Chapter 50: 49

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The Past (2/2)

Duke Rothsilde, who had returned from putting Noah to bed in the other room, hugged the Duchess, who was lying in bed with him, and gave her a light pat on the back.

“Elisa, the King, Queen, and the Crown Prince of Medea have contracted an illness of unknown cause. They say the symptoms are similar to typhus, and they even had hemoptysis.”

“I don’t think royalty can get typhus. Are they all right?”

“It sounds serious. If even the Crown Prince dies, I think Princess Grace will be the next Queen.”

At the word “death,” the Duchess’s white face went blank. Her husband was not one to judge death rashly. It was very likely that the doctors had given up.

“We must strengthen security at the mansion. Honey, you must also be careful. Noah must also be careful not to go deep into the forest. And we have orders not to tell the Princess about this.”

“Yes, I understand. Are you all right? You are suspected of being the one who made the surviving Esatians flee to Cynthia.”

The Duchess’s concern was for her own husband. The silver eyes glittered with sadness. The Duke looked slowly at his wife’s face and admired her.

“Of course. Don’t worry. But why are you always so beautiful?”

“I’m an old woman with kids, but why are you….”

“I am an old man with kids too. Honey, why don’t we have a second child?”

He stroked his wife’s long silver-white hair, and his eyes bent. The Duchess’ cheeks were slightly flushed like a girl’s as she covered her face with her hands in embarrassment.

“Elisa, don’t worry. I will protect you and Noah. You both are the most important thing to me.”

The gentleness and skillful seduction that Noah possessed today was the result of his father’s influence. The image of his parents that he saw in his childhood had a great influence on his life.

The meaning of importance. He wanted to know it and pursued it deep in his heart.

***

Progen winter had passed, and before long, spring arrived when all things came back to life.

The garden of the Rothsilde family’s mansion was thick with green as it was naturally covered in spring colors, and violets and other flowers were blooming all over the place. Snake strawberries grew here and there on the garden floor, raspberries in the bushes, and cherry peaches on the trees.

The Duchess and Princess Grace spent their time picking cherry peaches and berries and walking along the edge of the garden pond. The Princess frowned as she tasted the raspberries on a wooden swing in the middle of the spring-scented garden.

“It’s sour.”

“It looks like it’s not quite ripe yet.”

The Duchess put the berry in her mouth and covered her mouth in shock.

“Oh, should I put some sugar on it? It’s not ready to make a tart yet.”

Noah imitated them and put a berry in his mouth, frowning as the sour taste spread.

Princess Grace enjoyed a leisurely and trivial life, unlike the life in the royal palace. The Duke and Duchess were like her parents and Noah was like her brother. Nothing could have been better.

She loved to listen to music and even taught Noah to play the piano. Noah, who sat next to her playing the piano and listened to her performance, asked.

“Princess, what is the title of this song?”

“Every country has a different interpretation of the title. The original title of the song has double meaning. In Medea, they interpret it to mean that no other love is good enough.”

“In Progen, what is it?”

“‘There’s no more love’. The composer titled it in a cultured language.”

Princess Grace explained as simply as she could, and Noah nodded with an interesting look on his face. For he understood that the same sentence could have different meanings depending on the point of view and interpretation.

Time flew by quickly, and it was Saturday, the first day of summer.

Princess Grace’s belly was so big that her body became heavy and she staggered as she walked.

Hydrangeas and roses bloomed in the summer garden, filling the mansion with the scent of flowers and evening primrose, which bloom only at nightfall. When the cool evening breeze began to blow, the Princess came with Noah to view the evening primrose.

Fireflies flitted here and there, glowing brightly. The moonlight faintly illuminated the evening primrose as the clouds that had covered the moon were pushed away.

The moon colored the evening primrose a bright yellow.

A cool breeze blew in harmony with the sounds of grass insects and crickets, giving the scene a profoundly cool summer night.

“Do you know the legend of the evening primrose?”

Princess Grace, dressed in a thin chemise and scarf, asked Noah as she touched the yellow flower with her hand.

“I don’t know.”

Noah, wearing a shirt and short pants with suspenders, was just thinking about the principle by which fireflies emit light. (*a genius boy here ????)

He rubbed the firefly in his hand as it was, observing it, but there was no way the Princess could have known that.

“One of the nymphs loved the moon instead of the stars. Moreover, nymphs have always loved the stars.”

“I see.”

‘”That Nymph waited only for the night when the stars did not appear. He wanted to tell his love to the Moon Goddess. But the other nymphs told the god about it, and the God became angry and drove the Nymph away to a place where there was no moon.”

“Why?”

“Because he was different from them.”

A black cloud blocked the moon. In an instant it became dark and her voice became clearer. The fireflies circling in the darkness were also clearly visible.

“The Moon Goddess knew the truth and wandered around looking for the Nymph who said loved her. In the end, they did not meet, and it was not until the Nymph was emaciated and died that they found each other. The flower that bloomed where the Nymph took his last breath was the evening primrose.”

“I see.”

“The language of this flower is ‘waiting.’ Isn’t it sad?”

Noah tried to understand the complex feelings of the story’s meaning and the sadness by looking at the expression the Princess was making.

“Did the Princess have someone you love, too?”

The Princess looked down at the yellow evening primrose with green beady eyes. Noah had never felt the emotion of sadness, but he knew what it looked like.

“Yes. It was love and it was sad.”

‘It seems that loved ones are important and that’s why they feel sad’. Noah thought repeatedly in his mind.

“When can I meet the baby?”

Noah asked as he carefully placed his little hand on the Princess’s belly.

“It is going to be born in the winter. Probably around Christmas.”

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“When she is born, give her to me. I think it’s a girl.” ????

“How do you know the gender? People are not things, you can’t just have it. Why do you want it to be a girl?”

“I think I know. And boys are noisy and they don’t wash their hands.” ???? oh Noah

“Did you have a dream? Is that why you think so?”

Noah crossed his arms and lifted his chin as if the Princess was asking the obvious.

“Of course. I’m a gentleman. My parents use the expression ‘You’re mine’ a lot. I wish I had something important like that too.”

“Hmmm. So you meant you want to get married?”

“That’s right.”

“I see. Then, let’s do that. If the child to be born is a girl, be her knight and protect her like you did for me. That’s how you win her heart, fall in love, and get married.”

Noah rubbed his cheeks and looked a little embarrassed at Princess Grace’s words.

“I’m going to be a husband, aren’t I?”

“Where on earth did you learn such words at such a young age?” And it doesn’t match your innocent expression.”

From that day on, Noah spent more and more time putting his ear to the Princess’s stomach and talking to her. The Duchess, seeing him, wondered why, and asked Noah, as he lay in bed before going to sleep.

“Noah, are you curious?”

“Yes. When she’s born, I will protect her like a knight and marry her.”

The Duke who had given Noah an arm pillow covered his mouth and laughed.

“I can’t believe you’re going to marry royalty. You already have plans for the future. You are a man of ambition.”

The four had a good time waiting for the upcoming child. The friendly Duke and Duchess took good care of Princess Grace, who became pregnant at a young age.

It was after summer, when the green trees had faded into distinct autumn colors and the sky was high. On Sabbath night, a messenger and Kingsguard arrived in a hurry from Medea.

Princess Grace had no idea that the king and queen and her brother, the crown prince, were ill. They deliberately did not tell her because she worried that she would be shocked.

They were on one knee and cried out.

“May God bless Your Royal Highness the Princess.”

The messenger delivered the news that the king and queen had passed away and that there did not seem to be much left for the crown prince.

“Your Highness must be the legitimate heir to the throne and the next Queen of Medea.”

If she failed to succeed to the throne, a branch of a family like the Spencer royal family, the descendant of the Winter’s royal family, the top of the succession order, may succeed to the throne, and the sovereignty of the ruling power may change. The Princess decided to hide the fact that she had a child with a Belfordian and become Queen.

Shortly after Princess Grace left the mansion and returned to Medea, the Crown Prince breathed his last. This was the moment when Princess Grace Spencer was proclaimed the legitimate heir to the throne and crowned ruler of the United Kingdom of Medea.

A few months later, a cold winter came.

On Christmas Day, full of white snow, they heard the good news that a Princess had been born. The Duke and Duchess of Rothsilde and Noah went to the Tempshire Palace in the capital of Medea to celebrate the happy occasion.

When the Duchess saw the little baby in her cradle, she blushed slightly.

“Oh my, it’s beautiful. Noah, it’s the princess you’ve been waiting for.”

Noah stood tall and peered into the cradle with curious eyes. Queen Grace, dressed in her maternity clothes, sat on her bed and looked sorry as she looked at Noah.

“Noah, you can’t marry the Princess. She’s the only successor.”

Noah, who had been staring at the baby in the gorgeous goldwork cradle, shook his head.

“I don’t want it.”

Everyone was surprised by his unexpected answer since he had been persistently asking to marry the Princess. The Duchess smiled kindly and asked.

“Why? You said you would only marry the Princess.”

“She’s not a princess. She doesn’t even look like the Queen, and she’s ugly.” (*someone had already switched baby Princess Diana with baby Erica) 

Noah’s strange blue eyes studied the baby in the cradle. Some confusion and doubt oozed from the adults.

He wasn’t sure why, whether it was a young child’s intuition or the unfamiliar language of seeing a newborn baby, but Noah got the feeling that the baby was not the Princess he had been waiting for.

“Don’t say that, Noah. Apologize to Her Majesty.”

The Duchess urgently scolded Noah, but Queen Grace didn’t mind, thinking it was only the words of a child. Instead, she laughed.

“It’s all right. Noah, I’m sure you were crumpled and ugly when you were just born, too.”

While the Duchess and the Queen laughed happily, Duke Rothsilde looked into the cradle in detail with a blank expression on his face. He asked the Queen quietly.

“Is Captain Claire gone?” 

(*Admiral Winston Claire who had the child (Diana) with Queen Claire. 

Silence reigned for a while. Only the sound of the winter wind beating against the windows eased the weight of the silence. Queen Grace’s complexion grew somewhat pale, but she nodded unconcernedly.

“Yes. He left at dawn the day his child was born. I do not intend to put his name in the family registry in the future. I’ll make it clear that the Princess is the child of the second son of a Marquis, who had already died. He was a longtime friend of mine and a competent clerk.”

Queen Grace bit her lips painfully. Duke Rothsilde smiled bitterly as he watched the baby with blue eyes and fluffy hair.

“Noah will protect the Princess in the future. May God bless Her Majesty Queen Grace II.”

Later that day, the Duke and Duchess died in an unexpected accident on their way to Cynthia to help the Essatians they had rescued.

Noah, who was 9 years old at the time, did not cry when he heard the news of his parents’ death. He just remembered what his mother had always said.

“Family is the only one on your side. You’re the most precious thing to my mom and dad.”

“In our absence, your wife and children will be the only ones who matter to you. That is love. Families are born out of love.”

Noah did not cry at his parents’ funeral. Because as a result, they put others first, not Noah, and even gave up their lives. Therefore, with no one to teach him about emotions, his life was always accompanied by qualifiers such as evil, insanity, etc.

Later, through the contact of a spy he had placed in Belford, Noah learned that the real Princess was there, and he formulated an abduction plan to bring her back again. 

This was not to keep his father’s will to protect the Princess and save Medea, nor to keep a promise he made to the Queen when he was a child.

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He just wanted to find his own “precious person”.

***

*Spoilers: So somehow Noah knew that the baby wasn’t the real Princess Diana. Because a maid of the Queen had used Erica (the current Princess) to replace baby Diana. And that maid was Jeffrey’s mother. That was why when she died, she asked Jeffrey to protect the stolen Princess. 

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