From the moment she was allowed to enter the palace, she knew that the king and queen would not easily relinquish the position of crown princess. In reality, Elise was staying in the Jade Palace, not the Ruby Palace where the crown princess resided.

Although the maid sent by Lucas took great care in serving Elise, the rest did not. The maids, servants, and nobles she encountered while walking around the palace all gave her unkind looks.

‘They probably plan to bring me into the palace and kill me when the time is right.’

Elise had no intention of dying ignorantly as they intended. However, she pretended to be oblivious as they wished, visiting the king and queen every morning to pay her respects, and praying in the prayer room within the palace.

She walked around with an excited expression, like a woman dreaming of her upcoming wedding.

“That woman, the Franche royal family…”

“How cruel.”

“They say she pinned all the blame on His Highness the Crown Prince.”

“There’s no way our Crown Prince would do such a thing…”

Whenever Elise passed by, the maids whispered as if they wanted her to hear, but she could easily ignore that much.

‘What can you do? Those people deserved to die. Do you even know how I felt living in the Ider Palace? When I become queen, you’ll all be finished.’

Every time Lucas saw Elise walking around, pretending to be excited and dreamy on the outside, he felt his insides burning up.

“What should we name our child, Your Highness?”

One day, when Elise sweetly asked while rubbing her increasingly swollen belly, Lucas could no longer hide it and said,

“Father has ordered to postpone the wedding.”

“…!”

“I, I don’t mean anything bad by it. He’s concerned that with your belly so swollen, you might not be satisfied with how you look in a dress. He said to have the wedding after you give birth and regain your pretty figure.”

Elise knew that Joseph V would never have said such a thing, but she smiled with an overwhelmed expression.

“I’m so happy that His Majesty the King thinks of me that way.”

Seeing Elise’s innocent appearance, believing his words completely, Lucas felt a pain in his chest. He felt an impulse to do anything for this naive woman carrying his child.

“Yes, I’m glad you understand. In return, if there’s anything you want, I’ll grant it. Is there anything you’d like?”

“I only need Your Highness.”

“Don’t say that, tell me. Are you uncomfortable? Should I assign more doctors? The one doctor you brought might not be enough, so I’ll assign a royal physician.”

That absolutely cannot happen.

The doctor Elise brought was one she had hired for a large sum. A doctor brought in preparation for when the child is born not resembling Lucas.

Elise quickly shook her head.

“He’s a doctor I trust and rely on completely. I only need him. If there were others, I think I’d be more scared and nervous. Since this is my first time…”

“I see, we can’t have you being scared. Then is there anything else you’d like?”

“The wedding…”

“…”

“I want to have a wedding with just the two of us, Your Highness.”

Elise took Lucas’s hesitant hand and gently placed it on her belly.

“I don’t want this child to be born without a father.”

“What are you saying? Why would this child not have a father? I’m here.”

“But… legally, there isn’t one. Your Highness, I don’t need a grand venue, a beautiful dress, or numerous guests. I just want Your Highness to be my husband, to be this child’s father.”

Lucas’s eyes wavered at Elise’s earnest words.

A wedding ceremony was just a public announcement of their marriage; a real marriage was complete after making vows of love before a priest with two witnesses present, receiving a prayer, and submitting documents to the government office.

“Even if we have the wedding ceremony later, I want Your Highness to be this child’s father when it’s born. That’s really all I need, but… is it too much to ask?”

Seeing the mother of his child with tears welling up in her eyes, Lucas couldn’t bear it. What wouldn’t he do for the woman carrying his child? He didn’t want to be a pathetic father who made the mother cry.

And as Elise said, he wanted to be a ‘father’ when his child was born. A real father.

Just imagining his child being born and calling him ‘daddy’ made his heart swell. Elise, carrying his child, was so lovable that Lucas couldn’t say no.

“Alright, Elise. What wouldn’t I do for you and this child? Let’s have our own private wedding. God will bless us too.”

+++

Roxiana named the white, small otter friend that Lion brought ‘Niss’. It meant ‘snowflake’.

“What do otters eat?”

Niss had amethyst-like sparkling purple eyes. Whether it had been raised by humans or not, it didn’t shy away from Roxiana’s touch, and when called by its name, it would scurry over and snuggle up.

“I wonder if it can eat the same things I eat?”

Not knowing what to give it, she tried various things, and it ate milk well, bread well, and cheese well. Petria said that otters’ main diet was fish or frogs, and Hexten suggested it might eat clams, but it didn’t even touch those things.

“Wow, a cat!”

“So cute!”

Today, Hexten’s wife Persi brought Dennis and Jewelry to visit. The children slipped past Lion sitting near the entrance, and as soon as they saw the otter, they rushed over, saying how cute it was.

Niss looked a bit annoyed but accepted the children’s rough handling without growling.

“Children, you should greet the princess!”

“Oh, right. Hello, Princess!”

“Hello!”

The chattering voices were pleasant to hear. Roxiana watched the children playing with the otter with a faint smile. It was more of a one-sided petting than playing together, though.

“The animals really follow you well, Princess.”

Persi said as she set down the basket she had brought on the table.

“Yes, it’s a friend Lion brought.”

“It’s amazing. Such a small otter not even being afraid of such a big wolf.”

Roxiana and Persi stared at Lion. Seemingly embarrassed by the gazes, Lion scratched its ear with its hind leg.

Persi took out what was inside the basket.

“I tried making some sweet potato gratin.”

“Sweet potato gratin?”

“It’s boiled sweet potatoes mashed and mixed with cream and sugar, then topped with cheese. It’s sweet, so the children really like it. I hope it suits your taste too, Princess…”

“Everything you make is always delicious, my lady.”

Roxiana first served portions for the children on plates brought by the maid. The children squealed and ate the sweet potato gratin along with Niss.

It was a dish where the sweet taste of sweet potato and cream blended well with the savory flavor of cheese. The sweet taste stimulating the tongue allowed her to forget her worries for a moment.

‘I wonder if the Grand Duke likes sweet foods?’

When she ate something delicious, Floyd came to mind. When Floyd came to mind, a sigh naturally escaped.

Persi didn’t miss the small sigh that escaped.

“You seem to have a lot on your mind these days.”

“My heart is truly troubled.”

The thought was easy. She knew there was only one path to take, and she just had to walk straight down that path. She knew it in her head, but her heart was always troubled.

No matter how many times she scolded and pushed herself, her flowing heart was as hard to block as a stream of water flowing at will. Even if she built a dam on the flowing path, it would silently crumble and the water would find its way.

Floyd was always there where her thoughts flowed.

“There’s so much I need to do, and I want to focus on that, but it’s not easy. With a heart like this, I wonder what I can accomplish…”

Another sigh escaped. Persi, who had been quietly listening to Roxiana, spoke calmly.

“So what if you can’t focus, and so what if you have such feelings?”

Persi’s gaze turned to the children.

“Because my husband is tight-lipped, I only recently learned about what the princess had to endure. When I found out that everything in the newspapers was true, I cried so much. My heart ached thinking about how hard it must have been for you, Princess…”

“…”

“When I stopped crying, I saw those children looking at me with concern. Then I burst into tears again. This time, it was because I was overwhelmed by the feelings of your family who had to leave you behind, Princess.”

Persi’s eyes seemed to well up as she remembered those emotions. Roxiana tightly closed her mouth and lowered her gaze.

Persi took her eyes off the children and looked at Roxiana.

“How the King and Queen must have felt having to leave behind such a beautiful and lovely daughter… Having children myself, I can better understand and imagine how it would feel to have to leave these children behind…”

Persi took a deep breath and exhaled.

“Since then, I often think about it. If I were to pass away in an unfortunate accident, how would my children fare? How would I want them to live?”

Persi’s hand reached out across the table. Her hand gently rested on top of Roxiana’s hand. Roxiana looked down at the warm hand covering her own.

“I think I would be okay with them forgetting me, as long as they’re happy. I’d want them to always have things to smile about. The hatred and resentment engraved in their hearts might not easily disappear, but I’d rather they focus on their own lives than on such things. Just as I was happy to love and give birth to those children, I’d want them to grow up normally, fall in love, have children, and live smiling.”

Each word was engraved in her heart.

“Find happiness for yourself rather than revenge for me. Mom would just be happy if you laugh a lot and enjoy yourself a lot.”

She tried not to cry, but…

“I’d like you to be loved by many people and love in return, living like that.”

Tears fell, unable to withstand the weight.

“That’s what I’d want to say.”

Roxiana slowly raised her eyes to meet Persi’s gaze, who was looking directly at her.

“Do you really think so? Would they forgive me for living on alone without protecting anything, for trusting someone I shouldn’t have trusted and causing all my family members to die? It was because of my fiancé, because of the friend I saved, that’s why my family died. If it weren’t for me, my family wouldn’t have died. Would they still forgive me?”

Persi realized what kind of guilt this princess had been carrying all this way.

“Forgiveness?”

Persi smiled the smile she would want to show her own children if they were writhing in guilt like Roxiana. A smile overflowing with endless affection.

“I don’t think you’ve done anything that needs forgiveness in the first place.”