"Oh... how long will it take me to recover?" Emmelyn asked Lily.
She didn't really pay attention to the technicalities when her older sisters gave birth to their children. She only remembered the ugly babies and that her sisters all looked weak for weeks and didn't do much.
"Oh.. it will take weeks," Lily explained. "But as long as you rest well, you will recover properly."
Emmelyn thought she didn't have weeks. What should she do? Should she hide somewhere in the capital while waiting for her husband to return or should she just go immediately to Atlantea?
Mrs. Adler said she could buy an old wagon belonged to her neighbor for ten silver coins. And they could use the wagon to leave Draec.
Last night, while she was up all night enduring her pain, Emmelyn and Mrs. Adler secretly discussed their escape plan. Knowing that Emmelyn wanted to leave the capital to find the Leoraleis in Myreen, the old witch suddenly proposed to go with Emmelyn.
She said she had been deeply missing her home in Wintermere. Since Emmelyn's route could take a detour to Wintermere, Mrs. Adler would love to accompany her on the journey. She would return to her home and help Emmelyn get a ship to cross the sea to Atlantea.
She would also give Emmelyn some tokens to show her witch sisters. So, when Emmelyn managed to find them, they would want to help her.
When she heard about Mrs. Adler's desire to come with her, Emmelyn felt bad. She tried to politely reject her. However, the witch was stubborn.
Mrs. Adler also reminded the princess that she would be weak and in recovery after she gave birth. She would need a lot of help from someone like Mrs. Adler.
"Didn't you say you are too old and sick to take on such a long journey home?" Emmelyn asked the old witch several times, to make sure she didn't misunderstand what Mrs. Adler wanted. "Of course. I would love to go with you, you will be a great help, but I am worried about your health too."
Mrs. Adler only shrugged. "At this point, I don't care if I died on the road. As long as I can go with you and try to go home, I don't mind if I die trying. If that happened, you can just leave me somewhere, Your Highness. You have my blessing."
Emmelyn tried to reject the old witch's request several times. She thought Mrs. Adler was only forcing herself to go because she felt pity for Emmelyn who had to experience such calamity in her life.
However, until the next day, the old witch didn't seem to change her mind. So, finally, Emmelyn agreed. They would take the old wagon and go together.
Emmelyn just hoped she could recover while taking the journey to Atlantea slowly.
"I am happy to hear that," she said to Lily, forcing a smile. "However, I honestly don't have a good feeling about myself."
"Why did you say that?" Lily furrowed her brows. "You are doing so well. I, too, thought I was going to die when I gave birth to Louis. The pain was excruciating and it took forever for me to push him out. I even cursed my husband and swore that I will never have another baby. Look where I am now? Ha. Three kids and counting."
Lily's soft laughter managed to lighten the atmosphere and Emmelyn laughed too. She remembered her own predicament. Lily was right. She felt like she was in hell for over 20 hours that she felt like cursing and screaming, blaming her husband for the labor pain.
She also thought she would never want to have another baby. Gah.. it was not worth it, she thought.
Oh, how quickly she changed her mind as soon as she could look at her adorable child in her arms.
All the pain and suffering she had gone through to bring Harlow to this world were worth it. And she actually thanked her perverted husband for initiating sex so many times that they could conceive and now had this beautiful baby girl.
She wouldn't mind having more children after Harlow was big enough and they could share their love and attention with another child.
Now, Emmelyn understood how Lily could have three children. Heck, she knew now why most women she knew had multiple children. Maybe seven was too much, when she thought about her mother.
She could feel more sympathy toward her biological mother after she became a mother herself. Emmelyn imagined the first few childbirths must be beautiful for the late queen of Wintermere.
However, maybe after the fourth or fifth.. things became too hard for her and she was too tired to give each child attention individually.
Emmelyn vowed to always be a loving mother to her children in the future. She would not be like her mother.
She looked at Harlow who was sleeping soundly in her arms. She looked so small and frail, but after she was fed, now she no longer seemed as pitiful as before.
In fact, she actually looked adorable with her mouth half-opened and a drop of milk on each corner of her lips.
Emmelyn fought the urge to cry. Instead, she steeled her heart. She turned to Lily who was sitting beside her and spoke in a soft voice.
"Lily, if something happened to me, will you care for Harlow on my behalf?"
Lily's heart skipped a beat. She didn't know why Emmely suddenly said those words. This sounded so scary!
"What are you talking about?" she asked Emmelyn in a hushed tone. "Please don't think about bad things. You will attract bad things to your life if you did that."
Emmelyn wanted to laugh at that. How much worse could she do in life?
She had lost her entire family, got trapped in the enemy's kingdom, was also accused of murder, and would soon face execution - if she didn't try to escape immediately- and everyone she loved would have bad luck and probably die.
"I am not thinking of bad things," Emmelyn lied. "I am just thinking logically here. If something happened to me while I am held in this prison.. and... "
She didn't want to continue her words. It was so dreadful to even imagine how she would 'die' and leave Harlowe alone in the capital.
Lily swallowed hard and lowered her gaze. Actually, she already had this conversation with her husband several days ago.
Athos was worried that the only reason Emmelyn was spared was that she was pregnant with Mars' child. If Emmelyn had given birth to the baby, she would practically lose her collateral. The king might order her execution.
Now, suddenly, Emmelyn spoke about the same thing.
"Are you... suspecting them of something? Do you think they would want to do something to you?" Lily asked Emmelyn in a whisper.
Emmelyn nodded. She was glad Lily asked that question. Now that Emmelyn had decided to fake her death, she thought she might as well blame Ellena for it.
We'll see if the king or the prince would be after Ellena for 'causing Emmelyn's death'.
"To be honest, I fear for my life," Emmelyn said haltingly. "So, if you suddenly found that something bad happens to me, I am begging you to please take Harlow into your home. At least until Mars returns from Wintermere."