Kalia, looking at Louis Mond's blue eyes, opened her lips slowly. "I came to ask for early retirement."
The pen stopped moving round and round in Louis Monde's hand. After a brief pause, he tilted his head as if he had heard wrong.
"…"
"No, your Majesty. You've heard right."
At that moment, the pen that barely touched his fingers dropped. As it rolled over his desk, it fell to the floor. Then he rolled his eyes and came up to look at Kalia, analysing her.
Then she walked up and down and placed it gently in front of the prince who had stiffened by the shock.
"As fast as possible."
He didn't wish for her to leave! In a hurry to stand up, Louis Monde's chair fell back. The situation was so urgent that the princes feet had been caught, when he tried to stand up from his desk. Kalia, who grabbed his hand at his side in his unsteady manner, quickly supported his waist.
"Are you okay?" As Kalia instinctively protected him, she looked at his pale complexion and Louis Mond, who stared back at her close face, woke up.
"My, no, Kalia! I have a problem,What are you talking about? Retirement!" Kalia looked at Louis Mond, who was screaming, looking as pale as a sheet.
How angry must the prince have been who usually kept calm,as he latched on to her strongly. Louis Mond then grabbed her forearm and said,
"Why! Why all of a sudden?"
"I want to rest."
"Oh, Kalia!" He said as she didn't mention the need for a vacation. "If needed-"
"No. I'd like to retire."
Louis Mond then began to coax her nervously, as if he hadn't heard her request. "Why, would you want to travel far? Anywhere you want, you'll get support with everything from the Imperial Palace. Where do you want to go? Just tell me, Kalia."
Kalia politely shook her head. "No, it's fine."
Is that all I should say? What? Who it was? Alas, Shyman! It was his child, May be he already knew it. Was it about a month or two ago? Is that it?
Of course, two months ago she wouldn't have made a declaration of retirement, if this hadn't have happened. Shyman's hard work was helpful, but it wasn't because of him that she made this decision.
Kalia's gaze lowered as she unconsciously touched her lower stomach. To be honest, she felt nothing yet. It wasn't obvious. It was just a feeble, very feeble sense of joy and made Kalia's heart tremble, but Kalia wanted to catch it right away. It was her little hope that she could give birth to the child. The very hope of wanting a family.
"Please accept everything." She needed time to stay.
"For how long?"
"This may be seen as a huge retirement, but … I will come back whenever you need me. But, it won't be for a short period of time."
"…."
"I want to leave." She said, declaring her retirement.
Suddenly her saying she wanted to leave the palace and the thought, that she would be gone one morning. Louis Mond did not say anything but he pressed a hand on his chest and rolled his head coldly.
"No. I'd like to retire."
"All you should say ….. What is the reason?"
He looked at Kalia with his eyes wide open to try and find any small clue. But he couldn't read anything from her, as he looked at her straight in the eyes, with her rosy lips and calm eyes. Frustrated Louis Mond then asked with a relaxed voice.
"Why did you make that decision suddenly?"
"I don't think I can tell you more. But I can swear that I'm not betraying the country or the imperial family."
"… Kalia, I also have never thought you'd betray."
As she heard the words of Louis Mond's mouth, Kalia thought, 'Do you?'
Even if she couldn't talk about it in detail, she should say something about it. No.
"It seems you have your priorities." "… What are you going to do now?"
Towards the disheveled Louis Monde, since Kalia entered the room she showed him her first laugh.
"Start a family."
It was the first time Louis Mond had ever seen her smile so widely, as if she had the whole world.
Behind the quietly closed door, Kalia walked down the hallway with a light step. 'Okay, I've jumped over one hurdle.'
Because their chat was longer than what she thought, the sky had become dim, but the hallway was lit with magical lights. Soon the rainy season would begin. In the months before the rainy season began, the days were short and long. The empires rainy season was always short but intense. The sky would be dark for about 2-3 weeks and the rain would never stop. Unprotected crops would rot as a result of the water and in case of heavy rain, the waterside village could become submerged.
The Empire's Magical Department supported many number of spells throughout the country, to minimise the damage caused during the rainy season. It was at this period of time the magic department was at its busiest.
'You have to leave before the rainy season begins. You can't leave when the rainy season begins, otherwise it would've been too late. 'Its bound to fall so heavily. 'I have a lot to prepare. First… I think I'll have to meet Shyman for the last time. '
He was a young man who many were envious of and seemed unfamiliar to the attitude of nobility, but she was accustomed to it. The majority of nobility did not acknowledge the greetings of their servants, but Kalia never once ignored or disregarded their greetings.
She was also nobility from the start.
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She hated there haughty noble rituals and she intentionally, had no place for them in her heart… 'But I should say goodbye.'
As the landscape came into view, Kalia came slowly down the stairs, thinking. Her steps were heavier than usual and for some reason she found it difficult to go on. The staircase was too high. As a result, those working in the imperial family became lazy. When Kalia passed the window next to the stairs, she complained how she had never thought about it before.
Beyond the huge, colorful window, something glistening under the bright moonlight caught her eye. Her steps, from her stretched out legs, stopped just as quickly.
Approaching the window without her knowing soaking in the moonlight, she looked at the beautiful man who had a snow like complexion with silver hair. The man who had a sharp and delicate beauty loosely loosened the upper button of his shirt, casually dressed in a dress shirt and trousers.
Standing in the center of a magnificent rose garden between the Pagoda and the main palace, he inadvertently looked up at the moonlit night sky with his hands in his trouser pocket. Breathing in the scent, drinking in the night air and looking at the moon.
That man standing so carelessly, staring at the sky was the young chief of the magic department who was the right hand man of the empire and the father of Kalia's child. It was the Duke of Terloen.
Shyman.