I Won’t Accept Your Regrets

Raymond asked Helen behind his back.

"She suddenly collapsed at Marchioness Celine's party."

“At the party? Did she take poison?"

Raymond's eyes glittered dangerously at the delicate suspicion that crossed his mind.

Helen hurriedly shook her head.

“No, it definitely wasn't like that. Since she entered the party, he didn’t feel well, so she didn’t drink a sip of water at the party.”

“Then why…? Why isn't the doctors from the Royal Palace here yet?”

"I called them as soon as I got here, so they are probably on the way."

As soon as Helen arrived at the Empress Palace, she sent people to the Imperial Palace and the Royal Palace. And the Emperor arrived much faster than expected. It was because Raymond came running over on horseback, but there was no point in mentioning it in the current situation.

Butler, who exchanged glances with Helen, sent people to the Royal Palace in a hurry to bring him.

“Ellie…”

When Raymond took Ellie's hand tightly, unable to hide his nervousness. The fingertips that hadn’t moved moved.

“I’m okay…”

"Ellie?"

Her eyelids fluttered and a weak moan came out. Ellie's eyes slowly opened at the familiar voice calling her repeatedly. Then a beautiful face appeared first. Ellie called his name slowly, staring into eager black eyes.

“Raymond…”

"Yes, it's me. Are you awake? Do you feel somewhere pain? Are you hurt?"

Ellie, who shook her head at the questions that rained down on her, raised her upper body.

Raymond grabbed her shoulder and slowly helped her. Leaning against the head of the bed, she looked around and discovered that it was her bedroom.

"Helen, what happened to the Marchioness's party?"

"Marchioness Celine's party ended well."

“The party isn’t a problem right now. Ellie, you passed out. You suddenly lost consciousness.”

As soon as she woke up, Raymond squinted at Ellie, who was worried about the Marchioness's party.

Raymond's expression looked angry at first glance, but Ellie knew. It's not because he's angry, but that he's nervous and worried.

"I'm okay, Ray. I just collapsed from dizziness for a moment. It's not a big deal, so don't worry."

When Ellie patted the back of Raymond's hand as if to calm him down, he sighed as if he couldn't help it. But he didn't move from her side.

“I will be here until the imperial doctor's treatment is finished.”

Raymond seemed to have noticed what Ellie was going to say: ‘I'm fine, so get back to work’. Ellie nodded because it was a look that she can’t sway him.

And then the imperial doctor arrived.

“Your Majesty, the Empress…”

"Now that you've said hello, go ahead and look at the Empress's condition."

"Yes."

In response to Raymond's urgent voice, the imperialist doctor immediately headed towards the Empress.

The imperial doctor, who was taking out a diagnostic device and looking around the Empress's body, stopped and raised his head. Raymond's face hardened as the imperial doctor's eyes grew with surprise.

"What’s up? Is there something wrong with the Empress's body?"

"It's… Let me check again for a moment."

The doctor looked back at Ellie's body with an embarrassed look, re-diagnosis that has never been done before. Ellie also began to feel a bit anxious at the imperial doctor's surprised face.

She definitely thought it wouldn't be a big deal until a moment ago. It's just a simple body ache. She wasn't feeling well these last few days, so Ellie thought she would be in her womanhood days…

‘Isn't that it?'

Perhaps due to anxiety, when Ellie's lips went dry, the Imperial doctor's diagnostic device moved away from his body.

“…Is it really bad?” Ellie asked, pretending to be as calm as possible.

The imperial doctor's and Ellie's eyes met. And the doctor broke into a bright smile as he looked at Ellie.

‘…What?'

As soon as Ellie's eyebrows were about to rise slightly, the strong voice of the doctor sounded in the bedroom.

"Your Majesty, congratulations on your pregnancy!"

"What…?" Ellie's expression, who was pretending to be calm, broke. Ellie looked at the doctor with a blank face.

"You’re expecting a child. I’m sure that you are pregnant, Your Majesty.”

“Are you expecting a child…?”

Raymond's trembling voice was heard from the side.

"Ellie."

When Ellie turned her head towards the voice calling her, she could see his eyes, overwhelmed with emotion. It was then that she felt reality. The reality is that she’s expecting a child. The baby she thought she could never have again came to her. It was an unimaginable result.

No, Ellie didn't even imagine it. She shouldn't have expected it. She would only be disappointed.

When Ellie missed her period and felt strangely heavy, she thought about it for a very short moment, but immediately left her thoughts. Her menstruation was originally irregular and she was diagnosed that she would not have any more pregnancies.

But… Another miracle happened.

"Oh…"

Ellie spat out a breath and placed her hand on her still flat stomach. The baby who miraculously visited Raymond once, came to her.

“Is the Empress's body okay? Is it due to the pregnancy she lost her consciousness?” For a moment, Raymond asked the doctor with a serious face.

“She passed out from the anemia caused by the pregnancy. It's not serious, so it will get better soon if you take some medicine.”

"What else? Is the baby okay?"

"Yes everything is okay. As long as you don't overdo it, the baby will be fine, so don't worry, Your Majesty.”

The doctor smiled as if the Emperor was worried about the Empress and the Empress was worried about the Emperor and looked at the two helplessly.

“We will do everything we can to make sure that both the Empress and her descendants are safe.”

"Okay."

Ellie, who was anxious for confirmation from the imperial doctor, quickly calmed down.

"Then I'll go now."

After the imperial doctor left, Helen and butler also withdrew. When the two of them were in the bedroom alone, Raymond sat up on the bed and looked at Ellie.

"How are you now, are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine. You look paler than me. Why are you so worried? We have a miracle child. You are not happy?"

“Carlisle alone was enough,” Raymond, who said it with pain in his mouth, but Ellie saw it. His eyes as they looked at the other newborn baby.

I thought you would be very happy to have a second child. Of course, when he first heard the news, Raymond was so shocked that he didn't know what to do. But now his face shows emotions that are not joy; heavy feelings like anxiety and guilt.

Raymond said hastily as his face hardened slightly.

"No way, I'm so happy that I don't know how to express it."

"What's wrong with you?"

Raymond's lips moved slowly.

"…Sorry. When you had Carlisle, I couldn't be happy with you and I wasn't there when you gave birth. I'm sorry I let you handle everything by yourself."

Ellie remembered things forgotten when she had Carlisle. At that time, many situations overlapped, so she had to give birth and raise Carlisle by herself. She blamed Raymond a lot for the prenatal care and giving birth alone, but now it's all gone.

Raymond had been pouring out boundless love to her and Carlisle since their reunion. Of course, Raymond couldn't forget what happened at that time, and sometimes he would make such a face.

Ellie smiled slightly at his guilty expression.

"Everything is in the past."

"But…"

“When I was in the Lund kingdom, there were other pregnant women, and they said that their husbands got fruits that were hard to get because of morning sickness, read them books for prenatal care of children, and gave them leg massages in the evening. So if you're really sorry, do everything you couldn't do when I had Carlisle."

Ellie used to feel envious and lonely when she heard those stories from other wives, even though she thought it was okay to be alone. When she talked about things she envied at the time, Raymond's dark face turned solemn.

“I will do everything. I will do that all. If you want to eat, I can bring all the fruits in the Singing Mountains. Anything will be okay, so make me do everything. Do you understand?"

Ellie laughed right into Raymond's eyes as if he was going to run into a mountain range full of monsters right now.

"Take it easy. I can't lose the father to a monster before I have the child."

"Lose? Do you think I'm going to lose to the monsters? I'm a bit old, but my sword skills are still with me."

The heavy atmosphere was immediately eased by the exchange of pleasantries. Raymond took Ellie's hand with a guiltless face.

“Ellie, I'll do very, very well this time… So put everything else aside and just think of yourself and the baby, okay?"

"Okay."

The moment they felt each other's warmth while holding hands, Raymond's dream came to Ellie's mind.

"Of course… That dream was really a dream of conception."

"Huh?"

“The mysterious dream you told me about the other night. Don’t you remember?"

Raymond's eyes clouded over a bit as if he was fumbling with his memory. Shortly after it became clear, he made a small exclamation.

"Ah… That dream about the cat."

“Yes, I think that dream is a dream of conception. I didn't actually have a conception dream when I had Carlisle, so I didn't think it was a big deal. But now that I think about it, that dream is definitely my baby's conception dream."

“It's a conception dream… No wonder it was unusual, Ellie, I think my child will be born with unusual energy. The cat that I saw in my dream was really that unusual.”