Chapter 85: Fate
Diana had a dream.
She was surrounded by raging flames, unable to escape.
As the oxygen ran out, she couldn’t breathe anymore, and in that moment――
“Diana.”
She heard a familiar voice and turned around.
There was only a shining arm.
“…Leon?”
Diana reached out her hand towards the arm, and a figure enveloped in light emerged from the flames.
Diana was amazed.
There stood her Otoo-sama, Aurel, with a black beard.
“…Otou-sama!”
Aurel, in the midst of the flames, smiled warmly.
“O-Otou-sama… Where have you been all this time?”
Trembling, Diana approached Aurel, and he spoke with a smile.
“Has the flower bloomed?”
Diana nodded.
“Yes, it has bloomed. Many flowers have bloomed, Otou-sama.”
“That’s good.”
Suddenly, the flames disappeared, and a flower field spread around them.
Colorful flowers bloomed, greenery flourished, and the smoke-filled sky returned to a clear blue.
At that moment, Diana finally remembered that she had sown these seeds herself.
“Yes, Otou-sama! I sowed the seeds of these flowers!”
Aurel laughed and plucked the colorful flowers.
His arms were soon filled with flowers.
“You truly are my daughter. I believed you could do it, Diana.”
“Otou-sama…”
“We must show Camilla too.”
“Oh, right. Okaa-sama…”
Far in the distance of the flower field, Camilla, with her crimson hair flowing in the wind, smiled.
“It’s been a while, Okaa-sama. You rarely came to visit.”
“Camilla went a little further… I have to catch up too.”
“Yes, it would be lonely to be alone.”
“Let’s pick more flowers. Enough for both of us.”
Saying so, Aurel held flowers in both hands.
As they walked through the flower field, Diana suddenly felt like she heard a crying voice behind her. She turned around.
The wind was calm in the flower field, and there was no one there.
When she turned back, Aurel was leaning against Camilla.
“Otou-sama, how did you get so far away all of a sudden…”
As Diana tried to continue walking through the flower field, Aurel shouted.
“Hey, Diana! Never mind us, do something about that crybaby over there.”
“…Crybaby?”
Diana turned around again. There was still no one there.
“Otou-sama, there’s no one there.”
“It’s still invisible, Diana!”
“Really? Is there someone there who I can’t see?”
“It’s there. So hurry back!”
“But…”
“Go and do something about that crybaby. It loves you much more than we do.”
At that moment,
A powerful crying voice pierced Diana’s ears.
“What a strong voice. I have to make It stop crying quickly…”
“Stay strong, Diana!”
“Hang in there, Diana!”
“Alright!”
With her parents’ voices, which she hadn’t heard in a long time, behind her, Diana walked back to the flower garden.
“Geez, who’s that crybaby…”
As she stepped on the flower garden, Diana regained her composure.
In that moment, her parents’ presence disappeared.
She understood everything.
“I see. . .”
Diana muttered while facing forward.
“You were always by my side. . . Thank you.”
She felt a light in her eyelids――
・・・
『”𝔄𝔴𝔢𝔟𝔰𝔱𝔬𝔯𝔦𝔢𝔰.𝔠𝔬𝔪” – 𝔇𝔦𝔰𝔠𝔬𝔳𝔢𝔯 𝔞 𝔠𝔞𝔭𝔱𝔦𝔳𝔞𝔱𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔴𝔬𝔯𝔩𝔡 𝔬𝔣 𝔩𝔬𝔳𝔢, 𝔭𝔞𝔰𝔰𝔦𝔬𝔫 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔞𝔡𝔳𝔢𝔫𝔱𝔲𝔯𝔢, 𝔴𝔥𝔢𝔯𝔢 𝔶𝔬𝔲 𝔠a𝔫 𝔦𝔫𝔡𝔲𝔩𝔤𝔢 𝔦𝔫 𝔞 𝔠𝔬𝔩𝔩𝔢𝔠𝔱𝔦𝔬𝔫 𝔬𝔣 𝔱𝔯𝔞𝔫𝔰𝔩𝔞𝔱𝔢𝔡 𝔫𝔬𝔳𝔢𝔩𝔰 𝔴𝔦𝔱𝔥 “𝔡𝔞𝔦𝔩𝔶 𝔲𝔭𝔡𝔞𝔱𝔢𝔰” 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔢𝔵𝔠𝔩𝔲𝔰𝔦𝔳𝔢 𝔞𝔠𝔠𝔢𝔰𝔰 𝔱𝔬 “𝔞𝔡𝔳𝔞𝔫𝔠𝔢𝔡 𝔠𝔥𝔞𝔭𝔱𝔢𝔯𝔰”.』
・・・
When Diana opened her eyes, Leon and an unfamiliar man were peering at her.
“. . . You’re awake.”
“Diana!”
Leon embraced Diana tightly, and she gently wrapped her arms around his back.
“…I’m sorry, Leon.”
“Why are you apologizing?”
“Was Leon crying?”
“?…No, not really…”
The unfamiliar man was wearing a white coat. Finally, Diana realized he was a doctor.
“…I’m fine now, Doctor. There’s no need for an examination.”
“Just to be sure, let me examine you. There’s something I’m concerned about…”
The doctor took out a notebook and suddenly asked this question.
“When was your last menstrual period?”
Diana’s eyes widened.
“Well, let me think… It’s been on and off since the war, so I’m not sure.”
“When did it stop?”
“! Um… Oh, now that you mention it, it’s been three months already.”
This time, it was Leon’s turn to widen his eyes.
“! Why didn’t you say something important like that sooner!”
“But, it was expected that It would be late…”
The doctor nodded easily and said,
“There is a possibility of pregnancy.”
The bedroom was filled with silence.
“If anything happens, please call me again.”
The doctor casually said that and lifted his bag.
“Um, what should I do?”
“Well, if you feel like vomiting, please rest. That’s all I can say for now. In a little while, we will be able to hear the fetal heartbeat with a stethoscope.”
The doctor seemed busy, gave a slight nod, and left the house.
Diana and Leon looked at each other.
“…Diana’s vomiting, wasn’t it because of the shock of the king’s visit?”
Diana muttered as she came back to her senses.
“…The king.”
Leon touched both of Diana’s cheeks and shook his head.
“I absolutely won’t let him come near this house. I won’t let him meet Diana.”
Diana furrowed her eyebrows.
“It would be troublesome if anything happened to Diana’s body. Diana is no longer just one person.”
Leon embraced Diana. Diana buried her face in Leon’s shoulder and sniffled.
“The person who loves me, the crybaby, the invisible person, huh…”
“…What’s that?”
“…It’s nothing.”
Diana cried, thinking about the unborn child and her disappeared parents.
(That’s right. That dream was probably Otou-sama coming to tell me about the pregnancy.)
And then… Diana felt like she would never see her Otou-sama again in her dreams.
Leon also sniffled along with Diana.
“Oh? So, it turns out the crybaby is actually you.”
“What are you saying… I’m crying because I’m happy, of course…”
Diana wiped Leon’s cheek and gently kissed his trembling lips.
Finally, Diana felt the realization of carrying Leon’s child.
