My child 9

 Chapter 9. The contents of the oracle

    ****

    "Princess....... Please spare me."

    Albert made a sickening sound and feigned weakness.

    I didn't feel sorry for him. I only replied more forcefully.

    "You'd better think about it."

    He hesitated again, and then began to tell me the truth.

    "You must never speak to the king."

    I nodded. I had no intention of offending my father.

    "After Princess Riley's accident in the Remzi Empire, the oracle associated with the imperial bloodline was shaken."

    Albert recited.

    "If a child with tainted blood becomes a member of the imperial family, it will shake the centuries-old discipline of the empire."

    "....!"

    As soon as I heard the oracle, goosebumps broke out all over my body. It was the same oracle the shaman had mentioned.

    'Everything was just as the shaman said.’

    It was clear that my father had participated in Eddie's death because of the oracle. He probably didn't do it himself, but used Helena to do it. I was sure of that. What the hell was an oracle?    It's just an unexplained phenomenon, I wanted to scream at my father.

    "Father, is the Empire more important to you than me and my child?”

    My father said...... I had a feeling he was going to say the empire was more important. No, he would say. I clenched my fists so tightly the blood wouldn't flow. I couldn't help the way my face contorted with rage.

     "So when do I get ownership of the mine......?"

    Albert had been feeding my ambition without realizing it. My father had taken this man's word for it, trusted him, killed Eddie, and....... I let out a sigh.

     "I'll send someone to the temple today."

     "Thank you, Princess."

    Albert moved away quietly. I stared at the spot where he sat for a long time. The emotion that quieted my rage was emptiness.

    I was empty of everything.

    My love, my family, my power, my empire, my son.......

    The only thing that had meaning to me now was Eddie.

    I missed him so much.

    I wanted to lock eyes with his brilliant ones and kiss his adorable cheeks.

    "Eddie......"

    I wanted to hear Eddie's voice, even though I knew he wouldn't answer.

    "Eddie. Whether it's a hallucination, or a dream, or just a moment, please appear before me and comfort me.”

    I hoped desperately, but all I could hear was the excruciating silence and loneliness.

    ***

    I thought as I soaked deeply in a bathtub filled with hot water.

    Five weeks from today would be when I would know for sure that I was pregnant.

    For the next five weeks, I was going to be Princess Riley.

    After that, I would travel to the Remzi Empire and live as someone else. Leaving behind my identity, my family, all of it.

    There was no regret or remorse in leaving behind what I had.

    More than anything, I was looking forward to my future with Eddie.

    That's why I chose the Remzi Empire as my new home.

    The Remzi Empire was not a place where outsiders were ostracized.

    In fact, the empire actively interacted with other empires, so there were many different races living in the Remzi Empire. Therefore it would be a good place to hide.

    There was quite a bit of work to be done over the next few days.

    Making fake IDs, siphoning off funds to live with Eddie.

    And most importantly, I had to.......

    ‘I need to get back at my father and Helena the same way.’

    A prince of the Remzi Empire named Gran, whom my father had somehow managed to get me to marry.

    I planned to use my marriage to get back at him.

     

    Of course, I felt pretty bad for Gran, who had a one-sided relationship.

    'But he was the one who proposed the marriage and came to me unannounced. I'm sorry, but I can't help it.’

    I was about to take back what Helena had done.

    There were things she had done in the past that I had doubted, things I had dismissed as unimportant.

    So what was Henderson to do?

    "Henderson....."

    I had no idea how to get back at Henderson.

    He had too little, then and now, to take away what he had. Not even anything he valued.

    Before I met him, Henderson was like a mindless doll, wanting nothing, valuing nothing.

    "What a poor man you were."

    Poor story aside, the affair was unforgivable.

    Even if his affair had been a misunderstanding on my part, I could never forgive Henderson for his coldness toward me and Eddie for a year.

    Even if he had had unavoidable circumstances.

    As for Henderson, I wanted to punish them both first and then decide what to do.

    "By the way, did Henderson notice that it was me he spent the night with?"

    It was dark, but there weren't many women with pink hair and green eyes.

    Would Henderson realize who I was and start looking for me?

    I wondered that a little, just a little.

    ***

    Henderson, who had been in a deep sleep, blinked open his eyes. A bead of cold sweat trickled down his forehead.

    He wiped his forehead and caught his breath.

    As he blinked slowly, a strange dream from last night came back to him with clarity.

    In his dream, he had seen a green-eyed woman.

    She looked at him with affection in her eyes.

    Henderson vowed to spend the rest of his life with her, and soon a baby boy was born who looked exactly like him.

    They lived happily ever after.

    But what started out as a happy dream turned unhappy toward the end.

    Many people tried to separate him from his wife, and he ended up hating her.

    The misery didn't stop there.

    Because of his mistakes, even his child died.

    Her once loving eyes turned to hate.

    She looked at him reproachfully and burst into tears.

    The dream ended just like that.

    "Haa......."

    It was a strange dream indeed. As if it really happened........

    If there was one thing that bothered him, it was that he didn't apologize to her in the dream.

    Could he have the same dream again?

    Would he be able to apologize to her then?

    Once he was fully awake, he remembered everything that had happened before he fell asleep.

    The masquerade ball organized by the duke, the fateful meeting on the balcony.

    The unforgettable night with her.

    Henderson thought she felt the same fate as he did.

    But.......

    "..."

    He raised his upper body and looked down at his side.

    She was gone.

    A rumpled sheet and a single pearl earring she'd apparently dropped were the only signs that last night hadn't been an illusion.

    Where had she evaporated to?

    And why had she disappeared?

    Was last night unsatisfactory?

    In the midst of his frustration, Henderson realized something surprising.

    The woman with the pink hair and fresh green eyes------ looked exactly like the woman in his dream.

    The woman he had spent the night with seemed to have a striking resemblance to his wife. That was also strange.

    ***

    I slipped quietly out into the city without telling anyone.

    I had some business to attend to in the backstreet guilds.

    For a price, the guild would give me the information I needed from anyone, regardless of gender or age.

    When I was a duchess, I had secretly used the guild.

    I used it to keep tabs on the duke's vassals who disrespected Henderson.

    My request to the Guild this time was twofold.

    The first was to find out more about Helena and Henderson, and the second was to prepare the things I needed to settle in the Remzi Empire.

    ***

    A week later, Gran, the second Prince of the Remzi Empire, came to the palace.

    Accompanied by a messenger from the Remzi Empire, he brought with him many luxuries.

    My father was overjoyed by his visit. It was as if our marriage had been finalized.

    In the imperial palace, I stood like a doll next to my father on the throne.

    I felt uncomfortable in the cumbersome dress I wore because of his orders.

    I was tired from all of this.

    But I persevered, because I needed Gran to help me keep my father in line.

    I watched Gran walk up to my father.

    Unusually, he had more than half of his face covered in cotton thread.

    I studied his exposed face.

    It was white skin without blemishes, the high nose----- and Gran had black hair.

    It was the same color as Henderson's.

    As I studied him, my eyes locked with his. His eyes were as black as the night sky.

    Gran's eyes curved like a crescent moon.

    Even though I couldn't see more than half of his face, I had a hunch he was handsome.

    ****

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