CHAPTER 457: MOVE ON

Days went by in the blink of an eye. Abrielle came up with the slow realisation that Cedric was truly gone. He left a gap in her heart nothing could fill.

"We are done," the maids informed Abrielle. She was seated in front of a mirror staring blankly at her reflection.

"You look wonderful, Your highness." Evelyn chirped in a compliment. Abrielle nodded at her words. She indeed looked beautiful, but it didn’t change the way she felt.

"You can leave now. I need a moment on my own." She instructed. The maids nervously glanced at each other before leaving. "I will be outside," Evelyn said before leaving last..

Abrielle was the only one left in the room. Ever since Cedric’s disappearance, she has been indoors, avoiding any interaction with the outside world. She didn’t want to face Aurelius or Silvanius..

She wasn’t ready to face that truth, she was holding onto what was left of Cedric. Staying in the room they stayed together even if it haunted her. His scent had faded away and the room was starting to feel like any other regular room

It was time she left the walls and listened to Yuki’s advice. She wasn’t going to move on; she would live on because she knew Cedric was out there alive. She raised her hair around her neck, her eyes locked on the flame mark there.

It had grown faint, it was slowly fading while Cedric was sick but it was still there. That was her sign he was still alive somewhere, and he would come back to her.

He called her home. Home is a place people always come back to, no matter how long the wait is.

She rose to her feet and approached the door. No more hiding. This was a new beginning. She was being summoned to the palace today. Abrielle didn’t know many details about it, but she knew it was related to Aurelius and Silvanius’ last argument.

The door was pushed open, and she stepped out, closing it behind her. There weren’t any servants around so she had to do it herself.

"I thought you weren’t going to leave your shell." She heard a familiar voice by her side. The same voice that has been trying to reach out to her during the past few days but she ignored it

She glanced up at Aurelius’s towering figure with a faint smile. "It’s been a while. I guess I wasn’t the only one with sleepless nights." Abrielle jested, noticing the dark circles under his eyes.

"We all had a crazy week," Aurelius replied. His voice sounded tired. He was exhausted mentally and physically. After the court proceeding, Abrielle attended, and there was a shift in court. The older nobles recognised Abrielle without a doubt.

Some even thought she was Bethany because of the Caephyr’s family ability to slow down their ageing. Bethany was a distant relative of the direct royal line. She came from a distant branch family and was born with the direct bloodline features, so the idea was not far-fetched.

They questioned why the supposed dead former crown princess was wedded to the first prince of Draconia. People needed answers, and Aurelius tried his best to shoulder the pressure because he knew Abrielle was not mentally ready for this.

He could not shelter her forever. "We indeed had one. I guess you are accompanying me to the court, Your Highness." Abrielle chimed. They started to proceed down the hallway.

"Almost everyone who is somebody is going to be there. The crown prince can’t be absent." He answered. Abrielle nodded subtly. They didn’t speak again, their minds were filled with thoughts and questions.

Aurelius’s gaze lingered on her at times, he was still as amazed as he was the first time he saw her at Queen Eleanor’s birthday banquet. How can two people be so alike?

Physically, she did indeed look like Bethany, a face that was slowly fading from his mind. It’s been over 20 years since he last saw his mother.

They arrived outside, and the air was very warm since it was around noon. Aurelius helped her into the carriage and they slowly started to make their way to the palace.

Abrielle tried to get lost in the view by her window trying to ignore Aurelius’s gaze.

"How have you been holding on?" His voice was soft, almost hesitant. He already knew the answer, but maybe he just needed to hear her say it.

Abrielle smiled, her eyes finally drew to him. "Most of the time, you stood by the door asking me to let you in, and I was busy curled up on the bed crying on the dirty sheets he used. The warmth and scent on the sheets faded but the ache in my heart didn’t." She answered.

Aurelius’s heart squeezed, he had heard her sobs. He wanted to help but she wasn’t ready to let anyone in.

"Sorry," he blurted. He didn’t know if he said it because of her loss or because of how useless he felt.

"It isn’t your fault. Life is unpredictable and I am not going to cry anymore. I wondered why I was shedding tears when he wasn’t dead. Cedric won’t want me to cry." She replied, and silence echoed within the walls of the carriage.

The creaking sound of the frames rang louder. Aurelius smiled. She was still clinging on, but at least she was finally leaving her shell.

"I am just glad you are doing better now." He replied, and he finally glanced away to watch the streets.

"How was she?"

"Huh," Aurelius blurted a bit confused. "How was your mother? Are we really identical?" She asked him. It was the first time she ever brought up this conversation and it gave him a sense of warmth.

"It’s strange," Aurelius murmured. "Some days, I can barely remember her voice. But I remember how she made me feel. Like the world was safe when she smiled."

"It wasn’t until she was gone that I noticed how dark everything had become. Like she’d been the sun all along, and I hadn’t even known." Aurelius answered remembering how the years have been. The battles he fought silently.

"Her name was Bethany, she came from a distant family branch and miraculously held distinct features known to the main family, ginger hair and sapphire blue eyes. From the moment she was born, the seers claimed her bloodline was fated to return to the main family; she was undoubtedly meant to be the next empress."

These were the few scraps of truth he managed to gather. The one Silvanius could not hide. After her death, Aurelius guessed it was guilt, Silvanius forbade anyone from speaking about her. Her names were only said in hushed tones.

Every portrait of her was stripped from the palace and even her family was forced to take down her paintings. It was all in a failed attempt to make young Aurelius forget his mother.

"She never got to be an empress in the end. I was little then, I had no power to protect her, but not again. I will protect whatever is left of her, Abrielle. Maybe it is my desperate attempt to free myself from the guilt."