I Don’t Want This Bad Ending

Three years has passed since the terrorism attack happened in the center of the Capital of the Levingstone Kingdom. The residue of the said attack seems to have been completely forgotten by the peoples minds as the seasons change and they begin to get back on their feet.

In the midst of this, Duke Keene decided to retire from governing the Emsworth Duchy and gave the position to his heir apparent, Allan. 

"I give my thanks to the nobles who attended the inauguration banquet for the newly appointed Duke of the Emsworth Duchy, my son, Allan."

With his gallant looks, the former Duke and the newly appointed Allan, stood side by side and received massive applause and congratulations by the guests that attended the ceremony.

Smiling at the side of the banquet hall, Evelyn watches her brother who has been greeting the guest and acquainting himself with the other heads of households that have prominently a good reputation and standing in the nobility.

"He really looks like a proper adult now…" 

Evelyn mumbles to herself as she gently shakes the white wine inside the champagne glass.

"I guess he's not the same brat Allan that I know. He's matured now…"

After looking at him, she searches for her father as she didn't see him after he gave his speech. Hence, Evelyn left the banquet hall to search where her father goes and also bid him goodbye.

In her walks, her feet brought her to the garden where the tulips, roses and lilies stood against the translucent light that came from the full moon.

As she stands in the middle of the bed of flowers, a familiar silhouette comes to her vision. The former head of the Emsworth household stood there in her mother's favorite gazebo and was gazing at the moon in the night sky.

Evelyn seems to recall a distant memory where she also saw her father standing at the same spot with a sullen look where his usual fiery eyes were filled with longing, madness, guilt, and abandonment.

However now, as she watched him, those negative emotions were all gone and it seemed longing and unconditional love was the only thing that had occupied his eyes.

"Father…"

Evelyn called him, as the three years passed in the blink of an eye, the situation in their family circumstances improved and now they are in a state where they could comfortably call each other as father and daughter. Although Evelyn didn't live with them in the Emsworth Duchy, they now have a familiarity with each other.

"Evelyn… what are you doing here not associating yourself with the guest?"

The Duke asked with a benign smile as he looked at his daughter who now resembles his deceased wife.

"I wanted to take a break and I also wanted to talk to you…" answered Evelyn as she approached where he was standing.

"Is it because of 'that'?"

"Yes, I'll be leaving the capital after the ceremony and will go to the Sigrid Duchy."

"I see…"

They stood side by side as they gaze at the moon.

"Take care of yourself there…"

"I will."

"... If that man does something against you, you can contact the Duchy and I'll personally go there to beat him up."

Evelyn chuckled at her father's advice. Meanwhile, the former Duke faced his daughter and with sincerity told her his thoughts that he had been sealed.

"Evelyn… I know I'm barely a father to you and I know that this family never did something good to you. All the years that I bore hatred towards my own child that my wife painstakingly protected makes me feel so stupid…"

She watched her father as he poured all his regrets that had been eating his conscience.

"That's right! I could barely call you father but still compared to what we had before this is something that we could call a progress between the three of us," Evelyn smiled towards her father as she saw his clouded orbs. "...for the past three years, I saw the efforts you and Allan put in for me to walk freely again in the noble society without the need to hide my identity and gain the Emsworth name again even though you don't have the responsibility to do so as I'm the one who abandoned it first…"

"...from now on, you should pursue your happiness." Her father, Keene, told her.

Evelyn turns her head and looks at the moon again. 

"Thank you, father."

***

"Did you have a good talk?"

Evelyn looked back as she stood at one of the balconies of their mansion and saw where the voice came from and the door opened and saw a shadow towering her.

"I did… I also bid them farewells."

The cheerful chatter in the banquet hall was still going on. Evelyn leaned her back at the baluster while Cabel stepped forward and hugged her and gently kissed her forehead. The atmosphere surrounding the two was so tranquil that Evelyn feels so reassured whenever Cabel is by her side.

"That's good. You can finally see my estate."

"Are you that glad?" Evelyn replied as she giggled.

"Of course! Do you know how excited I was to renovate the room that you'll temporarily be staying in as my fiance? as well as "our" future room?

"Our future room?"

Evelyn pushed him softly and stared at Cabel questioningly.

"What's wrong?"

"We're sharing rooms?"

"Of course!"

Evelyn was quite shocked as sharing a room between spouses was not practiced in this conservative era. Normally, any husband and wife in the nobility have their separate rooms and would only share a room when it's the day to consummate. Well, of course as someone who remembered her past life, she's not opposed to it as it was the normal thing to do back in her old world.

"Why? Do you think I would let you spend the nights alone when I could share it with you..." 

Cabel argued while Evelyn blushed.

"You…! You're becoming more brazen…"

"It's because I've been holding myself back far longer than you could imagine."

Cabel stare at the sunset eyes of Evelyn that shines brightly under the light of the full moon. As his face approached, Evelyn instinctively looked at his lips.

As he caressed her smooth skin and gently placed his hand at the back of her nape and the other with her waist, Cabel approached her luscious lips that seemed to have been getting his attention since earlier.

Their lips touched and as the noises inside continued and as the whisper of the wind that blew the tree leaves, the deeper the kiss between the two shared.

"Hmm… umm"

After a while, Cabel broke the kiss and looked at Evelyn whose eyes became hazy with pleasure. He smirked as he saw it.

"You're so beautiful Eve… my lovely future wife~"

***

The servants at the Sigrid Estate had been moving since dawn and were waiting at the front door of their Duchess.

"Aaahh!!!"

The scream was so loud that even the maids that were waiting at the front door flinched as they heard the Duchess.

And the Duke was moving back and forth with an anxious look that even his aide was getting distracted.

"Your Excellency, you should calm down."

"How am I supposed to calm down when my wife is screaming like that?!"

Cabel's aide and right hand man Lucas looked at his lord as someone who would never get this agitated even in the battlefield faced with his enemies and monsters.

However, right now, the face that he was making was sure to make everyone remember how much he cherished his wife, Duchess Evelyn.

"Madam! Push!"

"Aahhh!"

Cabel flinched as she heard his wife scream again.

"Should I break down this door?!" Cabel mumbled.

"Please, Your Excellency, don't do that." Lucas said as he watched his Lord pace back and forth like it was the first time that he experienced such an event.

"I can't just stand here…"

While, Cabel was contemplating if he needs to open the door and run to his wife to held her hand, a small tug of his pants made him stop staring at the door.

"Daddy… Is mommy hurt?"

The crease in his forehead instantly flattened as he saw his daughter looking at him worriedly.

"Oh my daughter, Callie… What are you doing here? Are you worried about mommy?"

His daughter, who is five years old, nodded and now clings to him as he picks her up. He saw his daughter who looks like the combination between Evelyn and him as Callie inherited her mother's silver blue hair and her eyes that she got from him which is crimson red.

"Is mommy gonna be okay?" 

As he looked at her daughter that worriedly asked with her baby fat cheeks. Cabel now needs to make sure that he reassures her.

"Of course… I'm sure mommy's gonna be okay. She's just doing her best to deliver your baby brother to us, that's why we need to pray and make sure that mommy and your baby brother will be safe and sound." 

When Cabel was sure that his daughter was not worried anymore, the door swung open and the midwife asked for him.

"Your Excellency… congratulations! The Duchess delivered a healthy baby boy!"

Cabel brought down Callie and urgently walked to the door and saw Evelyn who looked tired and full of sweat, smiling beside the new born baby.

"Cabel looked at him..." Evelyn said with hearts in her eyes as she watched her newborn son cry.

"My goodness, Eve! You've done well!" Cabel caressed her head and praised her for her strong will that for a second time she did such an excellent job delivering their child.

"I'm sorry that I made you go through this again!" Cabel bit his lips as he looked at Evelyn.

"Silly… What are you talking about! We both wanted this… don't say sorry!" Evelyn giggled as she saw her husband with hazy eyes that the tears are threateningly at the edge that seems it would trickle down any moment.

As if at perfect timing, Callie peek at the opened door.

"Mommy…?"

"Callie… my baby, come here."

Callie with her still small strides went to her mother's side while Cabel made sure not to let his daughter see his clouded eyes and rubbed it with his sleeves.

Evelyn saw it and laughed sweetly before she called her daughter, Callie.

"Come here… you should meet your baby brother."

"Hello, baby brother…"

Cabel and Evelyn looked at each other before they said the name of the baby.

"We're going to call your baby brother, Noah…" Evelyn said as she watched her family smile.

Evelyn was genuinely happy as she saw her dream of having a family come true. She succeeded in not having a bad ending.