Chapter 203 (1/2)
Chapter 203: Chapter 203
I already knew that my mother was poisoned like me, but what does it have to do with his oath?
“Your mother was found to have been poisoned much later than you. Lots of doctors as well as the High Priest came to treat her, but most of them said she would not survive. As you know, our family had no immediate children or distant relatives, but the conditions of the succession of my family were very strict. So, the only one who could be a successor at the time was me. Your mother refused me because she could not see the lineage of my family of 1,000 years disconnected because of her.”
“Ah… ”
I felt heartbroken because I could well understand how my mother might have felt at the time.
How did she feel when she had to refuse the man she loved? She must have felt so sad as if someone cut her heart. As she had to reject coldly, she couldn’t express her sorrow to anybody, swallowing it deep down.
“Of course, I could understand how she felt, but that didn’t matter to me. I just tried hard to change her mind, and finally, I could win over her heart. Thanks to God’s blessings, I earned a beautiful daughter like you.”
“… I see.”
“So, Tia, I hope you won’t give up easily.”
“Daddy.”
“Although she was poisoned, she got pregnant and gave birth to you. I’m not saying I want to stop your decision, but I just hope you won’t act extreme. You can still get pregnant, Tia.”
I suddenly became curious about it when I faced his warm eyes.
Were they happy during the seven long years of her infertility until she got pregnant with me?
“By the way, Daddy.”
“Um?”
“Well, you got married to Mom, knowing that she might be infertile, right?”
“Yes, I did.”
“Nonetheless, didn’t you want a baby? Even though you thought you wouldn’t have any baby, were you happy? ”
“Sure. We were happy.”
He said that without any hesitation. His voice was full of confidence.
“I was happier than anyone else in the world that I could be with her.”
“… ”
“And when I came to learn that she had a baby, I was the happiest man in the world. Your mother felt the same way.”
His warm eyes, affectionate voice and navy blue eyes looking at me as if he saw the most precious thing in the world. I felt my emptiness filling up with something warm, and my frozen heart melting away.
“Tia, I’m not going to change your mind, but don’t block the possibility itself.”
“Ah… ”
“There is a lot of happiness in the world, but no one can have it all. I hope you can live without missing all the happiness that you can catch.”
“… ”
“So, don’t give up so easily. You still can achieve lots of happiness.”
“… Thanks, Daddy.”
Although my wounded pride was not restored, and I didn’t change my mind to be the successor of my family, I still felt my heavy heart grow lighter.
A faint smile came to his lips while he was looking at me smiling gently. The morning sun shining through the open windows lit up the room.
A few days later, I headed for Sanctus Vita when the High Priest asked me to stop by the temple one of these days. Escorted by the apprentice priest who had been waiting in advance, I arrived at the deepest place and found the space, where I once had followed the High Priest on the day Jiun received her name with God’s prophecy.
It was a sacred place consisting only of white and green.
It was the sanctuary Sanctuarium where only the six roots of Vita could enter and those who had their permission.
When I stepped into the indoor garden created in the middle of the corridor, a young man sipping tea at a table caught my eye. When he found me approaching him slowly, he greeted me with a faint smile, “May the blessings of life be with you! It’s been a while, Lady Monique.”
“Yes, Your Eminence. I am seeing you after a long time. ”
Looking at me nodding, he smiled, then offered tea as if he recalled something suddenly.