17 An Endearing Memory (1/2)

”How was your day?” Roland greeted his tired-looking wife as he stood up and approach her from behind his desk.

Anna had entered his study as soon as the younger generation went out. She had heard everything from outside.

She went forward and gave her beloved a brief gentle hug.

”It's getting worse. Just today, the number of forest fires were doubled from last week.” She answered exhaustedly. ”However, the ladies were exceptional. Firefighting had never been easier. We just need to handle the larger hard-to-control ones. The smaller ones were taken care by our own proactive citizen firefighter squad.” Anna was touched by everyone's cooperation.

”Thank you. It must've been hard on you.”

Anna responded with a gentle smile and shook her head lightly. Her beautiful flowing flaxen hair loosened a little like strands of silk billowing by the wind. She didn't tie up her hair and let it loose because she knew her beloved loved it this way.

Roland unconsciously extended his fingers and tucked the lose strands behind her left ear lovingly. Every time he looked into that pair of clear light blue eyes, he kept on falling in love with them again and again.

”I need to go somewhere. Accompany me?” Roland whispered in her ear after a moment of pause.

Anna nodded.

As they laced their fingers together, they walked out side by side from the study.

....

In the Royal Neverwinter Cemetery for Martyrs, Roland and Anna were standing before a spacious tomb while holding hands. On his other hand, he was holding a large bouquet of beautiful luminescent pale pink roses with packet of honeyed dried fish strip.

The silent night was especially serene as the full moon hung low with twinkling of stars adorning the purplish black carpet.

The tomb was large, beautiful and tidy. A bench was erected opposite the tomb. However, everyone visiting the grave had never dared to sit on it. It was a silent rule that the bench was especially made for the immortal king for when he visited the grave.

Nightingale. Veronica Gilen.1318 - 1354. Legendary Valkryie of Neverwinter.

He knew Nightingale's body must've turned to dust by now. However, his feelings for her was still there, turning into warm, endearing memories. He knew that Anna knew it too. Both of them had come to peace with it.

Nightingale had been beside him as he claimed the throne as the King of Graycastle. She persisted beside him when he chose Anna to be the Queen of Graycastle albeit staying with a broken heart. She was there protecting him when the war of Divine Will occurred. She's still beside him when he became the Emperor of the new Graycastle Empire, although she refused to appear in front of him anymore.

At that time, Roland had seriously considered taking her as his royal paramour. She had sacrificed long enough for him. Even Anna consented with his decision a long time ago.

However, before it could happen, Nightingale sacrificed her body to save the only child of Roland and Anna. Anna and the baby were dying at that time due to some error from the artificial insemination process during the last growth phase.

The baby was grown ex-situ (1) but needed a huge amount of magical energy to sustain its growth. The method was jointly developed by Roland himself with the help of Agatha and Celine; a combination of science and magic. However, reality was a cruel thing. The price was more than what Roland could anticipate, as Anna's magic capacity was one of the highest among the witches. He never knew it won't be enough to support a tiny little babe.

The accident happened when Roland was not there. A power outrage pulled him away for a short moment, as Anna struggled to sustain the life of the growing baby in the artificial pond. Anna gave away almost all her powers. When Nightingale realized this, she poured in her own power into Anna's body with the help of Marquess Passi until she perished. It also nearly took the life of the marquess.