I Won’t Accept Your Regrets

I would be more than happy to stick my neck out, but I couldn’t tolerate insults of my mother.

The prince's eyes flashed with disgust.

"You dare to grab my wrist? In front of everyone?"

I wanted to cut off this hand for him, but he pulled away.

So far, I have not had the strength to resist the crown prince.

I pulled back and bowed my head.

"Please stop."

A cruel laugh echoed overhead.

"What do you mean? Stop? You might think I'm doing something terrible. It's just one of a thousand things that don't concern you in any way."

Raymond's eyes flashed with fire. But at that moment, my mother grabbed my hand.

Please be patient.

My mother knelt down and banged her head on the floor.

"Please, it's my fault."

"If this happens again, I'll be the fourth for you."

"I’m guilty, I wasn’t taught manners. Never again, I will never do that again."

The mother begged for mercy, her head lowered to the floor.

I've been insulted a lot before, but I've never been so angry.

I rather wanted to cut the prince's neck, even if I died here.

I was so obsessed with my anger that I could not keep my excited mother from confronting the servant.

I was awakened by the sound of breaking glass. The prince's clothes and shoes were already stained with wine.

Before even realizing what had happened, the prince flushed.

"This crazy bitch! What audacity! Take her to the scaffold!"

The knights grabbed the mother by the arms and led her away. I wanted to stop it, but in my sleep I couldn't help it.

"Stop right now!"

"Oh, do you want to die together? So even better. I will kill you right here."

The prince drew his sword. The moment he lifted it up, silver hair appeared in front of me.

At the moment when no one would come to the rescue, fearing the prince's anger, Ellie jumped between us.

"Even though you are the crown prince, you cannot judge the royal family. Please calm down, sir."

Ellie didn't run away despite the prince's aggression.

He couldn’t afford to touch the Count's daughter, so the prince threw down his sword.

For that, Ellie turned and walked away.

A nightmare that I dreamed dozens of times.

The situation soon changed and I heard my mother's obituary.

Her body had to be reassembled piece by piece.

I couldn't even say goodbye.

The mother, who lived only for me alone, died such a death.

Raymond screamed desperately.

"Ellie…"

Crying, he clung to her.

And then he made a vow.

I will never again lose this precious warmth that is next to me.

Just as his heart was about to break, Raymond opened his eyes.

"Oh, uh…"

His heart was beating like crazy, and his body was covered with cold sweat.

The butler stepped into the room.

"Water, water!"

"Yes, sire."

Seeing Raymond's condition, the butler brought cold water.

He drank all the water and exhaled deeply.

‘I haven't dreamed of this for a long time.’

Raymond brushed his sweaty hair to the side. Turning his head, he saw darkness outside the window.

Is it because there was a lot of work today?

The Ascension of Edmund and the Conversion of the Nobles.

It was an extremely exhausting day.

"Shall I drink some sleeping pills?"

He took sleeping pills when he was tormented by insomnia.

As if Ellie's voice echoed in his head for a moment, Raymond jumped up from his seat.

"You have to walk more outside."

It was already quite late for a walk, but he felt that he couldn’t fall asleep like that.

Raymond went to the flower garden to let his heart cool off.

Suddenly he looked up at the sky. His gaze lingered on one star that caught his attention.

"The star that Ellie got accustomed to the most."

It seems that once she told him the name of this star, but he had already forgotten it for a long time.

But he remembered why she liked this star.

She said that the star will always be in the same place.

Looking back, Ellie, like that star, was always in one place – in Raymond's field of vision.

Every time he turned his head to the side, Ellie was there.

It was so long ago that he couldn't remember exactly when it all started.

She and Ellie have been together since childhood.

"My mother really liked Ellie …"

Is it because I had a dream from the past? Suddenly my mother's face came to my mind, which I was hiding deep in my heart.

She was a pure and kind person, always treated children politely and did not understand anything about the intrigues of the nobles.

Therefore, it was not suitable for the imperial palace.

She wouldn't end up so badly if she met a normal husband.

Raymond closed his eyes to the suffering of the past.

He was angry at the death of his mother, so he no longer wanted to lose his loved one. And then he raised his sword.

In the end, he killed his father and brother and ascended the throne. To never lose his people again.

Thus, he seized power and managed to avenge his mother.

But why does he feel so devastated now?

"Sire. It's cold outside. Let's go to the bedroom."

"I will go to my mother's palace."

Interrupting the butler's anxious words, Raymond turned towards the palace, which had stood empty for a long time.

In his memory, the road to the old palace wasn’t serviced by anyone, so it should be overgrown with weeds.

For some reason, however, the road was now clear.

When his mother died, he could not go to this palace.

And he never gave the order to look after this palace.

"Yilid. You looked after this palace without telling me?"

Yilid has been with him since he was a prince.

"Thats…"

"Tell me how it is."

"It wasn’t me, but Her Majesty the Empress."

"What?"

Raymond's eyes widened at the unexpected reply.

Since when Ellie …

"When the Empress entered the palace, she ordered to keep an eye on this palace."

Raymond was discouraged by the servant's words, as if he had been hit in the head.

This was where I grew up.

But why are you?

Raymond walked slowly forward.

The sound of the rusty door opening was exceptionally loud in the silence of the night.

"Leave."

Having dismissed all the servants, Raymond entered the palace. The palace, in which a cool breeze was blowing, was no different from memories from the past.

"Mother, mother…!"

The scenes he had seen in his dream now loomed before his eyes. His scream was distinctly audible as he hugged the old dress instead of the body.

And Ellie stood next to him. She was there that day.

No, Ellie was with him most of the time while he lived in this old palace.

"Right… I'm just going crazy."

He went out into the street so as not to forget about Ellie, but arrived at a place that emanates from a string of memories of her.

A cold wind blew. Wind-blown green leaves fell at his feet.

"What's that…"

In this forgotten place, such greenery couldn’t grow. But Raymond remembered what those leaves were.

He turned away from his thoughts and ran to the back of the mansion.

With trembling eyes, he gazed at the tall tree in front of him.