I Won’t Accept Your Regrets - Chapter 17

Ellie, who was trying to get out of the palace and onto the duchess’s carriage that followed, paused to the woman walking from the opposite side.

The woman across the street also paused as if she had shockingly found me.

Lizzena approached her, Holding her son, Edmund’s hand.

“I’m pleased to meet you.”

I slowly opened my lips when I saw her being gracefully courteous.

“Arise”

My eyes laid upon the little boy.

Raymond’s Black hair, Black eyes, The color inherited by every royal member of the imperial family.

The child, who was smiling at his mother, turned his head to look at me as if he felt my eyes looking at him.

Pure black eyes, far from the complexities of adults, turned to me.

I softly smiled back.

No matter what situation we’re in, he was innocent.

“Hi.”

“H-…Hello ma’am.”

The child bowed to me in a dreary voice. I smiled at him and turned my eyes to Lizzena.

The eyes of Lizzena who was trying to read the situation finally glared at me.

It was very uncomfortable when she arrived here.

When I saw her in the garden of the Palace of the Sun, I hated her for hanging out with Raymond so perfectly, but now I realized it was just all useless.

It was out of my control.

And if you think about it, even though our situation got tangled up, it wasn’t her and me that were in the wrong.

I was the one who was leaving, and she felt more at ease as she admitted it right now, at this moment.

“Are you on your way to meet His Majesty?”

The gaze of Lizzena came upon my clothes and, behind me, reached Helan and the Duchy’s carriage one after the other.

It seemed to everyone that she was leaving the palace.

Lizzena looked at me and said, “Is it possible to leave the palace or not?”

“I’m on my way out of the palace. You’ve already heard that I’m getting divorced, haven’t you?”

It was quite known that I never spoke rashly, Yet my emotions had gotten the best of me and I spouted back. Lizzena’s green eyes had grown large. As if realizing it herself she calmed herself down and responded.

“I heard, but you’re really going to leave the palace like this, No, I didn’t think the Emperor would leave your side like this.”

She smirked.

You didn’t think I’d leave because I loved him so deeply.

I smiled at her for the first time, looking into her eyes asking if I was really leaving forever.

“There isn’t anything in the world that lasts forever.”

“Huh?”

I gave her a bright smile.

“I just knew it was time for my happiness to end. Lizzena, I wish you happiness with His Majesty.”

I turned around before I looked at the slightly trembling eyes of Lizzena

The rest of the lingering emotions which she held inside her heart disappeared the moment when she climbed in her carriage.

She departed off in the Duke’s Carriage

After looking at the back of the carriage for a long time, Lizzena muttered in a cool voice.

“Hap…Happiness.”

Why did the word “happiness” weigh on her heart?

At the time when Lizzena’s face was about to be dark, the child’s little voice rang.

“Mom…”

Lizzena looked at Edmond. Smiling with a distorted look on her face, she gently stroked Edmond’s head.

“Eddy, let’s go see your father.”

Ellie’s bright smile, which remained like an afterimage, was forcibly erased from her mind, and Lizzena hurried to step toward the Sun Palace.

***

The familiar mansion was closer.

“Your Majesty, come down.”

After arriving at the Duke of Croft, Helan, who first got off the wagon, reached out to me.

As she got off by holding Helan’s hand, she saw her father and the duke’s servants standing in front of the mansion.

I walked to my father with a quick skip. Holding my father’s hand with a smile, I held it to my cheek.

“Dad, how long have you been out?”

I asked anxiously, but my father drew a soft smile.

“Not that long. I was so happy that you were coming back home that I couldn’t wait. Welcome back home. Ellie.”

Listening to my father’s words, I realized that I really came back home. I smiled brightly and took my father’s hand and went into the mansion.

“I’ve arranged all the rooms you used when you were little, but if you want to use another one, I’ll tell you when they are ready.”

“No, I like the room I used to stay in. And I want Helan to have a room in the mansion.”

My father’s gaze turned briefly to Helan, who stood behind me.

Before leaving the palace, she had already sent a quick letter to her father to tell him that the duchess would be arriving with Helan.

Her father said he would look into Helan’s family in detail. Is it true that there really wasn’t any information about her?

The duke nodded his head.

“I’ve already got the butler ready. Ellie, go up to your room and rest. Don’t let me have go to your room too soon.”

“Yes, I’ll see you later. Helan, go to your room first and unpack.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

When I heard the answer from Helan, I went up to my room on the second floor. The maid in front of me stopped walking and opened my door.

Entering the room with bright sunlight, I had a comfortable smile.

“Not a single change.”

There was nothing different in the room from the day I left for the palace, with nothing changed from the things I used and the location.

The Duke has told us not to touch anything the Empress has written.

said the maid who followed.

I was so excited to marry Raymond that I didn’t care how my father felt about letting his only daughter go.

Looking around the unwavering room, I could see a little how my father felt at that time.

I could feel both sorry and gratitude for my father’s deep affection for me.

“Your Majesty, would you like to change into more comfortable clothes?”

“Yes, I will. But Harris.”

I handed my hat over to the maid and called her name.

“Yes?”

“Now don’t call me ‘Her Majesty’, call me Lady like you used to.”

“Lady…..Is it really okay for me to do so?”

Harris showed hesitation. I’m out of the palace, but I’m still officially the empress.

Only after confirming the divorce in the temple and the emperor officially announces it. She will be Ellie Croft Young-ae again.

But………. this is my home and Harris was my mother’s maid and the nanny who raised me. So I wanted to put aside official procedures.

“Yes, it’s all right. If it’s tomorrow at the latest, you’ll get the answer to the temple anyway. Then just call me lady. I came home and I don’t want to be called the Empress.”

“……Okay. Lady Ellie. Please wait a moment, I’ll bring a comfortable dress.”

Harris entered the dressing connected to my main room and came out with an ivory one-piece dress. When I took off my outdoor clothes and changed into my daily clothes, the sound of knocking on the door rang.

Knock Knock-

“Ellie, may I come in?”

“Come in, Father.”

When father came in, Harris naturally withdrew from the room. Sitting opposite my father at the table, I opened my mouth first.

“Thank you, and I’m sorry. I should have stopped by often… …but I couldn’t because I was only thinking about you.”

“It’s all right. Haven’t you been busy? Especially since now I’m back like this.”

I smiled at my hand which my father held.

“Yes. Now… I will forget about the past. Have you investigated the work done by Helan? Father.

“Yes, Just in case you have to be careful about the people you are bringing in.”

“I will…”

Because of the divorce from the emperor, there will already be a lot of talk about me, so it was good to avoid unsavory things as much as possible

And I also had a big secret.

Father said in a sincere voice

“According to the investigation, Helan’s home was not very good. Baron Foyden was crazy about gambling and wasted money, and the baroness died a long time ago.”

It was news that I didn’t know of.

Helan never told me about her family affairs.

“Then, is Helan disconnected from her family?”

“Yeah. It was as if she had already cut off a relationship with Baron Foyden. As you said, there seems to be no place for Helan to go back.

“I see….”

I thought she wasn’t telling a lie. Helan’s quick glances to her knees and talking earnestly were sincere.

When I felt sorry for her complicated situation, my dad quietly called me.

“Ellie,”

“Yes

“I’ve been thinking about it. I think it would be nice to have Helan next to you. She has nowhere to go anyways, so if the Croft Duchy said he would take responsibility for her life, wouldn’t Helan give you full loyalty.”

Loyalty…That means even if I were to die giving life to the child of the emperor, She will still take my side. Protecting my dear child right.

“Father’s point is to tell Helan my pregnancy?”

“Yes, because even I can’t send you to a distant kingdom alone. I want her to help you just like she’s been doing. “If I could, I’d like to you to leave with her…”

“It’s okay.  Just as long father remains, neither his majesty nor his empire will be shaken.”

Even if Raymond had a personal resentment because of me, my father was the emperor’s closest aide.

He had a strong sense of responsibility to protect the imperial power that was caused by rebellion, so even if I divorce from Raymond, he will remain close with the emperor’s loyalty.