I Don’t Want This Bad Ending

"I also missed you…"

The words that Evelyn said make Cabel astounded for a while before he smile lovingly to him.

"Did you really miss me?"

"Of course... "

Evelyn just agreed but truthfully, she was occupied by a lot of things that there isn't a reason to think about him.

Well, there was also a reason that she trusted him that was why she thought that Cabel would make it.

But there was no reason for Cabel to know that. 

"I'm glad I was the one to take your mother's soul… because of that I get to hear you say that."

Evelyn just gave a little smile that didn't reach her eyes as she heard Cabel's words.

"Let's just talk tomorrow. I think you still need to rest. I'll ask the maid and the doctor to check up on you later…"

Evelyn and Cabel were facing each other. They have a lot of things to talk about but since Cabel has just woken up from his long sleep, Evelyn eventually thought that it's better for Cabel to have a rest first.

When she was about to stand up, Cabel snatch her hand and as a reaction, Evelyn stop and looked at the hand that was stopping her from leaving.

"What is it?"

"You're leaving already?"

"Yes… I still have things to do. I just check if your needs are taken care of... properly"

"I see… there's a lot of things to clean up."

Evelyn nodded. She knew that Cabel would eventually understand what she was saying.

"Then… I guess I'm not the only one that needed your presence…"

"..."

"Alright… I'll rest today so I could help…"

Cabel was rational this time that Evelyn remembered that before he was her childhood friend, he was a Duke in the Levingstone Kingdom.

"I'll tell you everything tomorrow… so for today, eat something and rest. I'll take my leave now…"

As the door opened and closed, Cabel's red eyes were glued to it. 

***

As Evelyn leaves the room, she sighed at the thought that people are getting injured because of her.

Still, she knew that she needed their help and could only give her sincere gratitude towards their actions to help Evelyn.

"I need to get my act together…"

Leaving the hallway, she went to where Cassandra would be. Her laboratory.

Knock knock!

Tapping at the open door, Evelyn stands there for a while as Cassandra turns around from her position.

"You're here… hmmm.. You smell medicine. Did you come from the guest room?"

"Yup… I was checking up on his condition…"

Cassandra turned her back again to do what she was doing before Evelyn visitted.

Walking up close, Evelyn saw that the grimoire was open.

"I thought that this grimoire was damaged because of the explosion that happened?"

Glancing at Evelyn's direction, Cassandra answers.

"It has protective magic so it was fine but the whole lab got destroyed."

"Are you alright? How about Sir Erich?"

"We're fine… ah! Did you know that he left?"

Nodding her head, Evelyn responded.

"Yes… he came to my room and told me that Silvester will arrive in a few days and he will meet them halfway, so I told him he can go."

Silence begins to creep in. Eventually, Cassandra knew that Evelyn was not here just to visit.

"What is it?"

Cassandra breaks the silence.

"What reason did you really come here for?"

"Can you find the whereabouts of someone?"

Looking at her suspiciously, Cassandra told her that she can.

"... If you have the belongings of that person then I can."

After Cassandra deeply thought about who Evelyn wanted to find, she thought that maybe it was Gil and Alisha that she wanted to locate.

"If it's about the two… I can't. I already tried."

"Oh… it's not about them. It's someone else…"

"I see… then it's about the thing that you asked before?"

Evelyn then recalled that she asked a favor for Cassandra but told her that she would tell her when she was sure.

Without any response from Evelyn, Cassandra just speaks as if she knew that Evelyn was not going to tell her who it was.

"...then give me that person's possession which he or she always touched."

"Alright… then I'll leave now."

Evelyn left at a lightning speed that Cassandra thought a storm passed by.

Cassandra who was left alone saw that the grimoire shined a little.

"Huh…?"

Walking closer to the table where the grimoire was placed safely, Cassandra slowly reached for it.

Flipping through the pages, Cassandra didn't see any changes.

'What happened? It just glowed...right? My eyes didn't deceive me…' Cassandra thought to herself.

Still looking through the contents on each page there was still nothing but scriptures of forgotten spells that she still can't decipher because of how old it was and complex.

But when she came to the last few pages that were always blank since the day that she got it from Evelyn, her hands stopped.

Ancient writing was being written like someone was just writing it.

Slowly, words formed and a paragraph was made after a while the whole page was inked with letters. 

Cassandra stumbled and as a result, her knees gave up and fell down to the wooden floor of her laboratory. 

She was shocked. It was because she can read the contents that were written on it.

Turning her head to the door, she mumbled

"I need to tell her right away…"

***

Evelyn left the mansion in the St. Priscilla street and immediately went to the Royal Palace.

In the middle of the day, Evelyn felt like observing the streets through the capital, she was sure that the news was getting spread now. 

"There was a rebellion…"

"Is that why…"

"Shhh! Be quiet… what if someone here you…"

The murmur of the people was basically about the tension that they feel in the capital. Evelyn felt like she needs to hear more about how the citizens feel.

Every street that Evelyn passed by, the rumors are more widely spread but they're also more quiet about it.

So, she left her carriage when she arrived at the capital that was a distance away from the palace.

She will definitely know more about the situations and what kind of rumors are spreading.

With her hood on, Evelyn gets inside a big tavern that has a symbol of the adventures association.

She knew that in an atmosphere where people gathered to talk, there would eventually be news more accurate than the commoners that were outside who were just interested in the exaggerated rumors.

Well, Evelyn actually heard enough from the people passing by. Recalling it again, the conversation replayed in her mind again and again.

"It was the crown prince… they said he killed the king for revenge."

"What the- what did our kind king do to him?"

"Remember the former Queen?"

"That witch?… he got revenge for that witch? Oh my goodness…"

"She poisoned her sister to become the King's fiancee… she did a lot of horrendous things to get that position"

"I guess, the child didn't know about how evil the former Queen was…"

The ladies that gathered in the flower shop were busy telling stories about the former Queen.

Evelyn squinted her eyes that time and thought that…

'Something like that happened?'

But she shakes it off as it does not concern her.

The mercenaries and the adventurers that were in the capital were gathered in the tavern, as she stepped inside, the heavy atmosphere was what welcomed her.

"You're here to eat? Sit there!"

The woman who seemed to be the waiter in this big tavern pointed at the corner of the room where an empty table is.

Sitting while her hood was on, some of the eyes were on her.

'Well, I expected this…'

Looking at her outfit that is all balck and only her lower face can be seen, the reaction was to be expected.

She was inside the territory of the adventurers and mercenaries. A person like her who looks suspicious will stick like a sore thumb.

"Are you ready to order?"

All eyes were on her thinking that the suspicious person would speak and the gender would be revealed.

Evelyn coughed two times before she talked.

"... I'll get an ale and your specialty."

Silence crept inside the tavern, when they heard a woman's voice the mercenaries and the adventurers began to talk to each other again and the cheerful atmosphere exploded like the tension before was not there to begin with.

"Sorry about that…"

Evelyn looked up at the middle aged woman that coldly stared at her earlier.

"It's fine… but why are they looking at me earlier like that?"

The middle aged woman sighed. She was a waiter here for so long that she knew how the adventurers and mercenaries behaved whenever someone walked inside the tavern that looked suspicious.

But it was severe for Evelyn because some of them were touching their weapon while looking at her.

"You must be a traveller… It's because the capital is in chaos right now."

"What? But it doesn't look like that for me…"

Evelyn begins to act again to gain information.

"Well…"

The middle aged woman leaned in and whispered.

"A rebellion happened inside the Royal Palace and people are saying that the King was beheaded by the Emsworth family and that the purpose was for getting revenge for the Queen and Lady Evelyn who died years ago…"

"Huh…?"

Evelyn became confused, she knew that the first reason was correct but the latter was not something she thought would be a reason.

"I-is that so… then the capital is dangerous right now?"

"You could say that… anyway I'll go get your order."

The middle aged woman left Evelyn to her expense. 

Evelyn heightened her senses and began to spy on the mercenaries and adventurers' conversation.

'It's been a while since I feel like I'm doing adventurers work…' Evelyn thought as her order arrived and she began to munch the food that was placed in front of her.