Published at 21st of November 2020 06:13:00 PM
Chapter 75: 75
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 .
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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 . ”
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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 . ”
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“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 . ”
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 .