I packed my stuff to be ready when Noah could sneak me out, wondering if I should take any of my pretty dresses with me. I bought them with Ian's money, but they look too pretty to be left behind.
Was this part of his plan? To get me carried away by all things rich and beautiful, so I got distracted and blinded about what was really going on? While I got my hair done and nails polished like a fool, he was screwing Bella.
He can keep his dresses and his money. I took my earnings out of what he gave me and left the rest next to the letter. I opened the side table drawer to take something I wanted to keep with me—A picture of us in Mountbatten.
It was on the day we went dog sledding and stopped for campfire lunch.
"It would be a crime to not capture how cute you look in this outfit," Ian pulled me into the frame when I was reluctant to pose with him and the six Siberian Huskies.
He kept the other picture from the next day at dinner after t
~Ian~Just one last stop and it was time to go home. These past few days were pure agony, and I couldn't wait to be back in Nadia's arms. It was the fifth and last day without her.I stopped on my way to pay my condolences to Mason's parents. He meant more than just a field officer to me over the last four years. He was one of the best. It was less than a fortnight ago that I went to the town square with him. So young to leave us all so soon.If it was anyone else messing with Nadia in the barracks, I would have killed him right on the spot, but I couldn't get mad at him much. Besides, he told me many times he had a woman to who he never introduced me. 'I don't want her to leave me for you,' he used to joke around.It surprised me to see Lydia at his parents' house. I was even more surprised to find out that it was Lydia he was going to get married to in June."Wow! I wouldn't have believed even if he had told me.""I... I, Your Highne
~Third Person's POV~"He's going to ask me if I knew about Nadia and Noah. What should I tell him? I'm sure that's why he asked me to see him," Lydia asked her mother."What kind of stupid question is that? Nadia loves Ian and only Ian. Why wasn't I aware of this Noah's existence until today? That idiot girl!""But I don't want to lie to him. Nadia did meet Noah. I saw her get dressed to meet him in secret once. I'm sure it was him, but she wanted to protect his identity.""So what? Even if Nadia slept with Noah, you will still tell Ian she only loves him. Is that clear?""He trusts me. He considers us family because of Nadia. I feel like lying would only complicate things even more.""How is this little truth going to help the situation? I am getting tired of you girls and your stupidity. I warned Nadia over and over to stop acting on an impulse. Look at what happened now. Not sure if she's even alive.""I won't tell him then."
~Nadia~Sadness, aching and hurt engulfed me for days. After spending three days in Ivaris, it dawned on me that Ian would not come for me, ever. Why would he? All his predicaments must have been automatically resolved once I left.After screaming and thrashing and wailing for days together, the pain still stayed. The only silver lining was the support I got from Noah's grandparents. This is all I ever wanted from my mother instead of those disapproving banters for not being on the same level with her constantly scheming mind."The pain doesn't stop my dear. You just learn to cope. The important thing to help you heal is that you acknowledge the pain but not let it overcome you." His grandma said witha sad smile on her face."How can I think about healing? There's no more hope left for us.""Trust me when I say you will be fine. You will slowly put it all behind."Do I really want to put Ian behind and forget about him? I can never get
"Nadia! What are you doing?" Granny stepped into my room with a frown on her face."I can't decide if I should let Ian know about the baby.""Can't decide would be an understatement," she said, picking the mess I made.I was sprawled out on the floor in my nightclothes amid dozens of crumpled unfinished letters to Ian. Would he care about the baby? I definitely didn't want one, at least not this soon.An unmarried pregnant girl!There was only one time when a courtesan got pregnant despite taking birth control. Prince Damian took no responsibility. In fact, he threatened to kill her if she kept the baby. Her family banished her, and she was forced to live somewhere away from the community. No one heard from her again."Granny, if I don't tell anyone about this and give the baby up for adoption, will someone take it?""I doubt it. There are countless homeless children on the streets. Foster cares and orphanages are not reli
"Let me guess. You want to continue working at the coffee shop?" The Prince asked."Y-yes, Your Highness. If you could be so kind to--""Sorry, we are not hiring," the new owner cut me off."Please. I swear I make the best coffee in this area and you don't even have to pay me much."The Prince replied rudely. "All we can pay you right now is a penny. We are trying to restore the economy by generating profits from small businesses. We can't let the employees suck up all the revenue we generate."What does he mean by 'restore the economy' when it is the common people who make up the biggest chunk of that economy and we are suffering right now? How does letting a new coffee shop owner get rich help the economy? What does this Prince smoke to be so stupid? It is the King who is sucking up all the revenue and even these small businesses managed by them will be in their own interest."Are you saying the coffee will make itself, Your Highness
~Ian~She closed her eyes in a panic and grabbed onto my shirt, unwilling to let go. Too scared to see the cliff that she was going to fall off of.I grabbed her by the wrists and pushed her."Ian, nooo!!"She fell into the water and was in a shock to realize she was still alive."A surprise hot spring!" I said and jumped in right next to her."You gave me such a scare! This feels so awesome, so I forgive you," she mussed up my hair and wrapped her arms around me, pulling me as close to her as possible."So that's why you didn't tell me what's in that bag you were carrying all this time. Those are our change of clothes!" She felt like a genius for figuring it out."This is one of my favorite places in Mountbatten. I sometimes wish to leave everything behind and just start living here, in this tiny mountain town like some old man with no name.""And I will still love you when you go bald and lose all your teet
~Nadia~ As I entered the second trimester of my pregnancy, mood swings became extreme and so did my food cravings. I hardly ate two meals a day ever since I left the palace. Until recently, despite trying my best to take care of myself, my appetite refused to return to how it used to be. But now, I had the opposite problem. I felt hungry all the time. After eating an early dinner, I got hungry within an hour and wanted more. Snacking on cheese and crackers had become a routine habit at midnight. Noah's grandparents were at times afraid to talk to me because of how badly I snapped at them. Only Giselle could handle my tantrums, despite being so little. The coffee shop was overly busy because the Prince sent everyone this way. It exhausted me to death by the end of the day, but the pay before leaving kept increasing day by day, and it was the end of the second week already. Today was a good day for a change because I got done early with work and
~Ian~After visiting Ivaris for a second time, I met their Crown Prince and went hunting with him. Ivaris was one of the best hunting places I have known with lots of freshwater, feeding spots, and some kind of game breeding throughout the year. The last time I was with Andreas was in February when I couldn't stop thinking about Nadia. It was the first time I thought about someone who was not Caty.On one such day eight years ago, Andreas and I met Caty when we were up north in his kingdom, hunting for some Alpine Ibex. Visiting Ivaris always brought back memories of her, and the good times we spent together. Just a few kisses from Nadia made me forget Caty, who was on my mind for many years. I wanted to stay mad at Nadia for pushing me away for some nonexistent future husband. I left without telling her because it really hurt my ego. Little did I know it was Noah she wanted to save herself for. Months later, I still can't stop thinking about
Nine months later (Mountbatten, September 30, 1836) ~Nadia~ "Sorry, I can't help being rough with you today," he said, gripping my hips tighter. "Me neither!" I bit into the skin near his collarbone and sucked on the side of his neck. We were dying to be alone and as loud as we wanted for almost a week now. He pushed me up against the wall, capturing my lips in a passionate kiss and moving his hands under my blouse. A sharp, angry cry resonated throughout the entire home. "Oh, that little brat!!" Ian made a sulky face as he went to check on Leo, and I followed him laughing. Leo stopped crying as soon as I rubbed his chin with my finger. Just like Ian, he wanted me to brush his hair with my fingers. Ian admired his sleeping little daughter. Oh yes, we had twins, Mabel and Leo. "Look at my angel, sleeping so peacefully, allowing us some quality time. Such a sweet darling." He moved the tiny r
~Nadia~"Do you have any idea the kind of hell you put Seb through?"What was she talking about? She had a wedding ring on and a baby bump, probably in her second trimester."You can write such articulate letters to strangers with pen names but don't have the guts to confront the father of your child? So what if he rejects you? At least you would have tried. You deprived him of seeing the baby grow inside you and the satisfaction of being there for you. You made all decisions for the three of you.""I saw him with you at the ball. You were all over him as always." I couldn't remove the bitterness out of my voice."I love him, and there was no sign of you anywhere for months. You can't expect me to be a saint and sacrifice him for you. You should have confronted him, fought with him, and claimed him back if you really wanted him that bad. You ran like a little kid, making him dig into the entire Prussian spy network and operations."I w
~Ian~I reached Ivaris Central in no time, and the first thing I noticed was a large group of people surrounding something and a lot of commotion. I pushed my way through to find that Andrew was beaten to a pulp and my men were in a heated argument with a handful of commoners."What's going on here?" I helped Andrew off the floor and asked him."That woman in the barracks, she's Noah's accomplice.""Which woman?""She's pregnant now. She ran after him while we were chasing him. I tried to stop her, but she concocted some cock and bull story and got me beaten.""Where is she now? Did you hurt her?""She ran after him, that way." He pointed to the tracks."I saw her get into the train that left just twenty minutes back." Another one of my men told me.I went to the ticket counter to ask which train she might have taken. Only two trains left in the last thirty minutes, one going to Arcadia and the other to Krems
~Nadia~I needed to go as far away from Ian as possible. I feel disgusted by him to the core. Once a playboy, always a playboy. Such a fool I was to wait for him, hoping he would come one day.Where was the map that grandpa uses? I needed to get out of Ivaris and go somewhere up north. I changed into more comfortable clothes and packed some food and clothes as quickly as possible.Poor Andreas, I wrote an apology note for him as well and another note for grandparents and Giselle. I left part of my earnings along with the letter, hoping that Andreas continues to send them my allowance, at least for Giselle's sake.I ripped the letter meant for Ian into a thousand pieces and left home. The train station was in Ivaris Central, which was only a mile away by the shortcut grandpa showed me. There was a long line of people at the ticket station because of the rush hour.As I stood in the line and marveled at the granite facades lit with giant lanter
~Ian~"Seb, did you like it?"I forgot what Caty wanted me to try. She put her hand on my back."It's good," I lied."I knew it!"Every time she laid even a finger on me, I could hear Nadia yelling at me. I can't forget that night she got drunk and ran onto the street because I hurt her. Even though she left me, I still felt loyal to her.I gently slid Caty's hand off of me, but she wrapped her other arm around me."Won't you dance with me?" She whispered in my ear."Maybe after we eat dinner. I'm not in the mood right now."I turned around to eat one more of what Nadia loved. I would give everything I had to get that night back when she was in my room, talking about baking and why she loved plum jam turnovers so much.Those large brown eyes staring into mine every time she lifted her head up after burying her face into my chest. Knowing enough about her now, I know why she did that back then. She was feelin
~Nadia~Putting Giselle to sleep was a daunting task today. Her snuffles didn't stop long after she closed her eyes. I pushed all thoughts of Noah away until she was off to bed, but now that I was the only one awake in the house, I went into Noah's room and burned those two letters addressed to Johann Barnekow.Was that really Noah under the streetlight today? Did he escape from the prison and come to see Giselle? Why would he not come home unless he was a fugitive on the run?I don't want to side with a spy, no matter how good he is to me. Do I want to deprive Giselle of her papa though? Certainly not. I have to do my part so he's able to come back to Giselle one day, sooner than later.I guess he would have talked to me and his daughter today if Andreas wasn't with us. He was always there when I was low. Why couldn't he be the simple, honest man I thought he was?What if Ian never came for me because of Noah? If he was in the prison as some Barne
~Nadia~"Oh, wow! What kind of sorcery is this?" I was staring at the model of an automobile with my mouth wide open. Andreas told me it was an electric carriage made by someone from Scotland.Giselle wanted to sit inside the model because it looked like a perfect toy on wheels.Ivaris was holding a three-day fair as part of the first harvest festival of the year. Arcadia fairs never had all these engineered models on display. Here, people could watch science in progress, touch prototypes of future inventions, and even volunteer to take part in some of these ventures where developers were conducting surveys and handing us forms to fill."Do you like it?" Andreas asked Giselle as if he was gifting her one. He was really excited about these model designs and talked about random facts nonstop."Inventors are trying to make one powered by an internal combustion engine. So we can go to the beaches in Colchis, take a trip to the Macaby caves and sp
~Ian~After visiting Ivaris for a second time, I met their Crown Prince and went hunting with him. Ivaris was one of the best hunting places I have known with lots of freshwater, feeding spots, and some kind of game breeding throughout the year. The last time I was with Andreas was in February when I couldn't stop thinking about Nadia. It was the first time I thought about someone who was not Caty.On one such day eight years ago, Andreas and I met Caty when we were up north in his kingdom, hunting for some Alpine Ibex. Visiting Ivaris always brought back memories of her, and the good times we spent together. Just a few kisses from Nadia made me forget Caty, who was on my mind for many years. I wanted to stay mad at Nadia for pushing me away for some nonexistent future husband. I left without telling her because it really hurt my ego. Little did I know it was Noah she wanted to save herself for. Months later, I still can't stop thinking about
~Nadia~ As I entered the second trimester of my pregnancy, mood swings became extreme and so did my food cravings. I hardly ate two meals a day ever since I left the palace. Until recently, despite trying my best to take care of myself, my appetite refused to return to how it used to be. But now, I had the opposite problem. I felt hungry all the time. After eating an early dinner, I got hungry within an hour and wanted more. Snacking on cheese and crackers had become a routine habit at midnight. Noah's grandparents were at times afraid to talk to me because of how badly I snapped at them. Only Giselle could handle my tantrums, despite being so little. The coffee shop was overly busy because the Prince sent everyone this way. It exhausted me to death by the end of the day, but the pay before leaving kept increasing day by day, and it was the end of the second week already. Today was a good day for a change because I got done early with work and