Everlastingly Loving You - Chapter 145

“R-Raymond?” She stuttered.

Emilia was stuck in place.

Her lower lip trembled.

‘Don’t faint, don’t faint, don’t faint,’ she repeated to herself.

It looked like she’d seen a ghost – which was true, in a sense.

Her heart pounded in her chest like a drum, fast and hot in anticipation of something – anything, actually.

She had ruled over Beldovia. She’d ruled over a whole kingdom without him and he was back.

Her husband had come back to life. He was standing across from her, alive and breathing.

“Hello, Emilia,” Raymond greeted calmly.

Emilia harrumphed.

“Is that all?”

“Years since we last saw each other and all I get is a ‘Hello, Emilia’?” Emilia said in annoyance.

“You disappeared, Raymond!”

“You disappeared without saying anything!”

“You could’ve left a note, hell, a text even, but what did you do? You left me to fend for myself and this kingdom,” Emilia glared at him, still rooted to her spot.

“Have you not any shame for what you did, husband?” She questioned, at that moment his wife rather than the woman that’d been ruling over the kingdom he was supposed to be ruling instead.

“It was complicated,” Raymond answered.

“I couldn’t tell you I was leaving because then you’d find a way to make me stay, Millie,” Raymond explained.

Emilia tensed.

No one had called her Millie in years.

It felt like millenia since she’d been last called Millie.

“You don’t get to call me that.”

“I’m still your husband,” Raymond reasoned.

“The same husband who left me all these years,” Emilia said weakly, her tone filled with sadness.

He had left her without saying a word.

“I thought you were dead, Raymond,” she crossed her arms.

Emilia was never one to get emotional easily, especially when it came to fights or conversations.

But this?

It broke her knowing her husband wasn’t actually dead. That she’d spent the years after his death grieving for naught. He was alive and well.

“Is that all you’ve got to say? That you’re still my husband. Nothing why you left me and your family?”

Raymond questioned, “When did you begin to be concerned over my family?”

A low rumble came from Emilia.

“I can’t believe you.”

Her husband, or the man that stood across from her wasn’t the man she married. He wasn’t the man she had fallen in love with, that man had died when Raymond had faked his death.

But how?

How could he feign his death?

And why would he leave Beldovia in the hands of his wife of all people?

The one responsible for all this madness was him, not her. She’d done everything she could to rule over Beldovia, but no matter what she did she was perceived as the villain. The queen that had stolen the kingdom from right under the king. The woman that’d probably killed him herself.

Had there had been any evidence that she actually did, her husband’s family would’ve ensured she spent the rest of her days rotting in the palace dungeons. She would’ve been starved to death, or beaten.

Simply thinking about it scared her.

“Where is he?” Emilia decided to ask Raymond.

“Where is who?” Raymond inquired curiously.

Emilia answered, “My husband.”

“Where is my husband?” She asked.

Raymond answered, not fully comprehending the question Emilia had asked him, “He’s right here.”

Emilia shook her head, “No, he’s not here.”

“All that’s here is what’s left of him.”

The Raymond that stood a safe distance away from her was a shell of who he once was. An empty husk of the amazing man she fell for.

Their romance story was one for the ages.

No one had believed Emilia had been able to win over his heart, but she had. And so did he hers.

Emilia had fallen, hard. She thought Raymond had to, but she was mistaken.

Tears brimming her eyes, she asked once more, “My husband isn’t here, he’s somewhere else, so where is he?”

Misunderstood. That was the word for it.

She’d always been misunderstood and the villain to everyone. No one had bothered to listen to her side of the story, it’d all been based on their own assumptions when they knew nothing at all.

Helpless, Emilia knew she couldn’t do anything about it. Raymond wouldn’t tell her why he left unless he wanted to, and seemingly, he didn’t. That was the last of his intentions, to share with her why he’d disappeared mysteriously and came back only after his mother had died.

“You appeared at your mother’s funeral, but not any one of our anniversaries. Not any one of my birthdays. Not any one of the major milestones in your children’s lives.”

“Your son has a boyfriend. So does your daughter,” Emilia said.

She wasn’t too fond of Louis and Sophia, but she kept an eye on them. They reminded her of her husband, and that wasn’t their fault, they were innocent in the situation.

She’d always blamed herself but now she knew who was actually at fault. Raymond.

“You feigned your death and you have nothing to say for it,” Emilia murmured audibly.

‘You should be ashamed of yourself and all the pain you’ve caused your family, and me,’ Emilia uttered to herself inaudibly.

Raymond stood there speechless.

He hadn’t expected his reunion with his wife to go this way. What could he do? Explain himself?

There wasn’t much to it.

“Don’t just stand there,” Emilia said, resisting the urge to scream and shout right there and then for him to leave her.

“Why did you come here? To torture me?”

“Whyever you’re here, just leave.”

“Unless you’re here to explain, please,” she begged of Raymond.

It was a side of Emilia no one had seen of her before. A vulnerable side to her she only let out whenever she was with the man she loved most – her husband.

She’d never felt more heartbroken. Grieving was less painful than seeing him there, alive. At least she knew he loved her when she’d thought him dead.

Now? All she wanted was for him to flee and to never look back in her direction.

Emilia looked Raymond in the eye and forced herself to smile.

“Years ago I’d give anything to see you again, and to look you in the eye and tell you I miss you… and that I love you.”

“And now that it’s finally happened, I regret every moment I wasted thinking about you,” Emilia looked downwards.

She could’ve spent her life doing something else. Spending time with those she loved instead of being stuck to the throne. All those nights she blamed herself for what happened to Raymond were useless, and the one that ended up most hurt certainly wasn’t Raymond.

It wasn’t Sophia.

It wasn’t Louis.

It wasn’t Julia.

It was her.

It was always her.

“Emilia,” Raymond started.

“I never left you,” he smiled.

Emilia stared at him, giving him some time to make his case, or to her – fill her head with all his pathetic excuses thinking she’d believe him and fall for his charms all over again.

“I just…”

“Needed a break,” Raymond admitted.

“And there’s the pathetic excuse,” Emilia nodded, a tear sliding down her cheek.

She bit her lip, “A break?”

Raymond nodded, “Yes.”

“I was brought up strictly. With all sorts of preposterous rules I had to follow. I had a kingdom I had to rule and instead of being raised as a normal child and given a normal childhood, mine was filled with constant reminders that I’d be king one day.”

“It’s stupid, and I am a horrible man. I don’t deserve to be your husband, and I don’t deserve to be a father to my children, but here I am. I’m still here and I want to give things a second try. These shouldn’t be reasons but I’m not as strong as most. I’m weak, and I just needed a break after all this time. I felt like I was being suffocated and I just needed some air.”

He reached out to her, holding her hand for a second before she pulled away from his grasp.

“I won’t fall for it.”

‘Not again,’ Emilia thought to herself.

‘These are excuses, all excuses.’

Remembering the time he’d said to her she was the breath of fresh air he always needed, she realized that was his charm talking. It wasn’t him talking.

“Whatever you’re trying to do, it won’t work. I won’t accept this. Your children may be considering forgiving you but I sure as hell won’t,” Emilia said, standing up for herself and taking a stance for what she knew was the truth.

“Go to hell, Raymond,” she said fiercely, shooting him two middle fingers before she stood still – as though she had just thought of something.

She narrowed her eyes and neared him.

Raymond thought she was trying to kiss him.

But instead…

WHACK!

She slapped him across the face, leaving his face puffy and red at the area where she’d slapped him.

Emilia walked away, leaving her husband right there.

Raymond scoffed. So Emilia didn’t fall for it.