I Won’t Accept Your Regrets

The clatter of hooves grew in the night forest.

Raymond, leading in front, galloped so wildly that the knights behind could hardly keep up.

The wind hit him in the face like a blade of a blade, but he felt nothing more than anxiety breathing down the back of his head.

An ominous foreboding that something is about to explode.

Ellie.

In his head there were only pleas for her good.

But, as usual, God didn't care about such little things.

Raymond's heart beat faster as he saw the nearby mansion in flames.

There was no evidence of this, but his instinct told him.

‘Ellie is there.'

He spurred the horse even harder.

When they reached the house, the horse, frightened by the flames, reared up. Raymond dropped the reins and jumped off his horse.

He rushed back and forth, clearly not in his right mind.

Just as he was about to dive into the mansion, Carter grabbed him from behind.

"Carter!" Raymond shouted sharply, but he didn’t back down.

"Sire! The flame is too raged!"

The mansion was falling apart.

If you entered it now, chances were that you would never leave it.

Carter was ready to be punished for such a bold step, and his whole body fell on Raymond.

"People are inside!"

However, at that moment, the knights who looked in the window screamed, and Raymond's Carter was no longer overpowering.

Raymond pushed Carter hard and kicked the door open.

"Sire!"

The mansion was clouded with smoke, which was difficult to open your eyes.

A cough escaped from the room.

He took out a flask of water, soaked a scrap of his robes, covered his face with it, and went deep inside.

And he found Ellie lying among the rubble of a tree.

"Ellie!"

Raymond grabbed her face and patted her cheeks, but there was no reaction either.

As if she was dead.

"No."

Raymond checked her pulse with trembling hands.

Very weak, but still was here.

What a miracle that she was alive, but delay now guarantees her death.

As soon as he was about to hug her in order to take her out in a hurry, Raymond noticed Ellie's strange posture.

She curled up in a ball and held something, as if trying to cover something precious.

"Of course…"

With trembling hands, he lifted the robe and saw the child in her arms.

Raymond sighed, hastily grabbed Carlisle's thin wrist and checked his pulse.

However, unlike Ellie, there was no pulse.

He is dying.

No, maybe he’s already dead?

With a frozen face, he pulled Carlisle out of Ellie's arms.

Raymond removed the fabric covering his mouth. He then ripped the cloth in half and poured out any remaining water from the flask.

"Ugh…"

Smoke hit him in the nose, but Ellie and Carlisle were more important now.

Wrapping a damp cloth over their faces, he then rubbed their foreheads with wet hands, keeping a faint hope that this would at least slightly lower their temperature.

And it's time to get out of here.

Carlisle was carefully laid face down on Ellie's stomach. Then he raised two people at once.

Meanwhile, the flames devoured the house even further. As soon as he turned towards the exit, he saw a ball of fire flying from the ceiling.

Raymond tried to close his shoulders in case the flames reached Ellie and Carlisle.

Something hard and hot definitely fell into his hand.

"Ugh!"

Simultaneously with the searing heat, a terrible pain came.

It doesn't look like the wound was small.

At this time, Carter's voice rang out in the mansion.

"Sire!"

Carter and the knights who managed to break into the house all fought towards him.

When he saw Raymond's injury, his eyes widened.

"Your Majesty, can you go?"

"I'm fine. Bring the rest outside."

There were two other men inside the mansion. The knights turned to the other two, and Carter reached out to Raymond.

"I’ll do it myself," but Carter didn’t have a chance to come to the aid of his monarch.

At least because of Raymond's fearsome gaze.

"I have to do it myself."

Raymond ran, holding both.

He could no longer remember how he rode to the Imperial Palace. He rushed headlong, arrived at the palace and called all that there are doctors.

"Save Lady Croft and the child. Your own lives are at stake."

Lost in an atmosphere of chaos, all the imperial physicians examined Ellie and Carlisle.

Raymond turned his head in displeasure when he looked at the child, who looked very small, lying on the huge bed.

Carlisle was unconscious.

The Emperor rode like a madman, because he was afraid that his weak pulse would be cut off for good.

Raymond was impatient and asked:

"What about the child?"

One of the courtiers opened his mouth:

"Fortunately, no internal damage was noticed."

"And why didn't he wake up?"

"He seriously inhaled smoke. On the other hand, there are no dangerous ruptures of soft tissues or organs, so the treatment will go smoothly. It looks like someone has wrapped the child in the middle of the flame."

In an instant, Raymond remembered Ellie's pose.

She covered the boy with her own body.

The absence of lacerations in the child is explained by the fact that Ellie sacrificed herself.

To protect her child.

His throat tightened, and Raymond felt a strange tingling sensation in his heart at what he heard.

"So he will wake up?"

"Everything will be fine with the child."

"Do your best."

Still looking at Carlisle, he left the room to go to Ellie this time.

Ellie was treated in his bedroom, not in this room.

The butler opened the door, but Raymond was unable to enter immediately and hesitated.

He was afraid he was late. After all, when he got to the palace, Ellie hung in his arms already without life.

If this happens…

He stopped imagining the worst and went in with a stone face.

Ellie was lying on his bed and three doctors were assigned to her.

The temperature in the room dropped dramatically. The faces of all the healers spoke without words about Ellie's condition.

By that time, one of them had appeared to the Emperor.

"Sire… Her condition is…"

The doctor shook his head, embarrassed.

"Too much smoke and severe burns. The back, arms and legs are in bad condition. In addition, there seems to be internal trauma."

"Will she… wake up," he asked in a squeaky voice.

"I apologize. I can’t give you definite answers now."

The doctor's face was covered with horror.

Raymond knew that in medical jargon the phrase ‘I can’t give you a definite answer’ meant.

This was when there was practically no chance for recovery.

It's like telling the Emperor that there is no hope.

He looked at Ellie, who was moaning unconscious. Every time a painful moan escaped her lips, it seemed like his heart was breaking into shreds.

I had to move faster.

This is all my fault.

In the end, I failed to save her.

After all, I knew in advance that Ellie and the child were in danger.

Raymond clenched his fists tightly so that even his knuckles turned white.

"Do whatever you can."

"I will do my best."

The Imperial Palace doctors went back to work, and Raymond turned to the butler.

"Send a letter to Duke Croft. Tell him Ellie is here."

When the whole drama was just beginning, in the middle of this rush, everyone somehow forgot about her father.

As Raymond watched Ellie anxiously, the room with Carlisle was in turmoil.

"I don't know why the fever suddenly started."

"Strange, everything went within normal limits…"

Imperial Palace doctors were bewildered by Carlisle's sudden rise in temperature.

The healers exchanged short phrases as they examined Carlisle's body over and over again. After all, his condition was clearly improving, but the temperature suddenly rose?

"Aahhh!"

Carlisle groaned painfully.

"Is this not an internal trauma?"

He examined the child again, but everything was fine.

No.

Something vibrated in his body.

"Hnn."

Something cracked and spilled from the child's earlobe.

"Oh no…"

"Hair color!"

The doctors' faces were embarrassed.

The child's hair color changed as soon as the crackling sound was heard.

Although the boy was covered in ash, the child's hair was clearly silver.

But now it have taken on pitch darkness.

Black hair. Black eyes.

These are the symbols of the ruling family.

The witnesses exchanged amazed glances.

While the young doctors were perplexed, the middle-aged man turned to the butler.

"I ask you to immediately go for His Majesty."