Past Part 2/2
Duke Rotsilt, who had returned from putting Noah to sleep in another room, was hugging the Duchess, who was lying in bed with him, and patting her on the back.
"Elisha. I heard that the King, Queen, and Crown Prince of Medea have fallen ill with an unknown illness. They say the symptoms are similar to typhus, and they've even been coughing up blood."
“I don’t think royalty would get typhus. Are they okay?”
"It seems serious. If the Crown Prince dies, Princess Grace will become the next Queen."
The Duchess's pale face paled even more at the word "death." Her husband wasn't one to judge death lightly. It was likely he was, and the doctors had given up on him.
"We need to beef up security at the mansion. Honey, you need to be careful, too. And Noah, be careful not to venture too deep into the forest. And I have orders not to tell the Princess about this."
"Yes. I understand. Are you alright? You're suspected of being the one who caused the surviving Esatians to flee to Cynthia."
Duchess Rotsilt's concern was directed at her husband. Her large, silver eyes shone with a sorrowful glimmer. He gazed intently at his wife's face, his expression a mixture of inward surprise and admiration.
"Of course. You don't have to worry about me. But why are you always pretty?"
“I'm a married woman with a child now, too.”
“I’m a father too. Honey, how about having a second child while we’re at it?”
His eyes, caressing her long, silver-white hair, slackened. Her cheeks, blushing like a girl's, covered her face with both hands in embarrassment.
“Don’t worry, Elisha. I will protect you and Noah. You are the most precious thing to me.”
Noah's current affection and skillful seduction are in no small part due to his father's influence. The image he saw of his parents as a child had a profound impact on his life.
The meaning of something precious. He wanted to know it, and he pursued it deeply.
The winter of Frogen has passed, and spring, when all things come back to life, has arrived.
The gardens of the Rotsilt family mansion were naturally bathed in spring light, the greenery thickening and violets and daylilies in full bloom. Snakeberries sprouted across the garden floor, raspberries bloomed in the bushes, and cherries bloomed on the trees.
Duchess Rotsilt and Princess Grace spent their time picking cherries and raspberries and strolling along the edge of the garden pond. The Princess frowned as she sipped raspberries from a wooden swing in the middle of the spring-scented garden.
“It's incredibly sour.”
Duke Rotsilt, who had returned from putting Noah to sleep in another room, was hugging the Duchess, who was lying in bed with him, and patting her on the back.
"Elisha. I heard that the King, Queen, and Crown Prince of Medea have fallen ill with an unknown illness. They say the symptoms are similar to typhus, and they've even been coughing up blood."
“I don’t think royalty would get typhus. Are they okay?”
"It seems serious. If the Crown Prince dies, Princess Grace will become the next Queen."
The Duchess's pale face paled even more at the word "death." Her husband wasn't one to judge death lightly. It was likely he was, and the doctors had given up on him.
"We need to beef up security at the mansion. Honey, you need to be careful, too. And Noah, be careful not to venture too deep into the forest. And I have orders not to tell the Princess about this."
"Yes. I understand. Are you alright? You're suspected of being the one who caused the surviving Esatians to flee to Cynthia."
Duchess Rotsilt's concern was directed at her husband. Her large, silver eyes shone with a sorrowful glimmer. He gazed intently at his wife's face, his expression a mixture of inward surprise and admiration.
"Of course. You don't have to worry about me. But why are you always pretty?"
“I'm a married woman with a child now, too.”
“I’m a father too. Honey, how about having a second child while we’re at it?”
His eyes, caressing her long, silver-white hair, slackened. Her cheeks, blushing like a girl's, covered her face with both hands in embarrassment.
“Don’t worry, Elisha. I will protect you and Noah. You are the most precious thing to me.”
Noah's current affection and skillful seduction are in no small part due to his father's influence. The image he saw of his parents as a child had a profound impact on his life.
The meaning of something precious. He wanted to know it, and he pursued it deeply.
***
The winter of Frogen has passed, and spring, when all things come back to life, has arrived.
The gardens of the Rotsilt family mansion were naturally bathed in spring light, the greenery thickening and violets and daylilies in full bloom. Snakeberries sprouted across the garden floor, raspberries bloomed in the bushes, and cherries bloomed on the trees.
Duchess Rotsilt and Princess Grace spent their time picking cherries and raspberries and strolling along the edge of the garden pond. The Princess frowned as she sipped raspberries from a wooden swing in the middle of the spring-scented garden.
“It's incredibly sour.”
“I guess it’s not ripe yet?”
The Duchess put a strawberry in her mouth, covered her mouth, and shivered.
“Oh, I guess I could sprinkle some sugar on it. It’s not ready to be made into a tart yet.”
Noah followed them and put a strawberry in his mouth, but frowned slightly at the sour taste that spread across his face.
Princess Grace enjoyed a leisurely, simple life, unlike life in the palace. With the Duke and Duchess as her parents and Noah as her younger brother, she couldn't have asked for more.
She enjoyed listening to music on her record player and even taught Noah how to play the piano. Sitting next to her, Noah listened to her playing and asked her a question.
“Princess, what’s the title of this song?”
"The title's interpretation varies from country to country. The original title had ambiguous meanings. In Medea, it's interpreted to mean that no other love is possible."
“What is it in Frogen?”
"Is there no love greater than that? The composer gave it a title in the language of the culture."
As Princess Grace explained it as simply as possible, Noah nodded with interest. He understood that even the same sentence can have different meanings depending on perspective and interpretation.
Time passed quickly, and before he knew it, it was the first day of the month, the day before Ipchu.
Princess Grace was so bloated that she felt heavy and had to waddle as she walked.
In the summer garden, hydrangeas and roses bloomed during the day, filling the mansion with their fragrance. At dusk, evening primroses, which bloom only at night, burst into bloom. As the cool evening breeze began to blow, the Princess took Noah out to admire the evening primroses.
Fireflies flitted about, twinkling like a halo of light. The clouds obscuring the moon drifted away, casting their shadows softly across the evening primrose.
The evening primrose, which has the color of the moon, has a distinct yellow color.
A cool breeze blew, and the sounds of insects and crickets blended together to create the mellow atmosphere of a refreshing summer night.
“Do you know the legend of the evening primrose?”
Princess Grace, wearing a thin chemise and a muffler, asked Noah while flicking a yellow flower with her hand.
"I don't know."
Noah, wearing shorts and a shirt with suspenders, was thinking about how fireflies emit light.
He was observing the firefly he was holding in his hand, but the Princess had no way of knowing.
“They say a nymph loved the moon instead of the stars. Nymphs originally loved the stars.”
"Yes."
"That nymph waited for starless nights, longing to tell the moon goddess his love. But other nymphs told the gods, and the gods, enraged, banished the nymph to a place without stars or moon."
“Why do you say that?”
“Because they are different from us.”
Dark clouds obscured the moon. In an instant, everything darkened, making her voice even clearer. The fireflies circling in the darkness were also clearly visible.
"The moon goddess, knowing the truth, searched for the nymph who loved her. Ultimately, they never met, and only after the nymph withered and died did she find him. The flower that bloomed where the nymph died is the evening primrose."
"I see."
“They say the flower language is waiting. Isn’t it sad?”
Noah watched the Princess's expression and tried to understand the complex emotions of the story's meaning and pathos.
“Princess, did you have someone precious to you, too?”
She looked down at the yellow evening primrose with her beady green eyes. Noah had never felt sadness, but he knew what kind of expression it was.
“Yeah. It was love, and it was just as sad.”
"The people we love are precious, and that's why we feel sadness," Noah mulled over in his mind.
“When can we meet?”
Noah asked, carefully placing his small hand on her stomach.
“They say he’ll be born in winter. Probably around Christmas.”
“Please give it to me when she's born. I think it’ll be a girl.”
"How do you know gender? People aren't objects; they're not meant to be possessed. Why would you prefer a girl?"
“I think so. And boys are noisy and don’t wash their hands. They’re not very good.”
“Are you dreaming? You aren’t.”
Noah crossed his arms and raised his chin as if asking the obvious.
"Of course. I'm a gentleman. My parents use the expression "have" to describe each other. They even say "mine." I wish I had something precious like that, too."
“Hmm. Did you mean you wanted to get married?”
"That's right."
"Really? Then let's do that. If the baby is a girl, you will become a knight and protect her like you did for me. That way, you will win her heart, fall in love, and get married."
At Princess Grace's words, Noah rubbed his cheek and looked slightly embarrassed.
“I’m going to be the husband-to-be?”
"Where on earth does a child learn such language? And it doesn't match that innocent expression."
From that day on, Noah began to spend more time listening to the Princess's belly and talking to her. The Duchess, seeing this, found it odd and asked Noah, lying in bed before falling asleep, why.
“Noah. Are you just curious?”
“Yeah. I decided to protect her like a knight when she was born, and then get married.”
The Duke, who had been giving Noah a pillow, covered his mouth and laughed heartily.
"To marry into royalty? You have your future planned out. You're an ambitious man."
The four had a wonderful time awaiting the arrival of her child. The kind Duke and Duchess took great care of Princess Grace, who was pregnant at a young age.
As summer faded, the green trees faded to the vibrant colors of autumn, and the sky grew higher, a messenger and guards arrived urgently from Medea on Sabbath night.
Princess Grace was completely unaware that the King, Queen, and her brother, the Crown Prince, were ill. She deliberately kept it a secret, fearing they would be shocked by her pregnancy.
They cried out, kneeling on one knee.
“May God bless Her Royal Highness.”
The messenger brought news that the King and Queen had passed away, and that the Crown Prince did not have much time left.
“Your Highness, as the heir to the throne, you must become the next Queen of Medea.”
If she fails to ascend to the throne, the throne will likely fall to a descendant of the House of Winters, a branch of the same family lineage as the House of Spencer and thus higher in the line of succession, potentially shifting the sovereign power. The Princess concealed the fact that she was pregnant with a Belford man and resolved to become Queen.
Shortly after Princess Grace left the mansion and returned to Medea, the Crown Prince passed away. Princess Grace Spencer Mary was proclaimed ruler of the United Kingdom of Medea as the rightful heir to the throne.
A few months later, the cold winter came again.
On a snowy Christmas day, the good news of a Princess's birth arrived. The Duke and Duchess of Rotsilt and Noah visited Tempshire Palace in the capital of Medea to celebrate the occasion.
The Duchess blushed as she looked at the tiny baby in the cradle.
“Oh my, how pretty. Noah, she is the Princess you have been waiting for.”
Noah stood up and peered into the crib with curious eyes. Queen Grace, dressed in her postpartum attire, sat on the bed and looked at Noah with an apologetic expression.
"Noah, I can't marry the Princess. She'll be the sole heir."
Noah, who had been staring intently at the baby in the ornate cradle crafted from gold, shook his head.
“You don’t have to do it.”
"Why?" She expected him to ask persistently, but he gave a surprising answer. The Duchess smiled kindly and asked.
“Why? You said you would definitely marry the Princess.”
“She’s not a Princess. She doesn’t look like a Queen, and she’s ugly.”
Noah's mysterious blue eyes studied the baby in the cradle, a hint of confusion and questioning.
Noah couldn't tell if it was the child's intuition or just the unfamiliarity of seeing a newborn, but he had a feeling that this wasn't the child he was waiting for.
"That's not what I meant, Noah. I'm sorry, Your Majesty."
The Duchess scolded Noah urgently, but Queen Grace, thinking it was just a child's remark, ignored it. Instead, she burst into laughter.
"It's okay. That's just how babies are. Noah, you were probably all wrinkled and ugly when you were born, too."
While the Duchess and the Queen laughed happily, Duke Rotsilt peered into the cradle with a blank expression. He quietly asked the Queen, who had become his wife,
“Has Captain Claire left?”
A moment of silence passed. Only the sound of the winter wind knocking against the window eased the weight of the silence. Queen Grace's face paled slightly, but she nodded, feigning indifference.
"Yes. I heard he left at dawn on the day the child was born. I have no intention of leaving any more official documents. I intend to reveal that the Princess is the child of the second son of the deceased Marquis. He was a longtime friend of mine and a capable scribe."
Her lips were painfully chapped as she finished speaking. Duke Rotsilt smiled bitterly as he watched the baby, with blue eyes and fluffy hair, writhe in pain.
“Noah will protect the Princess in the future. May God bless Her Majesty Queen Grace II.”
Later, the Duke and Duchess died in an unexpected accident while heading to Sindia to help the Esatians they had rescued.
Noah, then nine years old, didn't cry when he heard the news of his parents' deaths. He simply recalled the things his mother had always said.
"Your family is your only ally. You are the most precious thing to Mom and Dad."
"When we're gone, your wife and children will be your only and most precious possessions. That's love. Family is born from love."
Noah didn't even cry at his parents' funerals. Ultimately, they prioritized others over him, even sacrificing their lives. From then on, with no one to teach him about emotions, his life was constantly marked by epithets like "devil" and "madness."
Afterwards, Noah learns from a spy he had placed in Belford that the real Princess is there, and plans a kidnapping operation to bring her back.
It wasn't to keep his father's will to protect the Princess and help Medea, nor was it to keep a promise he made to the Queen when he was young.
He just wanted to find his own 'precious person'.
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