His long legs trudged along the cold marble. Liena said that Else was not of a status that could become Queen. Her status was unspeakably low since she had also fallen by destroying Roate. But the King was the supreme being who had the power to elevate the lowest of the world to the highest. If Else accepted him. If she waited for him alone, loved him, and obeyed him...
'You are my only husband. I have waited only for you, Sybil.'
If Else could confess her lovely words with those beautiful lips, he would one day crown her with the crown of Queen. Queen... It is not difficult to imagine Else breastfeeding his child while wearing the translucent veil of a Queen. He had thought of having Else by his side even before he regained the throne. From concubine to Queen.
It was not an unprecedented event. His grandfather, Henry, had also once made Philip's mother his Queen. Of course, she was demoted again for adultery and was soon executed.
"Your Majesty!"
It was when he was about to return to the bedroom. A servant with an anxious face approached him with quick steps. Sibyl looked at him with a pale face and sweat dripping down his face. The servant stopped right in front of him, turned his head, coughed a few times, and opened his mouth, unable to catch his breath.
“The young lady is in labor..."
'Miss.' or 'Lady Roate.' The titles used by the palace servants to refer to Else were titles for unmarried women. This was because Sybil had not acknowledged her marriage. He turned away from the servant who announced that his children would soon be born and looked at the firmly closed door. A sharp scream was heard behind the servant who was mumbling. The servant who was looking at Sybil with a terrifying expression stepped aside and stepped behind him. He was about to open the door to go to Else who was shedding faint sobs following the scream.
A middle-aged woman with a thin, stern face stopped him. She was the Countess Gaspardien, maid of honor to Princess Gretchen, the King's sister and Philip's half-sister. Sybil looked down at her with narrowed eyes.
“Please remember royal etiquette, Your Majesty. The first children of the royal family are about to be born. You must welcome the babies according to the proper etiquette.”
It was a monotonous hum, but it was sharp and clear. Sibyl looked at her with his still eyes and thought of Princess Gretchen's solemn face. She was a woman who valued royal etiquette to the point of being stuffy. She was sensitive to the hierarchy and order of the royal family as much as she valued etiquette, and so she did not welcome Else's appearance.
It wasn't because his niece, Sybil, had brought in the government. She didn't like the fact that a woman who was said to be carrying the King's seed had appeared now that the Queen's position was empty. She thought that the twins she was carrying were also uncomfortable because she didn't like Else. However...
"Please..."
“Get out of the way.”
"Your Majesty."
He looked down at her with his cold eyes. The woman, whose expression had been hardened with a stubborn face, lowered her gaze. He pushed the woman, who was still like a rooted tree and walked into the bedroom. Else's fragile outline was visible on the bed with the translucent curtains.
The frightened council members and midwives clasped their hands together and stepped back. Else was panting and sweating in pain. He quietly approached her, who kept crying as if she didn't know he was there.
“Else.”
Else, who had a cloth in her mouth, looked at him askance. Then she trembled as if she was playing a game. Sybil looked down at her with gentle eyes. Else was so pale. She was so white and fragile that it wouldn’t have been strange if she had scattered and disappeared at any moment.
'You are my only husband. I have waited only for you, Sybil.'
If Else could confess her lovely words with those beautiful lips, he would one day crown her with the crown of Queen. Queen... It is not difficult to imagine Else breastfeeding his child while wearing the translucent veil of a Queen. He had thought of having Else by his side even before he regained the throne. From concubine to Queen.
It was not an unprecedented event. His grandfather, Henry, had also once made Philip's mother his Queen. Of course, she was demoted again for adultery and was soon executed.
"Your Majesty!"
It was when he was about to return to the bedroom. A servant with an anxious face approached him with quick steps. Sibyl looked at him with a pale face and sweat dripping down his face. The servant stopped right in front of him, turned his head, coughed a few times, and opened his mouth, unable to catch his breath.
“The young lady is in labor..."
'Miss.' or 'Lady Roate.' The titles used by the palace servants to refer to Else were titles for unmarried women. This was because Sybil had not acknowledged her marriage. He turned away from the servant who announced that his children would soon be born and looked at the firmly closed door. A sharp scream was heard behind the servant who was mumbling. The servant who was looking at Sybil with a terrifying expression stepped aside and stepped behind him. He was about to open the door to go to Else who was shedding faint sobs following the scream.
A middle-aged woman with a thin, stern face stopped him. She was the Countess Gaspardien, maid of honor to Princess Gretchen, the King's sister and Philip's half-sister. Sybil looked down at her with narrowed eyes.
“Please remember royal etiquette, Your Majesty. The first children of the royal family are about to be born. You must welcome the babies according to the proper etiquette.”
It was a monotonous hum, but it was sharp and clear. Sibyl looked at her with his still eyes and thought of Princess Gretchen's solemn face. She was a woman who valued royal etiquette to the point of being stuffy. She was sensitive to the hierarchy and order of the royal family as much as she valued etiquette, and so she did not welcome Else's appearance.
It wasn't because his niece, Sybil, had brought in the government. She didn't like the fact that a woman who was said to be carrying the King's seed had appeared now that the Queen's position was empty. She thought that the twins she was carrying were also uncomfortable because she didn't like Else. However...
"Please..."
“Get out of the way.”
"Your Majesty."
He looked down at her with his cold eyes. The woman, whose expression had been hardened with a stubborn face, lowered her gaze. He pushed the woman, who was still like a rooted tree and walked into the bedroom. Else's fragile outline was visible on the bed with the translucent curtains.
The frightened council members and midwives clasped their hands together and stepped back. Else was panting and sweating in pain. He quietly approached her, who kept crying as if she didn't know he was there.
“Else.”
Else, who had a cloth in her mouth, looked at him askance. Then she trembled as if she was playing a game. Sybil looked down at her with gentle eyes. Else was so pale. She was so white and fragile that it wouldn’t have been strange if she had scattered and disappeared at any moment.
His heart ached as if it were going to burst. This woman, this woman... In an instant, regret came rushing in. For having abused this woman so carelessly.
'What on earth have I done? What on earth, what on earth...'
He knew how fragile Else was. How often she got sick, how often she lost consciousness. She was a woman who could not hold up her body, which was like a handful of sand, and stumbled and fell. He held that woman in his hands... The woman who had been sobbing ceaselessly pushed his hand away and floundered.
“Shhh-it’s okay. It’s okay. It’s me. It’s me. I’m your baby’s father...”
“Ugh, ugh...”
Else's wet eyelashes fluttered. Sibyl carefully removed the cloth from her lips and held her body, which was like white sand. The thin body was hot and soft. He poured his seed to swell this uterus. The two fetuses ceaselessly ate their mother's nutrients, and Else withered like a snail throughout her pregnancy. With his own hands, he held such a woman, such a sick woman...
He bit his lips. Else, who was unable to push his chest away and was just groaning, groped him at the word 'father'. Sybil stroked her face like white sand grains, then lowered his hand and stroked her round belly like a gourd.
On the white thighs that had been kicked, red diagonal lines were drawn. He narrowed his eyebrows. He felt as if the ground beneath his feet was collapsing. A sense of guilt washed over him, and blood flowed out of his lips that he had bitten hard.
“Baby, what if something goes wrong with the baby...”
“There’s nothing wrong. My baby. Nothing can go wrong.”
Else, who had been making a bitter expression at the dull, dull pain, shook her head. She took her hands off her stomach and gently rubbed the area around her thigh where the slashes were. Else burst into tears. Sybil said nothing and just rubbed the cross-section of her thigh.
He doesn't know if he could not hurt Else. He regretted it right after he ruined her. But he couldn't stand the woman who tried to push him away. Because he had already been cut out of her once. She was a woman who clung to him and begged for his one-sided love. But he didn't hesitate to cut her out.
The marks of the beatings left on his back were not a sign of humiliation but of severance. Cut off from love... As if it had been nothing. There was no way he could bear it. The night before Siena’s entrance, with his tattered back, he chewed her over dozens of times.
Else married a man who wasn't him and spent the night with him.
‘...Was it that easy for you?’
It was a twisting pain in his gut. Before summer was fully ripe. How beautiful would be the eyes that had locked the green leaves. Thinking of Else as a bride, Sybil felt a pain that made his heartbreak. He thought that if he ever met her again, he would definitely break her and lock her up. He would make her groan and beg for love again. He swore as he passed through the Arc de Triomphe in Siena.
How many days had passed since Siena was reclaimed? He found out that Else was pregnant using Count Loper, who was under his command. He planned to eliminate the seed in the womb if it was not his. Even if it was Else's child, he had no regrets. No matter how much the child that was born resembled Else, he was a man who could not forgive the fact that a foreigner's seed, not his, had entered her womb.
All he had to do was burn the marriage papers. But the child was different. The child was proof that could not be burned. It was proof that Else had spread her legs and received the sperm from a man other than him. So he tried to get rid of it at any cost. However, the lump of blood in her stomach was the child he had left behind.
He lived with that one thing. Else having his own child. Even if he was cut out and thrown away, that one thing was enough to endure the pain of betrayal that made his bones crumble. If he hadn't had that, he couldn't know how he would have gone mad.
“I will be a good father. I will love your child.”
“Sigh, sob...”
Else cried. She slowly twisted and held her stomach. Sybil, who was half-embracing Else and kissing her hot forehead, swore as he continued to caress her stomach.
“We’ve been waiting for your child. Your child is our child.”
Else, who had been crying endlessly at the words, “Our child,” groped him. Sybil smiled faintly and kissed her lips. He wiped her cheeks, which were unable to hold back tears. When the child is born, things will be different. It won’t be one, but two. Else didn’t know that they were twins, but she would have two chains. She wouldn’t be able to refuse anymore. It would be easy to get back the lovely Else of the past.
Sibyl doesn't love children per se, but Else's children would be different. They would make Else a mother and keep her by his side. He pictured a woman holding a squeaking lump of blood.
Else, smiling faintly as she looked at the baby in the swaddle. Else, who had become a mother... The reality of a woman who had been made into a woman by his own hands becoming a mother because of his own child. When Sybjl actually pictured it in front of his eyes, it didn’t feel very pleasant. It was because he felt like he was sharing Else. However, it was better to conceive his own seed than to bear someone else’s seed. If the fetuses in her stomach were Millium’s children, he might have lifted their legs one by one and put them in the wood-burning stove as soon as they came out into the world.
“Really? Really, really, the baby... ugh!”
Else moaned, her lips moving in a feeble voice. Sybil called the midwife closer and pressed his lips to her forehead.
“We will be happy. You will always smile like a flower by my side, Else...”
The midwife brought a cloth to her lips. Several bowls of hot water were brought in. Sibyl put her down and got up to sit beside her. According to etiquette, the King could not be present in the delivery room. But such etiquette was not bad. He could just tear it off with his own hands.
In fact, he was not the only King who had torn up etiquette in this way. Else, who had thrown her head back, writhed in pain. The midwife immediately gave her a cloth and covered her lower abdomen. The doctor approached and carefully opened his mouth.
'What on earth have I done? What on earth, what on earth...'
He knew how fragile Else was. How often she got sick, how often she lost consciousness. She was a woman who could not hold up her body, which was like a handful of sand, and stumbled and fell. He held that woman in his hands... The woman who had been sobbing ceaselessly pushed his hand away and floundered.
“Shhh-it’s okay. It’s okay. It’s me. It’s me. I’m your baby’s father...”
“Ugh, ugh...”
Else's wet eyelashes fluttered. Sibyl carefully removed the cloth from her lips and held her body, which was like white sand. The thin body was hot and soft. He poured his seed to swell this uterus. The two fetuses ceaselessly ate their mother's nutrients, and Else withered like a snail throughout her pregnancy. With his own hands, he held such a woman, such a sick woman...
He bit his lips. Else, who was unable to push his chest away and was just groaning, groped him at the word 'father'. Sybil stroked her face like white sand grains, then lowered his hand and stroked her round belly like a gourd.
On the white thighs that had been kicked, red diagonal lines were drawn. He narrowed his eyebrows. He felt as if the ground beneath his feet was collapsing. A sense of guilt washed over him, and blood flowed out of his lips that he had bitten hard.
“Baby, what if something goes wrong with the baby...”
“There’s nothing wrong. My baby. Nothing can go wrong.”
Else, who had been making a bitter expression at the dull, dull pain, shook her head. She took her hands off her stomach and gently rubbed the area around her thigh where the slashes were. Else burst into tears. Sybil said nothing and just rubbed the cross-section of her thigh.
He doesn't know if he could not hurt Else. He regretted it right after he ruined her. But he couldn't stand the woman who tried to push him away. Because he had already been cut out of her once. She was a woman who clung to him and begged for his one-sided love. But he didn't hesitate to cut her out.
The marks of the beatings left on his back were not a sign of humiliation but of severance. Cut off from love... As if it had been nothing. There was no way he could bear it. The night before Siena’s entrance, with his tattered back, he chewed her over dozens of times.
Else married a man who wasn't him and spent the night with him.
‘...Was it that easy for you?’
It was a twisting pain in his gut. Before summer was fully ripe. How beautiful would be the eyes that had locked the green leaves. Thinking of Else as a bride, Sybil felt a pain that made his heartbreak. He thought that if he ever met her again, he would definitely break her and lock her up. He would make her groan and beg for love again. He swore as he passed through the Arc de Triomphe in Siena.
***
How many days had passed since Siena was reclaimed? He found out that Else was pregnant using Count Loper, who was under his command. He planned to eliminate the seed in the womb if it was not his. Even if it was Else's child, he had no regrets. No matter how much the child that was born resembled Else, he was a man who could not forgive the fact that a foreigner's seed, not his, had entered her womb.
All he had to do was burn the marriage papers. But the child was different. The child was proof that could not be burned. It was proof that Else had spread her legs and received the sperm from a man other than him. So he tried to get rid of it at any cost. However, the lump of blood in her stomach was the child he had left behind.
He lived with that one thing. Else having his own child. Even if he was cut out and thrown away, that one thing was enough to endure the pain of betrayal that made his bones crumble. If he hadn't had that, he couldn't know how he would have gone mad.
“I will be a good father. I will love your child.”
“Sigh, sob...”
Else cried. She slowly twisted and held her stomach. Sybil, who was half-embracing Else and kissing her hot forehead, swore as he continued to caress her stomach.
“We’ve been waiting for your child. Your child is our child.”
Else, who had been crying endlessly at the words, “Our child,” groped him. Sybil smiled faintly and kissed her lips. He wiped her cheeks, which were unable to hold back tears. When the child is born, things will be different. It won’t be one, but two. Else didn’t know that they were twins, but she would have two chains. She wouldn’t be able to refuse anymore. It would be easy to get back the lovely Else of the past.
Sibyl doesn't love children per se, but Else's children would be different. They would make Else a mother and keep her by his side. He pictured a woman holding a squeaking lump of blood.
Else, smiling faintly as she looked at the baby in the swaddle. Else, who had become a mother... The reality of a woman who had been made into a woman by his own hands becoming a mother because of his own child. When Sybjl actually pictured it in front of his eyes, it didn’t feel very pleasant. It was because he felt like he was sharing Else. However, it was better to conceive his own seed than to bear someone else’s seed. If the fetuses in her stomach were Millium’s children, he might have lifted their legs one by one and put them in the wood-burning stove as soon as they came out into the world.
“Really? Really, really, the baby... ugh!”
Else moaned, her lips moving in a feeble voice. Sybil called the midwife closer and pressed his lips to her forehead.
“We will be happy. You will always smile like a flower by my side, Else...”
The midwife brought a cloth to her lips. Several bowls of hot water were brought in. Sibyl put her down and got up to sit beside her. According to etiquette, the King could not be present in the delivery room. But such etiquette was not bad. He could just tear it off with his own hands.
In fact, he was not the only King who had torn up etiquette in this way. Else, who had thrown her head back, writhed in pain. The midwife immediately gave her a cloth and covered her lower abdomen. The doctor approached and carefully opened his mouth.
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