Chapter 57
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The meals delivered to her bedroom were sumptuous, and the maids remained courteous. However, the fact that Lilian was imprisoned remained unchanged.
At first, Lilian cried out for Sofia, but when she realized she couldn't persuade her, she turned to Loella. Loella would not refuse her request. That was the only thing she could believe in now.
But Caroline, who came instead of Loella, spoke coldly with a look of contempt on her face.
"Does Her Majesty the Empress want to corner the princess as well?"
"No, that's not it. It's not that..."
"It would be best for you to remain silent and reflect on your actions until the maid-in-charge sorts out the situation."
Realizing that even her daughter was not on her side, Lilian felt even more despair.
It felt like sinking into a swamp. This was the first time she had felt such despair since she lost her job as a maid to a noblewoman in her youth and was driven out.
She resented the world. They had simply fallen in love. She felt guilty for falling in love with a young man who was like her son, but the kind-hearted Zion forgave her and willingly embraced her.
This love was undoubtedly inevitable. It was merely a twist of fate that they were born at different times, and it took many years for them to finally meet each other truly.
Lilian sat blankly on the bed, then lay down and cried repeatedly. If she had known the truth twenty years ago, she would never have accepted Schwaben's proposal, no matter how the devil tried to tempt her. Now she had finally found true love.
She wanted to see Zion. How worried was he about her? Just thinking about it made her eyes well up with tears again, blurring her vision.
Click.
That was when the door quietly opened. Thinking it was time for another meal, Lilian turned her gaze. Frederica entered carrying a tray of refreshments.
Lilian had no energy left to beg, so she didn't even look at her and closed her eyes again. The young maid said in a sympathetic voice.
"Please try to eat at least a little sugar. You need to regain your strength to endure."
"What am I enduring for?"
Lilian muttered weakly. If she died like this, would she remain in Zion's heart forever? That thought alone filled her mind.
Frederica hesitated for a moment, then took a deep breath as if she had made a big decision. She placed the tray of refreshments on the side table, approached the bed, and sat down next to Lilian.
“I know how sad Her Majesty the Empress is. But you must also consider the feelings of those who love Her Majesty.”
“There is no one like that.”
Lilian said, overcome with despair. She was sincere. The emperor had never been her husband, and she had been abandoned by Loella, her own daughter. At least, the maids' claimed that "someone loves her" were all lies and empty fantasies.
But instead of comforting her further, Frederica carefully took a letter envelope out of her pocket and handed it to her. Lilian flinched and opened her eyes wide.
"Be sure to burn it after you read it. The maid-in-charge must not find out."
"Oh. Thank you."
She hurriedly said to Frederica, who was getting up. Frederica shook her head lightly, saying it’s no problem, and left the room, leaving the tea tray behind.
Lilian hurriedly opened the envelope. The seal was already broken, as if Frederica had already opened it and read it.
The recipient of the letter was written there. Wiping away the tears that kept blurring her vision, Lilian read the letter. And she forgot to breathe.
[I hope this letter reaches your hands.
Fate is cruel, but our fate is even more cruel. If it is going to be this painful, it would have been better to never meet you in the first place and to wander forever in search of you.
But we met, and now we are parting so helplessly. Even as I write this, my heart is so full of love for you that it is overwhelming. Even if the world separates us, this feeling will last forever.
My beloved Lily, my peace of mind. I wish you happiness. Your smile is my joy, my fulfillment, and the only light in my life, so I hope you will forget me. I will take all the memories with me and cherish them until dawn.
I only hope you will remember the stories we shared in our flower nest by the Renos River.
Please stay healthy and peaceful forever. Do not grieve because of someone like me. I only ask that you shed tears over this letter once.
Your sparrow.]
Lilian read the letter over and over again. Tears flowed endlessly, falling onto the letter.
Fearing that the ink would smudge, she hurriedly tried to wipe them away, but then she paused. The tears rolled over certain words, then fell down and soaked into the paper, smudging the ink.
She hesitantly touched that spot. She felt a slippery, thin film on her fingertips. She scraped it with her finger. There were letters sprinkled with a very thin layer of wax.
"Asked to be drowned in tears?"
Those words suddenly struck her. And so did the words covered in wax.
Zion had written that he wanted her to remember the story he had told her at the flower nest by the Renos River, but Lilian couldn't quite understand that one sentence.
She thought she knew where he was talking about. They had once discovered a bird's nest while walking together on the deserted riverbank. Whether the bird had brought it there or it had been carried by the wind and fallen, there was a single small flower on top of the nest.
"That nest is like you."
"What are you talking about all of a sudden?"
"I am a sparrow, so you, who took care of me, were naturally like a nest to me."
Lilian laughed in disbelief, having never heard anyone give a person such a nickname before. Zion smiled gently and replied.
“If calling you that is a problem because you’re too beautiful, how about a nest made of flowers?”
It was a trivial conversation, but recalling it made Lilian’s heart ache again, and she gasped for breath.
She gathered her courage. This letter might be the last trace she had of Zion.
But Frederica had advised her to burn it, and keeping it would only lead to Sofia finding it and destroying it anyway. If that was going to happen, it was better to destroy it first in case there were any secrets she didn't know about.
"I'm not thinking nonsense, am I? No, I'm not..."
She poured tea over the letter.
The ink quickly melted and spread, staining the paper black. Then, the thin wax coating turned white.
And there were three remaining phrases.
Lilian covered her mouth to keep from screaming. Zion had no intention of giving up on her. That fact made her indescribably happy, but at the same time, she was afraid when she thought about what it would be like to run away from the palace.
Lilian gathered her composure, repeated the date written on the letter to herself a few times, then removed the lampshade and held the letter up to the candle. It took a moment for the damp paper to catch fire, but soon it turned to ash and fell to the ground.
Then she returned to the tea tray and took a bite of sugar. The sweetness in her mouth gave her a little energy.
She had to eat well to escape. And if she looked haggard and unkempt when they met again, how worried would Zion be? That couldn't happen.
They could be happy. If they could leave this country, as a man and woman who loved each other, they would surely live happily ever after.
With that hope in mind, she devoured all the sweets on the tray and then pulled the bell cord to call the maid.
When Frederica returned, she sighed absentmindedly.
‘I don't know if it was the right thing to do.’
It had been two days since she had received Zion's letter. Her maid had brought her flowers and a letter, saying that someone had asked her to deliver them. Frederica had received the letter, but it was addressed to Lilian.
Frederica also felt sympathy for Lilian. She was still at an age where she highly valued romantic love, and since she often accompanied Lilian when she met Zion, she had witnessed the two growing closer little by little. She had also seen how Zion's deep feelings flowed toward Lilian, moistening her like a withered flower.
It was cruel to separate them like this. Although Lilian had made a mistake, Frederica believed that she should be allowed to part properly.
Of course, she was not foolish, so she opened Zion's letter and reviewed it. There was nothing problematic in it. It was a heartfelt love letter, but it was also a farewell.
‘Sofia probably told him to just get rid of it.’
With a lingering unease in her heart, she thought to herself as if making an excuse.
Would Zion be grateful if she told him she had delivered the letter? She imagined telling him the news and receiving his thanks. It might not be a bad thing. It would also be good to advise him to leave Shirah.
She could use that as an excuse to meet him once. Frederica muttered that she was being kind, trying to ignore her excitement.
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