Chapter 413: Vision_Part 1
The next morning, when Evenly woke up, Rav had already left the bed and she looked around the room but there was no sign of him. Memories of everything that had happened last night came flooding back to her. But even as she recalled it, she felt not a single ounce of regret. Instead, she found herself smiling, knowing she would carry the memory with her wherever she went from here.
She was about to get off the bed and leave his room before he comes back when she heard the door opened and he stepped in.
"You’re awake," Rav stated as he walked into his room with a tray of blood tea in hand. He set it aside on the stool at the bedside, then straightened, unable to meet her eyes as she looked up at him from the bed.
"Good morning," Evenly mused as she sat up on the bed, realizing that unlike her, Rav looked uncomfortable about what had happened between them. Could it be that he regretted it? After all she was the one who had initiated it all, even though she still knew he had not forgotten his late wife.
"I brought you some tea," Rav said, gesturing to the tray, but Evenly only nodded without reaching for it as she stared at him.
"Last night—" she began to say, but he spoke quickly before she could finish.
"I will take responsibility for what I did, Lady Evenly."
"Responsibility? I never asked you to take it. You don’t have to," she replied with a small frown. "And you have nothing to worry about me being pregnant to take responsibilities. I can’t have children. We can pretend nothing happened if you’re not comfortable, and don’t worry, I will soon be leaving Nightbrook—"
"I can’t pretend nothing happened, because it did." Rav finally met her eyes now, taking in her disheveled red hair and rumpled clothes. From the moment he had woken up with her in his arms, he had known he wouldn’t be able to let her leave the way she had intended and he would never forget his first enjoyable coupling. "I want you to stay. We can give a relationship a chance... that is, if you don’t mind my status."
Evenly raised a brow. "Are you suggesting marriage just because we did that last night?" she asked, but without waiting for his reply, she added, "I don’t think that’s what you want from the bottom of your heart. And I’ve been married before, it was unpleasant. I won’t make the second mistake of marrying someone who doesn’t want me for me."
Rav had thought through it the entire night while she slept. Though he might never be able to get over the fact that he had lost a wife and son or forget they ever were, he couldn’t let Evenly go, because the thought of it was suddenly unbearable. He liked her, perhaps more than liked her, only that something inside him wouldn’t allow him to express those feelings.
"We can give it a try and see," Rav said quietly, but Evenly shook her head.
"Marriage is not a child’s play, and I believe you also know that. You can’t be married to another when you still love your first wife. Rav, I’m not forcing you to take any responsibility, so don’t burden your life further with me."
She smiled at him as she said, "Thank you for not pushing me away last night."
She got out of the bed and slipped on her shoes, hurrying out before he could stop her and see the emotions she was holding back.
Evenly took a deep breath as she left his room, thinking she had handled it in a way that wouldn’t leave him living with guilt over what happened between them, thinking he should have taken responsibility for her like any gentleman would have done. She knew he still loved his late wife because she had shared a room with him for days in Aragonia and had seen how deeply he was still affected by her death.
Evenly had been right when she said she hadn’t asked him to make love to her to tie him down. In fact, she didn’t want marriage, even though her heart beat for him. But if she were to be given another chance, she would gladly be in his bed again and kiss him a hundred times more.
I wish we had met sooner in life. I would have loved you with all my heart and taken care of you so you would never lack anything, she thought sadly.
---
A few minutes ago, in Belle’s chamber, she paced the space of the room, biting her nail, trying not to worry too much, but she couldn’t help it when Rohan had not yet returned.
He had told her he would not be back soon, but it was morning already, and the morning was waning away.
"Mama..." came Angel’s sleepy voice as he sat up on the bed, rubbing his eyes with the back of his index finger. Then he looked at her and mumbled softly, "Poo-din," his babyish voice tender and sweet.
"Pudding. You’re hungry," she sighed, walking over to him and reaching out her hands. He crawled forward into her arms, and she lifted him. He was beginning to get heavier these days, too heavy to carry around as easily as she used to, but she still held him close once in awhile, especially because of the stairs.
"Oh, your stomach is flat," Belle murmured as she felt his little belly growl loudly, telling her just how hungry he was.
Normally, she made his pudding and got his cup of blood ready before he woke up. Sometimes Rohan would prepare it too. But this morning, her mind wasn’t in the right headspace to do anything.
Last night, after Rohan had left them, she had sat and watched Angel draw, going to get more parchment even after Rohan had told him not to use too much. The more Angel grew, the more his energy seemed endless. He had spent the night trying to play with Kuhn, who had come to stay in her room without a word, as if he were keeping guard. She had nothing to talk to the creature about because he had no answers to any of the questions she had asked him, and she had only let him stay and keep watch.
Meanwhile, Angel, who could also see him, had taken him as his plaything, flying and trying to remove his hood, causing the creature to act out of character by pushing him away and making displeased noises.
’Young demon, leave me be,’ Kuhn had rasped as he moved around the room to escape Angel, who wanted to see what was beneath the creature’s hood that made his head big and round. ’Take it off my head,’ Kuhn had said to Belle when her son flew to his head to pull his hood.
It had taken so much effort to put Angel to bed when he was in the mood to play. Whenever she thought he had finally started to fall asleep, his little mind would suddenly remember Kuhn, and he would sit up with a grin, ready to run to the creature, only for her to pull him gently back onto the bed.
"Angel, Kuhn is not your playmate. Go to sleep."
She had sung to him softly and then patted his backside lightly before he finally drifted to sleep. Unable to help it as well, Belle had also fallen asleep. Only, without Rohan to monitor her, she had almost made the mistake of going into a deep sleep and had begun to feel herself treading into the other world.
She could already smell it and feel the chills when Kuhn had poked her awake. It was then she realized why he was in the room, Rohan had assigned him to keep watch on her at night and monitor her sleep.
’No more sleeping, if you don’t want to get lost,’ Kuhn had said, standing over her head and watching her grimly.
And then she had seen that her husband still wasn’t back yet.
Though he had told her not to worry, saying he wasn’t only going to meet the king but also to find a witch to help separate her from Isabelle, she couldn’t help but worry for his safety. And now, morning had come, and he still wasn’t back.
She wouldn’t be worrying if the vampire king was someone trustworthy.
She had checked her mark, and unfortunately, it had turned faint, making it impossible for her to feel him or know what he felt. The mark seemed not to work when there was too much distance between them, or sometimes when they were too close.
"I will make you pudding after we ask Rav to communicate with your papa, hmm?" Belle said gently to Angel as she left the room, making her way to Rav’s room to ask him to check if Rohan was doing fine.
She walked down the corridor to Rav’s room, but she didn’t even reach it when she noticed Evenly walking out of the room in her nightdress, causing Belle to stop abruptly.
Evenly didn’t notice her friend at first, as she was lost in her thoughts, until she heard a familiar voice call out, "Enny!"
She jerked her head up to see Angel grinning and waving from his mother’s arms.
Though Evenly rarely felt embarrassed, she was consumed by it at being caught leaving Rav’s room. But she hid it quickly with a smile and greeted, "Good morning, Belle, and you too, Angel."
She walked over and tickled his cheeks, earning a giggle from him, then glanced at her friend, who looked like she hadn’t slept a wink, with dark rings around her eyes.
"Good morning," Belle replied with a smile, recovering from her surprise at seeing Evenly here and adjusting Angel in her arms. "I was on my way to see Rav," she explained.
"The duke is not back yet?" Evenly asked, realizing immediately why her friend looked like she hadn’t gotten any sleep and was looking for Rav.