I’ll Quit as The Empress

Fabian scowled at David, who was drinking water with the maid’s help, with a restful face. No matter the outcome, he made it clear that he had no intention of forgiving David.

“Did you get a map of the Empress’s palace?” Evelyn couldn’t be patient and pressed him.

“And we both know the reason.”

There was a gap in time that he had set up, so David shook his head as if to admit it.

“Your Majesty, we must go to the attic…From here…… Just the two of us”.

“If you think so……, I understand.” Fabian glared at David as he stood up.

David endured his dizziness and followed Evelyn to the place in question.

It was a narrow place just above the Empress’s bedroom. Initially, David’s time magic was cast in the bedroom. Still, the axis of time was shaken, and the location had changed slightly.

“Is it still there?”

Evelyn asked him, and David looked around with his frail body. He then pushed a small piece of furniture. There’s a dim light collected when viewed in great detail in the space where the furniture was moved.

“It’s narrower than I expected.”

“But it’s still possible, right?”

“Maybe…… I’ll try my best”, said David.

Fabian found it difficult to keep up with their weird talk. But Adrian didn’t have much time, so he couldn’t question one by one.

“Is the place the same as it was then?” Evelyn asked.

“……Yes.”

Evelyn recalled asking for a divorce on the night of her 20s when the golden wood tree spread its strong scent.

“I ask you once more, can you not repeat your mistake?” David’s purple eyes pierced Evelyn’s heart. “You’ve already…….”

“I know.”

Evelyn eventually returned to the Palace. He finally came back with Adrian to Fabian’s side. Because it was the happiness, Evelyn wished so badly. After forgetting and forgiving everything, she thought she had found her true happiness.

“Don’t erase my memory this time,” begged Evelyn; her calm voice rang for some reason.

“It’s tough for humans.”

Evelyn realized she loved Fabian.

Even though it was only for a short time, she could feel the warm happiness of becoming a family with him.

Evelyn wanted to remember all of that when now she had to go back to the past alone. She wanted to bring her love for Fabian, whom she could never see again.

“But for my child…… there’s nothing I can’t do.”

In return, Adrian would be able to live. As the royal Prince of Felice Kingdom, loved by Arthur and Miriam.

Evelyn would go to a quiet place, away from Fabian’s sight, to avoid the same fate. She knew that as long as she was around, Fabian would always be watching her, and she couldn’t escape Fabian’s attention….. She knew it very well now.

“No. That’s my role.”

It’s all right, even though Adrian didn’t know who his real parents were all his life.

Even if she couldn’t touch her son’s fair skin and couldn’t breastfeed him. Even though she could no longer carry or hug him and couldn’t see him growing up. Evelyn would be fine. It was much better than seeing Adrian dying of poison.

“One thing, I have something to make sure.”

David stood back for a moment while Fabian spoke carefully.

“To be honest, I still can’t believe him. All I believe is you, Evelyn.”

It was Evelyn’s decision for Adrian’s sake, so Fabian couldn’t help but believe her.

“Evelyn…” For a moment, Fabian thought Evelyn beside him was felt so distant.

“You won’t get hurt, will you?”

Fabian’s black eyes stared at Evelyn with despair as the blue eyes of the woman he loved kept haunting his mind.

He didn’t know why the look in her eyes looked sorrowful though she was soon able to save Adrian.

“I’m still… not good at reading your minds. So I don’t know what your eyes are saying right now.”

But Fabian knew for sure that he didn’t want to regret it. “I’ve promised you, If I don’t know, I’ll ask. So now I’ll ask. Are you all right?”

Evelyn looked at Fabian deeply. Her transparent blue eyes were full of affection. It was a gaze of love that would soon become longing.

“You said you’d teach me…”

Fabian unknowingly held her hand. Evelyn grinned faintly at him, swallowing her pain. She stared at Fabian and nodded, hiding her true feelings as she would never forget this painful lie.

“Yes.”

Evelyn struggled to keep smiling. She eventually got his faith, but her heart was sore because she had to answer him with lies.

“I’ll trust you.”

Fabian pulled Evelyn into his arms and buried his lips on her forehead. However, Evelyn only could engulf her tears desperately underneath.

She couldn’t show tears yet. It wasn’t just tears that she swallowed. But the truth, the promise, and the honesty must also be deeply buried.

“Yes.”

[I’m sorry….]

“I’m fine.”

[I won’t forget you…]

“So don’t worry…..Fabian.”

[Goodbye…..The person I love, and I will treasure forever…..]

“I can do anything as long as you and our child are safe.”

Evelyn’s brief farewell ended with Fabian’s kind words. As always, parting didn’t give them enough time.

“Fabian, I know you hate David. But this ritual requires concentration, so please leave us alone until it’s over.” Evelyn hoped that her lies would not be caught too soon.

“Fine.”

“I’m going to go through the time-crack he had left. And return to the past before Adrian was poisoned.”

“How long will it take you to come back?”

[Forever ……or never.]

“Is everything can be done in a moment?”

Fabian was hoping like that.

Time was going to turn back, and Evelyn would leave Fabian. But this time, the two would never see each other again.

Fabian wouldn’t remember anything, so he wouldn’t feel the pain of losing her when Evelyn was gone for good.

“Yes.”

Still, Fabian had ominous feelings since earlier. But he couldn’t shake his promise to Evelyn to give her full trust, “Then…I believe in you.”

He repeated the same thing. Those words grievously pinched Evelyn’s heart, engraving an eternally indelible mark.

***

David soon finished a series of preparations. A pattern was drawn on the floor, and David cut his wrist with a silver dagger. His blood was dripping down and drenched the pattern.

Quickly, the floor began to shine. Now, it was a scene that was no longer shocking.

“I, what should I do?”

“I’ll tell you when, so stand in the middle of this pattern.”

Evelyn nodded as David kept reciting something with his eyes closed and focused his mind.

In that appearance, even Fabian, who resented him, felt a mystical aura that exudes a sense of presence beyond human beings.

“You only have one chance……This is ….. the last time…”

David reiterated Evelyn’s will. Because even if she returned to the past, the tragedy could be repeated. David had no power left to make everything right if Evelyn softened her heart again.

“I know.”

Evelyn cleared her mind and stared straight ahead, still holding Fabian’s warm hand.

After this time ritual was over, Evelyn couldn’t even gauge her own feelings. How she would have longed for the warmth in her hands all her life.

“I will surely save Adrian.”

Right now, Evelyn had to make up her mind. Otherwise, she didn’t dare to let go of his hand.

Fabian was the first to express his regret, but looking back, she was also the same. It was only then that Evelyn felt remorse for the years gone by.”

“Evelyn, promise me…..you won’t overdo it.”

And Fabian kept breaking her heart.

“Adrian is precious to me….. but you are more precious than that. I can’t lose you again.”

Evelyn could only smile, remembering that Fabian would soon forget about her. Even if it was an unfortunate choice for either of them, the fact that Fabian wouldn’t remember her came as a consolation.

Evelyn, who wanted to save her child, would rather suffer the pain alone than saw both of them shared the same wound.

“Yes…I promise.”

This scene would fade away from his memory as time passed by, but it would become Evelyn’s precious memory.

“It’s time. Soon, the gap will open.” David abruptly cut off the gaze of the two loving people.

“If there’s a moment, even if it just one, where you have the slightest hesitation, you’re likely to fail.” His violet eyes turned towards Evelyn with a warning.

“No. There’s no hesitation in saving my child.”

David read the resolve in Evelyn’s blue eyes, shaking his head.

Leaving Fabian was a painful choice, but she couldn’t let her child die as a mother. These were all emotions that David couldn’t understand.

“If the light crosses the pattern line, you have to go to the middle. This is all I can say, and the rest depends on yourself.”

“I understand….”

Evelyn looked at Fabian. For the last time, she wanted to keep his image in her eyes.

“Evelyn, you must come back safely.”

At the moment she showed a faint smile, a small sphere of light crossed the pattern’s line.

“Now!”

Evelyn boldly stepped her feet into the middle of the pattern. She must no longer hesitate. If she didn’t leave him, she couldn’t save Adrian.

At the time, her whole body was wrapped in the light, circling the pattern. Then, her vision flowed slowly as if time and space had stopped.

“Fabian!”

Evelyn cried. As she saw Fabian’s figure gradually fading beyond the light, her heart pounded. But for some reason, her body couldn’t budge at all. It seemed to be how the magic worked and forbid her from reaching him out.

“Fa……bian.”

Her time was up.

“Fabian, I love you.”

Evelyn confessed her true feelings.

If she had known this one word would be so warm, if she had known Fabian’s love from the beginning, Evelyn would have said it tens of thousands of times to him. Yet regret was always coming late…..

“What?!”

Fabian had a hunch if there was something wrong.

“Evelyn……why did you say that?”

His insight has already figured out the answer.

“With such sad eyes, why…….”

But he didn’t want to admit it.

“Why…… you said that like someone who will never come back…..”

Bruk…

Fabian collapsed in a second.

This was the first time he had experienced this in his life.

“… … tell me the truth.”

His voice sounded like it was about to dim.

“Is … Evelyn can’t come back … ?”

“Yes, she knew that,” David replied calmly.

The despair crushed Fabian’s heart with the weight of reality, realizing that Evelyn’s blue eyes were sure to say goodbye just before she vanished.

“I’m sorry……but Your Majesty, your pain won’t last long.” There’s a quiet tone in David’s voice. “The moment she turns everything back, everything will go back to its place.”

In place, it was a time when Fabian and Evelyn separated forever,

….. and never met again.