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Chapter One: Shadows in the Rain

The night was heavy with rain. Drops struck the high windows of Mercia’s royal palace, trickling down like tears shed by the heavens themselves. Thunder echoed through the marble halls, but it was not the storm that unsettled the guards. It was the sound of heels—measured, deliberate, echoing toward the private office of Prince Louis, brother to the king.

Inside, a single candle burned upon his desk, casting long shadows across maps and scrolls. Louis, his dark cloak draped over his shoulders, leaned forward in thought. His hand hovered over a letter half-written, the ink smudged by hesitation.

The door creaked open.

Duchess Alicia stepped inside, her gown trailing like the storm itself, her eyes sharp despite the softness of her features. For a moment, neither spoke. The rain filled the silence.

At last, Alicia’s voice cut through the stillness.

"Your Highness, I hope my intrusion at this hour is forgiven."

Louis straightened, managing a faint smile.

"If the duchess of Mercia comes at midnight, then it is not intrusion—it is necessity. Tell me, what troubles you?"

She walked closer, her gaze falling upon the maps sprawled across the table.

"Politics trouble me, as they always do. The nobles grow restless, the council whispers of reforms, and beyond the borders… enemies sharpen their blades."

Louis sighed, rubbing his temple.

"Whispers are easy, Duchess. It is steel that decides a kingdom’s fate. My brother, the king, cannot rule by parchment alone. But…"—his eyes lingered on the maps—"Mercia is strong, and strength often draws envy."*

The duchess studied him. The candlelight revealed the exhaustion in his features—the burden of a man who carried loyalty not as honor, but as weight.

For a long moment, silence stretched again, broken only by thunder. Then, Alicia spoke with sudden softness:

"Tell me, Louis… how fares your wife?"

His expression shifted, light dimming from his eyes. He leaned back, his voice lower, more fragile.

"She is with child. The healers say all is well… but still, I worry. She grows weaker each day. I try not to show it, but fear sits with me at every meal, follows me into every dream."

Alicia’s gaze softened, her hand brushing against the edge of the desk.

"Then hope must sit with you too, Prince. For no child should be born into a father’s fear… only his love."

For the first time that night, Louis’s lips curved into a genuine smile—faint, weary, but real.

"You have a way with words, Duchess. Perhaps I needed them more than I realized."

The storm outside raged on, but in that quiet chamber, two figures lingered over candlelight, speaking of politics, of war, of family—never knowing how much the coming months would cost them.

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As you see guys..... This novel is my first work at this app i hope you guys will enjoy this novel and like it....

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Chapter Two: Birth of the Shadow

The morning was gray—cold without rain, yet the air carried a weight that could not be explained.

In Prince Louis’s office, papers lay scattered, a candle half-burned, while he sat reading a report of a new rebellion rising in the north. He did not know that, in the eastern wing of the palace, his wife Eleanor was screaming in agony… alone.

General James entered suddenly, without warning. His face was graver than usual, his voice low, but sharp:

— “Your Highness… you must come. Now.”

Louis rose in alarm:

— “What has happened?”

James hesitated, then met his eyes directly:

— “Lady Eleanor… she went into labor this morning.”

Louis froze in place, as though the words had not entered his ears the first time. Slowly, he said:

— “But… no one told me… the physician never said she was ready.”

James replied in a hushed tone:

— “The physician was summoned only when it was too late. Come…”

Louis ran through the corridors, the general close behind, until they reached Eleanor’s chamber. He flung the door open—

and was met with a scene that hollowed his chest.

Duchess Alicia stood near the bed, her eyes wet, while the physician sat in silence beside Eleanor’s lifeless body.

In Alicia’s arms, a small infant wailed softly… Ella.

Louis advanced with hesitant steps, staring at his wife’s face—

still, peaceful, without pain, without voice, without life.

— “No…” he whispered. “No, this cannot be…”

The physician spoke with sorrow heavy in his words:

— “We lost her shortly after the birth. The bleeding… we could not stop it.”

Louis’s eyes lingered on the doctor, then on the child in Alicia’s arms—her cries cutting through the silence, her eyes already open… gray, like her mother’s.

He was silent. Too silent. His gaze clung to the infant’s face.

And then, his voice came out bitter, almost breaking:

— “Then she is the reason…”

Alicia stared at him in shock:

— “What are you saying?”

He turned his face away, answering coldly:

— “If she had not been born… Eleanor would still be here. This child… she took everything.”

Alicia gasped, holding the infant closer to her chest, while the physician looked at General James, as though something dangerous had just begun.

— “My lord,” the physician said, “the child needs a name, and—”

Louis cut him off:

— “Name her Ella. As her mother wished. Then… see to her care. I do not wish to see her now.”

He turned and left the chamber, leaving behind a wound too deep to be spoken, and a child whose life began with a burden of guilt she never deserved.

Alicia looked down at Ella with tenderness, whispering:

— “I will be your mother. Even if the world denies you… you will grow, and you will change everything.”

And General James stood in silence, watching.

But he understood one thing with certainty:

this child… would change the fate of the kingdom.

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Chapter Three: The Weight of Silence

Days turned into months, yet the echo of that night never left the palace.

Every corner seemed to remember her voice — the gentle laughter of Eleanor — now replaced by the hollow quiet that followed her death.

Prince Louis withdrew from the world.

He rarely left his chambers. The maps and letters on his desk gathered dust, and even General James stopped knocking on his door.

Only the candlelight kept him company —

and the sound of the rain against the glass.

Sometimes, in the darkest hours of night, he would think he heard her singing.

He would rise, cross the room, open the door…

but it was only the wind.

His heart had become a battlefield — torn between grief and the cruel belief that the tiny life born that day had stolen his happiness.

He spoke to no one. Not even to his brother, King Karl.

And when the courtiers asked about the child, he simply said:

"She bears her mother’s name — that is enough."

But Alicia did not forget.

She raised Ella as her own, her love growing with each passing day.

The girl’s laughter echoed through the corridors, bright and fragile, unaware of the storm her birth had left behind.

One evening, Alicia visited Louis. She stood by his door for a long while before speaking.

— “It has been nearly a year,” she said softly.

— “You cannot keep living as if you died with her.”

Louis did not answer. He stared into the fire, its light flickering in his tired eyes.

— “She was my life,” he murmured.

— “And when she left, everything turned to ash.”

Alicia stepped closer, her voice firm but gentle.

— “Then look beyond the ashes. There’s a child who carries her light.”

Louis looked up, a faint shadow crossing his face.

— “Her light? No, Duchess. That child carries the curse of her death.”

Alicia’s eyes softened, yet her words came strong:

— “One day, you’ll see her not as the end of Eleanor… but as her beginning.”

She turned to leave, but as she reached the door, Louis spoke again — his voice breaking for the first time in months:

— “Tell me… does she smile?”

Alicia smiled faintly, though tears glistened in her eyes.

— “Yes, Louis. Just like her mother.”

When she left, Louis stood there for a long time, staring at the empty chair by the window where Eleanor once sat.

The rain began again, soft and endless.

And for the first time, his tears fell with it.

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I feel tired, I can't complete my thoughts, my mind hurts when I think .... By the way, my name is Maria and I am from Algeria. I have an Arabic version of my novel on Wattpad.I wrote this novel specifically to be pure and good for those who read it. As for the characters, I left it up to you to imagine them according to your taste. I am also thinking of leaving an open ending for the readers, and I might conclude it with a sad or happy ending.