Chapter 25

Even the doctor who initially thought she had a seasonal cold felt she was serious, so he asked about her condition every hour. If something went wrong, the doctor might be beheaded for neglecting to properly examine the prospective empress.

In the meantime, Marianne was just dreaming.

In her dreams, she was walking through a familiar garden. It was the garden in the annex of the Lennox Mansion.

The fenced walls were covered with rambling roses, and small animals ran around under the shade of the elms. On the way to the lake, there were round stepping stones sparsely placed to guide the way.

Marianne jumped on the stepping stones like a child. It’s nothing special, but she was excited and happy. Falling, falling out. As she hopped here and there, grazing rabbits approached and mingled with her. As they were cute and lovely, she stretched out her legs toward the next stone.

At that time, the underside of the stepping stones fell down, and the world was overturned. She was already in the middle of a generous lake under her feet.

Her body sank deep into the lake.

She held her breath unconsciously and floundered. She felt a wave of cold water all over her body. When she looked over her head, she saw a big hand popping up and pressing her crown down. A tremendous pressure submerged her deeper.

She heard a familiar voice from afar. As if the owner of the voice was speaking with its face in an empty jar, some sound rang in her body.

“Marie, there is no love in the world.”

She was short of breath.

“You are just a pretty doll. It would have been the same if you were sold off to someone other than me.”

At that moment, she tried to say, ‘No, that’s not true.’ But her answer didn’t come out of her mouth;she felt more pain in her chest. Feeling a terrible sense of water seeping into her lungs, she grabbed a wave that she could not grasp at all.

‘I want to live. I don’t want to die stupidly. Please… Can anyone help me please!’

Her soundless screams foamed bubbles and rose to the surface.

At that moment, she grabbed something all of a sudden.

“Gasp!”

She opened her eyes, flabbergasted. It was not the lake but her bedroom. The only lighting was a candlestick on a small table by the bed, but she had no problem identifying the surroundings.

As she turned around, she noticed that it was someone’s arm that she held tightly in her dream. When she rubbed her wet eyes, which might be sweat or tears, she could clearly notice the shape of the shadow.

A man. Since it was bit dark, she didn’t know exactly who he was. But she saw his bright hair, his eyes reflecting the warm colors and blue energy as well as straight facial features like finely cut plaster.

“Your Excellency?”

She let go of the collar she was holding.

“… Marie.”

She only met him twice, but he called her nickname with a familiar voice.

However, the emperor would not have called her by her nickname without any purpose, so this also seemed like a dream. Was it like a dream in her dream? She laughed quickly. When she thought it wasn’t real, she began to spit out the words she wanted to speak instead of getting up and showing her manners.

“I thought I woke up, but it’s a dream again. I thought I finally got out of Ober’s brutal control, but I didn’t know you were waiting for you before my eyes. You’re so mean, indeed.”

Eckart frowned a bit at that. He opened his mouth as if he wanted to protest, then shut up and sighed.

“Don’t get me wrong. I didn’t come to blame you.”

“I guess so. This is my dream. I do not blame you, either.”

“…”

“I’m alright, indeed. I was just a bit surprised. It’s not because I grew up in a comfortable greenhouse, you know? Anybody would have been surprised if they had been in that place. Iric, Sir Colin and Sir Jed would have been surprised. How fortunate is it that Cordelli wasn’t there! She is more scared than me.”

She chuckled as she spoke. Her croaky voice sounded drowsy as if she would disappear at any moment.

“Have you come here because you are worried about me?”

“Do you think so?”

“Well, to some extent. You might be here to keep an eye on your hostage, of course.”

“I think I know how you see me.”

“You bet. I thought you were very much cold-hearted, but it looks like I wished you were kind-hearted. Otherwise, you have no reason to be here, and you have no reason to call me in a soft voice. I hear one dream is the projection of one’s hope, but since this is my dream, I can’t make any excuse of calling it an illusion. I think you will tease me a lot if you figure it out.

I’m glad it’s a dream.”

At her frank soliloquy, Eckart frowned as if he were at a loss for words.

He hurriedly changed the topic.

“I want to ask one question.”

“Please go ahead.”

He was glad that she okayed it. Nevertheless, he hesitated for a while before barely opening his mouth.

“Don’t you want to retract the deal?”

It looked like he was asking her if her decision to strike a deal with him was an easy one.

“Retracting the deal? Me? Why? Are you crazy?”

She was stunned to hear that. She even challenged the emperor by asking if he was crazy under the pretext of her dream, but she couldn’t calm down.

She momentarily thought if it was a dream, but she was consumed by another thought.

Retracting the deal? She couldn’t, given the fact that she invested so much to make this deal happen. She would be ruined if the deal fell apart this time.

“It was you who took the initiative to take me hostage. Was I such a worthless crap? ”

“No, that’s not what I mean. I don’t want to release an important hostage like you.”

“Why do you say that? You said you would fight behind your back until I could protect myself.

I think I will be able to do so soon. You need me, right?”

“Marie.”

Eckart called her in a calm voice. Then he put his hand on her trembling shoulder unconsciously. The gentle weight and body temperature coming from his palm slowly calmed down her short breath. She held back her words at that moment.

“I just asked you. That’s all. Isn’t this your dream?”

Eckart’s face looked awful.

But the light in the room, lit by only a couple of candles, was not much different from the darkness. His clenched fist was hidden in the shadows, and his blunt expression quickly disappeared beyond the darkness. Since she just woke up, she couldn’t check out his face properly.

“Because this is a fight where you could lose a lot even if you win. You probably can’t have a normal family or a peaceful life that you might have dreamed of, ”

“A peaceful life ..”

She slowly took a long breath. She was now breathing evenly.

“I’m surprised there is something you don’t know.”

Peaceful life. What peaceful life was he talking about?

Was it like playing with the rabbits in the garden or living in an isolated greenhouse without any worry? Wasd it a life where loved ones loved themselves only like a miracle? Or was it a life where you took everything you wanted to have but threw away everything you didn’t like, or a life full of happiness alone, completely separated from despair?

“I didn’t want to go back to that peaceful life — I came to see you.”

But for Marianne, her past life was betrayal and death. It was a tragedy in which she was used by a beloved man, she pushed her father into the swamp with her own hands, and she sank endlessly under the lake like a fool.

“You are right. I was naive enough to believe that changing the future would be easy, and that everybody could trust me. All I knew was very shallow. But I thought vaguely everything would be fine. My previous life was sweet for a long time, though its last phase was harsh.”

Previous life? Last?

Eckart felt something strange about her remarks, but couldn’t ask. Her tired face and subsequent words blocked his deep suspicion. He thought that her unfamiliar words were a metaphor for the “peaceful life” that he spoke of.

“You’re right. I think it was hard for me to admit this. And that’s why I’m dreaming of this.

Like you said, I think I need more time to confirm and give up. ”

She comforted herself. Since she recognized everything, she felt relieved and relaxed.

All kinds of complicated thoughts whirled like a vortex and then disappeared far away.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sleepy all of a sudden. If you sleep a little more and wake up from this dream, I think I can do better. You said I might have to do something terrible or suffer a lot. I won’t forget that.”