Chapter 34: A child from Evelyn
Fabian had drunk the antidote, but it would take some time until he was completely healed. Usually, those who were poisoned by Twin Fairy would suffer from a mild delirium or nightmare until they were completely healed.
“But I’m glad everyone’s getting better.”
Miriam nodded at Evelyn’s words. The Felice Kingdom didn’t hesitate to take the opportunity to do what was right and help all the injured imperial knights.
“How about the Emperor? He doesn’t call you too much anymore…”
“No, not at all.” said Evelyn, and she smiled at Miriam.
“It’s fortunate that my ex-husband is careless.”
“Now, looking at you, it would be better to get along with Lady Rebecca.”
Evelyn laughed when she listened to her mother, “We’re still in touch, but the funniest thing is when I’m with the little guy.”
Evelyn gave a lovely look at Adrian, who was playing with his toys. But Adrian seemed a little unhappy with his swollen white cheeks.
“There’s a time like that. Adrian is a very gentle child You’ve been like that, too.”
” By the way, until when you’re going to talk about my childhood?”
Miriam was fond of remembering the past. Even though Evelyn had grown up and had a baby, she was always a child in Miriam’s eyes.
“A baby who sleeps a lot is an unfilial child. You really loved sleeping since you were a kid. So you should know how much pain your parents and teachers have suffered.”
“That’s… Please stop!”
Evelyn felt a little embarrassed. Nora, who was actually Evelyn’s nanny, had a hard time waking her up every morning.
“I told you that Adrian seems to have a toothache.”
“It’s about the time.”
“Well, it’s the first time he have a teeth….”
Evelyn was delighted to see Adrian’s little growth. Looked like his molar teeth would also grow soon, so it’s no wonder he liked to fuss because his mouth must be in pain.
“If you’re tired, I’ll put him to sleep.”
“No, I still like to have Adrian. When he struggles, he’s so cute.”
“You’re becoming like your father.”
“What?” Evelyn frowned. She thought it wasn’t that much.
“Because your father said the same thing a while ago.”
“It’s not as severe as my father.”
Miriam grinned happily at her daughter, who had strongly denied her.
Luckily, the Emperor’s presence didn’t seem to have had a bad effect on Evelyn, and Miriam felt grateful for her family’s safety.
****
Evelyn’s days had been full of life ever since Rebecca had come. The side effect was that she’s getting tired faster than usual. Even today, her throat ached as they kept gossiping loudly about the ugly trio.
‘Let’s humiliate all of them at the ball.’
Rebecca was burnt down to the ground. Of reality, Evelyn was in favor of that. She shuddered at the thought of what they had done to her all this time.
‘We’re too soft. What a noble face!’
Evelyn had agreed, nodded so violently that her throat hurt.
Evelyn was the Empress before, and Rebecca was the Duchess, so they couldn’t get mad over trivial matters. If they did, they would automatically be mocked and insulted by the press.
“Adrian, it’s stupid to accept the injustice.”
Evelyn thought of herself as she looked at the sleeping Adrian. The King intended to appoint Evelyn as Adrian’s rightful nanny. Evelyn had to set rules and principles to properly raise this adorable child.
“It is not necessarily to be noble and graceful. Your own happiness is the most important thing.”
That was the truth that Evelyn learned from her life experience. Everyone knelt in front of her, but Evelyn was never pleased with any of that.
“It’s all right to lose a face What others think doesn’t mean anything.”
On the contrary, the Empress’s throne had always been a shackle, and she could not fight back the noblewoman who ridiculed her. Evelyn couldn’t complain to her indifferent husband. She was exhausted every day to keep her manners that cut her life.
“Buuubuu..”
Oh no, it seemed that Adrian was awoken by her self-talk.
“Adrian, happiness right now is a good-night sleep.”
But Evelyn’s words were too late.
“Abuooo..buuu!”
Adrian started to grumble. No matter how healthy a child was, he was still a child who had only lived in the world for a year and a few months.
“Oh, Ana! Anana!”
“Adrian, you’re going to sleep again, right?”
“Boo! Abu!”
Adrian started to swing his cotton bat. This meant that he had no intention of going back to sleep again.
“Okay…okay!!”
Evelyn was forced to hug Adrian. When he was younger than this, he usually would fall asleep quickly after taking a walk outside.
“You’re only going around the garden once, okay?”
Evelyn hugged Adrian and walked to the palace garden. The atmosphere of the spring breeze that was blowing at night was very refreshing. Adrian seemed to feel better as he smelled the sweet scent of flowers blowing under the moonlight.
“Boo! Buuuu!”
Adrian was struggling a little. Evelyn’s anxiety had increased after he started walking.
“It would hurt if you fall in the garden. So be careful?”
“Bu! Abu-bu!”
“Oh, wait a minute.”
After Evelyn had put Adrian down to the ground, he stumbled and began to walk quite well. Maybe because he was brave, his progress was fast for a child, given he was only a year old. But the way he walked was still sloppy, and Evelyn couldn’t help but laugh when she saw Adrian from behind.
“He really grows in the blink of an eye.”
Evelyn slowly followed Adrian from behind, talking to herself. Adrian was excited to see the flowers in the garden, so he squirmed and moved forward.
“How can he speed up his pace with a body like that?”
Evelyn burst into laughter. Adrian was walking very well, though a little crumbling, and he ran around the corner of the garden quickly.
At that time, Evelyn was looking at the flowers for a moment. She suddenly rushed to move and looking for him after she realized that Adrian was missing.
“Buuu…buuu!”
Fortunately, Adrian’s loud voice was heard. But…
“······What.”
But the next moment, the voices that should never be heard, rang together with Adrian’s voice. Evelyn rushed to the corner of the garden, with her pounding heart.
‘Oh, my God.’
Evelyn’s body was hardened in amazement at the sight in front of her eyes.
Clearly, it was Adrian, who clung to Fabian’s leg, who was standing in the moonlight. And at first glance, Fabian’s expression didn’t look right.
Well, Evelyn could imagine how annoying a child was to him.
“Your Majesty.”
Fabian was staring at Evelyn. Then, Evelyn rushed forward. She was so nervous and forgot to set an example. But somehow, she felt a little relieved because Fabian ignored Adrian, who was clinging to his legs.
“The little prince doesn’t know courtesy yet. Please forgive him.”
Fabian nodded a little to her explanation. Then he turned his eyes and saw a small creature on the ground and hanging on his leg. Surprisingly, instead of crying at Fabian’s sight, Adrian squeezed his leg tightly and punched Fabian’s leg with his little fist.
“Are you hitting me?”
Fabian looked confused for a reason. For him, a child was a creature whose existence was weaker than a demon.
“Ah, it’s because the prince is young. I’ll take him right away….”
But at that moment, unexpectedly, Adrian opened his mouth.
“Ah, Abu-bu!”
Fabian tilted one of his eyebrows to an unknown sound.
“What are you saying?”
“It’s a meaningless babble. The prince can’t speak yet.”
He wanted to get rid of this child immediately. Still, Fabian looked at that strange creature with a severe awkward attitude. Then that dark blue-eyed child looked fearlessly at Fabian, and something weird happened in his heart when he looked at the child.
“Ah, Ana!”
It was a loud cry. That bable was what Adrian had often said when he called Arthur recently. Evelyn was heartbroken and moved her feet, unconsciously towards Adrian.
“Adrian, come on…..”
“Oh, Anana!”
Evelyn felt a cold sweat running down from her neck.
In fact, Evelyn never thought that Fabian would be so embarrassed that he couldn’t move like this. But the most important thing right now was Adrian.
“Speak up.”
In the meantime, Fabian, who spoke so seriously against the child, was more absurd.
“I don’t understand.”
What did the kids know? Evelyn tried to breathe, and all of a sudden, a surprising voice was heard.
“Hug!”
Evelyn hardened like ice for a moment.
“Ah, hug!”
Evelyn never thought that Fabian was the first person to talk to Adrian. As if it was an order.
“Hug!”
When Fabian looked down at Adrian, he could feel the child’s eyes staring at him desperately with clear pronunciation.
“Are you bordering me now?”
Evelyn almost seemed to lose her mind. At times like this, it was fortunate that Fabian was a nonsense person.
“No, never…. It’s just a babble.” Evelyn replied with no time to breathe and tried to remove Adrian from Fabian’s leg.
But Adrian had incredible strength for a toddler at his age, and he was so stubborn only at times like this.
“Ah……I, hug!”
Evelyn thought there would be no more surprises, but Fabian raised him and hugged Adrian gently. Of course, the way he carried the child was so sloppy that he made people very nervous when he saw it.
“Your Majesty?”
“I will forgive you for not knowing the manners because you are still young.”
Yeah, Evelyn thanked him for that, did he hug Adrian? And why was Fabian in the palace garden?
“I was taking a walk because I was frustrated.” Fabian said as if he had read Evelyn’s mind. Sadly, Fabian was also the Emperor here, and no one could stop him from going where he wanted to go.
Looking back, it’s a kind of habit that Fabian would always spend time alone in his garden at night.
“Well, you’ve entered my garden without permission before, so let’s say you’re paying off the debt.”
Fabian’s words didn’t even reach Evelyn’s ears. However, Fabian had not been too focused on paying attention to Adrian. Evelyn was quickly moved by the mother’s instinct to get her child back.
“Give me the prince.”
Even without Fabian’s answer, Evelyn took Adrian from Fabian’s hand, and the innocent Adrian just burst into laughter.
“Is that child so precious?”
There was a wonder in Fabian’s dark eyes. It was Evelyn’s strange look, which he had never seen before when they were a couple.
“He’s my little brother, so of course I should take care of him.”
“He’s your brother?”
There was a little doubt in Fabian’s voice, and Evelyn was sweating again.
“He’s….an illegitimate.”
Fortunately, Fabian was ignorant of his surroundings. Evelyn had no idea that his aloofness would have made her felt so glad now.
“But now that the royal family has decided to accept him, so he’s my younger brother.”
“Hmm.”
Fabian made a strange sound. A little while ago, Adrian’s eyes, which looked straight at him, left a particularly strong impression.
“That kid,…he looks like me, isn’t he?”
Evelyn couldn’t breathe for a moment.
“No way. It’s just your Majesty’s illusion.”
Even Fabian knew right away from the head of the child. A few citizens outside the Empire with black hair and black eyes and Serus’ investigation showed that Adrian was born at the wrong time.
“Yeah….is it.”
Evelyn felt that Fabian’s voice sounded lonely.
“There’s something that I was hoping for so much…… that I was mistaken.”
Fabian’s black eyes looked at Evelyn. It was vain, cold, and lonely, even though it was the eyes that resembled Adrian.
“Your majesty will soon have a successor too…”
Only
Evelyn answered without hesitation.
“Then, I’ll go back.”
And Evelyn disappeared, carrying Adrian, with no time to catch her. Fabian, who left alone, stared blankly at Evelyn’s disappearance under the moonlight for a moment.
“What I was hoping for…”
His vain voice had been scattered. But Fabian was not able to finish his words.
Now that wish couldn’t have been fulfilled.
A child from Evelyn, whom Fabian wanted so much, was only a wish that could not come true.