Let's start over, Your Majesty.

Chapter 91 Yumilia's Past

"Patrig volunteered to be transferred to the Novan River region, known as the meat grinder. During an offensive, Surna's planes attacked the rear command post, and when he was found, he was only half a body."

"Patrig had no parents, so he sent his belongings to me. They said that Patrig often described in the army how beautiful his fairy wife was and how lovely his daughter was. Almost the entire division knew of my existence."

“I knelt on the ground, clutching his uniform, and cried until I almost fainted. But my father, that extremely old-fashioned man, thought that Patrig's service to Fane and his sacrifice for Fane were an insult to Romania. In front of me and Yumilia, he smashed Patrig's urn and medals on the ground, refused to acknowledge him as my husband, and told them to get out of the forest.”

"That must have been the first time I ever lost my temper with him. I used the most vicious language I could think of to curse him, and I hit him, I threw stones at him,"

"When I finally woke up, I was locked in the basement, but even then I couldn't fight back."

Freya's eyes were already red. She took a deep breath to calm herself, and after a few seconds, she continued:

“Partrig’s death made me completely despair of my father, and I knew I had to leave him and escape this forest.”

"The only thing I can think of is to use the ring that Partrig gave me to hide my presence and escape, but that would mean I can't take Yumilia with me. If I take her, I'll definitely be discovered, and then I'll have to be brought back here."

"No matter what, I should have tried to take Yumilia with me, but at that time I was almost blinded by anger and only thought about leaving him. I forgot to consider Yumilia's feelings."

"So, you abandoned her and left?" Caesar said.

Freya pursed her lips and looked at Caesar: "I don't want to use any excuses to cover up my cowardice. That night, even though Yumilia held my hand tightly and talked to me for a long time, saying that she didn't want to lose her mother again and that she wanted to stay with me forever, I still abandoned her while she was asleep and left the forest alone."

“After leaving, I kept this ring with me and changed my surname to Partrig, settling in the capital as an officer’s widow.”

“Patrig was right. As a rare race, elves can live very well even without working, just on subsidies. That was the first time I saw the prosperity of the outside world.”

“I’ve been trying to find a way to bring Yumilia out as well, but at least I need to have enough confidence,”

"When I first came to the outside world, I didn't know what to do. After hitting a few walls, I finally heard that many wounded soldiers who returned from the front lines had severe post-traumatic stress disorder, and many of them had even broken down emotionally, which could not be cured by ordinary medicine."

"Coincidentally, there was an aromatherapy formula in the knowledge passed down by the Elven royal family that could alleviate negative emotions. Through Partrig's connections, I brought this formula to the higher-ups. After testing, it showed great results and was eventually adopted by the army to treat post-war syndrome. I also earned my first pot of gold: 540,000 gold lang paid by the army to purchase this formula."

"After that, I was admitted to a women's college and studied business. After graduation, I received a start-up fund because of my excellent grades and founded my own company, Roman Family."

"At that time, the war had just ended, and the entire kingdom was shrouded in anxiety and irritability. Many people even had to rely on hallucinogens to survive. In addition to the formula I sold to the kingdom, I also had other aromatherapy products that could relieve emotional stress. After they were launched, the products sold very well, and the company expanded step by step. Later, it transformed into the luxury goods industry and has achieved the success it has today."

"I finally had the power to rebel against him. I led a grand convoy and the guards personally assigned to me by the king back to the forest I had left thirteen years ago. On the way there, I thought of all the most satisfying ways to humiliate him. I wanted to personally break his centuries-old royal rules and take Yumilia away in front of him."

As Freya finished speaking, she looked at the black tea on the table and laughed self-deprecatingly.

"But when I got there, I saw a forest that had been completely logged. The manor where I had lived for over seventy years had become a logging camp. After inquiring, I learned that he had died two months after I left. He had died of old age. When he was found, he was wearing a crown and sitting on that cheap throne."

Later, the government confiscated the forest, and the last vestige of the Romanian royal family's territory was thus destroyed by the logging crews.

Freya remained silent for a long time before continuing, "It's hard for me to describe how I felt at the time. All these years I've endured humiliation and hardship, just so that one day I could go back and take revenge on him, to repay him for all the resentment I've held for all these years, but in the end this is the result."

"But more than his death, I'm concerned about Yumilia. She's disappeared. The townspeople say they saw her leaving the forest one morning with a suitcase, and she never returned." "She was only thirteen years old then. The war wasn't over yet. I can't imagine how a thirteen-year-old could survive in those war-torn years. I desperately searched for any clues about her, but to no avail. I even thought she was..."

Freya closed her eyes before slowly saying:
“During that period, I felt remorse and despair, and even considered suicide. But in the end, I pulled myself together and continued to search for her whereabouts. However, the post-war household registration system was extremely chaotic, making the search very difficult. I haven’t had any information for years.”

Her still-reddened eyes looked at Caesar: "Until you, Caesar, were admitted to St. Yaro Academy, she accompanied you here. That day, I suddenly heard that an elf had come to one of my botanical gardens. After I got her file, I realized that she was my daughter who had been separated from me for thirty years."

I was incredibly excited at that time. I looked up Yumilia's past and found out that she had registered her household information in a small town south of Finn seven years after she left the forest, in the year the war ended.

Freya smiled helplessly: "Maybe it was God punishing me. I had searched for that area, but because of the chaotic household registration system after the war, I couldn't get the latest information. The small village where she lived was also overlooked by me because it was too inconspicuous. I actually missed the chance to meet her back then."

"Thirty years, a full thirty years later, I met her again."

“But you dare not face her again,” Caesar said calmly.

“Yes.” Freya nodded, her gaze darkening. “I am a sinner. I abandoned her back then. I can’t imagine what she was feeling at that time. After losing her father, she was abandoned by her mother, and then her only remaining relative, her grandfather, died in front of her.”

“I owe her so much. After I found her, I never dared to face her. I was afraid that she would coldly push me away, disown me as her mother, and resent me. Even if she did nothing, it would still cause me pain. I know she is a kind child, but her forgiveness would only make me feel more guilty.”

It wasn't until four days ago that I mustered up the courage to approach her as a stranger. Perhaps in my mind, her unfamiliar gaze would make me feel better.

"When I arrived at the botanical garden and saw that familiar face, I could hardly suppress my emotions. I had to struggle to calm down. Fortunately, she did not recognize me after the change and treated me as a stranger. She was so friendly to me."

Freya smiled helplessly and said to Caesar, "Perhaps she has become complacent after tasting this sweetness and has forgotten that I am still a stranger to her. This abnormal contact will definitely make you feel uncomfortable and make you doubt my purpose."

"I," Caesar rubbed his forehead, "I was in a hurry too, because of what I said before."

“Actually, I’m really happy and relieved that you can protect Yumilia so well, and that Yumilia feels so safe with you,” Freya said with a smile.

Caesar shook his head and chuckled self-deprecatingly, "Actually, when you think about it, she was the one who protected me before."

Freya hesitated, then asked Caesar with a complicated expression:

"Caesar, what was Yumilia's attitude when she told you about me in the past?"

“She never told me anything about you,” Caesar said.
"I see," Freya said, her eyes filled with deep self-reproach and regret.

Freya's emotional fluctuations during her recounting were genuine; she didn't tell a single lie.
He never imagined that Yumilia would have such a past.
In the past, Yumilia was always vague about her past, and would brush it off whenever the topic came up. Even when asked about her family background, she would only reply, "No, it's long gone. I'm content with Caesar now."

Caesar didn't pay attention at the time, but now he understands to some extent that she was unwilling to face it again.

Perhaps in Yumilia's heart, she truly believed that she was a child abandoned by everyone, who lost everything at the age of thirteen and was alone ever since.

Until I found him.

(End of this chapter)