Chapter 38

“Quiet! I said to be quiet!”

SNIP.

I raised my voice at Selene, who mocked us as she could not stand the cringe, and stopped my tears from flowing. Though she put up an aggrieved expression and got cursed at for no reason, she soon realized that I had gone through something more serious than she had thought.

[But, are you alright? What happened there…]

“Sob. Let me catch my breath.”

[Did His Majesty somehow catch wind of it? Did he say that he’ll take the princess with him?]

[Nng, not go. I not go! Haniel not going. Brother is scary.]

“…”

Haniel heard our conversation and shivered in my arms while she whimpered, without actually knowing what’s going on.

[No! Haniel likes mommy. Brother is scary. Very very scary! Boohoohoo.]

“Baby.”

Again, burning rage started to fill up deep within me.

I was horrified from having met him in that short period, so I could not imagine how the young girl would be.

I could not bear just at the thought of it.

“You’re not going. Haniel will stay with mommy. It’s alright if you don’t go to your brothers.”

[R, really?]

“Of course. Haniel is now mommy’s baby.”

She must be anxious, seeing how much I’m shaking right now.

Haniel stopped sniffling after I straightened up and forced a smile.

‘So this is why mothers can’t show their weak side even if they are hurt or sick.’

I endured and suppressed my trembling heart before Haniel got influenced by me again.

The time passed relatively slow while waiting for our baby princess to fall asleep completely.

However, like how Haniel felt a sense of relief from me, I, too, felt consoled by this young child.

‘Is this how family is?’

Though I never had this experience, I was happy to know that there was someone home waiting for me.

Selene, who had been keeping quiet and waiting for some time, came waddling over.

[Your Ladyship, it seems that she’s finally asleep. She should be quite heavy. Why don’t you put her down?]

“I want to stay like this for a while more.”

Though it was tiring to carry her, putting her down was worse.

As Haniel fell into deep sleep, I patted her and slowly leaned on my back.

[But, what did His Majesty say? He didn’t catch wind of Haniel and asked to take her away, so there shouldn’t be anything for you to be afraid of. You should be confident and say that I did not commit any crime!]

“Don’t comment unnecessarily when it has nothing to do with you.”

Who was the one who stayed in her place after hearing news of the Emperor?

Selene was definitely an animal now. Not only her empathy but her memory had also decreased significantly.

Though I detested seeing her rolling her eyes so calmly, I did not have the energy to retaliate.

I waved my hand for her to leave, but Selene did not budge and stuck around instead.

[Are you really not going to tell me? Did His Majesty start forcing you to speak or get suspicious about you?]

“That’s not it…”

[The Prince’s were around as well. Were they as scary as His Majesty?]

“He’s not scary, but how should I put it…”

Recalling it made me feel weak, as if I had drank a potent alcohol, making me feel fuzzy.

“Overall, the brothers were quite weird. They were staring at me as if shooting lasers from their eyes. Phew.”

[Isn’t that because Your Ladyship is too beautiful?]

“Oh my.”

I had wanted to reply, ‘I won’t be able to hate them if they had said that…’ but instead, I forced a laugh.

“No, you should have been there to see it yourself. They treated me like a criminal, as if they were on a witch hunt.”

[I, it was to that extent?]

“Don’t even bring it up. I think it was the fourth prince? He was looking at my hair as if ready to just rip it off my head.”

[What if he wanted to just severe your head off, instead of your hair?]

“…”

Chills went down my back as I imagined if that had actually happened to me.

But recalling the event again, none of them seem to have unsheathed their swords or displayed murderous intent.

“Mm.”

I was more certain about that fact since I came back alive.

If they were bent on killing me, they would have tried something on me right there and then, but instead, they sent me away.

Plus, it would matter a lot since the man with crimson-red eyes had allowed it…

[Your Ladyship, what were you thinking that made your face so flushed?]

“M, me?”

I then fanned my face and sat down, with my back slightly turned.

I could feel Haniel’s heartbeat spreading throughout my body.

“I was quite shocked. I’ve felt like I’ve escaped death multiple times a day recently.”

[Why did you choose to raise the princess then? You’ve lived your days so comfortably up until now.]

“Yeah. Of course, I’ve been living comfortably until then…”

But I had not felt this much warmth all those while.