With a subtle glance, he signaled to the healer standing behind him. The healer, understanding immediately, handed him a small glass vial.
“It’s time for your medicine, Ellia.”
I took the vial in my hands, turning it slightly under the light. “This looks different from what I usually take.”
Griffith’s expression flickered—just for a second. “The healer adjusted the formula. This one will help you recover even faster.”
And in that moment, I knew. This was the drug meant to knock me unconscious.
“I don’t need it,” I said. “I feel much better already.”
“Ellia, be good now. You need your treatment.”
“I said no.”
The resistance in my voice made his expression shift, his patience thinning. The air between us turned still, heavy. Then, after a long pause, he let out a soft sigh and gave me a gentle smile.
“Alright, if you don’t want to drink it, you don’t have to.”
Just as I thought I had escaped, a strange fragrance drifted through the air. My vision swayed. My legs lost their strength. And then—darkness.
…
When I opened my eyes again, it was the third morning.
I was lying in the healer’s treatment room. A dull, aching pain throbbed in my abdomen.
A sense of dread gripped me as I pulled up my clothes, my fingers trembling. There, on my lower stomach, was an ugly scar.
Before I could fully register what I was seeing, Griffith leaned in, his face lighting up with relief. “Ellia, you’re awake.”
His voice was gentle and soothing—as if he hadn’t just destroyed me.
“You collapsed from a sudden illness two days ago,” he explained. “The healer examined you and found severe internal bleeding in your womb. There was no other choice… They had to remove it.”
I stared at him, my heart tearing apart, piece by piece.
Seeing my despair, he pulled me into his arms. “Don’t be sad, Ellia,” he murmured. “I know how much you’ve always wanted a child. We can adopt an orphan. I’ll raise them as my own, I promise.”
For days, I wept. Even within the cold walls of the castle, there was no escaping my grief.
Griffith, in an effort to console me, abandoned all his work, staying by my side every moment.
Then, just when I had gathered enough strength to finally confront him, Giselle came looking for me.
