Chapter 53
Helia twisted her hand to free herself from Helia and her mother’s grip.
“I don’t think I can.”
Helia and her mother looked at Floria with their mouths half open, surprised by her resolute words.
She couldn’t remember how she spent the night.
After talking with her mother and sister, Floria went to bed alone in the Grand Duke’s bedroom, which Aidan had vacated.
Perhaps because he wasn’t there, or maybe because her mind was troubled by the talk of Helia’s dowry, she couldn’t sleep well.
Eventually, she fell asleep just as the sun was rising over the horizon.
Exhausted, Floria collapsed onto the bed and, for the first time in a while, dreamed.
An event from several years ago appeared vividly before her eyes, as if it were happening now.
Floria had a cat.
Originally, a maid had picked it up from a garden near the royal palace.
Since no one wanted it, Floria insisted to the maid that she would take care of it herself.
The kitten had sleek black fur all over its body, but its nose was white.
She named it ‘Fabian.’
They had only been together for a few weeks, but it was the first time Floria had her own pet, like her sisters who had horses.
She would look for Fabian as soon as she opened her eyes and constantly worried if he was sick.
He was an adorable little creature, always squirming.
When she held him, he would cling to her chest as if he liked it.
However, her parents and sisters thought Fabian was ominous because he was black and avoided him.
“Why are you raising such an animal?”
Even when they told her to throw him away, Floria was determined to take responsibility for him.
Then, one morning…
“Where did Fabian go?”
It was a day like any other.
However, feeling unusually uneasy, Floria got up and went to look for Fabian.
Her bad premonition was never wrong.
The door where she had kept Fabian was open.
She approached the cushion made for his bed, but there was no trace of him.
She searched every corner of the room, thinking he might be hiding somewhere, but she couldn’t find even a whisker.
“The cat is gone!”
Floria’s scream echoed through the room.
Yet, her sisters and parents, seated at the breakfast table, remained indifferent.
They continued eating, merely tilting their heads at her cries.
“Is that so? That’s quite unfortunate.”
Their voices were too calm for something supposedly serious.
“Please, help me find him.”
However, neither her parents nor her sisters made any move.
Floria refused to eat and begged the maids and attendants to search the palace, but there was no trace of Fabian anywhere.
“Fabian, where did you go, Fabian!”
She thought he might be lost somewhere in the palace.
The thought made her chest feel like it would burst.
“What if he’s hurt? We have to find him quickly.”
While Floria was searching all day for the cat, a maid of her sister Natalie approached her.
When no one was around, the maid lowered her voice and spoke to Floria.
“Princess Fabian is not in the palace.”
“Why?”
Where could that little creature have gone?
“I heard that Princess Natalie and Princess Helia released him into the forest last night.”
“The forest…?”
Floria’s eyes widened at the unexpected words.
Behind the Altomole Royal Palace stretched an endless, dense forest.
Even during the day, the forest was dark like night due to the thick leaves.
Floria had only gone as far as the entrance before turning back in fear.
There were no paths, and many wild animals inhabited the forest.
Fabian, still a kitten, was left there..
“Is that true?”
She asked the maid again, who nodded while glancing back to check if anyone was coming.
“Yes.
So, no matter how much you search the palace, it will be useless.”
“That’s… impossible.”
The maid furrowed her brows, pitying the youngest princess who had been crying all day while searching the palace.
If Fabian was abandoned there, he would surely die.
In a place without milk or shelter, Fabian…
Overwhelmed by fear, Floria trembled.
“Fabian, Fabian…”
She had to save him.
Entering the forest was terrifying, but now was not the time to hesitate.
“Fabian!”
At that moment, a warm hand covered Floria’s face.
A rough yet warm hand.
With that touch, Floria’s consciousness, which had sunk deep into darkness, began to float upwards.
Just moments ago, she had been standing in the corridor of the Altomole Royal Palace…
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