Melted under the sadness of her visage, Rex had no choice but to take a huge gamble.
He was thinking very clearly, and there was no other way around this.
Giving Evelyn the simple truth would not suffice—she would not be satisfied with the answer if he only included the fact that he was influenced—by the full moon that night. Rex was able to easily handle the other full moons so Evelyn would doubt that was the only reason.
If he wanted to clear the situation between them, he needed to give her more of the truth.
Rex didn't mention the System specifically, he referred to it as an unknown power instead.
Evelyn wouldn't be aware of the System exactly, so it can't punish me.
Gazing into Evelyn's eyes, he was hoping that this would be enough of an explanation.
However—her reaction was not as he expected, she was teetering on the brink of exploding with sadness, "Is that it...?" She asked, her voice breaking as a couple of tears passed down her cheeks. "No, it can't be, right? Go ahead—this must've been a part of your secret plan in order to use Calidora for something, right...?"
Rex was at a loss for words, there was no secret plan involving Calidora.
His guard was down, and then this happened.
Maybe due to the constant life-and-death situations, in his entire life—this matter, bypassed his acute senses because it was not a life-and-death situation. Calidora couldn't kill him and that alone lowered his guard.
Seeing Evelyn's tears, however, made Rex want to pull her close into his embrace.
He could see the pain in her voice and eyes as clearly as the moon against the night.
But Evelyn pushed his arms away—stepping back, as more tears streamed down, turning the trail of tears into a constant stream. She then weakly gripped Rex's black shirt, "I am ready— now, tell me the plan, please... make it be a plan! Tell me the child is a lie!"
"I'm sorry but there was no secret plan, I'm sorry it ended up like this," Rex replied.
Despite his attempt to grab hold of Evelyn, she flailed and pushed him away even harder.
Rex hadn't planned for this, he didn't want this to happen, but there was no other way. That night, he needed to meet Calidora, and it couldn't wait. But Looking at Evelyn right now—he felt a pang in his heart.
He could see her before him, but she was drifting into an unknown place.
Slipping further from his grasp both physically and emotionally.
Making one last hard push Evelyn looked at Rex through her watery eyes—her countenance was broken and hurt at the realization that the child was not a lie, the realization that he did not have a good explanation for what had happened.
"Am I even important to you?" She eventually asked. "Do you even love me...?"
Confronted with those questions, Rex instantly had an answer in mind.
But before he could speak it, Evelyn grabbed him by the collar, staring directly into his soul.
"Cut her off..." She spoke with great emotion in them, emphasizing each word. "I don't need your answer, I want you to show it to me through actions. Cut Calidora off of our lives. Ditch her, for good. If you want a child, I can give you one, Adhara can give you one, even Gistella can give you one, but Calidora is not the one!"
Seeing Rex was about to answer, Evelyn cut him off, "Don't even try to defend her,"
"You don't even know if it's actually your child, she might trick you again!" She added.
Upon hearing this, Rex's expression tightened, "It's mine..."
"And I can't," He added regretfully, "and you know why I can't, Evelyn"
He could abandon Calidora, but not the child.
From the way Evelyn phrased it, he was sure she was asking him to abandon them both.
"Hypocrite!" Evelyn shoved Rex back, hard—but his hard-rock body, only got pushed back a little, from the shove. "You abandoned Rosie so do not give me that bullshit! Be a man! What do you think all of this would make me feel? Where is the bad man that I fell to? I need him, I need him to appear now!"
Rex stood motionless, there was nothing he could do aside from letting her vent her anger.
Her fists pounded his chest with raw strength, unassisted by her powers.
As opposed to instantly leaving, Rex went ahead to check on Madan Qonvale first.
Looking over her sleeping on the bed, he reached out his hand to touch her arm, scanning her with the System. Since Evelyn favored Qonvale, at the very least he would show some courtesy and help her.
Just then, however, he frowned.
<Scanning complete!>
<No sickness, normal or magical was detected, the target is in perfect health condition!>
"Hmm... Must be her powers then" Rex mused before heading to the main door.
Upon opening the door, he was greeted by Naela who was waiting outside.
Due to the emotional moment earlier between him and Evelyn, Rex forgot to secure the room so as to not let his private conversation with Evelyn get out. Certainly, Naela—and the guard outside heard some if not all of it.
It was quite awkward, and Rex cleared his throat out of the awkwardness.
"Are you also going back to the city?" Rex asked, looking at Naela.
Startled, Naela scrambled for words before she eventually nodded, "Yes, Your Majesty"
"I'll be waiting for you on the teleportation formation then," Rex said, walking to the side. "I'm sure it would be rude to not visit the person of the house, so do that and come to me. Evelyn would stay here until Madam Qonvale got better"
Naela bowed, and so did the guards present before Rex vanished into trickling lightning.
On the other hand, Evelyn got out of the room after she fixed herself.
She heard the conversation—and gazed towards the main door, signaling for Naela to come with her to meet with Madam Qonvale. But upon entering the bedroom, both were surprised to see Madam Qonvale sitting on the edge of the bed.
"I hope we didn't wake you up," Evelyn muttered lightly out of embarrassment.
But Madam Qonvale had no expression on her face.
Just when Evelyn was about to mention Naela, standing by her side, Madam Qonvale turned her gaze to look at Evelyn peculiarly, "I may have been mistaken—but did the Emperor come to visit me earlier?
"Yes, he had just left" Evelyn replied quickly.
Upon hearing this, Madam Qonvale shivered, hugging her own body as if she was cold.
Looking at this, Evelyn and Naela exchanged looks in confusion.
Evelyn then asked, "Is there something wrong?"
"His touch..." Madam Qonvale suddenly said—as she began to sweat. "He touched me on the arm earlier, and it was very cold... I could feel it through his touch. Evelyn, are you sure it was the Emperor?"
"Yes, I'm sure?" Evelyn replied, becoming more confused.
Realizing what she meant—Naela widened her eyes before she went over to Madam Qonvale with hurried steps, holding her hands tightly, "Madam, I may have misunderstood but what're you trying to say right now?"
"I can feel it, young Naela. It was not his hand that was cold, it was his soul..." She replied.
Naela's heart skipped a beat when she heard this, and she was stunned.
Seeing the change in Naela's expression, Evelyn went over to her and pulled her shoulder.
"What is it, Naela? What did she mean by his soul being cold?" She asked.
Gulping harshly, Naela slowly turned her eyes to look at Evelyn, her hands were also slightly trembling, "In the Supernatural world, Shamans are very close to the tradition, and in ours, a soul being cold meant one thing, Evelyn. Before the body, the Goddess of Death would take one's soul first before the body, and if she was near, the soul becomes cold..."
"Are you saying...?" Evelyn muttered, not daring to say the word.
Upon hearing this, Naela nodded firmly, "Yes, a soul being cold is a sign that someone is nearing death. Madam Qonvale is saying that the Emperor is nearing his death..."
"N- No way," Evelyn gasped in complete shock. "Rex is going to die...?"