After she laid her plans clearly and gathered enough strength, it was only then Lauren started to act rebellious to annoy the royal family. Since she became famous all over the town and her name was often the headline of gossip papers, the King and Queen became cautious in giving her extreme punishments as they did not want the people to know that they gave grievous punishments to their family members.
After all, the townsfolk believed that the King and Queen were loving and generous to their children, even to Lauren who was the concubine’s daughter, and they did not want to ruin their reputations.
Sitting on the bed of her previous bedroom, Lauren stared at the portrait of her mother hanging on the wall.
People always admired Lady Mildred’s beauty back in time. She and Lauren had the same rich auburn hair, the same heart-shaped face, and the same shape of lips. They looked similar in almost all angles, only that Lauren’s eyes were deep blue and her mother’s were black as coal. Lady Mildred’s features also seemed softer.
Later that night, Lauren did not come down for dinner. She fell asleep early in the evening after her warm bath. Staring at her mother’s portrait earlier reminded her of the past and exhausted her mind.
Alec returned to the castle late and by the time he stepped into the room, he noticed that no single candle was lit, the windows were wide open, and the cold breeze was entering the room freely.
His gaze fell on the bed and saw Lauren’s body curled in the middle. She was covered with a blanket but she was trembling.
Alec caught the fast beating of her heart. With his long strides, he immediately reached the bed.
He was about to touch her elbow to ask her what was wrong, but his hand remained in the air when he realized she was asleep, but tears were running down her cheeks as she trembled hard.
The windows closed and the candles burned. With Alec’s presence, the room’s temperature slowly warmed.
"N-no father, please stop..." Lauren’s grip on the blanket tightened. She was having a nightmare again of that night King Martin punished her severely. Back when she was young, she only received light beatings, but the night when she was whipped until she was unconscious was the worst.
Alec’s jaw clenched when he heard Lauren’s weak voice and sobs.
Putting his arm around her shoulders, he did not know how to hush her down, but he knew she needed to wake up from her nightmare.
"Wake up, Lauren. It’s just a nightmare," he whispered to her, tapping her shoulder gently as he brought her to his chest. "Hush, princess."
It was the first time he saw Lauren emotionally vulnerable. She was always tough in front of him. There were rare times when she was flustered but she was skilled at covering it up. It was only this time he saw her so fragile and miserable. Just with the painful sound of her sobs, he knew she must have suffered from a traumatizing incident in the past.
"I-it’s so painful... I am sorry, Rosetta..." In Lauren’s nightmare, she recalled how Rosetta was whipped to death in front of her while she was being whipped by her father.
All these years she had carried the burden of the maid’s death. She always felt guilty for it. Because she knew that if only Rosetta did not show kindness to her, she wouldn’t have died an agonizing death.
When she was younger, she dreamed about it almost every night, until she learned that drinking strong wines could help her sleep tightly that she would not dream of anything at all. However, the nightmares haunting her never left. On some nights, it visited her, and this was one of those nights.
But unlike the nights in the past when she found herself trembling in her cold and dark room upon waking up, this time it was different.
This time, she woke up with the room warm and the candles burning, and she found herself in someone’s arms that didn’t only soothe her cold body, but also her aching soul.
Lauren was taken aback when she saw Alec’s dark eyes staring down at her. She did not move and thought that she might still be dreaming, but when his warm fingers caressed her wet cheeks, she knew it was real. It was only his touch that could feel this warm.
"Having a bad dream, are we?" he asked in a husky voice, wiping the tears from her cheek.
Lauren’s heart pounded. She pulled herself away from him, realizing that he must have witnessed her crying and trembling on the bed like she always did every time she was haunted by nightmares. She must have looked pathetic.
She sat on the other side of the bed, turning back on Alec while her feet were on the cold floor. She put her face on her palms for a moment, trying to gather her emotions and thoughts in one place.
Alec left the room without a word. She sighed and wiped the dry tears all over her face.
For a few minutes, she stayed sitting there staring at nowhere with blank eyes. She guessed looking at her mother’s portrait and reminiscing all those bad memories triggered her nightmares.
She stood up and went to the table of wines. She popped the bottle open and filled a glass.
The door opened at the same time she put down the bottle. She grabbed the wine glass without throwing Alec a glance although she knew he was walking toward her.
But before she could take a sip, he stole the glass from her and put it back on the table.
"Stop drinking strong wines like a fucking alcoholic. Drink this instead," he said with an authoritative tone.
Her eyes dropped to what was on his hand. A saucer with a teacup filled with hot tea.
"This is chamomile tea. It will help you sleep."