Episode 106. The Secret of Birth Revealed
Kelita still couldn't forget the feeling she had when she first saw Lacrahan.
Amidst those who treated him like a hero, his face remained impassive, his voice calm and composed.
Everything about Lacrahan seemed rough, even for a young boy.
He had responded with a suppressed desire to the Emperor's offer of anything he desired.
Give him back the abandoned lands, the northern part of Adkins.
That would be enough.
Kelita didn't know what that meant, but she had to secretly calm her heart, which was about to burst. That was the kind of person Lacrahan was. Like the moon, radiating a soft light alone in the dark night sky, or like a flame that you gaze upon endlessly, entranced.
Hot and brilliant.
"Lacrahan."
Kelita hugged Lacrahan's back as he lay prone on the table, burying her face in the crook of his neck.
The chill of the north, still lingering, lurked at the back of his neck, cooling her forehead.
Every time she went to see him through the portal, Kelita desperately wanted to be held in his arms.
She wanted to know how warm the cold man's heart was.
"Ah. Lacrahan."
A responsible man would have to show up at the wedding, having been caught in bed with the Princess.
'Prove to Princess Kelita that Lacrahan is more important than honor. Then he'll have no choice but to abandon Bercheria.'
Lawrence was right.
And, to her surprise, the Empress was crying.
'I'm grateful that using the Princess to force Bercheria to abandon is more important than keeping Lacrahan. Do you understand?'
"I told you, she's a woman I can't fathom."
Kelita clicked her tongue and pulled Lacrahan upright. She then slid between him and the table, supporting his large body.
The distance to the bed was only a few steps, but carrying the tall Lacrahan would be no easy task.
Still, Kelita felt no discomfort.
“This is a hundred times better than just waiting around like this!”
Kelita whined and carried Lacrahan to the bed like an ant carrying a large load of food.
“Groovy. Come here.”
Bercheria called to Groovy, whose face was flushed.
Groovy habitually nodded to Bercheria and Rosier and approached them.
“Ready?”
“Yes.”
When Bercheria had first seen Lyone without his wig, she had told Groovy to pretend not to know him and wait.
Groovy hadn’t left the room since.
When Bercheria visited, he seemed to have gathered his thoughts somewhat.
“Bercheria. I don’t know why I never thought of that before, but... Maybe I wasn’t born in prison. Mother might not have died in prison either. I didn't see anything myself."
"No matter what you hear, there's one thing I can promise Groovy."
"Tell me, Bercheria."
"From now on, wherever Lacrahan and I are, it will be Groovy's home."
"...Bercheria."
Groovy's eyes grew moist.
He wiped his large eyes with the back of his hand and smiled.
"There's no greater blessing for me."
Groovy squared his shoulders and bent one arm.
Bercheria followed Rosie, who linked arms and led the way.
"This is it."
Rosie led him to the oldest of the imperial servants' dormitories.
The imperial family rotated their quarters every year, depending on their frequency of movement.
But a place this deep could also mean that they held a remote position where they wouldn't move very often.
"A midwife. She's been in the imperial household for a very long time. I'm sure everyone born here was hand-in-hand with Agnes."
Rosie paused again and added,
"Every single one of them."
The carpet on the imperial floor suddenly vanished, revealing creaking wooden floorboards.
"I'm a little hard of hearing, so you'll need to speak louder."
Rosie swept away the cobwebs and walked to a corner of the hallway. She pounded on the old door, startlingly loud.
Then she opened it and let the two inside.
The old woman sitting in the middle of the room slowly raised her head and looked at Bercheria and Groovy walking towards her.
“Ah.”
Agnes opened her wrinkled mouth.
Her lips, sparsely visible with her few remaining teeth, smiled brightly like a child.
“You’ve grown up so beautifully.”
Her speech was a bit slurred, but not unintelligible.
Agnes raised her stick-like hand and motioned for Bercheria and Groovy to come closer. As they hurried closer, Agnes pulled their hands together, covering them with her own, covered with dark spots.
“I knew both twins would grow up so beautifully.”
Bercheria and Groovy looked at each other in bewilderment.
Agnes rubbed her blurry eyes, as if she couldn’t see them clearly.
“To think I could meet you two and say sorry before I die. My goodness. You probably don’t know how grateful I am to the Almighty right now.”
Rosie, who had been watching this from a step behind, quickly approached Agnes and shouted in her ear,
“Agnes! I need to start from the beginning so they can understand. From the beginning. Understood?”
“Ah.”
Agnes nodded with difficulty.
With blurry eyes, she recalled the day twenty years ago, when she had left the palace with Princess Lawrence, a distinguished guest of the royal family from the Kingdom of Contana.
“All you have to do is deliver a child. If you keep quiet for the rest of your life, I can make you rich.”
“Everything was strange that day. I was a newbie, just learning to deliver a baby under a midwife. So everything felt strange.”
Agnes reached out with a trembling hand, thirsty, to pour herself some water.
Rosie, quick-witted, filled her cup and brought it to her lips.
After finishing the water, Agnes continued speaking with a slightly stronger voice.
“It was the first time in my life I’d seen a mother with yellow hair and yellow eyes, and contrary to what the Princess of Contana had said, when I delivered her, it wasn’t one, but two.”
Agnes stared blankly into space, as if recalling that day.
“They were amazingly beautiful children. I can still vividly remember them.”
Then she froze, as if asleep.
Rosie patted Agnes’s hand, as if frustrated.
Agnes blinked again, her face agape.
“So what happened next?”
“The mother cried, screaming for both children. The Princess of Contana gave her a few pennies and brought both children.”
Rosie swallowed hard.
“The Princess brought the children here and ordered the soldiers I brought. Put one child in the dungeon and take the other child to the forest.”
“Oh my.”
Instead of Bercheria and Groovy, frozen by the shocking story, Rosie cried out in pity.
“The babies whose umbilical cords haven’t even dried yet.”
Agnes looked down at Bercheria and Groovy's hands, which she still held in her bony hands.
“I thought they would have died. They had no choice but to die. But they’re alive. Oh, my God. Thank you. Thank you so much.”
“Haa.”
Bercheria pulled her hand away and clasped it against her flat lower abdomen, letting out a low breath.
As expected, her prediction was correct.
She couldn’t guarantee that she was Groovy's twin, but in the end, all of Bercheria’s predictions had come true.
Still, she had hoped it wasn’t true. The memory of being sold to Lawrence and living a life of confinement, treating her as her mother—no, living a life of abuse—painfully tore at her heartstrings.
“Bercheria.”
Groovy was no different.
Even though he had done nothing wrong, his life had been difficult.
Bercheria furrowed her brows in pity at Groovy.
“It’s not our fault at all. We didn’t even choose to be born.”
Groovy closed his eyes, which resembled Bercheria’s just like hers.
When she realized the world she’d lived in was a lie, she’d been overcome with mixed emotions. She felt both sad and empty.
Groovy must be feeling the same way.
“Groovy.”
But he wouldn’t have to feel that way for long.
Bercheria would be by his side.
“Now that we know the truth, we must seek revenge.”
“Are you talking about the person who sold us out so carelessly and the person who abandoned us?”
Groovy’s face was grim.
“You’re right, Groovy. We deserve it.”
Bercheria and Groovy looked at each other, making a firm decision.
Just as they were about to say goodbye to Agnes and leave,
“Oh no. I almost missed the most important thing.”
Rosie, who had been watching everything, hurriedly turned back to Agnes.
“Agnes!”
Agnes, who had been dozing off, suddenly unable to fight off the drowsiness caused by the sudden talk, opened her eyes at the loud voice.
Rosie grabbed Agnes’s shoulder and asked quickly,
“So who came first?”
“Huh?”
“Which of you was born first?”
Agnes grinned, revealing her few teeth, then raised her bony hand and pointed at Groovy.
“Thirty minutes. He was born thirty minutes earlier. A boy.”
Rosie nodded and smiled, then turned to look at the two.
Bercheria and Groovy looked at each other with strange expressions.
Kelita still couldn't forget the feeling she had when she first saw Lacrahan.
Amidst those who treated him like a hero, his face remained impassive, his voice calm and composed.
Everything about Lacrahan seemed rough, even for a young boy.
He had responded with a suppressed desire to the Emperor's offer of anything he desired.
Give him back the abandoned lands, the northern part of Adkins.
That would be enough.
Kelita didn't know what that meant, but she had to secretly calm her heart, which was about to burst. That was the kind of person Lacrahan was. Like the moon, radiating a soft light alone in the dark night sky, or like a flame that you gaze upon endlessly, entranced.
Hot and brilliant.
"Lacrahan."
Kelita hugged Lacrahan's back as he lay prone on the table, burying her face in the crook of his neck.
The chill of the north, still lingering, lurked at the back of his neck, cooling her forehead.
Every time she went to see him through the portal, Kelita desperately wanted to be held in his arms.
She wanted to know how warm the cold man's heart was.
"Ah. Lacrahan."
A responsible man would have to show up at the wedding, having been caught in bed with the Princess.
'Prove to Princess Kelita that Lacrahan is more important than honor. Then he'll have no choice but to abandon Bercheria.'
Lawrence was right.
And, to her surprise, the Empress was crying.
'I'm grateful that using the Princess to force Bercheria to abandon is more important than keeping Lacrahan. Do you understand?'
"I told you, she's a woman I can't fathom."
Kelita clicked her tongue and pulled Lacrahan upright. She then slid between him and the table, supporting his large body.
The distance to the bed was only a few steps, but carrying the tall Lacrahan would be no easy task.
Still, Kelita felt no discomfort.
“This is a hundred times better than just waiting around like this!”
Kelita whined and carried Lacrahan to the bed like an ant carrying a large load of food.
***
“Groovy. Come here.”
Bercheria called to Groovy, whose face was flushed.
Groovy habitually nodded to Bercheria and Rosier and approached them.
“Ready?”
“Yes.”
When Bercheria had first seen Lyone without his wig, she had told Groovy to pretend not to know him and wait.
Groovy hadn’t left the room since.
When Bercheria visited, he seemed to have gathered his thoughts somewhat.
“Bercheria. I don’t know why I never thought of that before, but... Maybe I wasn’t born in prison. Mother might not have died in prison either. I didn't see anything myself."
"No matter what you hear, there's one thing I can promise Groovy."
"Tell me, Bercheria."
"From now on, wherever Lacrahan and I are, it will be Groovy's home."
"...Bercheria."
Groovy's eyes grew moist.
He wiped his large eyes with the back of his hand and smiled.
"There's no greater blessing for me."
Groovy squared his shoulders and bent one arm.
Bercheria followed Rosie, who linked arms and led the way.
"This is it."
Rosie led him to the oldest of the imperial servants' dormitories.
The imperial family rotated their quarters every year, depending on their frequency of movement.
But a place this deep could also mean that they held a remote position where they wouldn't move very often.
Rosie explained to Berceria and Groovy, who were looking around.
Rosie paused again and added,
"Every single one of them."
The carpet on the imperial floor suddenly vanished, revealing creaking wooden floorboards.
"I'm a little hard of hearing, so you'll need to speak louder."
Rosie swept away the cobwebs and walked to a corner of the hallway. She pounded on the old door, startlingly loud.
Then she opened it and let the two inside.
The old woman sitting in the middle of the room slowly raised her head and looked at Bercheria and Groovy walking towards her.
“Ah.”
Agnes opened her wrinkled mouth.
Her lips, sparsely visible with her few remaining teeth, smiled brightly like a child.
“You’ve grown up so beautifully.”
Her speech was a bit slurred, but not unintelligible.
Agnes raised her stick-like hand and motioned for Bercheria and Groovy to come closer. As they hurried closer, Agnes pulled their hands together, covering them with her own, covered with dark spots.
“I knew both twins would grow up so beautifully.”
Bercheria and Groovy looked at each other in bewilderment.
Agnes rubbed her blurry eyes, as if she couldn’t see them clearly.
“To think I could meet you two and say sorry before I die. My goodness. You probably don’t know how grateful I am to the Almighty right now.”
Rosie, who had been watching this from a step behind, quickly approached Agnes and shouted in her ear,
“Agnes! I need to start from the beginning so they can understand. From the beginning. Understood?”
“Ah.”
Agnes nodded with difficulty.
With blurry eyes, she recalled the day twenty years ago, when she had left the palace with Princess Lawrence, a distinguished guest of the royal family from the Kingdom of Contana.
“All you have to do is deliver a child. If you keep quiet for the rest of your life, I can make you rich.”
“Everything was strange that day. I was a newbie, just learning to deliver a baby under a midwife. So everything felt strange.”
Agnes reached out with a trembling hand, thirsty, to pour herself some water.
Rosie, quick-witted, filled her cup and brought it to her lips.
After finishing the water, Agnes continued speaking with a slightly stronger voice.
“It was the first time in my life I’d seen a mother with yellow hair and yellow eyes, and contrary to what the Princess of Contana had said, when I delivered her, it wasn’t one, but two.”
Agnes stared blankly into space, as if recalling that day.
“They were amazingly beautiful children. I can still vividly remember them.”
Then she froze, as if asleep.
Rosie patted Agnes’s hand, as if frustrated.
Agnes blinked again, her face agape.
“So what happened next?”
“The mother cried, screaming for both children. The Princess of Contana gave her a few pennies and brought both children.”
Rosie swallowed hard.
“The Princess brought the children here and ordered the soldiers I brought. Put one child in the dungeon and take the other child to the forest.”
“Oh my.”
Instead of Bercheria and Groovy, frozen by the shocking story, Rosie cried out in pity.
“The babies whose umbilical cords haven’t even dried yet.”
Agnes looked down at Bercheria and Groovy's hands, which she still held in her bony hands.
“I thought they would have died. They had no choice but to die. But they’re alive. Oh, my God. Thank you. Thank you so much.”
“Haa.”
Bercheria pulled her hand away and clasped it against her flat lower abdomen, letting out a low breath.
As expected, her prediction was correct.
She couldn’t guarantee that she was Groovy's twin, but in the end, all of Bercheria’s predictions had come true.
Still, she had hoped it wasn’t true. The memory of being sold to Lawrence and living a life of confinement, treating her as her mother—no, living a life of abuse—painfully tore at her heartstrings.
“Bercheria.”
Groovy was no different.
Even though he had done nothing wrong, his life had been difficult.
Bercheria furrowed her brows in pity at Groovy.
“It’s not our fault at all. We didn’t even choose to be born.”
Groovy closed his eyes, which resembled Bercheria’s just like hers.
When she realized the world she’d lived in was a lie, she’d been overcome with mixed emotions. She felt both sad and empty.
Groovy must be feeling the same way.
“Groovy.”
But he wouldn’t have to feel that way for long.
Bercheria would be by his side.
“Now that we know the truth, we must seek revenge.”
“Are you talking about the person who sold us out so carelessly and the person who abandoned us?”
Groovy’s face was grim.
“You’re right, Groovy. We deserve it.”
Bercheria and Groovy looked at each other, making a firm decision.
Just as they were about to say goodbye to Agnes and leave,
“Oh no. I almost missed the most important thing.”
Rosie, who had been watching everything, hurriedly turned back to Agnes.
“Agnes!”
Agnes, who had been dozing off, suddenly unable to fight off the drowsiness caused by the sudden talk, opened her eyes at the loud voice.
Rosie grabbed Agnes’s shoulder and asked quickly,
“So who came first?”
“Huh?”
“Which of you was born first?”
Agnes grinned, revealing her few teeth, then raised her bony hand and pointed at Groovy.
“Thirty minutes. He was born thirty minutes earlier. A boy.”
Rosie nodded and smiled, then turned to look at the two.
Bercheria and Groovy looked at each other with strange expressions.
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