Chapter 134: What The River Took
[Music Recommendation : Violin Sky - Light in the Dark]
Her eyes grew distant as the memory came flooding back.
"Princess Evelyn!" Elara’s stern voice rang out, startling her.
Eve turned around to find the Queen glaring down at her.
"What are you doing sitting in a place like this? What about your classes? And who said you could roam around the palace idly?"
Eve shivered under the Queen’s cold tone and harsh gaze. Her lips trembled. "I-I..it’s my mother’s birthday today."
With no one else around, Elara sneered, her voice dripping with disdain. "Your mother is dead! There is no need to waste time mourning the dead when the living demand your attention! It seems you wish to disappoint not only your late mother, but everyone else-"
She stopped abruptly when her keen eyes caught the glint of a ruby ring in Eve’s tiny hands.
Her tone turned icy, "What do you have there?"
Eve scrambled to her feet, quickly hiding the ring behind her back. "This belongs to my mother."
"Oh?" Elara’s lips curved into a cruel smile. "I didn’t know your mother left you anything?" She extended her imperiously, "Let me see it."
Eve gulped and her voice quivering softly, "My mother gave it to me," clutching the ring tighter, unwilling to let go of the only thing she had left of her.
Elara’s smile darkened, "Are you defying me, child? The Queen of this kingdom?" She stepped closer, her voice like a whip. "I command you to show it to me!"
Eve was a nervous wreck by now, as she knew what defiance meant...punishment without food or water, locked in the dark. With shaking hands, she reluctantly lifted the ring to show her.
Elara’s eyes gleamed as she took in the exquisite ruby ring. She stepped forward to snatch it, but Eve’s small fingers curled protectively around it. "No! This is my mother’s ring! Please don’t take it from me!" Eve cried.
"Seems like you really need some discipline!" Elara spat, her voice sharp as venom.
Her hand shot out, and the sound of a slap echoed across the open air. Eve stumbled backward, and the ring slipped from her grasp, rolling away until it fell into the rushing river with a faint plop.
"No! Mother!" Eve screamed, watching helplessly as the last thing she had of her mother disappeared beneath the water’s surface.
This made Elara even more furious, and she grabbed Eve by the hair and yanked her violently towards the river. The girl’s cry of pain echoed across the banks. "Since you’ve lost it," Elara hissed, "why don’t you find it?"
With that, she shoved Eve’s face into the icy water. The cold water felt like freezing her lungs as water rushed into her mouth, nose. After a few seconds, Elara pulled her up, only to sneer, "Did you find it yet? No? Then let’s look closer!’
Elara repeated the process at least three more times before pushing Eve into the river completely. Eve flailed desperately, her small hands splashing as she screamed for help, but the gushing current dragged her under.
But Elara did nothing but watch with satisfaction until she spotted movement from the corner of her eye, another figure running towards them.
Within seconds, she started her dramatics and the Queen’s voice rang out in feigned panic, "Help! The princess slipped into the river!" she cried dramatically, just as the figure dove into the water with a splash to save the drowning child.
"It was Septimus who jumped into the water to save me. After that, I had a high fever for days and was bedridden. After that, I developed a fear from water so I never learnt to swim. My mother’s ring was lost forever," Eve continued softly as she returned to the present.
Ivan was shocked at the revelation of how Queen Elara had treated such a young child. He already knew from his reports that the Queen was no simple person, but to discover her to be this vicious and despicable made him want to make her suffer a thousand times over; death seemed far too easy for such a kind of evil.
When he gazed at Eve, he noticed that her blue eyes were now devoid of any emotions. They looked empty and dull, as if they had lost all their shine. His heart suddenly throbbed painfully at the thought: Since when and what kind of torment did she go through, and for how long? Was it still happening? Is that why she never liked to talk about it? What about her own father? Was he also like this, or was he simply not aware of things his own daughter endured in his palace? Among all these questions swirling in his mind, what worried him the most was the absence of the warmth that usually made her eyes so vivid and comforting to him.
Scared to lose that warmth that soothed him so deeply, he reached out and cupped her cheeks, drawing her attention back to him, realising she had been spacing out.
When she gazed back at Ivan, worry instantly filled her heart as she searched his eyes to see if he now pitied her or looked at her with any other emotions she disliked. But when she found none of those emotions, she noticed something else in his eyes: worry. ’Was he worried about me?’ she wondered.
She held his hands tightly and asked, her voice trembling slightly, "Why are you looking at me like that? It was a long time ago, you know...I-I’m okay now." She offered him a forced smile, trying to mask the unease she felt inside.
"I know," he said softly. Then he leaned his forehead against hers and whispered, "Thank you for sharing it with me." His warm fingers caressed her cheeks as he looked straight into her eyes and continued, "I know none of it must have been easy, but you’re so strong, my Eve."
He pressed gentle kisses on her forehead, cheeks, eyes, nose, and finally her lips before he pulled her onto his lap. Overwhelmed by emotions, Eve could only take in his tender loving, reveling in the warmth of his touch. She closed her eyes as she wrapped her arms around his neck, while he encircled her waist, erasing any remaining distance between them. The icy chill that had gripped her body while reliving the painful memory slowly started to fade, replaced by the fire Ivan ignited within every cell in her being.
And at that moment, she knew that only he could breathe fire back into her frozen heart, melting her under his fervent caresses and warm words, which were neither made up nor spoken carelessly.
He soon pulled away from their kiss, gently threaded his elegant fingers through her hair, and gazed into her eyes again to see them back to being warm and alive, just as he had always known them to be. Smiling faintly, satisfied at having achieved his goal, he asked in a gentle husk, "So...ready for your first swimming lesson?" He traced her moist lips with his thumb while continuing to study her face.
Stiffening at his question, she stammered softly, "I-I just told you why I can’t.."
"Hm, you told me why you didn’t all this time, but that doesn’t mean you can’t. There’s no better day to start something new than today, Eve." His gaze was unwavering as he continued, "I’m right here with you, Eve, and I’ll be with you every step of the way."
He brushed his nose against hers and whispered, "You trust me, don’t you? You know I’d never let anything happen to you, baby?"
Eve saw just how gentle he was with her, how he always tried to lift her up despite everything weighing her down, and wondered how he always knew exactly what to say. All this time, while she had been drowning, Ivan had been the one to not only pull her out of the water with a life raft but with a ship so strong that it couldn’t be moved so easily, giving her the safe haven that she so desperately needed.
Seeing the sincerity blazing in his eyes, she finally gave him a slow nod, "Okay...."
Hearing her, Ivan was overjoyed and captured her lips in a deep but brief kiss before finally settling her back onto the sofa and standing up. "Let me go get some towels and robes. We can head to the stream then."
With that, he quickly headed upstairs, leaving Eve to listen to the soft crackling of the fire. Her blue eyes drifted back to the stream outside as she thought, ’Maybe it’s finally time for me to heal little by little, the way I never got the opportunity or environment before.’
She rose from her seat and slowly walked towards the porch. Unlocking the door, she opened it and was immediately met by the chilling air outside. She noticed the stark difference in temperature between the cozy indoors and the brush outdoors, but she braved it and stepped onto the wooden porch.
