"But my son, how come you are saying things like I was forced to bear you?" After calming down, Lucia grabbed Antoine's hands and asked with a shocked expression. She just realized that Antoine's words meant that he knew the secret of his birth.
But Antoine seemed to have not heard her question as he started to tremble.
Antoine did not know why, but after hearing his mother's words, it was like the chains that bound his heart was suddenly unfastened.
Tears flowed in his eyes like a river that was finally thawed after it went through a long winter.
"All my life… I thought that I was an unwanted existence. That day… I started to hate the third brother… because unlike me and the First Brother, he was the only one whose birth was clean and proper."
Antoine remembered that day when he knew of the results of Leon's aptitude assessment. He immediately ran towards his mother's castle with a troubled face. He wanted to ask her how to cheer Leon up because he knew how Leon wanted to follow in his footsteps.
But then, before he could reach his mother, Lucia, he saw from a distance that the Empress, Carolina, suddenly came towards his mother's estate - a thing that he would not imagine given the enmity between their noble background and position.
–
"As expected of the child of the bard… His talents were just like his background, trash and tasteless." Antoine scooted under the shrubs quietly as heard Carolina's cruel words.
"You… spare the child of your hatred, what did he even do? If you hate me or Tehila, just direct your hatred towards us, why do you even bother the children." Lucia furrowed her brows and answered Carolina with a slightly angry tone.
"Hahahaha… still acting like an angel aren't you?" Carolina felt amused by the other party's reply and ridiculed him even further,
"Don't lie, Lucia, we all know that even if we were both married to the Emperor, we will not receive his affection forever and ever. If not for my scheming to make the Emperor sleep with me I would not even get a chance to give birth to Kazimir.
And if not for that… you would also not be able to bear your son too? Do not hide it, even if you were implicated by his berserk state… You are thankful to me for giving that opportunity to you!
Isn't the heavens fair, that they made the third child with no remarkable talents? Tehila hogged all the Emperor's affection and her child could do so too, but the two of us… "
"You! How could you boast on the fact that you've done something to make the Emperor… the Emperor rape the two of us!" Lucia could not bear Carolina's gloating and twisted personality, 'taking pride in something like that… how could she?'
"Whatever you say… Anyways I am just here to tell you, do not even dare to hope that your son had a chance for the throne. Now that the third one is eliminated, I will not hesitate to do everything to make Kazimir the crown prince. That includes making you and your child disappear!" Carolina declared as she turned back to head towards her palace.
"Saying that to me straight, aren't you afraid that I would retaliate and go to the Emperor?" Lucia replied coldly.
"Tell him… tell everyone… make sure to also tell the secret of our son's births." Carolina fearlessly replied. "If not… I will be the one to announce it to the world, how the two of us went to such lengths to gain power for ourselves."
"You… I never hoped for that!" Lucia tried to retaliate but Carolina was already no longer interested in hearing it.
And as she cried in frustration and anger, she was not able to see that on the corner of the garden, was the shocked Antoine, hearing the secret of his birth.
–
"I started to hate you… because I finally understood why you are always saying that I have to be good towards Third Brother… I thought it was because his birth was more accepted than mine and First brother… so naturally… naturally he will still be loved even if he was not gifted with good talents."
"No… that was…" Lucia was surprised to hear everything from her son. There has been regret that has been brewing in her heart from the moment she was hearing the reason behind her and Antoine's long-standing estrangement.
"If you could have told me earlier… If you could have shared with me your burdens, your gift… I would have understood… Mother… I would surely understand!" Antoine cried like an aggrieved child, Evelyn on the side could not help but cry for him too.
"It was my fault… before I gave birth to you… I was fearless to even think of what the heavens would take from me when I divulged its secrets. But because I was afraid of losing you… I never dared to explain myself until the fulfillment came…" Lucia was equally heartbroken about the outcome of their relationship.
It was almost twenty years of estrangement between the two of them and it was only at this time that she realized.
The cost of her interference in the future was not only her tragic fate to be taken forcibly by Valentin, but also to lose her opportunity to become a good mother to Antoine…
However, as the future she saw came to fruition, and so her time started to move forward again.
For Antoine and her, she deeply hoped that her days would not be clouded by these hurts ever again.
While it was the start of Antoine's baby steps to move forward, so was the case with Eli and the Temple.
"Teacher, I finally understood the guardian's words that He left for me!" Eli excitedly shared her breakthrough in solving the process of making the wounded heal on time with her powers.
"Let's hear it then…" High Priest Enoch was not surprised that Eli could somehow hear the Guardian's words, because she was the subject of the oracle, and hearing their words of advice would be a simple matter for her.
"He said to think about the ways the creator always gave the warmth of the sun, the cool of wind, the shine of the moon, and provision of the rain, to both the righteous and the wicked… I was confused by the fact that what he left for me was a riddle when he had straightforwardly told me the answer all along!" Eli scratched her head, feeling embarrassed about how it took her long to figure out.
High Priest Enoch paused and analyzed the message left by the guardian, after some time, he looked at Eli and replied, "Indeed, if I received these words, I would have thought that this was a riddle too. When the Esteemed Guardian told you to think it prompted you to solve the meaning behind his words. But after hearing your conclusion, it seems that the Esteemed Guardian was giving you a choice instead."
"Yes… that's what I finally figured out too. Teacher, I'm sorry for taking this long…" Eli replied sheepishly.
"No worries, on the other hand… I'd like to hear the method you chose…" High Priest Enoch looked at Eli gently and asked for her next step.
"Because we are aiming to purify a large group of people, I chose rain as a medium. I initially thought of converting a pond that would house my spiritual power and would eventually be used to water the herbs for the cure potion, but doing something like that at this moment would also make the enemy feel more threatened." Eli started to explain her proposal.
"Also, I have to consider the fact that you wanted to put on a show to divert the enemy's attention. Once I have poured the cleansing rain on a small scale, probably only spanning the premises of the Temple, I will ask Leon for a favor to make my exit to a portal leading to some unknown place. This will be witnessed by everyone as well as those who were still watching the Empire."
High Priest Enoch rubbed his silver beard and started to think about Eli's idea.
"Hmmm… by showing that you teleported to another place, this would also give the Empire time to breathe for any threat from lord Raven's side. I think this will work… Let's call on everyone and ask them what they think…" High Priest Enoch looked at Eli with approval as he ordered Julian to summon the key people for this matter.
–
Meanwhile, in the Guardian's Realm, Sylvain, Celeste, Ignis, Amihan, and Zale peacefully watched the happenings in the capital as they were eating popcorn.
They sighed in relief when Eli and everyone managed to overcome the perilous situation.
"Mommy… Dadiiii~~~ Wahhhh!" On Ignis's lap, Little Han excitedly jumped whenever Eli and Leon would be shown on the big screen.
His crystal blue eyes would spark in excitement and his chubby little hands would stretch towards the big screen like he wanted them to hug him.
Ignis patted Little Han's head gently and comforted him, "Soon, your mom and dad will come and meet you… aren't you excited my little godson?"
Little Han giggled excitedly, he showed his shiny milk teeth to his godparents and raised his hands as he responded, "Hihihihi… Aye!"
