6
I had been in a coma for three full months. Rhys remained by my bedside every day.
Gazing at my lifeless form, he felt a profound remorse for the first time.
He had no heart to deal with royal affairs, relinquishing all power to the Elder Council.
While sorting through my belongings, he discovered a hidden diary, concealed by the System.
It contained the words I’d written when I first arrived in this book.
“Today I saw Rhys. He’s even more handsome and imposing than described in the book.”
“If I could just earn his love, I wouldn’t mind dying.”
“I must change the plot. I want us to live happily ever after, a family of three.”
Reading those words, Rhys’s heart ached as if pierced by a blade.
She had loved me so deeply. She truly wanted to grow old with me. And I, I had destroyed everything with my own hands.
He flipped to the last few pages.
“Today I heard the System’s truth. I was just a breeding tool all along.”
“Rhys never loved me. In his eyes, I was less than a pet.”
“But I don’t regret it. At least I have Jasper.”
“If I could die holding Jasper, I’d be content.”
Rhys could no longer hold back. Tears, for the first time, streamed from his eyes.
Archon Gabriel entered.
“My King, the Queen Mother’s soul is merely in slumber.”
“She needs the constant calls and presence of her closest kin.”
“Only then might she awaken again.”
From that day on, Rhys abandoned all his duties, staying by my side day and night.
He’d wipe my body, comb my hair, and recount his and Jasper’s daily lives to me.
“Today Jasper learned to crawl.”
He whispered, his voice humble and pleading.
“He crawled to your bedside and just stared at you.”
think he’s waiting for Mommy to wake up.”
Jasper could move about on his own now, but his body remained weak, requiring special elixirs to sustain him.
Every time he was brought to my bed, he’d clutch the corner of my clothes with his tiny hand, unwilling to leave.
He looked at Rhys with wariness and distance, as if he were a stranger.
“Mommy, Mommy…”
<
That was the only word he’d say.
He never spoke a word to Rhys.
This coldness became Rhys’s cruelest torment.
He wanted to hold his son, but Jasper would always recoil.
“He hates me.”
Rhys said with a bitter smile to Archon Gabriel.
“He knows I hurt his mother.”
Late at night, when all was quiet, Rhys would hold my hand, pouring out his inner turmoil to me.
“I was wrong, I was so terribly wrong.”
“If you could just wake up, I’d give everything to atone.”
“Even if you never forgive me.”
His son’s coldness and my unending slumber became his most brutal punishment.
One night, a year after I fell into my coma, Rhys was telling me amusing stories of Jasper learning to walk.
“He fell today. He cried, wanting his mommy.”
“I tried to hold him, but he pushed me away.”
Just then, my finger twitched faintly.
Rhys noticed it instantly.
“Elara? Elara, can you hear me?”
He gripped my hand, overwhelmed with emotion.
“Please wake up. Please, please wake up.”
My eyelids fluttered a few times, but didn’t open.
Rhys saw hope. He began to care for me even more diligently.
He’d speak to me for hours every day, hoping to awaken me soon.
7
