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Louis, who was heartbroken, not only skipped dinner the day before, but also skipped breakfast that morning.
Everyone in the Imperial Palace was concerned about his health.
“Yesterday, when he met the Empress, he wept… You think it’s because of that?”
“Did the two fight?”
“No way! Her Majesty fighting with a child? With His Royal Highness?
Eventually, Countess Fiagel stepped up.
“I’ll talk to His Highness and find out.”
“As expected, Countess Fiagel!”
“Please, get the Prince to eat something.”
The moment the Countess Fiagel was about to enter Louis’ room with a grim face…!
“… uh?”
She faced an unexpected person and gave a look of great bewilderment.
~~~~
On the other hand, Louis, who was shaking the liquid monster with a mournful look on his face, decided after a long thought.
‘I’d rather be sent back to Schweig Island.’
Anyway, Anastasia would no longer visit him, and Wilhelm will be disappointed in him and will no longer visit him when he hears about what happened yesterday.
If the two could not maintain the same relationship as before, there was no point in staying at the palace. He felt like her was going to be just bothersome.
‘I came back to the palace because Olivia was stubborn.’
He thought about apologizing, but he didn’t think she would accept his behavior yesterday because it was rude and reprehensible to her.
So Louis decided to stay desperate. When Wilhelm returned from the inspection, he intended to ask him to send him to Schweig Island.
“Louis!”
Then, Anastasia’s voice was heard. Louis was so sad now that he thought he could even hear the auditory hallucination.
“What are you doing? You didn’t eat?”
But then Louis looked at the side where he heard her, startled.
Anastasia was approaching him with a smile.
‘Am I looking for something in vain?’
Louis rubbed his eyes a couple of times and then looked ahead, but Anastasia was still in front.
It was the moment Louis rubbed his eyes harder as if he could not believe it.
“Oh, my!”
Someone grabbed his arm and prevented him from rubbing his eyes.
Louis stared blankly ahead, and Anastasia looked at him with a worried face.
“I told you that rubbing your eyes like that will hurt.”
“Ah…”
“Are your eyes itchy?”
“Oh, no.”
“Then don’t rub it.”
Anastasia said firmly, and Louis nodded unconsciously.
‘Huh…? Come to think of it, this situation….’
He experienced it once before.
Once upon a time, Olivia shouted at Anastasia, who wanted to be friends, and kicked her out.
‘Even then… I didn’t think Her Majesty would come back, but she came.’
Louis asked, looking at Anastasia, stunned and still smiling.
“Is it really… Your Majesty?”
“Then would it be a ghost?”
Anastasia asked playfully, and Louis’ eyes shook quickly.
“I, I…”
Louis slowly opened his mouth.
“Your Majesty… I thought you’d never come here again.”
“Hmm? Why?”
“Um, that…”
Louis struggled to speak with a tearful face.
“I was rude to Her Majesty yesterday, so…”
In the end, he couldn’t finish his sentence, and Louis burst into tears.
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry, hueng! I was wrong!”
Anastasia looked at Louis, who was crying sadly as if he had lost his country, with a puzzled expression. She hurriedly grabbed Louis’ tiny body and patted him.
“Shh, don’t cry, Louis. It’s all right.”
“No, it’s not… I was bad. I was bad. I’m sorry…”
However, no matter how much Anastasia comforted him, Louis sobbed in Anastasia’s arms for a long time, perhaps because he had a lot of heartache.
Anastasia was busy coaxing and appeasing Louis.
In the end, the cry that continued for a long time finally subsided just when the child’s voice was hoarse.
Anastasia said, concerned about the condition of Louis’ neck.
“My Louis, you must have a sore throat from crying so much.”
“…heuck.”
“What were you so sad about, Louis?”
“Your Majesty…”
Louis, still shedding tears, confessed his innermost thoughts.
“I said I hated you, so I thought you wouldn’t come to see me anymore.”
“…”
“I thought you were really abandoning me this time.”
After that, Louis began to whimper again. Anastasia hugged Louis and whispered.
“How could I do that? I love Louis so much.”
“But… I said such a bad thing…”
“Can’t you see that it’s like that with your family?”
Anastasia added with a smile.
“And it’s been a long time since I’ve been here. So I was a little surprised at first, but I thought it might be possible.”
“…”
Louis, who had been silent for a while after hearing it, hesitated and asked.
“Do you really… love me?”
“I love you as high as the sky and as low as the earth.”
Anastasia answered immediately.
“How can I abandon Louis when I love him so much? That’s ridiculous.”
“But Olivia.. Your Majesty took me to the Imperial Palace because I was too lazy…”
With the words uttered, Louis shut his mouth in horror. However, it was already after Anastasia heard.
Anastasia asked Louis calmly with a white face.
“…what do you mean, Louis?”
“It’s…”
Louis hesitated with an embarrassed look.
“No, I shouldn’t say it…”
“It’s okay, Louis. You can tell me.”
“Oh, I can’t…”
Despite Anastasia’s kind words, Louis quickly shook his head with an expression of terror.
“I can’t tell you…”
“Why?”
“That, that…”
Louis contorted his face as if he was about to cry, and eventually confessed in tears.
“Olivia… … she said she’d kill us all if I told… … Whoa!”
When Anastasia heard these words, she was so startled for a moment that she could not move.
Then, when she heard the sound of Louis crying, she came to her senses and comforted the child.
“It’s okay. It’s okay, Louis…”
But contrary to the words that came out of her mouth, Anastasia’s insides weren’t okay right then.
‘Olivia, you dare…!’
How she could threaten blackmail on a child as young as 6 years old. An immense amount of anger engulfed her body.
Anastasia struggled to calm her voice and then calmed Louis.
“Louis, you don’t have to believe that. I’m stronger than Olivia. I’m going to make sure that she won’t touch a single hair of Louis.”
“Really…?”
“Yes.”
Anastasia, who answered with a smile, took a deep breath to contain her boiling feelings. She then asked her in a soft voice.
“So, can you tell me what happened?”
~~~~
At the end of the day, Louis sobbed and told everything her she had done.
What Olivia has said to him since she visited him the night she moved to the Imperial Palace.
Upon learning the truth, Anastasia was shocked and was unable to speak for a while.
‘There’s no gaslighting like this either.’
It was clear to see what kind of treatment Louis had been living under Olivia during that time.
When she realized that, her heart felt like it was going to break.
“… I’m sorry, Louis.”
With Anastasia’s anguished look on her face, she grabbed Louis’ shoulder.
“I should have acted sooner…”
Even before the return, Olivia was sweet as a mother to Louis, so she thought it would be okay. She didn’t even have a reason to oust Olivia until she came to the Imperial Palace.
‘It was a stupid complacent thought. How could you do that to a kid…!’
She felt deeply guilty at the thought that she had aided the child’s abuse.
As Anastasia quietly sobbed and grieved, Louis, embarrassed, first hugged Anastasia tightly with his fern-like hands.
“Ah…”
Only then did Anastasia stop crying and look back at Louis.
Louis said, looking at her with a lost face.
“I’m fine, so don’t cry…”
“Ah….”
“When the Empress cries, I’m sad too…”
With his determined words, which were clear to console her, Anastasia seemed to burst into tears once again.
“I’m sorry…”
Anastasia squeezed her heart and managed to control her emotions. If she reacted so seriously, the child would be scared.
“Louis, you’ve been scared, haven’t you?”
Louis nodded hesitantly.
Anastasia strongly bit the tender flesh on the inside of her lips and hugged the child and comforted him.
“Don’t worry, Louis. Olivia will never bother Louis again.”
Anastasia’s eyes were blazing with fire.