🌹🌹🌹
RAIN drizzled from the dim, cloudy sky, wetting the glass windowpanes. Alicia watched the droplets as a man arguing with a woman echoed in the distance.
Before long, her door opened, and footsteps hurried in.
“Please tell me what’s going on, Your Highness.”
“Lord Clovis, please wait! As close as you are to Her Highness, you cannot just barge in like that!!”
Ignoring Annie’s frantic calls behind him, Clovis stared at Alicia. The maid glared at the anxious and tense adviser, but there was also a look of confusion in her eyes.
Taking a deep breath, Alicia turned around as calmly as she could. She almost flinched as Clovis’s violet gaze bore into her, but she quickly swallowed her turmoil.
“It’s okay, Annie. I knew he would come. Could you leave us alone, please?”
“But Your Highness—”
“Leave us, please.”
Annie glared hard at Clovis, but logic won out in the end. The loyal adviser would not do anything to hurt Alicia. With a small bow, she retreated reluctantly.
The rain had gotten heavier, with the howling wind blowing the chilly rain against the window. Listening to the sounds, Alicia imagined an imaginary wall of rain separating her and Clovis.
“I’ve remembered something from my previous life,” she started. When Clovis failed to show any hint of surprise, she continued. “It happened when we visited Edmund’s workshop. In those memories, I understood that the revolution was planned by Erdal all along, with Chancellor Yggdrasil pulling the strings. After I died, Yggdrasil’s men attacked the revolutionaries and fled Heilland with King Fritz.”
“…I see,” was all her adviser offered in a low voice. “How does that explain your decision to marry Crown Prince Fritz?”
“It will be too risky to let him do as he pleases,” she explained, repeating the words she’d rehearsed in her head. “We don’t know if the crown prince and chancellor planned the revolution together or if the chancellor took advantage of a situation that Fritz’s oppression created. If the former is true, simply ousting Yggdrasil from the Senate will not eliminate all threats to Heilland.”
Once Riddhe had gathered the evidence, they could expose the chancellor as the mastermind and have him removed from the political playing field. However, the same could not be done for Crown Prince Fritz, heir to Erdal’s throne. In fact, they had no clue as to what his true motives and ambitions were.
If he had been a pawn, then the revolution would have caught him by surprise. Even so, Alicia couldn’t trust him completely. So, she had decided to keep him close so she could anticipate any moves.
Despite hearing her explanations, Clovis remained tense. In fact, his manner grew more upset the more she spoke.
“Keep him close? Do you really think that will work? First, he is the heir to Erdal’s throne. Neither the Privy Council nor our people will welcome him with open arms.”
“I will make sure Father appoints me as Heilland’s heir before our marriage. With all doubts about the line of succession cleared, the people should be more willing to accept His Highness.”
“And what about Miss Charlotte? No one will accept him keeping her around as his mistress.”
“Unfortunately, once Chancellor Yggdrasil loses his position of power, Charlotte will no longer have any right to be with His Highness. Besides, Empress Elizabeth would not approve. I’ll make him give her up, even if it makes him hate me.”
“But there must be something else we can do. We’ve gone to such lengths to gain the empress’s favor. Surely we can keep an eye on the crown prince from afar and continue working to strengthen our ties with Erdal—”
“But if it doesn’t work, then people will die!”
A painful silence filled the room.
The rain tapping against the glass now grated on her ears.
“I’ve made up my mind,” she said again, fighting to keep the quiver from her voice. “I was given a second chance in life to save this kingdom. I cannot fail in that duty. If need be, I’ll even…”
“You’ll even give me up. Is that what you want to say?”
Seeing the shock on her face, Clovis quickly averted his eyes with an apology. He paced the room as if searching for the right words.
Finally, he came to a stop, looking at her with suspicion in his eyes.
“…I’d just like to know one thing. There were two occasions when the sight of me terrified you. Once, when you collapsed in the Hall of Time. Second, in the moment when we first met. At first, I thought you were upset by memories of what my grandfather, Zach Graham, had done. But you didn’t know about any of that until Riddhe told you. So, what were you terrified of? What made you look at me like you would a ghost?”
Coldness crept into Alicia’s limbs. She didn’t want to hear more, but as she sat stunned, the words came.
“I was the one who killed you in your previous life. Am I right?”
Rain slid down the windowpane, casting wavering shadows onto the floor. Through the roar of the downpour, Clovis’s tense sigh echoed loudly through the room.
It was the worst.
She knew how much pain and suffering the truth would cause him, but how could she comfort him now when she needed to push him away…? How cruel she had to be to have to confirm the truth.
“Yes,” she answered hoarsely. “I died by your sword in my previous life, Clovis Cromwell.”
Clovis groaned, his voice squeezed out in agony as he closed his eyes as if in physical pain. After an eternity of silence, he let out a long, deep breath, releasing the tension from his shoulders.
When he next looked at her, she could no longer see herself reflected in his violet gaze.
“I understand,” he whispered tiredly. “I have business in the Marquisate of Rozen today, and you have to prepare for your inspection tour of Sheraford tomorrow. Let us carry out our respective duties and reconvene hereafter to discuss how we should proceed with Erdal.”
“…I’d like Nigel to be in charge of that.”
“No, I will do it.”
Clovis’s tone left no room for argument, and Alicia swallowed her words.
“I am still your adviser,” he added with a sad smile. “Please don’t take that from me.”
The heavy rain and howling winds sounded so sorrowful that it broke her heart. Clovis bowed and quietly left the room, the click of the shutting door resounding loudly.
Left alone, Alicia stared up at the ceiling, then turned to look out the window.
Goodbye.
The unspoken words fell to the ground with her tears.
Everything changed when news carried by an Erdalian envoy arrived a few days later.