At the End of the Shattered Remains of Pure Love - Chapter 13

His daughter had tuberculosis. Unlike Adams, Eves are no different from ordinary people except for their innate beauty, so his daughter was in a near-death situation.

Elaine tried to snatch her daughter away from him as if having a fit, but for the first time, he roughly pushed his wife away. Surprised, Elaine fell to the floor and glared at him. He tried not to get angry and reminded himself that he needed to soothe his wife, trying to compose his expression.

“Let’s go back.”

Khalil murmured towards the crying woman. But Elaine just turned her head without getting up. He entrusted the child to his aide and raised his wife. A plea to let her go echoed in his ears. He lightly chewed and swallowed the noise that didn’t even seem like noise and turned his feet. The shabby apothecary’s house, no different from a barn, was disgusting.

He stuffed his wife, who had been dragged out, into the carriage and held the feverish child. To avoid sinking into anxiety, he had to stop making assumptions, but looking at the sick child, he couldn’t keep his sanity.

If the apothecary hadn’t known a doctor in the palace, if that doctor hadn’t examined the pregnant Elaine a very long time ago… Many unfulfilled assumptions filled his head. The Crown Prince had almost lost his fiancée, and he had almost lost his daughter.

Nevertheless, Elaine’s face was filled only with hatred. There was no fear, or relief, or longing for him.

Upon arriving at the mansion, he stuffed his wife into his bedroom and then sent someone to the Imperial Palace. However, what came back was not the Emperor’s guard but the Emperor himself. Khalil didn’t know what to do with his uncontrollable future son-in-law.

***

I don’t know how the night passed. In fact, I don’t even know when I fell asleep. When I opened my eyes, the boy had disappeared without a trace. Jeanne looked around for him and saw maids coming in with big strides.

The young maids, still with fluffy down, looked like girls three or four years older than her. They treated Jeanne kindly, just like a youngest sister.

“Is there something you’re looking for?”

“…No.”

“You should speak informally now. You will be the future Emperor’s consort, and you’re also the master’s daughter.”

The black-haired maid patted Jeanne’s back. While telling her to speak informally, the hand patting her back was like that of an eldest sister. Jeanne watched her draw the curtains with her lips tightly closed. She wanted to talk about what happened last night, but somehow felt she shouldn’t. Because… it was a very secret matter between Jeanne and him…

“The Count wants to have breakfast with you, Miss. Let’s put on our pretty dress and go see the Count.”

The maid who quickly drew the curtains whispered as she lifted Jeanne and set her down from the bed. Jeanne, pushed by her in a daze, went to the small table filled with washing water. The lukewarm water washed her face.

After tidying her hair and changing into a flowing dress, Jeanne walked through the corridor. The peregrine falcon and iris, symbols of the Spetunia family, were intricately carved everywhere.

The Count’s attendant came out to greet her upon the maid’s message of her arrival. Jeanne advanced towards her father with him. She stared at the man standing looking out the window.

“Jeanne, come here…”

The man turned his gaze and smiled gently, stretching out both arms towards his young daughter. Jeanne, who had been looking up at her father, approached with small steps but then stopped. The child, who stopped at a distance where she had to lean forward to reach, looked at him again.

His blonde hair, half covering his forehead, shone brightly like pure gold in the yellow sunlight coming through the round arched window.

The sharply sculpted contours were straight and firm like steel.

She gazed at the beautiful light-colored eyes under thick and graceful eyebrows. The bright and neat eyes were as beautiful as a noblewoman’s jewels, but tinged with gloom.

Khalil, without losing his smile, gently grasped the hand of his daughter who resembled his wife. The small and soft hand was tender. Although her fingertips were bruised, it was incomparably prettier compared to Elaine’s hand.

He could imagine how much effort Elaine had made to not let their daughter suffer. He felt his heart ache as he pulled his young daughter into an embrace.

“How was last night?”

He had heard that the Emperor had entered through the window like a thief. Although he couldn’t have guessed it, he had placed guards in front of his daughter’s bedroom. It wasn’t that he hadn’t anticipated a sudden visit. But he didn’t expect it to be like this. Although he was reckless, he was already fourteen years old. He had learned enough social skills to consider dignity and face.

‘Cesare…’

He thought of the boy who was like a tall stallion. A beautiful boy who was willful and unpredictable. He had expected it to some extent. He was a person who was as obsessed with his daughter as Elaine was. So it was clear that he would try to steal his daughter in an unexpected way.

“It was good. There was a nice scent from the bed. Sister Lana also gave me a sparkling jewel. She put it in my hair…”

His daughter, who had been fidgeting, touched her hair. Lana was a temporarily assigned maid. Born as the eldest daughter in a poor family, she had taken care of many of her younger siblings, and fortunately, she seemed to have taken good care of Jeanne. Khalil was relieved to hear that the time she spent crying for Elaine wasn’t very long.

“I see. What else happened?”

“Um… I met a wizard prince in my dream.”

His daughter, rolling her pink eyes that resembled her mother’s, whispered carefully. He lifted his daughter, who seemed to be watching him cautiously, and sat her on his thigh.

As their eyes met, Jeanne smiled broadly. Her face, with blushing cheeks, was lovely. His daughter, with her brightly waving dark hair tightly braided and tied with a pink ribbon, was wearing a satin dress with puffy sleeves.

She looked as pretty as a doll in her dress puffed up like a flower bud, but it couldn’t hide how small and thin she was. He recalled Isabeau’s daughter. Was that woman’s daughter particularly precocious… When comparing her side by side with Jeanne, their age difference seemed insignificant.

“What did the wizard prince say?”

He asked, lightly pinching his daughter’s cheek. His young daughter, lovely like a rabbit, looked at him, moving her plump lips. She seemed to be choosing her words.

Suddenly, footsteps were heard outside the office door. As he turned his head, a knock was heard.

“Your Grace. It’s Austin. Miss Antonia wishes to see you.”

It was the butler’s voice. Antonia was Isabeau’s daughter and his legitimate and eldest daughter. He parted his lips to let the child enter the office.

“Father.”

The girl, neatly dressed in an indoor dress of light purple that contrasted with her red hair, smiled politely as she greeted him. Her smile, as elaborate as a painting, closely resembled her mother’s, giving her a gentle and virtuous air beyond her years.

“You’ve become even prettier after staying at your maternal grandparents’. Did you pay your respects well to your grandparents?”

Khalil received her greeting while holding his daughter. Antonia had been sent to her maternal grandparents’ house with her twin brother two months ago. As they were Isabeau’s children, he didn’t care where the twins were placed or how they were accommodated. So it didn’t matter whether they stayed at their maternal grandparents’ for two months or at their father’s mansion. However…

“Yes. Grandfather asked after your well-being, Father.”

Antonia raised her head with a blushing face. The precocious girl for her age looked at Khalil. Her amber eyes, mixed with subtle expectation, fell on Jeanne. Her eyes, which had been only round, now shone as sharp as needles. Khalil didn’t miss this change.

He gently set down his daughter, whom he had been holding like a doll, on the floor. Jeanne, who had been nestled beautifully in his arms, raised her eyes. Khalil smiled gently at her, then took her hand and stood in front of Antonia.

“Say hello. This is Jeanne. Antonia, she’s your older sister.”

He didn’t say half-sister. Because they weren’t half-sisters. In fact, he had never embraced Isabeau. Isabeau was already pregnant with twins before marrying him, and he had neither the bad taste to embrace a pregnant woman nor the habit of embracing a woman who wasn’t his wife.

From the beginning, he couldn’t get aroused for any woman other than Elaine. Was this also because he inherited Adam’s blood? Had he become imprinted on that woman because of this? He didn’t know. Therefore, Isabeau’s twins were Isabeau’s children alone.

Although she had conceived through an illicit relationship during her days as a maiden, Isabeau loved her children quite a bit. He wasn’t entirely without affection either.

Since he had accepted the children as his own due to that night’s deal, he also had legal obligations along with a faint affection. However, it was always just the feeling of a godfather. To him, Isabeau’s twins were like godson and goddaughter who required some attention.

They couldn’t be compared to Jeanne.

“Hello, Sister. I’m Antonia de Spetunia.”

At Khalil’s introduction, Antonia, who had been staring blankly at Jeanne, smiled brightly and held out her hand. Jeanne, who had been looking back and forth between him and Antonia, unfolded her hand that had been tightly clenched.

Khalil smiled kindly towards his hesitating daughter. Jeanne, who had been looking at her birth father, seemed to gather courage as she wiped her hand on her dress before extending it. Antonia watched this expressionlessly before finally taking her hand. The clasped hands were small and sticky.