Chapter 167. Noah's Waiting
Noah was enduring hell.
Olivia was crying.
She cried as if she were going to die, so sorrowfully.
Yet, he dared not open this door. This door, so old and worn it felt like it would open with a mere touch, he dared not open.
Noah stood blankly in front of the entrance, listening to Olivia's cries.
She was someone who held back her tears.
She was someone who, not wanting to show herself crying, would somehow hold back tears even when they welled up in her eyes.
And yet, she was crying out loud.
There must have been a dam deep within her heart, holding back her tears.
How deep must that dam have been? How wide?
And how much more tears had Noah himself added to that dam?
The crying that reached him felt like it was tearing his heart apart. He wanted to run to her immediately, embrace the crying Olivia, and pat her back.
But he could not do so, so Noah could only endure, like someone receiving punishment.
Noah turned his reddened eyes towards the window from which the cries were leaking, and stumbled towards it, leaning his back against the wall beside the window frame.
Then, listening to the heart-wrenching cries, he whispered softly.
"I'm sorry, Olivia."
Noah's apology seeped into Olivia's cries.
"I'm sorry."
It seeped into the home that raised her,
"I was wrong."
The tears that fell from his chin wet the dry grass at his feet.
Olivia, who had fallen asleep as if fainting in Betty's arms, opened her eyes to a reddish light.
She hadn't eaten much, and she had cried until she fainted, so she should have had no strength left, yet strangely, Olivia felt light.
Olivia sat on the bed, slowly catching her breath, and gazed at the light that dyed the ivory curtains pink.
Was it sunset?
At that moment, without warning, he occupied a corner of her mind. The boundless sea, the dreamlike pink sunset, and the man who overwhelmed it all.
Olivia slowly lowered her head and looked at her hands.
Noah, who had been perfect at every moment, had not even been wearing gloves last night.
"When all of this is over…."
"No."
"Let's get a divorce."
"No."
"...".
"No, Liv."
Olivia saw the tears welling up and then flowing down Noah's eyes.
For some reason, her chest ached, so she averted her gaze. Then, she decided to just walk to find her grandmother, and he quickly followed her.
"Where are you going?"
"...".
When she didn't answer, he finally embraced her from behind.
"Let's go together. Wherever you go, whatever you do, I won't tell you not to. Instead, I'll go with you. No, please let me go with you."
Listening to his voice, damp and low like fallen leaves stuck to the ground after rain, Olivia blinked.
The embrace that held her, the embrace she had always thought of as a great, solid barrier, was, unbelievably, trembling.
Why was he trembling?
What had made him tremble so much, him who seemed to fear nothing in the world?
The darkness and fog within her were fading in the dim light. The truth beyond them seemed almost visible.
But her health, not yet recovered, was an issue for groping at the hazy outline of the truth.
Though it had improved, her surgical site still hurt when she stood up. Olivia lifted her hem to look at the wound. The scar was quite large and clear.
What had happened?
Olivia opened her eyes slightly. Amidst the memories that were about to surface, emotions surged. Feeling tears welling up, Olivia quickly pushed the memories away.
She couldn't afford to cry more and lose more energy.
Olivia patted herself on the back and left the bedroom. Immediately upon stepping out, she saw a painting hanging in the hallway.
Between the simple wall lamps hung Olivia's clumsy drawings. And below them, on an old console, lay lace knitted by her grandmother.
Olivia slowly ran her fingertips along the console as she walked down the short hallway.
"Her Highness."
Betty approached, perhaps sensing her presence.
Olivia gave her a gentle smile and continued to scan the house with her eyes. As the eggshell of her heart cracked and her young mind grew, surprisingly, the sadness that had always resided within her began to fade. Olivia felt the grooves carved into the wood with her fingertips and then said to Betty,
"Madam, these are the marks my grandmother carved as I grew."
Betty then bent down and examined the marks. Straightening up, she nodded and said in a gentle voice,
"She must have asked you to measure often. The lines are very close together, aren't they?"
"Yes. I wanted to see my height grow with my own eyes."
Olivia chuckled and moved on. She then entered the kitchen. The kitchen, filled with a savory aroma, felt like a transplanted scene from her grandmother's time.
She hadn't realized she was hungry until now, but for some reason, she felt hungry.
Olivia looked back at Betty and said softly,
"Madam, I'm hungry."
Betty's face lit up. She nodded enthusiastically.
"Please sit down quickly. I've prepared fish stew. I thought you might eat if you woke up."
As Betty quickly scooped a bowl of stew into a bowl taken from the cupboard, she paused for a moment. She casually turned and gazed out the window for a long time. Though she couldn't see him, she knew.
Noah Astrid was still there.
Betty hesitated for a moment, then put down the bowl in her hand and cautiously approached Olivia.
"…?"
As Olivia showed her confusion with a clear face, Betty knelt down to lower her eyes and said softly,
"Actually, Your Highness."
"Tell me."
"The Prince is at the door."
Olivia blinked blankly and asked again.
"...He is, why?"
Betty recalled Olivia's tears from days past. Thinking of Olivia wilting alone in the paradise created by the Prince, she wondered what difference it made whether he waited outside or not.
However, he who had stayed by Olivia's side until the end, even when she was unconscious, kept stirring Betty's heart.
So she chose her words carefully and began.
"He arrived early this morning. And he has been waiting outside ever since."
Olivia frowned, seemingly unable to comprehend, and looked around. Then, her eyes widened, and she asked again.
"He waited?"
Betty replied as if she could read her mind.
"Even when I told him I would contact him when you woke up, he just said he would wait, and if not, I suggested he come inside and wait, but…."
"…."
"He said he could not, as he did not have Your Highness's permission."
Olivia's expression was one of utter disbelief. Betty looked at her for a moment, then whispered softly,
"He waited continuously even on the warship. During your surgery, no, even before that, until you woke up, His Highness never left Your Highness's side for a moment."
Olivia froze blankly, then asked to confirm one thing.
"...You performed surgery on the warship?"
"Yes."
"…."
Olivia fell into thought. Betty quietly withdrew so as not to disturb her thoughts.
Surgery, warship… yes, that much she could accept.
Olivia then wondered why she was in Pulder.
"Alright. Let's go home, Olivia."
She held her breath for a moment, recalling the gentle voice that had woken her, when suddenly a low voice was heard beside her.
"I am truly glad you have recovered so much, Your Highness."
When Olivia turned her head, a middle-aged man she didn't recognize was standing there. As if reading her thoughts, he bowed his head respectfully and introduced himself.
"I am Royal Physician Leon Brick."
"...Sir Brick, why are you here?"
To the Princess consort's flustered tone, the physician smiled as if asking the obvious.
"Of course, I am here because I performed Your Highness's surgery."
"...But according to court law…."
Olivia's words trailed off. As she slowly blinked, the physician carefully placed the medicine he was holding in front of her and glanced out the window.
My word. Who would have imagined that 'that' Noah Astrid would show such a demeanor?
"His Highness ordered me to save Your Highness at all costs. When I told him court law was an issue, he set the warship in motion and left the Herot waters, and if that wasn't enough…."
The physician lowered his voice to a whisper, just in case.
"He said he would abandon his status as Prince himself."
"...What?"
"He said that if that were the case, Your Highness would also not be royalty, so I could perform the surgery, wouldn't I?"
The physician watched Olivia's eyes flicker, then said with a smile,
"So please, recover quickly."
Olivia watched blankly as the physician entered the small room.
Her heart pounded.
What the physician had said was too surreal to believe. How could he give up his status and order her to be saved?
And,
"Jonan."
"Yes, Your Highness."
"Did His Highness… sail the warship to Pulder?"
Olivia, piecing together the situation like a puzzle, asked in disbelief. Jonan, standing by the door, hesitated and then nodded.
"...Yes."
"Did you have His Majesty's permission?"
"I believe not."
"…."
Olivia's mind went blank.
She couldn't even begin to guess how grave a sin that would be, and what price Noah would have to pay when they returned to Herot.
Without further thought, Olivia got up from her seat. Pain struck her, and she swayed, but Jonan quickly approached.
However, she ultimately refused his hand and walked quickly towards the door that had been closed until now.
An inexplicable flame of urgency surged within her.
Olivia flung open the front door, her hair flying, before anyone could stop her.
It was the time when night, descended upon the reddish sunset, dyed the world dark.
As soon as Olivia opened the door, she felt him, and saw him.
