"Uncle, are you all right?" Jan asked Nicholas while he exchanged a look with Luciel. They were confused because Nicholas was silent while looking at them with such a sad expression.
A few seconds later, Nicholas finally nodded slowly. He wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes, then smiled crookedly. He spoke with a hoarse voice, "No. I'm fine."
"Really? But why are you crying?" asked Luciel. He looked closely at Nicholas's watery and slightly red eyes. "Usually, mother only cried when she was sad."
Nicholas's heart ached when he heard Luciel mention Sophie crying. Did she have a hard life with that man? Was she suffering a lot? Nicholas subconsciously clenched his fists to the sides.
"Did your mother cry a lot?" he asked with a hoarse voice.
Luciel and Jan shook their heads. "No. Very rarely. She is happy most of the time."
Dammit. Nicholas didn't know why he hated knowing that Sophie was happy with Duke Romanov. Gosh... he felt so petty.
Jan nudged Luciel, "Mother sometimes cried when she was happy too. You forgot that."
The boy remembered his mother crying buckets when she saw them transformed into human children for the first time. She kept saying how handsome they looked and how happy she was to be their mother.
"Ahh.. that's right," Luciel laughed. He nodded. "Mother sometimes cried happy tears."
Nicholas felt so jealous at that statement. So, Sophie was very happy that she cried happy tears? He was upset that the beautiful woman seemed really happy with her new husband.
"So, maybe this uncle is not crying because he is sad," Jan told Luciel. "Is that true, Uncle?"
Nicholas faked a smile and nodded.
"Yeah, I'm not crying. It's just the dust getting into my eyes," Nicholas explained, lying absentmindedly. He then crouched down to be level with the two children's height.
Upon closer inspection, the two boys looked more and more alike to him, and yet again, he couldn't hold back his tears. Now, he was convinced that Sophia Romanov was truly his wife and these boys were his sons.
Nicholas was really touched when he learned the fact that he had children, but at the same time, he was sad because he only found out now.
"Uncle, you are crying again," Jan said as he poked a drop of water under Nicholas' eye and then showed it to Nicholas.
Nicholas smiled so widely that his cheeks puffed up.
"No, that's not true," he denied and brushed away the water droplets on Jan's index finger. He looked alternately at Jan and Luciel, then asked, "What are your names?"
Jan and Luciel told him their names.
"Jan and Luciel, well, very nice names." Nicholas praised while he stroked the heads of the two children a few times. His smile never faded once, and his face was filled with a hue of happiness.
In his heart, he wondered if Luciel and Jan were fully human or were they also lycans?
***
At the royal palace of Riga, Karenina, who had managed to calm herself down, decided to return to her father's manor in Hauntingen.
"Are you really leaving?" the queen asked her worriedly. "Aren't you feeling unwell? Why do you want to travel?"
Karenina shook her head and wiped the droplet of tears from the corners of her eyes. "I... I can't stay here after..."
She bit her lip.
She was conflicted about what she should do. The king accused her of lying and didn't seem to want to take 'responsibility'. She tried to kill herself once and failed.
Now, Queen Marianne had maids watching over Karenina all the time to prevent her from taking such actions again. It was actually endearing, knowing that the queen cared about her that much.
Even the king didn't want her dead. He tried hard to save her at the expense of revealing his true self to Karenina. However, he was gone immediately after. Karenina didn't know where he went and he didn't come to see her after the incident.
That means, he also still did not want to take responsibility to marry her even though everyone in the royal palace already knew they 'slept together' and his mother had announced his wedding plans with Karenina.
People talked and gossiped about the incident where Karenina tried to take her own life and the fact that the king didn't come to see her. This was all too much for Karenina to bear.
Now, she just wanted to scream her lungs out and unleash her frustration. However, she couldn't do it because she was in the royal palace and she had to mind her attitude. She badly missed being in her own home where she could do whatever she wanted.
She loved it in the royal palace, especially after her status was elevated to become a princess. However, now, after five years, suddenly this place felt like a prison.
"Are you really not happy here?" Queen Marianne asked again.
Karenina shook her head weakly. She looked up to the queen and forced a smile. "No, Your Highness... I am just... I am just missing my father and my hometown."
She didn't care about her hometown before and in five years only came back to visit less than four times. However, now, she suddenly wanted to go back. She needed space to think and make a decision on what to do with her life.
The queen looked at Karenina sympathetically. "I know it's hard to be in your shoes. I promise, as soon as my son returns, I will ask him to come to Hauntingen and get you back. He should at least do it because you are his future wife."
Karenina smiled bitterly and nodded. "Thank you, Your Highness. I will rest in my hometown and calm my mind."
"Very well..." The queen patted Karenina's back. "I hope you can refresh your mind and become happier after you spend some time in Hauntingen. I also wish that..."
The queen was silent. She looked at the young woman with a cautious gaze. "Please, don't tell anyone, including your father, about what you saw... in the tower."
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