MAWBF 9

Chapter 9

****

Despite regular cohabitation and the maids' efforts, joyful news was slow to come.

Then rumors began to spread that the Queen was barren, and inevitably, they reached the Queen's ears.

The Queen's maid, Carla, grieved as if it were her own sorrow, weeping secretly in quiet sobs. Yet Queen Reina herself remained silent. She, too, had been sensing something was amiss.

Ever since she had begun sharing the bed with the King again, her menstrual cycle had become noticeably irregular for some reason. The doctor briefly suspected that the absence of her period for several months might mean a child was on the way.

Reina's period started.

Curling up into a ball against the dull ache in her lower abdomen, Reina suddenly thought.

'Could I truly be unable to bear children...?'

She wasn't entirely despairing.

If the Queen was unable to conceive, the King could do nothing about it. He would have to take a new Queen with a healthy body.

‘Then I could return to Caldillac.’

Thinking that, she almost felt relieved.

‘…Yes. This is how it ends up, after all.’

At the same time, a hollow feeling washed over her, leaving her buried in bed all day. Her maids seemed concerned by this.

“Your Majesty, please don’t just lie there. Why not take a short walk? The weather is absolutely lovely today."

Reina absentmindedly turned her head to look out the window.

Somehow, the sweltering summer had passed, and the sky had grown suddenly high. The season when she first met him had returned.

"Ah..."

Realizing this fact suddenly, Reina impulsively sat up. Then, as if driven by some thought, she moved her feet and stepped out of the room.

The place she found herself at without thinking was the King's garden where she had first met Elijah.

In truth, it was closer to a small hunting ground. Small animals could actually be released there for hunting, but hunting wasn't Elijah’s hobby.

At Reina's request to walk alone, Carla, who had no choice but to stop at the garden entrance, urged her with a worried voice.

"Don't stay too long."

Reina gave a faint smile, as if to say not to worry, and slowly began walking.

As the Queen, unlike seven years ago, she could freely enter the garden reserved only for royalty.

Five years after becoming Queen. Reina visited the garden almost every day.

In case she might encounter the King, her husband.

But after Priscilla entered the secondary palace and started clinging to him, she naturally stopped going.

So it had been quite a while since she last entered the garden, yet everything seemed unchanged. It was only natural, as servants tended it daily, but she couldn't understand why she felt so strangely unsettled.

Just as she had once followed the sound of instruments and laughter echoing through the night sky, Reina moved forward as if spellbound.

But unlike then, the surroundings were only quiet, and the place she reached was not where she had first met him, but a dead end.

The man who had looked at her with wide eyes and a shy smile was, of course, not there.

Reina let out a hollow laugh, suddenly deflated.

"...Oh, me. What am I even doing...?"

Just as she turned to head back the way she came.

Rustle.

She thought no one was there, but someone was. Reina turned her wide eyes toward the sound.

"......"

It wasn't him.

A woman with neatly pinned-up black hair and gray-brown eyes stood there, staring at her with a distinctly startled expression.

It was the King’s sister-in-law, Priscilla.

'Why is this woman here?'

Her momentary speechlessness from bewilderment and anger passed quickly as Reina recalled that this woman was the widow of the late Prince Cassian. There was no justification to chase her, also of royal blood, from the garden.

Meanwhile, Priscilla, her face returning to its usual expressionless state, bowed her head to Reina.

"My Queen."

This was their first meeting since that chance encounter outside the King's office. Back then, her vision had gone completely white, and she hadn't been able to see Priscilla properly. Nor had she wanted to.

"...It's been a while."

And the woman rumored to have gone mad after her husband's death looked perfectly fine, though perhaps a little thinner.

An awkward silence fell for a moment.

Reina couldn't bring herself to look at her with a calm expression, let alone engage in friendly conversation. She had no idea what her own expression looked like right now.

Her rare outing had been a failure. Regretting her foolish, tiresome actions once again, Reina slowly walked past her.

That was when it happened.

"Prince Cassian really loved this place, didn't he?"

Startled by the sudden remark, Reina halted abruptly and turned to face her.

Then Priscilla asked another unexpected question.

"When will you return to Caldillac?"

"......"

Reina wanted to return to Caldillac. She wasn't unaware that it would look like she was being chased out by her husband’s sister-in-law, but still.

Yet the moment Priscilla asked that, a surge of defiance welled up deep within her heart.

"...Return? I don't understand what you mean. I am the mistress of this castle, Lady Priscilla."

Reina was a high-born lady from the noble House of Dazbel. Even if she died and became a corpse, that pride alone would remain. Her desire to return to Caldillac was ultimately closer to a desperate struggle to cling to the last shred of her pride.

It was a kind of survival instinct.

"I've been too inconsiderate to my guests these past days. You may continue to use the patronage freely."

But ironically, that was all she had left. Her fists clenched tightly, her hands trembled uncontrollably.

Priscilla watched her silently for a moment before speaking softly.

"You needn't strain yourself. His Majesty will pass the throne to my child."

Reina, who had barely maintained her expressionless face, let it slump in defeat.

"...What did you just say?"

Priscilla showed not the slightest sign of disturbance.

"I said that even if the Queen gives birth to a prince, the next ruler of the throne will be my child."

"...That's insane. You're mad, Lady Priscilla."

Reina was horrified. Unless she was truly mad, as the rumors claimed, she couldn't possibly dare to recite the treasonous rumors circulating the castle as if they were fact in the Queen's presence.

But Priscilla merely responded calmly.

"Oh, Your Majesty. I am telling you the truth for your sake."

Her tone feigned concern. Reina was bewildered and furious.

"How dare you... If you continue spouting this nonsense, I shall report it to His Majesty..."

"Does Your Majesty trust His Majesty?"

As Reina momentarily lost her words, Priscilla lowered her voice as if whispering a secret.

"His Majesty has no intention of seeing an heir from you."

"......"

"Have you never wondered why no child has taken root in your womb until now?"

"...What on earth are you saying? Shut your mouth..."

"This is not Caldillac. This is Elmaril, the King's land. Everything passes through the King's hands."

Reina's lips finally parted in a daze, and Priscilla whispered like a snake.

"Poison is bitter, you know."

***

Reina emerged from the rear garden with a pale face, saying nothing until she returned to her room. She was close to being in a trance.

Having remained silent the entire time, she finally spoke only to her most cherished maid, Carla.

"Who manages the medicinal herbs sent from Caldillac?"

Caught off guard by the sudden question, Carla answered with puzzlement.

"The royal doctor manages them."

"And the tea brought each time we meet?"

"The doctor also delivers that at the appointed hour."

Then Reina fell silent again. Carla sensed something was terribly wrong.

"Your Majesty, is there a problem…?"

It was precisely then that the King burst into the Queen's chambers without warning, on a day not designated by the doctor.

The Queen's maids were flustered as they were dismissed from the room. Reina sat upright, observing the scene with an expressionless face.

Elijah strode purposefully toward her. Only then did Reina rise from her seat and bow her head to him.

As if to say it wasn't necessary, he spoke.

"Did you meet Priscilla?"

Even though she guessed he'd rushed over in one breath, fearing his sister-in-law might have been harmed, a sigh-like chuckle escaped her, somehow deflating her resolve.

"Ha..."

So this was how easily she could meet him. Had she known sooner, she wouldn't have chased after him but gone straight to his sister-in-law instead.

But he needn't have worried. She had neither the mind nor the strength for that now.

When Reina only smiled without answering, Elijah frowned and grabbed her shoulder abruptly.

"Reina, what did you talk about with Priscilla?"

He seemed unusually anxious. Reina stared blankly at that unfamiliar face before opening her mouth.

"...You don't need to worry about your sister-in-law. I didn't say anything."

The hand gripping her shoulder tightened. He clearly didn't believe her.

For a moment, Reina felt the anger still smoldering inside her flare up. And once that fire ignited in her chest, it was impossible to contain.