Chapter 142 Everything happened too fast, it was all so...
A day later, news of Di Yaruo's pregnancy spread. Soon, an envoy arrived from King Midan's side, bringing with him the royal physician. The physician examined Di Yaruo and inquired in detail about her sexual encounters with King Midan, asking questions that were utterly embarrassing. I happened to be there and only heard half of it before leaving. The physician asked things like, "When did you go in?", "How much fluid did you feel?", and "How much leaked out?"—it was simply unbearable.
In the empty corridor, the sweltering summer wind brushed against my face, making my whole body feel hot. I sat on a step in a breezy spot, enjoying the southeast wind, which made me feel a little more comfortable.
“I don’t like my mother being pregnant with this child.” Beatrice appeared behind me without my noticing. I was startled by her voice, then watched as she sat down gracefully.
“Your mother won’t neglect you because of this child,” I said.
A strange expression appeared on Atrist's face, and she said with a half-smile, "You overestimate her."
"How so?" I asked.
"Whether or not she has this child, she will see me as a tool. I am a powerful weapon for her to seize the throne. She married my father and had me to consolidate her position; now, she is pregnant with King Midian's child, and if it is a son, it will fulfill her dream of the throne of the Westerlands. She will make this son give birth to another son as soon as possible, support this grandson to become a puppet king, and she will manipulate things from behind the scenes."
I looked at Beatrice in surprise. She was only a teenager. How could she think so much?
“Perhaps she would prefer to be the Queen of the Westerlands?” I said. “She once told me that her dream was to unify the entire Westerlands.”
“That’s what she used to think, which is why she married Hya. Hya is the biological son of the previous King of the West, and the only one still alive in the West so far. If King Midian is overthrown, he can use my mother’s army to ascend the throne, and then my mother can use him to rule the West. But my mother changed her mind recently,” Beatrice said, playing with her fingernails.
"Why?" I pressed. In my view, it would be much simpler to seize real power in the Western Regions through Hyya than through King Midan's illegitimate son.
Beatrice smiled, then suddenly leaned close to my ear and whispered, "Because she discovered that Haya has been poisoned, with a slow-acting poison, and she's afraid he won't live much longer."
I looked at her in alarm. "When did you find out? Are you sure?"
Beatrice didn't answer my previous question, but just nodded and smiled as she whispered, "Hya can't live much longer. When he appeared in the West, King Midan couldn't possibly let him live, no matter what. Otherwise, King Midan wouldn't be able to sleep at night, but he's sleeping very well now."
"Where is Dai Lin?" I suddenly thought of this person, this "fellow villager". After committing suicide in the royal city, I never saw Dai Lin again. Di Ya Ruo once vaguely told me that Dai Lin was injured during the royal city war and had been recuperating. She told me not to go see her because she was weak and easily infected by germs brought in by outsiders.
“I don’t understand why you’re so interested in her?” Beatrice muttered.
"How many months did she recover from her injury?" I was so busy with other things that I didn't think of her in time.
“She’s gone,” Beatrice shrugged. “Nobody knows how she disappeared. All I know is that one night she had a high fever, a really high fever. The doctor told us to be prepared, that she might die. My mother even had a coffin prepared. But when we went in the next morning, the bed was empty, and the doors and windows were all tightly shut. Nobody knows how she disappeared. Haya couldn’t have let her go either; he drank most of the night and didn’t wake up until the next evening.”
Has Dai Lin returned to the modern world? But how will she live now? In the modern world, she is considered dead.
I sighed deeply, but Beatrice sneered, as if she thought it was no big deal that just an insignificant person had gone missing.
As summer drew to a close, the sweltering heat gradually cooled, and everything seemed to calm down. There was no war, no disputes, and no commotion.
Bernard wrote to me regularly, and the Elf King also wrote to me regularly. Their letters were short, and my replies were even shorter.
They would usually inquire about my recent situation, reminding me to take care of my health and safety. The Elf King would also ask about Anleya, and I always had a lot to say about her. Therefore, the letters I wrote to the Elf King were longer than those I wrote to Bernot.
It's true that there are more entanglements between men and women with children than between those without.
I never asked Bernard and his mistresses how many children they had, nor did I ever ask anyone else. What was the point of asking? It would only annoy me.
I'm now fully immersed in the work of the finance department. Every day I have endless financial knowledge to learn and countless financial statements to review. I also have to squeeze out time to consult with the finance minister about business matters. I'm so busy I'm dizzy.
In addition, I also have to attend the morning royal meetings, afternoon tea with Deyar, and every evening family dinner—a gathering of the four of us: Deyar, Haya, and Beatrice.
“Family dinner is essential; it’s a tradition of our royal family,” Diya explained to me. “Unless it’s a major event, it shouldn’t be skipped.”
Several more months passed in this busyness. The freezing rain season ended, and the chilly early spring arrived. Diya's belly was now quite noticeable, and King Midan sent many gifts every month. Beatrice and I opened them together; they contained various exquisite jewelry, beautiful clothes, soft baby clothes, and various baby supplies.
“King Midian was so generous to his illegitimate son,” I couldn’t help but exclaim, “and generous to his mother as well, spending lavishly on her.”
Beatrice fiddled with a soft baby outfit. "He's a king, how can he not be generous? Besides, what if Mother gives birth to a son this time? Wouldn't he be in luck? What's a little gift?"
King Midian didn't have a normal son, and given his different sexual orientation, it was indeed difficult for him to have another son.
Di Yaruo's tremendous efforts this time should not have been in vain.
Soon, spring passed and early summer arrived. Although I was constantly busy, life was peaceful, and I thought it would continue to be peaceful forever.
On a cool early summer morning, I sat on a small stool behind the throne in the council hall, listening to Diya Ruo presiding over the royal council meeting. I listened to her enthusiastic and resonant voice as she spoke about recent plans, mentioning trade with the southeast and north borders, and the agreement recently reached with King Midan to reduce customs duties. After she finished speaking, I heard several ministers arguing fiercely with her, dissatisfied with the large sums of money she had spent on building the city moat, feeling it was a waste of the nation's hard-earned savings.
“Our royal city has an excellent defensive advantage,” Di Yaruo raised her voice, “and we should make the most of this advantage.”
“But that doesn’t mean we should squander money,” a minister said aggressively. “The royal treasury is empty and can’t afford such spending. Are you determined to drain it dry?”
“That’s right,” another minister said, seemingly earnestly, “You don’t know the hardship of being broke now, but you will understand when there is a famine.”
“You should stop building the city canal immediately,” the third minister said righteously, “that would be in the best interest of our royal city.”
Di Yaruo sneered and said, "If the fortifications aren't repaired, the royal city's independence and sovereignty won't be preserved. What's the point of talking about an empty treasury or getting through a famine? Without sovereignty, our royal city is at the mercy of others..."
Suddenly she stopped making a sound, and then let out a painful groan.
I threw down my pen and paper and immediately turned to the throne. There she was, pale-faced and slumped on it, clutching her swollen belly, with beads of sweat pouring down her face.
The ministers present were all stunned. I shouted, "Summon the imperial physician!" and they snapped out of their daze and rushed forward to see how she was.
She was in even more pain, clutching her lower abdomen more tightly, and blood flowed from under her long skirt, causing the ministers to gasp in alarm.
The imperial physicians arrived in haste with their female physicians, dismissed the ministers and me, and began treating us on the spot.
That morning was a complete mess, and I still remember it vividly.
Outside the council hall, ministers and nobles crowded together, discussing amongst themselves with varying expressions. Some were anxious, some worried, some indifferent, some mocking, and some fearful.
After a long while, a female physician came out and announced that the bleeding had finally been barely stopped, and that the Queen would now be moved to her bedroom so that she could rest better.
A soft stretcher was brought over, and the Queen was carefully placed on it before being carried back to her bedroom.
The Queen remained unharmed until midnight and slept soundly.
But at dawn, as the sun peeked out, the Queen suffered another massive hemorrhage. This time, nothing could stop it; the royal physicians and female healers were drenched in sweat, and two of the female healers even cried in fear.
I was summoned inside. The Queen was deathly pale, her long hair disheveled, and she lay slumped on the bed, calling my name: "Lana, Lana..."
“I’m here.” I collapsed at her bedside and burst into tears.
"Lana, someone has harmed me," her voice was extremely weak, almost unable to speak, "You must avenge me."
Tears streamed down my face as I held her cold hand tightly. "You'll be alright."
She shook her head weakly, and as if gathering all her strength, she called out loudly, "Quickly summon all the ministers to the Imperial Council."
Within minutes, the ministers arrived. They had been waiting outside her bedroom.
“Now I declare,” she said, extremely weakly but with great determination, “that after my death, all power in the capital will be handed over to Queen Lana, and my seal will be passed on to her alone. Once Princess Beatrice turns twenty and it is certain that she will not marry outside the capital, the throne may be passed on to Princess Beatrice.”
The ministers gasped in surprise and looked at each other in disbelief.
The senior attendant beside her wrote down the last sentence as she finished speaking.
When the "will" was presented to her, she extended her index finger, dipped it in ink, and pressed her fingerprint firmly onto it.
She lay exhausted on the bed, her face deathly pale, blood still seeping from under the sheets—a truly horrifying sight.
At this point, Beatrice was allowed to enter the room. Previously, the royal physician had been afraid of frightening her and had not allowed her to enter, but now... it was so that she could see her mother one last time.
Beatrice knelt before her mother's bedside, tears welling in her eyes, yet she refused to let them fall.
Her mother looked at her without saying a word.
One minute, two minutes, three minutes, five minutes passed... It was unclear how much time had passed, but the royal physician, with a somber expression, covered the Queen's face with a white cloth and announced that the Queen had passed away.
There were no scenes of loud weeping as often seen in movies and TV dramas; instead, there was a terrifying silence. Everyone was silent, and a somber, oppressive atmosphere filled the room.
I stood frozen in front of the bed until the Queen's body was carried out of the room, still unable to believe she was really dead.
It's too fast, everything happened too fast, so fast that it's hard to believe it's real!
More than an hour had passed when I collapsed onto the floor. My legs were so numb that I couldn't stand up and had to give way on the ground...
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Author's Note: I highly recommend my other novels! If you haven't read them yet, you definitely should!
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