Acelina's mother POV
" Mother....." Acelina said stopping me from saying anything further, and my heart dropped to know how much she is still hurting because of what happened ten years ago.
"Mother, there is no personal feelings involved in what I am saying, it's solely for the kingdom sake, but if you thought for even a second that I truly have no problem marrying the son of that kingdom, then you truly don't know me"
Acelina said with the most dry voice I have ever heard in my life, but there was nothing on her face, no emotions at all, not even a hint of it.
"I understand, sorry for making such an assumption dear" I looked at Acelina or a moment then continued. "but don't you think that this may also benefit you, sometimes we all need confrontation dear."
Acelina nodded at me like she couldn't believe what I was saying.
"In what way could that ever benefit me mother?, how could you even think that being around the matters of that wretched kingdom for every second of my life could benefit me."
"You want to know what will happen if that marriage ever happened mother? the only thing that will happen is that my life will be even more hard than it is already, I lived all those years hating them with every fiber of my being, but even now as I am sitting discussing this with you, I am considering what's best for our kingdom not for me, so what more could I possibly do to prove to you that my decisions are not a spin of my hatred? "
My shock was probably too clear on my face because the next thing that Acelina said reminded me even more that she isn't the same person she once was.
"Don't look too shocked now mother please, my hatred for them was never a secret to begin with."
Acelina turned to look at William who has been silent for a while now.
"Father, I have already laid all the reason why we shouldn't merge with Rucubia, I hope you could consider this more"
"sure dear, I will give this matter more time."
Knock...Knock.....
The door opened, and Acelina's personal maid came to her side. " Sir Jacob is saying he needs to report to your highness urgently."
Acelina nodded. "Tell him to wait in my study "
"yes your highness. "
Acelina turned her attention to us "Mother, father, I need to take care of something, please excuse me"
William nodded at Acelina and said " Me and your mother have been outside the country for two weeks, you must be busy with everything going on"
William sighed, and continued "Just don't exhaust yourself "
"Then I will go, please enjoy your breakfast " Acelina said and stood from her seat, she didn't take two steps and turned around to look at me
"Mother, please don't mention what happened in the past again, at least not in front of me, the past...should remain in the past "
Acelina bowed a little and then left.
once she left, William looked at me "She is not over it" he said with a heavy heart.
"I know...I didn't expect her to forget completely about it, but I also didn't expect her to be hurting that much"
"William, what should we do? she is failing apart, her heart is torn, I feel like she is losing emotions with each passing day, she isn't herself anymore. we are going to lose her if this continues, I don't even remember the last time she smiled"
" Maybe that was ten years ago " William whispered but I heard him
"Why did that have to happen, she was so happy back then, she loved him like no one else, they were so close.....and Acelina, sh...she was so young to see something like that " I lost control on my emotions and bursted out crying.
William hugged me to him and started patting my back, "you shouldn't think about this anymore, nothing will change even if you do, don't make it hard on yourself, what Acelina said is true, what happened in the past should stay in the past, I just wish she can feel like that for real, not just say it"
"Do you think she will ever accept this marriage?, do you think she will ever stop hurting so much?"
"I know that she isn't blaming anyone except for the real culprit, but even though that incident didn't take over her mind, apparently it took over her heart, and she isn't going to accept anything until she let go of that pain in her heart " William was silent for a moment and continued " it's like her heart is in eternal winter, and she needs the spring to warm up her heart"
"Will it ever come.... the spring that would warm her heart" I asked William with what's left of hope in my heart.
"We can only hope so....."
William stayed silent again while wiping away my tears.
"But for now, let's stop mentioning this to her, so she can have some space, darling"
"I didn't mean to hurt her, I just... I don't know what I was thinking, why would I remind her of that?!!"
"It's all right darling, let's just be more carful with our words around Acelina, If we ever want her back, we need to help her to heal."