian’s doing, it was easy for him to bypass the security of the Duke’s residence, just as easy as abducted the midwife. However, Evelyn couldn’t make any judgments now.
“Then, what should we do?”
“We can’t jump into conclusions now.” Evelyn bit her lower lip hard. “I don’t want to think, but in the worst-case…..”
Evelyn didn’t want to lose Adrian in vain like in her dream. It was something she was determined to do long ago.
“There’s no physical evidence.”
“But, the midwife now has a mental illness.”
“Yeah, she’s an insane person.”
Indeed, if she thought, on the contrary, it was advantageous.
“But it’s a sad fact for me, too,” Evelyn said bitterly.
“The midwife was a wise woman. If she were sane, this wouldn’t happen.”
The old midwife was the trusted person that Miriam had found. Her mother said that the midwife spent her entire life, delivering the birth of countless children and never said a word about their births. But, it seemed that time had created another variable.
“No, it’s already happened, so I can’t help it.”
Rebecca tightly held Evelyn’s hand, “Princess, as you say, the words from an insane old woman cannot be a proof.”
“But what about the Felice family? and our Akshire?” There was a strong will in her green eyes.
“Rebecca, that’s…..”
“The Duke of Akshire is a witness to the Prince’s birth.”
Her useless stubbornness had to be stopped. Evelyn, who saw Rebecca was so grateful and felt sorry because she never told them the truth.
“Even if anyone spreads bad rumours, Akshire will testify to the truth.”
That’s what Liam had done before Rebecca left. It was the moment when the two siblings had one voice.
It didn’t matter to them what the truth was. Because Evelyn’s choice was the truth.
“There’s a saying in the Akshire family. It doesn’t matter where the honour comes from. It’s important where the honour is to be used. It’s to protect the honour of Akshire, so it’s useless to avoid it.”
“No……”
Evelyn wasn’t strong.
“I want to ask you a favour.”
Only
Evelyn was too afraid to be alone. The fear that swept over her was as much a precious life she needed to protect. She couldn’t imagine how hopeless she would have been if Rebecca didn’t hold her hand.
“Do you understand the day when I can only say thank you?”
“Of course.”
Rebecca smiled. It was the same smile as usual.
“Because we’re friends.”
Evelyn leaned her head over Rebecca’s shoulder in silence.
Because she wasn’t afraid.
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