“Cathain’s Dream”

The white petals fluttered off in the wind.

The gentle scent of flowers and the scent of the earthy scent tickled the tip of Eleanora’s nose.

The sound of unknown grass bugs was heard from everywhere.

Cathain looked away as he also felt a little embarrassed, not to mention Eleanora, who had turn tomato red.

The atmosphere felt very peaceful and calm as if it could free one from the troubled world.

When Eleanora got carried away with the atmosphere for a moment, Cathain’s cold voice broke the silence.

“I decided to help you fulfil your dreams... As a redemption for my past behaviours, also the past life which I don’t remember clearly... Am sorry.”

“You don’t have to do this...”

“It’s not even enough to erase the pain in your heart. This is what i can do at least.”

.....

“...Thank you.”

Eleanora thanked Cathain in a low voice, wanting to not feel the warmth which he wanted to spread in her heart.

“No matter how long you take, this emperor will always wait for his empress to return with a glorious victory and ...accept him willingly.”

Although Cathain is sure because of his visions that Eleanora would be safe but he was still uncomfortable.

If he could, he wanted to accompany her to the battlefield, but he has to look after the empire now.

With his back against the tree, he looked up silently at the sky.

As Eleanora didn’t want to disturb his thoughts, she just gazed at the sky, too.

The twinkling starlight in the black sky was so beautiful.

‘It is said that when a person dies, they becomes a star.

If so, are they shining so brightly because they miss someone left on earth so much?

Mom, are you also there? Do you miss father and me?’

The moment Eleanora exclaimed in amazement at a shooting star, she felt something touching heavily on her shoulder.

Eleanora turned her head around in surprise.

She found Cathain leaning on her shoulder in no time, with his eyes closed.

When she saw him asleep with a relaxed expression, she had mixed feelings.

‘How did all this happen?’

Their relationship was star-crossed from the beginning, and even now.

Eleanora longed for his love so much in the past, but she was hated by him.

Even though she have won over his heart now, she can’t accept him or his love.

This is the essence of her contradictory relationship with him.

Eleanora sighed deeply.

She pounded her stuffy chest when suddenly something fell on her arm.

‘What is this? Is it raining in this nice weather?’

‘But it’s February...it shouldn’t be raining now.’

Eleanora looked up, but the sky was clear without any clouds.

In all possibility, it won’t rain.

When she looked down, tilting her head, a drop of water fell again.

Eleanora felt she had to wake him up, so she bent down a little to see his face.

But she was surprised to see tears flowing under his thick eyelashes.

“Your Majesty...”

Eleanora hurriedly closed her mouth instead of speaking as she felt it would be inappropriate to disturb him now.

Teardrops were falling from his eyes, but he smiled as if he were happy instead of being sad or in agony.

Eleanora was so heartbroken to see it that she also began to cry.

She doesn’t know why she was crying, but she felt better as tear drops silently left her eyes as she felt the past agony again.

‘Why am the one who keeps suffering because of the past, instead of those who actually harmed me?’

Eleanora quickly blinked her blurry eyes.

Hesitating for some time, she carefully placed her hand on his shoulder.

‘He would be uncomfortable in this posture.’

Eleanora carefully put his head on her lap while trying to not wake him up.

Then, she tied up his disheveled hair and wiped his tears as she used her healing powers on him to relax.

‘Let me help him have a happy dream.’

She felt her frozen heart melt away at the warmth of his tears.

Eleanora looked at his smiling face for some time before slowly leaning against the tree.

She kept blinking her eyes slowly because she felt sleepy.

While tilting her head, Eleanora closed her eyes unconsciously and fell asleep.

But on the other hand, Cathain become relaxed because of Eleanora’s powers but he wasn’t having a happy dream.

...

‘Where am i?’

Cathain thought as he found himself in a dark place, where he couldn’t see anything.

He was wearing a pair of white shirt and black pants, unlike the black suit he was wearing before he fall asleep beside Eleanora.

‘Another vision?...Dream?’

He was lost in his thoughts, till he suddenly heard children’s laughing sounds.

‘Children’s?’

His surrounding become full of warm light, and the darkness started to fade away slowly.

Cathain looked around again as he ran, finally found Eleanora, whose back was facing him.

Her silver hair was beautifully tied up as she wore a elegant sky blue dress.

She had the empress crown on her head as the ruby necklace of the imperial family on her neck.

Then he noticed two little boys circling around Eleanora happily and laughing as they ran.

She was also smiling.

The eldest child was a four year old boy, who had black hair and red eyes just like him.

He was wearing the imperial uniform, which helped Cathain to understand that boy would be the next emperor.

‘So he is the crown prince?’

Then his gaze fall on the second child was also a boy, barely three years old, who had silver hair and blue eyes just like Eleanora.

He was wearing a silver blue uniform as he hold a sword.

‘The next duke of the Dalton’s?’

historical

Cathain felt warmness in his heart as he watched the two boys playing happily.

Both of them was circling around Eleanora as she hold something in her arms.

‘What’s she doing?’

Cathain got closer to see them more clearly and his eyes widened in surprise.

‘A princess?’

There was a little baby girl, who was trying to walk while holding her mother’s hand as she giggled.

The little baby girl had silver hair and red eyes, inherited from both parents.

.....

A beautiful tiara was shining on her head, as she was the first imperial princess born after the second emperor of the Valentino empire, the daughter of the first emperor.

There was no girl born in the imperial family after her.

The little princess was the first one to notice him, but her smile stopped as she saw him and started to cry.

‘Empress? Are they our babies?’

Cathain asked, as they looked exactly like her and him.

They looked very cute and adorable.

It was no doubt that they was his children’s with Eleanora.

But suddenly their distance become larger, separating him from them.

‘Huh?’

Seeing them standing far away from him, Cathain took steps toward her with a smile, but he froze after she turned her face to him.

The imperial ruby necklace disappeared from her neck, revealing a huge hideous cut mark on her neck.

The empress crown fall from her head as her tied up silver hair loosened up, her elegant sky blue dress become a shabby white dress.

Blood was flowing out from her blue eyes, which was gradually turning lifeless as she stared at Cathain with a cold expression.

Despite his horrors, he tried to touch her with his trembling hands.

‘E-Ele... w-who did this to you?! J-Just how?!’

But they kept staring at him coldly without any reply.

Cathain could feel the little two boys hostility against him as they clenched the hem of their mother’s shabby dress.

But the moment he tried to touch her, she turned into a blue butterfly and vanished along with the babies that was circling around her.

‘Eleeee!!!!’

Then several butterflies surrounded him and the bright room become pitch black again.

He could no longer identify which blue butterfly was her.

“Eleeee!!”

Cathain kept yelling her name as he ran but she was nowhere.

Then he suddenly heard her chuckle.

‘Hahhaaahha... Am here... Your Majesty!!! Catch me... Am here...’

Cathain kept running to wherever the sound came from but no matter how long he ran, he couldn’t understand which butterfly was her.

‘Papa...Am in so much pain... Papa... Save mee’

Cathain suddenly stopped as he heard a child’s painful cry, he turned back and tried to find where the sound was coming from...

But then he heard her voice again.

‘Your Majesty... I didn’t did this... Am innocent... Believe me..’

Then he again heard another baby’s voice.

‘Papa... They are killing me... it hurts... Save me...’

Cathain kept running like a madman as he couldn’t decide to whom he would go first.

He fall on his knees as the voices around him grew more loud and stronger.

“I HATE YOU CAIN!! I HATE YOU!!”

“WE HATE YOU PAPA!! WE HATE YOU!!”

‘Stop it...stop saying...’

Cathain put his hands on his ears as he couldn’t bear to listen to those voices anymore.

It was killing him.

“WHY DIDN’T YOU BELIEVED ME?”

“WHY DIDN’T YOU SAVED US, PAPA?”

‘Stop...shut up...’

“WHY DID YOU KILLED ME CAIN?”

“WHY DID YOU KILLED ME PAPA?”

‘Am sorry... Am sorry... I didn’t did it... It wasn’t me... Am sorry...’

Tears kept pouring out from his eyes as he kept apologising at the same time.

Then finally the past Eleanora appeared infront of him again.

Who strocked his hair gently but she kept emotionless.

“Yeah, it wasn’t you who did this to us... But that doesn’t mean you was not involved.”

Cathain moved his hands as he hugged the older Eleanora tightly and she kept stroking his hair.

‘Am sorry...’

“Punish those who made us like this... I want justice for my children’s, for my innocence. Only then you can deserve her.”

‘I will... i won’t spare anyone, I promise.’

“Go back, You don’t belong to here... Go back to her.”

The young Cathain vanished from the dark abyss as the older Eleanora kissed his forehead.

She sighed heavily as she looked around the dark abyss.

“...I hope, your fate will be different from mine.”