“Little prince...”
Dennis suddenly woke up to the feeling of a hand gently patting him, and he opened his eyes with a sigh.
When he raised his eyelids, the rays of the afternoon sun streamed into the room.
“Mom...”
He realized that he was lying on her lap, and quickly got up.
Dennis looked around thoughtfully.
They were alone in a forest he had never seen before.
Charles was looking at him with a tender smile, no shadow of worry on her face.
Her cheeks are moderately full, and her figure is elegant, as if she had never known fatigue in her life.
This was a picture of his mother, whom he had not seen for a long time, and his hand clenched around hers of its own accord.
She, in turn, held his hand warmly.
Moderate warmth, the temperature of a living human body.
Somehow, in this situation, he felt as if he had never been separated from his mother.
He felt as if she was with him on all occasions: his coming of age, his engagement to Thérèse, and even their wedding day.
Confused by the strangeness of this feeling, Denis remained silent, holding Charles' hand.
“Why are you so distracted?
Haven’t you woken up yet?”
Charles laughed at his blank face.
“No.
It felt like you were here the whole time...”
“Of course.
Where will I go?
Leaving my little prince.”
She took Charles by the still lifeless hand and led him deeper into the forest.
“First time here, right?
I'll show you around.”
Then I took it further inside.
I easily explained to him the name of every strange tree they saw.
Then she picked a fruit and put it in his mouth.
It was a small raspberry-like fruit, red, but its taste was sour and astringent.
When he frowned, his mother laughed loudly, full of joy, and she also put a fruit in her mouth.
Her juice suddenly flew out like a spray, then dripped like a streak of blood down the side of her mouth.
When she wiped it with the hem of her sleeve, the blood-red liquid continued to appear.
Her white sleeve quickly turned crimson.
The forest was strangely quiet.
There wasn't even a rustle of leaves.
Dennis looked around.
“Mom, where are we going?”
"Mmm.
You'll know when we get there."
Charles was passing the increasingly dense trees, as if she knew this forest well.
Each time, the thorny branches scratched his arms and face.
“Here we are.”
The place they arrived at was a rocky slope.
When he looked down, he saw a valley with fast-flowing river water rushing under the cliff.
“Mom, this is a dangerous place because it's a cliff.
Let's go to that side.”
“Mmm?”
His mother turned naively.
Her dress was completely drenched in blood.
"My mom!"
Dennis reached out to grab her as he shouted, but Charle jumped off the cliff before he could stop her.
“Huh!”
Dennis suddenly woke up.
His familiar bedroom.
He was still panting from fear, and drops of sweat froze on his forehead.
“Huh...”
He held his forehead and tried to catch his breath.
It was a nightmare.
He thought things had improved a little.
Apparently it was because he visited his mother's grave during the day.
Dennis got out of bed and opened the window.
It was still three in the morning, and dawn was far away.
He felt a little calm as he breathed in the cool air.
There was a high probability that if he went back to sleep now, the nightmare would complete itself.
When his nightmare begins, he has had the same dream three days in a row previously.
He wondered whether or not he should sleep again.
What should he do...
While he was standing at the window, an idea suddenly occurred to him.
He left the palace still wearing his pajamas.
The dawn air, with autumn approaching, was cold.
He felt as if he had regained full consciousness.
He walked with long steps, as if he was running.
To that familiar place.
Where he rests.
The woman was going to sleep, so he planned to take a nap next to her and feel some warmth.
Next to that woman, he felt that even nightmares would not dare to approach.
When he stood in front of the woman's bedroom, he was breathing hard.
Because he had been running almost since he arrived in front of her ward.
He caught his breath in front of the door, then opened it as quietly as possible so as not to wake her.
Then he looked at her bed through the gap.
But, unexpectedly, there was no one at the woman's bed.
In this unexpected situation, he violently pushed the door open, and only then did he see a person.
In a corner of the room, the woman was sitting on the sofa, her face sunken, looking at him.
The sound of music fills the air.
“You should have knocked on the door, Your Highness.”
“It's me, your husband.”
Dennis smiled naturally and walked towards her with slow steps.
Dennis sat comfortably in his usual place.
Only then did he feel at ease, of everything.
The woman, whether he was watching her or not, was sitting deeply on the sofa listening to music from the phonograph.
Today music is not wine.
“Didn’t you wait for me today?
That’s sad.”
He meant there was no glass of wine.
When Dennis said that, the woman opened her mouth.
“This is a lullaby by Debussy.
I was thinking about trying to sleep with a clear mind.”
“Aha.”
“I had a nightmare.”
“And that's why you rushed to my suite?”
Therese said, laughing.
"exactly."
At his frank confession, one of her eyebrows raised slightly.
The soft sound of music filled the silence between the two sitting in silence.
Dennis leaned back completely and looked at the ceiling.
While he was drawing the ceiling decorations of the woman's room with his imagination, he opened his mouth.
“Therese.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“You...you're going to be queen.”
You will be queen and I will be king by your side.
I will never abandon you.
Dennis said his conclusion.
It was a confirmation that he had never confessed his true feelings to her in this way before.
When he said those words, he expected an immediate response from the opposite party, but no response came.
Until the room was filled with just the sound of music.
"… Understood."
The words the woman uttered after a long while were merely “I understand.”
It was a detached answer, as if she was talking about someone else's business and not her own.
But, not paying attention to this nuance, he looked at the woman's indifferent face.
Her face, no different from usual, showed no emotion.
However, she opened her mouth and said something incomprehensible.
“You know?”
"What?"
“The palace doctor said if you drink alcohol every day, it will be difficult to get pregnant.”
The woman looked directly at him.
“Then stop.”
Dennis answered simply.
The woman turned her head and focused on the music again.
After hearing her say that it was a lullaby, he gradually started to feel sleepy.
The repetitive, peaceful melody seemed to slow his heart rate.
Do lullabies affect adults too?
If so, will I be able to sleep on my own if I listen to a lullaby?
Without having to come to the women's room...
He had such useless thoughts…
When Dennis began to doze off with his eyes drooping, the woman turned off the phonograph.
“I want to have it, too.”
“Mmm?”
Denis answered on the edge of consciousness and subconsciousness.
It was truly amazing how he felt so sleepy and comfortable as soon as he came to the woman's room.
He sank deeper into the sofa and turned his head.
His consciousness was gradually leaving him.
That's why he didn't hear the woman's last words.
Because he had fallen into a deep sleep.
The woman said in a low voice, as if she was humming.
“A child...our child.”
The woman looked at him while he was sleeping, then brought a blanket.
She carefully covered him with it so that the cold air would not seep into him.
Then the woman went to bed and curled her body like a fetus.
It was a dawn without nightmares, for one who slept comfortably and for the other who could not sleep.
Since the Duke of Priem's family was an ancient family, the scopes of maids' duties were clearly defined.
Fantine was hired as a scullery maid.
Because she was old, and because the recommendation letter stated that she had previously worked in a laundry room.
“Sarah, you're going to the laundry room.”
“Yes, head maid.”
Sarah Mestier.
This was Fantine's new name.
Once assigned to the laundry room, Fantine began to win over the other maids who worked with her.
There were two other maids in the room besides her, and the two of them were doing all the laundry in this large palace on their own.
So the work intensity was relatively high.
Julie and Carole, Fantine exchanged greetings with the two.
Fantine listened to their conversation and tried to analyze their personalities.
Julie was taciturn and shy, but easily influenced.
While Carol was talkative and reckless, she had great pride.
Fantine decides to win over the impressionable Julie first.
When Carol had left the place for a while, Fantine spoke to Julie.
“You, Julie, where are you from?”
“I am from Amiens.
And you, Sarah?”
“I am from Lahu.”
“Lahu?
This is the first time I’ve seen someone from Lahu!”
Julie said cheerfully.
This is actually possible.
Lahu was a small town close to the area where the Haz people lived, and it had a small population.
“Really?
I've seen the Haz people in person.”
Fantine smiled as she looked at Julie.
"truly?"
“Yes.
Their appearance is completely different from us.
They are shorter in stature, and have dark skin.”
Fantine explained the appearance of the Haz people.
“This is amazing.”
Julie said, looking surprised, as she put the laundry into the machine.
“Yes.
I was going to collect herbs from the mountain once, and I came across them by chance.”
Fantine stopped speaking at this point.
Julie looked at her, looking puzzled.
“But I don’t know if it is permissible to talk about the Haz.
Can we talk about them?”
Fantine said with a worried look on her face.
“Mmm.
I don’t know… isn’t it allowed maybe?”
Julie also answered with a worried face.
When the first Valois king, Theodore, established the Kingdom of Valois in present-day lands, indigenous people lived on the vast continent.
They were a people friendly to nature, living by hunting and gathering without harming nature as much as possible.
Their name was the Haz people.
In their language, the word “Haaz” means “mother’s children.”
The Haz people cared about the earth as a “mother,” and considered natural resources as gifts from the mother, so they sanctified them.
But Theodore, the first king, invaded the lands of the Haz and expelled them from their lands where they lived in peace to a small area that is their current areas.
Since then, the power of the Haz people has gradually diminished, leaving only a small segment that continues with difficulty.
Because of this history, the issue of the Haz people has sometimes become the subject of heated debate.
This is also one of the topics that is rarely touched upon in social conversations.
“I'll tell you later when we're in a quiet place.”
Fantine only glanced.
For the impressionable Julie to fall into the trap.
Julie nodded as if she understood.
If she can only win Julie's favor, Carol will join in too if she uses a method that piques her pride.
Fantine gave Julie a friendly smile, then pretended to be busy with the laundry.