I’ll Quit as The Empress

Today, Adrian had trouble falling asleep. As Evelyn felt the autumn wind blowing from the window, she embraced Adrian and tried to calm him down.

The child instinctively felt the anxiety of the person who was carrying him, as did Adrian.

“Will you know my heart when you grow up well someday?”

“Uh…..Evelyn!” Adrian had a clear pronunciation now.

“You can’t call me that now.” Evelyn had a serious look on her face, but Adrian burst into laughter. It was odd to see him smiling so innocent with a tall, fabian-like nose and clear features. But as far as Evelyn understood, Fabian would never have been like this.

Far away, outside the window, she could see a hawk figure in the sun’s rays. After a while, until now, she still hadn’t received a reply from Fabian. The back of the hawk, sitting in the sunshine was now quite big compared to before.

“Like! Hawk…Hawk!” Adrian waved his hand and showed his interest outside the window.

“Are you really excited about that?”

Whenever this happened, Evelyn couldn’t help but realize that the Empire’s blood was flowing to Adrian.

“Like, Hawk, It’s wonderful! And Me is a mess!”

“Adrian, don’t say that …”

Somehow, Evelyn was upset about how many times she saw him and how many times she remembered Fabian. Adrian called Fabian “Me” the whole time after they met last time. And that man also gave him the black hawk that was enough to capture Adrian’s heart at once.

Still, it much better than knowing Fabian’s real title. Evelyn hoped Adrian wouldn’t think about his birth in the future.

“Me! Me, there!”

Adrian shook his arm, looking out of the window. When Evelyn, who was puzzled, looked out, she saw a very strange man in the garden. At first glance, that man had a sturdy build looked like Fabian in Adrian’s eyes.

“No, Adrian.” Evelyn hugged the child and watched the man carefully. Strange as it was, his white armour appeared identical to the Paladin she had met earlier. He stood in the garden undressed, revealing his defenceless back. Evelyn felt odd as she looked at him.

“What is he doing there alone?”

His presence didn’t blend into the garden landscape. There was a lumpy and peculiar feeling when he was standing there. His life was like something unhuman, not just in the garden, but also in the air around him.

Whether Evelyn’s eyes had been mistaken or it was just a coincidence, David suddenly turned around. Evelyn quickly hid behind the window as soon as she saw his violet eyes. It was her instinct.

“That’s ridiculous. Did he see me?”

Was she too careful? But it was obvious that they made eye contact a while ago.

Evelyn’s heart skipped a beat. From the beginning, she had some resistance to that guy.

“Nora, take Adrian with you.”

Evelyn hurried over Adrian. A moment later, when Evelyn calmed her heart and looked out the window again, she could still see David standing in the same spot. He fixed his eyes in one place, facing Evelyn’s window.

‘As expected, he’s looking at me.’

A cool air surrounded Evelyn. She felt strange for the first time. It didn’t occur to her that she should run away or avoid him. Instead, Evelyn wanted to identify him with her own eyes.

Evelyn, who was fascinated with her intuition, walked quickly to the garden. It was a long time later, but David was still there.

“You are the Pope’s Knight, aren’t you?”

David nodded at Evelyn’s bold question. His emotionless face, coming to her mind, was as straight as a plaster statue.

“Long time no see.” David’s words made her little puzzled. It was the first time for Evelyn to see him this close, and there was nothing, in particular, to call it a meeting. However, he wasn’t wrong at all because he had stayed in one place.

“You’ve been looking at my bedroom window for a while, is that a mistake?”

“Mistake?” His purple eyes stared at Evelyn.

“Because I feel that way….”

But David mysteriously blurted out a grave argument, “Humans can’t erase their feeling, so my answer isn’t important.”

“Then I’ll change the question. Did you keep looking up at the window in my room?”

“Yes.”

Evelyn frowned a little at David’s reply.

“This is not the Vatican, but the Felice Kingdom. Even though you’re a knight, you don’t have the right to go in and out of the palace garden and take a peek into my bedroom.”

“My name is David.” His calm attitude had gotten stronger since earlier. But that was different from being arrogant.

“It’s something that I didn’t ask.”

“If we answer what other people want to know first, we won’t make it difficult for them to ask questions.”

“This isn’t a chapel,” said Evelyn.

“To be exact, I looked at the little prince, not the Princess. My reason must be related to your secret.”

Evelyn didn’t reveal her emotions on her face. The only useful moments to put into practice what she learned from her Imperial life. But this time, her opponent was too strong.

“Don’t worry. I’ve never told anybody. I don’t want to disclose the secret anymore. No, I just want to say that your decision to keep it secret was really wise.”

“I don’t understand what you’re talking about.” Evelyn stared at David with an unshakeable expression. Her heart had been sunk a while earlier, but if she showed her agitation here, it was like confessing her secret.

Most importantly, Evelyn didn’t know how he found out.

“That would be great.” David suddenly raised his hand and pointed to the hawk at a distance. “The owner of that hawk must be someone I know.”

As a Paladin, he already went over the limit.

“It’s none of your business.” Evelyn changed her tone coldly. Then David grinned and laughed. Somehow it was a lonely smile, “That’s what I said to you before. You haven’t changed.” David’s violet eyes first reminded her of some emotion, but Evelyn couldn’t read it.

“Before?”

“It’s not an important story.” David shook his head, and his hair fluttered in the wind. The peculiar scent from him dishevelled Evelyn’s complicated mind, which seemed almost to come to mind.

“It’s a story that you’ll forget anyway.”

One step, he came close to her.

“But one thing you need to remember.”

Evelyn blinked her eyes. Somehow she couldn’t speak.

“Who was your only hope when you withered in misery and despair? And who was cold to you?”

At that moment, Fabian’s face came her mind.

“Don’t pity him. Don’t try to build a relationship again with a woman’s heart and personal feelings.”

“You……” Evelyn, who barely opened her mouth, looked at David with her shaking eyes. And now she was sure that she had seen those purple eyes before.

“Who are you? We’re not……”

“Evelyn, a pitiful woman.”

David’s words stabbed her heart. As if he had poked up her old wounds.

“My power was incomplete, so an existence that wasn’t supposed to exist was born.”

“What?”

“You know that well. That none of your two children could have been born into this world. So didn’t you despair?”

“No, it’s a nightmare.” Evelyn shook her head, vigorously. Her two children who had left in vain existed only in her nightmares. In reality, Adrian looked at Evelyn with lovely eyes.

“Yes, it’s a cruel nightmare.”

Evelyn didn’t know since when her dream started. Maybe she was dreaming before seeing David in the garden. Or was everything just a dream since she decided to divorce?

“You’re afraid this will also become a dream and disappear, aren’t you?” David seemed to have read Evelyn’s mind, and he retorted an unknown word. “The side effects of time magic are not meant to kill the child immediately.”

“But what about your fate’s enemy who wants you back?

Her hatred and sorrow for Fabian had subsided over the years. His changing attitude and the sympathy she felt for him while raising Adrian also played a big part. Maybe Fabian was just a man who hadn’t learned how to love and understands that it needed sincerity in a couple’s relationship.

“How…How do you know that?”

David looked at Evelyn with mixed feelings. She would soon forget about him anyway since he was a forgetful role for everyone. The time guardian of this world was a lonely fate that must not remain in anyone’s memory.

“Because before, I’ve heard your desperate request,” David answered calmly, knowing that it was useless.

“Then, you know when I was dead once, and I went back, and that’s what you did?”

David nodded, “It wasn’t a nightmare. They were real ones.”

And that time, Evelyn didn’t know. What tragedy Fabian had brought to this continent after she died. That, the real nightmare began after she died.

Fabian, who had lost his feeling since the death of his beloved wife, struggling to fill his empty heart with a massacre.

“No, it can’t be that way. My child is alive.” Evelyn’s blue eyes were filled with confusion.

“Your wish now is that child.” David smiled a little sad. He couldn’t believe how much Evelyn loved a child who didn’t exist in life.

“Now, my power is not complete yet. So I need your strong wish.”

In the past, Evelyn had only wished to put an end to this despair. She wished to turn her relationship with Fabian to nothing and to erase the pain of losing everything she loved.

“I’m sorry. If I have full power now, I could have really turned all your connection to nothing.”

Only

David’s magic had already weakened since he first met Evelyn. That’s why the outcome couldn’t possibly be perfect since he already used the forbidden time magic. Besides, there were no two chances.

“Evelyn, you didn’t need to be sick like your previous life. But it’s all for the balance.”

The reason why his unperfect magic could have power was that Evelyn’s pain and despair were so deep.

“Maybe even now, you still love him.”

David didn’t understand human’s feelings well, but like flowing water, he learned a few things in exchange for Evelyn’s pain. The magic wasn’t perfect either, but it happened to her maybe because Evelyn herself refused to erase Fabian from her heart.

“But you have to throw it away. You must lose one thing.”

Looking into the blue eyes, Evelyn still had only one wish.