Abella pulled Cade’s neck while hiding all of her innermost thoughts.

“Abella!”

The bride’s wedding dress was pressed against the bed, making a rustling sound. Abella laid Cade down on the bed. Her hair, which the servants carefully made, was pressed into the bed and messed up. Abella lowered her head and pressed her lips to Cade’s.

Abella whispered as she pulled down the hem of Cade’s shirt.

“It’s three.”

It was a whisper that signaled a long night.

*

Abella fulfilled the life plan she had set out. On the first night of her wedding, she conceived a child. Giving birth to her child was a first for Abella, who lived three lives. She also felt the fetal movement of the child swimming in her belly, which inflated like a giant balloon.

“Here, Cade.”

Abella took Cade’s hesitant hand and placed it on her. The strong baby kicked Cade’s palm.

“The baby.....”

Cade looked back at Abella with a startled face. It was not the first time he felt it move, but he had the same reaction every time. Was it because this was his first child?

Abella clasped her fingers in Cade’s. “Why are you surprised every time?”

“.... It’s fascinating. Is there really a child in there?”

“There is. There will be a child who looks half like you and half me.”

“How can you guarantee that?”

“Look at Simon. You think he looks like Carlo, but if you look closely, he also looks like Ellowen.”

“That.....” Cade agreed. Babies were really amazing. When he was young, they thought he was a Carlo counterpart, but as he grew little by little, a resemblance to Ellowen began to stand out. So did Simon’s sibling.

The baby, who was born earlier this year, was named Yuella.

The baby was named by Abella herself, and Yuella was also born on Skellus Day. But now, no one talked about Yuella as a symbol of curse. Rather, people were merely praising the grace of God that Yuella received.

“Do you want a daughter or a son?”

Abella brought up the question that she had been putting off.

“A daughter. I want a daughter who resembles you.” Cade murmured in a sighing voice. It was because all the ladies who saw Abella’s stomach were saying that this imperial child was a son. And Abella, for some reason, lived with the words that a son was about to be born.

Cade touched Abella’s stomach with a sad look.

“It doesn’t mean I don’t want a son. just.... It is a wish.”

“It might be a daughter next time.”

“I hope so.”

With Cade smiling, he gently lowered his head over Abella’s stomach.

Abella caught the scene that warmed her heart. Things that she could not have imagined in her previous life were taking place for granted in this life. Abella stroked Cade’s hair. The warmth and affection in his eyes were all real.

Abella took Cade’s hand and kissed the palm.

It was hard to move around with a bloated stomach, but it was always nice to show affection like this. Abella decided not to spare her feelings any longer.

“Did you name the baby?”

“No.... Not yet.”

“Why? You bragged that you could name it.” Abella asked playfully. She poked Cade in the side, wondering why he still didn’t. Cade muttered awkwardly.

“When I see the baby’s face, it may immediately come to mind. But now I don’t know yet. I want to give the baby a name that suits them best.....”

“What are the candidates? There must be candidates.”

“.... I think it must be a son.”

Cade spoke with a slightly gloomy face and then put his finger up.

“Windelhart, Chase, Chewinster. These are three candidates I had in mind.”

“I think everything is fine. I am most attracted to Windelhart.”

“Then shall we do that?”

“That’s good too.”

Abella nodded her head like a puppy.

As such, Cade’s worries disappeared without a hitch, and the first child’s name was chosen as Windelhart.

It must have been the day when the rain of flowers falling outside the window had stopped. Cade and Abella’s first child was born.

*

“Windelheart!!”

“Call me big brother!”

Windelhart sighed and lifted his little sister in a flash. Abella had one more child than she had planned. It was because all three children were born as sons. For the depressed Cade, Abella eventually succeeded in giving birth to a fourth child, a daughter.

People said it was all through Cade’s long-cherished wish for a daughter.

“Lyrica? , come here.”

Cade knelt down and extended his hand to Lyrica. Unlike Windelhart, who was already 17 years old, Lyrica was only 6 years old. Windelhart would often stick his chest forward and claim that Lyrica was raised by him.

Lyrica was a copy of Abella.

The purple eyes and the hair, as if woven by the stars. Cade’s eyes blurred.

Cade saw Abella through Lyrica.

It had been three years since Abella left Cade and the children. Abella died the same year Lyrica was three years old. She was as aloof as someone who had been waiting for her death. Even with her body, which was suddenly debilitating.

She told Cade over and over again, like a habit.

‘Cade. You must never come to me until Lyrica gets married. You have to enjoy it as much as you can and then come to me.’

It became a spell to keep Cade by the children’s side. For Cade, who had no reason to live in a world without Abella, she gave him a new motivation. Cade stopped his young daughter and measured her height.

“How tall are you, my daughter.”

“Daaad! Big brother hit me in the head!”

Lyrica pointed to the top of her head, where Windelhart had hit. Cade lifted his body up as he kissed Lyrica’s cheek as she asked for a hug in a childlike manner.

“Windelhart, apologize to Lyrica.”

Windelhart quickly said in envy, seeing Cade, who spoke solemnly.

“My little sister, I’m sorry.”

“Hmm! Lyrica will forgive you because Lyrica is kind.” Lyrica said softly.

Today was the day they went to see Abella. Abella slept forever comfortably in happiness. And it was Windelhart’s birthday. The beginning of summer when the flower rain falls.

Taden and Herrington, who were really late, ran up the hill with bouquets of flowers. Abella wanted to rest in a place overlooking the whole of the Imperial Castle. Cade granted her wish. Perhaps because of that, on warm days in the sun, he felt like Abella was watching over him.

Abella didn’t want others to be sad because she was gone.

So, on the day Abella left, they chatter, joke, and laugh more.

“Sleepyheads. Can’t you come faster?”

Herrington and Taden sped up when Windelhart taunted them. The bouquet they had prepared for Abella waved in the wind, but Cade just burst into laughter.

Maybe Abella did too.

A little late that morning, everyone gathered in front of Abella’s place.

“Mom! Windelhart hit me!”

Lyrica jumped out of Cade’s arms and hugged the tree, giving her own chattering. Lyrica believed that Abella had been reborn as a tree. Even if Windelhart said that couldn’t happen because the tree had been there for so long, Lyrica didn’t seem to accept it.

“Mother, I’m innocent.” Windelhart whispered softly. It was a voice so low that Lyrica couldn’t hear it, but Abella probably heard it.

“Wah, Mom. Sorry! Because Herrington is late!”

“What are you talking about, Taden? You woke up late!”

Cade lightly clasped the heads of the two quarreling younger brothers.

“Both of you are late, but you talk a lot.”

“Fa, Father!”

“Father!”

The two shouted at the same time as if it was unfair. However, while puffing their cheeks, the two did not respond any further.

Cade smiled as he watched the children chattering nonstop.

Abella had promised Cade.

‘I’ll make you happy, Cade.’

And she kept that promise.

Like Abella, Cade would live happily ever after.

Later, he would return to her side.

[End of the After Story]