A vow that must be kept

The woman sitting on the bed narrowed her eyes at her daughter, incredulity in her gaze. She sat silently for several seconds as she observed her, only opening her mouth a moment after she felt she was done.

"Afternoon, Delia," she voiced quietly. "Where have you been? I thought you would have come to see me earlier."

Adelia grimaced at the question; straight to the point, as always. She thought. She shuffled closer to the bed and gingerly sat at its edge.

"I would have, Mother, but... but I got a little carried away," she tried to put it in the gentlest way possible, hoping to avoid a negative reaction.

She knew how easily upset her mother could get and she was too weak for that, overreacting would most definitely exhaust her.

The Duchess furrowed her brows at her. "Carried away?" she asked. "By your horse, did you?"

Adelia flinched at the question and looked at her mother with wary eyes. Why didn't she consider the possible consequences before carelessly riding out of those gates?

"I'm... I'm sorry, Mother," she apologized immediately. "I really am. I hope I didn't worry you... too much," she added as an afterthought.

Eva pursed her lips. "How could you not have worried me?" she inquired gravely. "You ran away from the castle without any guards to escort you, and you say you hope I didn't worry?"

Adelia kept silent, fighting the urge to tell her mother that Meryl had come with her, negating the need for any guards. But revealing the knowledge of a secret passage was something she wanted to avoid.

Eva sighed, a mixture of exasperation and relief, and then she stared up at her daughter with warm affection in her contrary stormy eyes. "Honestly… you never listen, do you?"

Adelia stared at her mother meekly, gently hanging her head to hide her suppressed smile.

Eva revealed a small but weak one of her own and began to stroke her daughter's hair, prompting Adelia to lie on her mother's lap.

"Where did you need to go that you had to flee through the gates like that?" her mother asked.

Adelia laughed softly. "I did not flee," she told her. "I left like that because I didn't want anyone to escort me."

Eva nodded in understanding. "And where did you go?"

The young lady went silent again. Unless Vincent or one of the maids who saw her reported her condition upon returning, her mother would never know where she had truly gone.

But she had never lied to her mother and she didn't intend to start now.

She paused, preparing herself for what she was about to say, and braced for her mother's reaction.

Closing her eyes, she spoke softly, "I... I went to the forest, Mother."

"What?!" Eva yelped, causing Adelia to panic and sit up from her mother's lap. "The forest…? Delia, what were you thinking?!"

Adelia gulped, guilt shooting through her as she took in her mother's worried expression; neither of her parents knew of how often she went there.

"It's... it's fine, Mother," she said, trying to soothe her. "Nothing happened to me, I'm fine."

"It doesn't matter now if something happened to you or not, Delia," Eva told her firmly. "Something could have happened! Why didn't you let any of the guards escort you? No, not even the guards, what about Meryl?!"

Adelia fidgeted with her dress. Again, she had the urge to tell her that Meryl had indeed gone with her and that the wolf was utterly useless today.

Her head dropped instead. "I'm sorry, Mother," she apologized again. "For worrying you."

The forest bordering the southern part of Dalniar and Galiminea was a vile place. Wandering with terrible creatures and humans alike.

If the Duchess had heard earlier that her daughter had gone there alone, she would have most likely fainted.

Eva was silent for a few moments before releasing another sigh. She observed her frail-looking daughter, but she knew... she knew all too well that her lovely Delia was not as frail as she appeared.

Even if anything were to happen, she could take care of herself just fine… or at least to a certain extent.

Still, she needed to be protected at all times and at all costs... for the reason they would rather not let her out on her own was best known to them.

Eva cupped her daughter's cheek with both hands. "I don't ever want to hear of such a thing again," she told her firmly. "Is that clear?"

Adelia nodded between her mother's grasp, and only then did the woman release her.

Then Eva huffed and took a deep breath. She turned to the window by her bed, taking in the lovely scenery outside.

Adelia studied her mother's profile, her heart sinking at how sickly she appeared. She took a deep breath, trying to control the moisture that threatened to fill her eyes.

"Have you taken your medicine this afternoon, Mother?" she asked after a while.

Eva turned to face her. "Yes, I have," she replied with a small smile. "Is something wrong?"

Adelia shook her head. "It's nothing," she told her. "I just thought I would be the one to prepare it for you…"

Eva laughed softly. "But you didn't come back early enough, my love," she said, making the young lady wince. "Still, there's really no need to do it yourself, you already do plenty."

Adelia's fist tightened around the folds of her dress as she bit her lip. "I know… but I wish… I wish I could do more."

"Stop that," Eva ordered immediately, making the young lady flinch. "How many times must I tell you that my condition must not burden you?"

Adelia simply looked up at her with wavering eyes. "But how could it not?" she asked quietly. "You're my mother, so how would your condition not worry me?"

The Duchess studied her, her eyes taking on a kinder sheen. "You are not worried, Delia," she told her. "You are burdened, and that burden stems from the fact that you blame yourself for my condition."

Adelia's gaze fell and she hung her head in an effort to hide the tears threatening to spill.

'You can't cry, Delia… you can't!' She repeated endlessly to herself. 'It would only worry her…'

It wasn't until she was about six years old that she found out the reason for her mother's illness.

Before then, she had always wondered why her mother appeared so sickly and looked for every possible way to take care of her, to the extent of making the bed she would sleep on.

She couldn't leave the castle to gather herbs for her, so she diligently stuck to what she could do instead; Reading books upon books of herbs, healing spells, and medicine. Ones she could understand.

On a particular day, when she had gone to steal tea snacks from the kitchen like she had always done; she overheard some of the maids gossiping with worried voices over the Duchess' condition.

…That was when she heard it—the overwhelming truth that her mother would not be the way she was if she had not given birth to her.

Still, no one ostracized her for it, no one despised her for putting their beloved Duchess in such a state, not her mother and not even the Duke who loved her so much.

He cared for Adelia's well-being so much that he even dismissed the maids she had overheard the truth from and tried his best to console her when he discovered that she was drowning in needless guilt.

Adelia's thoughts caused her to bite down on her lower lip even harder. Maybe it would have made things a little better if everyone blamed her; then she would have developed some kind of immunity to this.

Maybe she wouldn't fault herself and she would despise everyone enough not to carry this burden with her…

And maybe—maybe she wouldn't have made that life-threatening deal with Raegan in an effort to curb her guilt and pain…

Eva clearly saw her daughter's inner turmoil and gently placed her hand on her cheek. "Release it, my love," she said softly. "At this rate, you will suffer the consequences of biting down too hard."

Adelia immediately did as she asked, and somehow, she knew her mother was talking about more than her lip.

But how… how could she possibly free herself of this burden when it looked like her mother would give up at any moment?

If not for the elixir Raegan had given her two years ago, she would not be sitting here with her mother today.

Adelia desperately tried to fight back the tears clouding her vision, but it overwhelmed her. Eventually, they started to spill uncontrollably, making her delicate figure quiver in kind.

Eva quickly wrapped her arms around her daughter in an embrace, in an effort to still her sobs.

"Please, Delia," the Duchess pleaded. "Carrying it would eventually lead you to do something you would regret. I don't want that, even if it is for my sake."

The urge to listen to her words washed over Adelia, and her mind and heart attempted to give in, yet the thought that she would never see her mother again if she were to do that held her back.

She would never again let what happened two years ago repeat itself.

'No. I will cure you, Mother.' She thought firmly amidst her tears, her hands clenching into fists to reflect her resolve. 'I promise I will and I vow it upon the very air that I breathe.'