Chapter 67 - Her Majesty Cold Hands

Sometimes we never realize when we get attached to other people....until we start having the fear of never being able to see them again.

And that was the fear which Irene was feeling right now,

Seeing the empress who treated her like her own daughter, in pain and anguishes her heartfelt stuffed with lots of emotions which had no were to run....so they came out of the eyes which always failed to hide her true emotions.

"Lady Winter....what is this?" The empress said in a low voice as she touched her cheeks.

"Why are you crying like this...it makes me feel bad.." The empress said as she wiped off her tears.

"Your majesty....why are you like this..." Irene asked as she looked at her thin pale face, her lips were as dry as the cold winter.

"Because I am a bit tired since I had to work a lot..." The empress said as she caressed Irene's hair gently. "...How long are you going to be like this?..." Irene asked as she held her hand and gently massaged them.

"I don't know....but what are you doing with my hands...they feel ticklish." The empress said as she smiled at Irene actions.

"Your Majesty hands are cold....even though it's so warm in here...so I thought maybe messaging them would make them warm...but nothing is happening..." Irene said in a sad tone...her voice almost cracked in the end.

"Lady Winter you are so considerate...but my hands were always cold...so please don't feel bad about it, since it's not your fault." The empress said as she closed my hands.

"Oh, All this time I not even once ever realised it...that her majesty hands were cold..." Irene said as she looked at the empress hands.

"That's because...I always used magic to make them warm...you can say I was a little insecure about it...but now when I look at it... it just seems funny that I how desperately I was trying to hide a side of mine...just because of others impressions on me." The empress said as she tucked her hair behind her ear.

"It's not funny.....after all the empress became more confident about herself because if that one insecurity....which is why you are talking with a smile on your face, not agony," Irene said as she looked at the empress who looked a bit surprised, but soon that expression was replaced by a satisfied smile.

" I don't know about that but I can say Lady winter is the best decision I have ever taken in my life...even thinking of it makes my heart at ease." The empress said as she chuckled.

"...Your majesty....why do you keep saying that I was the best choice every time? I never understood it.." Irene asked as she looked at the empress.

"Nor did I ever understood why you choose me as the prince's playmate...There were so many options out there so why me...at first I thought it just coincides...but even the empress knows...that it's not just a simple coincidence..right.." Irene continued in a cold tone.

Her mind was a mess of all the answered questions out of which she only asked those which she was most curious of, "...Ha, Lady winter is sure smart...no matter how much I try...I can never hide anything from you." The Empress said as she smiled at looked at the ceiling.

Irene hearing those words kept quiet for a while and then asked, "So that means I was right...all this wasn't just a coincidence..." Irene said as she gulped.

"Yes, everything wasn't a coincidence nor everything was planned..." The empress said as she touched Irene's face and smiled.

"Empress....what do you mean? Just how much of all that happened was planned and how much was the real moment? I don't know anything..." Irene said with teary eyes because all that she thought was hers turned out to be nothing but a plan created by no other than the empress.

"The only fact that was planned was making you the princes playmate....and everything else was the moments that happened itself." The empress said as she sighed.

"Empress that not just....that's the beginning of everything that happened till now...I won't ask for details but can you tell why...did you choose me?" Irene asked as she looked at the empress eye to eye.

Empress looked at Irene and kept quiet for a while as if she was hesitating within herself compelling whether to say it or not but in front of those blue frantic eyes, she couldn't do anything but surrender. So, with a deep breath, she stated

"It's because I am dying....and the only person I can put my faith in is in you...so lady winter can you please look after my sons and this nation....because I believe it's only you who..*cough* *cough*"

But unluckily the empress wasn't able to complete her words as she started coughing blood again,

And the servants who were outside came running inside, "Lady winter could you please leave for now." The maid said but the empress didn't let her go, she pulled her closer and whispered some words in her ears.

Those phrases made Irene like a stone, her brian was fuzzy until she reached her home, "Irene you are back!" Violet said as she came running towards Irene with a cheerful smile but in place of embracing her, she shook her off and looked at violet as if she has seen a ghost.

"Irene, what's wrong?" Violet asked as she looked at Irene with a hurt expression. Irene didn't reply to her and went straight to her room, violet stood there stunned wondering what in the world went wrong?

She looked at Irene shadow disappearing as she passed the corridors but for some reason, she didn't dare go near her again, her face showed sadness whereas her eyes showed guilt it was an expression hard to describe.

And all this commotion was watched by ash who looked confused but satisfied.

On that winter night, Irene kept looking at the starry sky and the words said by the empress kept ringing in her ear until it broke her limit to suppress her frustration and irritation.

"Change the ending..." She murmered as she touched her forehead, "Why did empress say something like that...Is she aware of the novel?...no it can't be but even if she does why would she want to change the ending?" Irene talked to herself as she opened a notebook and started writing everything she said in modern language.

"Why...Why...Did she say something like that...why? Was it because of the conflict that will happen between the crown prince and the second prince?" Irene wrote in her notebook as she remembered the context of the original novel.

"No, it can't be that only...since she even mentioned the nation...But in the novel, nothing happened to the solar or any other kingdom...so why?" Irene said as she ruffled her hair and banged her head against the desk lightly.

"But that's not the only problem...because now I am quite unsure about the other characters...I just feel as if I don't know them..." Irene said to herself as she looked into the mirror and in her reflection, she saw her modern self.

"Irene what would you do now?" The modern reflection of her said as she looked at her with her dull brown eyes.

"I...I don't know...I wanted to save my family so I am trying my best to stay out of the main story but why does it keep getting more and more complicated...why?" Irene said as she touched the reflection with her fingertips.

"Irene are you sure...you aren't forgetting something..." The reflection said with a weak voice,

"Forgetting something?" Irene said as she looked at the reflection which just vanished in thin air.

"Wait tell me what am I forgetting?" Irene said as she rose from her seat and looked at the mirror but no reply came instead she fell on the ground and her eyes opened.

"Ouch!" She said as she opened her eyes and looked around she was still in her room with the notebook opened on her desk.

"Did I fall asleep just now? That reflection was just a dream." Irene said as she rubbed her head.

Irene thought of this as weird but little did she knew it all was happening under the empress command.

"Dear empress, how long are you going to give her these dreams as clues?" His holiness asked as he opened his eyes.

"Until I am alive.." The empress said as she smiled,

"That won't be long." His Holiness said as he disappeared in thin air.

"I know that.." The empress said as she looked at the moon in the sky.