Mrs. Kelly didn't say what she thought, she just knelt down on the soft cushion in front of the queen, carefully smoothing the wrinkles on the queen's skirt.
Adele put her hand on the back of Mrs. Kelly's. Mrs. Carey looked up and smiled softly at her, as all mothers do when they are intimate with their children.
"We'll be resting in Reef City today."
Adele told Mrs Kelly that she turned her head and looked out the window.
Reef City was in the middle of their journey north, and according to the Queen's wishes, the Minister of Internal Affairs arranged it as one of the rest points for the palace tour. The young queen looks out the car window at the moors, woods and rocks, the afterglow of twilight falls on her, and the crown of hair shines brightly.
"We're almost at Reef City."
Mrs. Kelly was also quiet for a while.
Reef City, the small and desolate castle of the Roland Empire, is nothing to most people. But for Mrs. Kelly and Adele, it is a small, hidden corner hidden in their hearts, carrying those times that they seldom mention.
Although some sincere joy finally forges wordless sadness.
"I don't want them in the castle."
The two of them were quiet for a while, and Adele rarely said some willful words.
Mrs. Kelly sensed the queen's complicated emotions, she held the queen's hand in turn, put the other hand on the back of the queen's hand, and patted gently in a comforting way: "You don't want them to go in, just let them in Stay outside the castle."
Mrs. Kelly's palms were dry and warm. Compared with her and the Queen's status, this action was actually a little too much, but it reminded Adele of when she was young.
Ever since her mother's death, she has been having nightmares night after night, especially after arriving in Reef. During that time, Mrs. Kelly stayed by her bedside by the dim candle every night. After she woke up from the nightmare, she held her hand, patted the back of her hand lightly, and hummed a soft tune.
Later, Heinrich discovered her abnormality and found a special potion, so she was able to break free from the nightmare.
During those days of fear and uneasiness when they would die at any time, there were only three people watching each other, living in a small, gloomy castle. They are separated from the world, hiding in forgotten corners, thinking that is forever.
When the Queen and Mrs. Kelly looked out through the car window, Heinrich outside the car suddenly turned around and looked inside the car.
Their eyes met in mid-air.
A lighthouse appeared on the horizon, and the silhouette of Reef City was printed in the dusk.
……………
"It's hard to be happy."
Dalton grunted as the cloak, loosely draped over his shoulders, brushed against the gray-toned rock. The adjutant watched as he handed the rope to the castle gatekeeper.
It is a little strange that General Dalton seems to be no stranger to this small castle, as if he has made great efforts to understand every plant and tree of this castle carefully. There is nothing in Reef City itself that deserves such attention from an imperial marshal, so the only people who can make him pay so much attention are the people who used to live here.
Boss, you used to look down on young people chasing love the most.
The adjutant dared not say this.
Dalton did spend a lot of effort investigating the Reef City. After a few years, the servants who took care of the place and the nearby residents still had a feeling for Princess Adele, who was once exiled here, and now Her Majesty the Queen. deep impression. Through their descriptions, Dalton pieced together a blurry image of a teenage princess.
—At the age of eight, witnessed my mother being guillotined. At the age of nine, I was thrown into a lake by my father's mistress. At the age of thirteen, she was deprived of her princess status and expelled from the court...
Along with the commission of Marshal of the Empire, dated July 15, 1557, it was the Queen's words that fell like stones into Dalton's memory.
Later, he wanted to know more and more about her past, and what she looked like in those bloody sufferings, so that he polished the last emperor who was hard-hearted and merciful. He wanted to know, so he went to look it up.
The fishermen in Reef City remember the young princess who liked to sit on the lighthouse and watch the sea in the evening, and remember that she was wearing a white dress and walking in the wind by the sea, just like the original goddess of beauty walking out of the sea, quiet and melancholy; the gardener in Reef City I remember the princess who liked to plant roses in the garden, and when she looked up from the garden and smiled, her cheeks were like stretched rose petals... She walked in the shadow of the trees, and she raised her skirt to everyone who greeted her In return, she crosses the street...
There is another person silently, lingering in the past like a shadow.
When the princess was sitting on the lighthouse, the young man leaned on the escalator; when the princess walked into the shop to pick things out, the young man stood behind her with downcast eyes; when the princess folded the roses, the young man stood not far away watching her. In everyone's memories, they all naturally felt that the person named "Heinrich" always appeared not far from the princess.
It's natural to make people jealous.
Dalton touched the railing of the reef castle, jealous of the man who had accompanied the princess for so long.
Fate is so unfair, why wasn't he the one involved in her past
……………
"I thought the rose garden here was deserted."
Adele heard familiar footsteps behind her, she didn't look back, and stared at the well-tended rose garden not far in front of her.
Heinrich stopped.
The reef castle is not as big and splendid as other royal castles, and it is not enough to accommodate all the accompanying nobles. Therefore, only those with important status can be placed here to rest, and the rest are stationed outside the castle. Many nobles are actually not very happy to settle here, and many people even complain about the desolation and loneliness here.
But if there is anyone who would be least willing to come here, it must be Heinrich.
He was standing by the pillar of the stone pavilion. The distance between here and the queen was not far, but not so close that he crossed the ambiguous line. As before, he always stood in the position where it seemed that he could go further at any time, but he couldn't move forward, sober and restrained.
"Mark takes care of them well."
Heinrich said.
The two knew very well that the preservation of the rose garden as in the past was definitely not due to the responsibility of a castle gardener.
After returning to the court, too many accidents and things occupied the time and energy of Adele and Mrs. Kelly. None of them have the time or energy to take care of the distant Reef City, so they can only put it away and place it in memory. So, who else in this world would spend so much money and appoint people to maintain the reef city for several years, so that every flower and grass here are as they are
There is only one left.
Adele stretched out her hand, grabbed an early-blooming rose, and folded it off.
"His Majesty."
Standing in the shadow of the pillars of the stone pavilion, Heinrich called her in a low voice.
Adele spread her hands and looked at the dark green branches lying in her hands, as bright red blood rolled out from her fingertips. A bony hand reached out from the side and wiped away the blood. Adele let him bandage her wound skillfully, not looking at him, only looking at the rose garden.
Heinrich took the rose from her palm, removed all thorns from it, and gently inserted it into the queen's bun, which was pulled back from her head.
The ribs and the heart are densely packed, I don't know if it's sore or painful, but I get used to it after a long time.
It's just that when she stuck the rose in her hair, the hand that could hold the Hidden Blade and cut the enemy's throat without hesitation trembled slightly.