Theodora had gone to the daycare room while Carl went to the knight because it was already the time for his swordsmanship training and the Duchess Dowager left to take a rest. After lunch, I felt rather drowsy and took a short nap. When I woke up, a set of good and bad news was already waiting for me.
The good thing had been the fact that my parents were in a hurry as they said that they would arrive at the palace tomorrow evening and the bad thing was that the jewel in the necklace which my mother had given me had been broken.
The blue jewel that had been on the necklace that was brought in by the maid, who quivered just like an aspen tree, appeared to have split in the middle. If it had simply cracked, I would try crafting it with several small-sized jewels, but for some reason, the cracks in the jewels had turned all black. It was a necklace that had calmed my mind during my pregnancy, but the blackened part had looked very uncomfortable somehow.
“Wh, when I saw it during cleaning time… I-I didn’t touch it at all! It was already broken from before!”
The maid desperately defended herself as she constantly trembled. She continued before the head maid testified against the said maid in a stern voice as she stated that all the jewels had been fine just until yesterday afternoon. Due to the fact that I had given birth, the dressing room where the Duchess’s jewels had been kept was tightly closed except during cleaning. Naturally, every time a maid had finished cleaning the dressing room, it was made sure that each and every piece of the jewelry in the dressing room had been in place.
Either the maid had dropped it while she was cleaning or she dropped the pretty jewelry more than just once. I had such doubts, but it couldn’t have been split like this just because the jewels had fallen. Besides, what about the black cracks that looked utterly ominous?
“Hmm.”
In many ways, there were many things that had been rather questionable. The thought eventually prolonged before a muffled sob could be heard leaking from her maid.
“Get a jeweler to find out why the jewel broke. Could this child really have accidentally found a broken jewel?”
“Yes, Madam.”
Mrs. May had already determined the culprit, but she still did not disobey my words.
“Ah, just in case that you still can’t find out, then ask a wizard instead.”
The legend that surrounded this necklace was known even to Mrs. May. Could it be since it had been a legendary treasure, the broken appearance became so ominous? I struggled to turn my head away from the necklace. Mrs. May then took the box that contained the necklace from the maid’s hand as the maid looked up at her. I felt sorry for her tear-stained face since she appeared to be quite young.
“Hey. If you’re being honest, nothing will happen to you. Stop crying and do what you have to do.”
“Yes, Madam! Thank you, thank you so much!”
The maid who thanked me extendedly began wiping the tears from her face with courage and got up. She bowed her back and stepped backwards before leaving. On the other hand, Mrs. May left to do what I had ordered her before. Hopefully it wouldn’t really be the maid’s mistake… I truly hoped that Theodora would never see a single spot of blood in the castle.
In the evening, I saw the children once again. Gellerhard stopped by my bedroom in the evening to see the children too, other than my godfather who simply stopped by for a cup of tea. The whole family was so happy to sit around the new baby. She was growing up comfortably right now. Then, my godfather had taken both Gellerhard and Carl out and I eventually fell asleep again before I even knew it.
All of a sudden, a loud noise could be heard clearly.
“My Lady! My Lady!”
An urgent voice could be heard along with a knock on the door. When I woke up, it was Mrs. May’s voice. She opened the door without any permission, but I couldn’t point out the rudeness since Mrs. May had exclaimed with a brooding face.
“Young Master Carl is sick!”
“What? Carl?”
Perhaps since he resembled his father, Carl had always been healthy without a single tinge of sickness. Even if the nanny’s child, who was sharing the same nursery, caught a fever and cold while the other children were coughing, Carl would remain healthy all on his own. As I heard the news that such a child was sick, I hurriedly got up. Mrs. May came close to me before draping a shawl over my shoulder.
“What did the doctor say?”
“They said that they don’t exactly know the cause themselves. He suddenly had a fever after he had thrown up earlier.”
“Is it a cold?”
“But he doesn’t have a runny nose or even a cough.”
The head maid spoke quickly while trying to catch her breath. I hurriedly moved my steps towards Carl. I wanted to run, but my body, which had just given birth the other day, could not move exactly like what I had in mind.
Carl was in a room that had been apart from the nursery along with a number of doctors and some maids. Carl was with a bright red face while breathing hard. The doctors were arguing with each other while the maids kept on wiping down Carl’s body with a cold towel.
“Carl!”
Carl wouldn’t respond to my voice. His eyes were tightly closed and his cheeks seemed even hotter than the flames in the fireplace.
“Carl, ah, Carl!”
How bad was it—his whole head seemed very pale, perhaps because it was my first time facing this kind of situation where my child had been utterly sick. Where else could this little child be in pain? My tears welled up as my heart began to throb.
“No—what is this! Why has this child become so sick?”
The Duchess Dowager’s voice rang out loudly. She approached the doctors and threatened them for their seemingly leisure chat. One of them immediately stuttered and explained that if a child were to have a high fever, he might throw up. As she listened to the explanation, she took a cold, wet towel from the maid and started rubbing Carl’s body softly.
“Carl, Carl. Hey, the pain will get better soon enough. Get well soon.”
Whilst I was holding back my tears, I held onto Carl’s hand as I began hoping earnestly. On the other hand, Carl continued to whine.
“Young Miss! Please look at the Young Miss as well!”
That sudden sound of words pierced into my ears just like lightning. There was only one person in this entire castle whom would be referred to as the Young Miss.
My child—
“Theodora!”
I started to hear the voice of the Duchess Dowager. My child, Theodora. In that short moment, an unbearable anxiety surged with such a huge amount in tow. I had no idea and nothing more could be done. I was already out of breath.
‘Amanda’ had only one child.
And that said child was a boy.
“The Young Miss is not breathing!”
The Fifth Plan. To protect the child—a failure.
< End of Volume 1. To be continued in the next volume. >
Want to read more chapters and support us? Please consider becoming a patron to read up to 7 chapters in advance!
