Total pages in book: 142
Estimated words: 137017 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 685(@200wpm)___ 548(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 137017 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 685(@200wpm)___ 548(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
“Bella, help me up,” Alicia said, reaching for her.
“Are you all right, Allie?” Kalon immediately turned to her. “Do you need help?”
Allie.
He called her Allie.
Alicia laughed, touching his face. “I have a slight headache, that’s all. I’ll just be inside where it’s quiet for a little while, okay?”
The scene scooted forwards to Alicia resting on a couch in one of the sitting rooms and showed me Bella saying she’d get some tea and some of the nausea medicine the physician had left here. A few minutes passed before Rina opened the door.
“Your Highness, I have the tea here.” Rina carried the tray inside and set it down. “The maid gave it to me outside.”
“The maid? I thought Bella was making it,” Alicia said, slowly sitting up.
“She said Bella asked her while she was on the way to fetch your medicine.”
“Oh, right. Would you pour it for me, Rina?”
“Of course, Princess.”
“Ugh, you know that still sounds weird. It’s only been a few weeks since Kalon became Crown Prince.”
Rina smiled as she poured the tea. “I suppose you’ll have to get used to it. You’ll be the Empress one day.”
“I never signed up for that, you know,” Alicia grumbled, taking the teacup. “In fact, I went out of my way to avoid it. That silly father-in-law of mine got his own way in the end.”
“The Emperor loves you dearly, Princess.”
“Stop calling me that.” Alicia sipped. “I’ll be fine until Bella returns, so you can wait outside.”
Rina bowed her head and disappeared, and Alicia sighed happily and continued drinking her tea.
“Goodness, I’m exhausted.” She put the teacup down and leant back on the couch, closing her eyes. She rested her hand on her swollen stomach, gently rubbing it, until her hand stilled and fell to her thighs.
Her entire body went limp before my eyes, with her head lolling to the side before she slumped to the side.
No.
No, no, no.
Was I witnessing my own past death right now?
God, you cruel bastard! How could you?
The door opened, and Bella stepped inside with a tea tray. “Well, Your Highness, I—” Bella looked up, and an expression of pure horror etched itself across her features. “Allie!”
Her raw scream ripped through the room, and chaos erupted as Rina and everyone else nearby rushed into the room. I was merely a viewer to the heartbreak, but there was a real ache I felt from somewhere I couldn’t pinpoint.
It was Kalon rushing in that broke me.
He collapsed on the floor next to her and grabbed her, pulling her into him. “Allie, Allie, wake up. No, no, Allie.”
He touched her face, her arms, her hands. He poked and prodded, grabbed and squeezed, even hitting her cheeks, desperately trying to get a response from her.
But none came.
She was dead.
No matter how hard he tried, she would never reply again.
“No. You have to wake up. For our baby. Our baby, Allie.” Kalon buried his face in her neck, cradling her against him, and his words were raw through his gut-wrenching sobs. “Please wake up. My Allie…”
***
Tears streamed down my face. There was a heaving pain in my chest that felt as though I’d just been through ten breakups, and I did the only thing I could do in that moment.
I curled into a ball on this stupid divine sun lounger and cried until my stomach burned and I was on the brink of dehydration.
“You lied,” I whispered to God, burying my face in my hands. “You said nothing could hurt me here.”
“I am truly sorry,” he said softly. “I know that must have been difficult for you.”
“How… why?” I peered through my fingers at him, then wiped the last of my tears. “Explain. Please.”
He sighed heavily and linked his fingers together, leaning forwards. “That’s an amalgamation of memories. Technically against my rules, but naturally, your memory of that moment ended when you died, so I borrowed a few bits and pieces from others who were there to show you the full picture.”
“How can you call that the full picture? There’s no resolution for my death.”
“You pulled yourself out of the memory sequence before it could complete.”
“Can you finish it? Tell me, don’t show me. Bloody hell, I can’t do that again.” I wrapped my arms around my stomach.
“After your death, Kalon went on a rampage to uncover the culprit behind it. The maid was snuck in under the guise of the party and lay in wait for her chance. It was easy for her, as you’d changed out some staff following Kalon’s rise to Crown Prince.”
“How did that happen?”
God paused. “Torin loved you in your first life, but you rejected him in favour of Kalon because you truly loved him. He never got over it, even after he married Lillia. He hated that Lillia also loved his brother, despite the fact their marriage was for show, and became hellbent on getting revenge against Kalon for stealing you from him.”