The Dragon Prince's Bride
Chapter 211. Her plan.

Chapter 211: 211. Her plan.

Neriah had thought about her plan deeply. But there was one thing that still bothered her.

Her protruding stomach. Since she hadn’t left the royal castle since the incident, the fact that she was pregnant was kept a secret from almost everyone. Only people within the palace knew about it.

After speaking with her father-in-law, her plans had changed. She no longer wished to end the life of herself and her child. Instead she would give birth to the child and then kill herself. The child of Barak didn’t deserve a mother who took its father from the land of the living. That was what she believed.

The only person’s outside the palace who knew about her pregnancy were her parents and unfortunately, Lyle. But that information was not so unfortunate because she planned to use it against him.

Her plan was to make him believe that she had lost her child due to the cruelty of her husband’s family.

She had thought about the matter over and over again, to fool Lyle, to be able to get close enough to him to kill him, she had to seem and look desperate. She had to make it seem as though her life was really being threatened by her husband’s family.

Pretending to lose her child was one sure way. But then the question of how to hide her heavy stomach was another thing that plagued her.

Then one night, while she slept in front of her husband’s portrait just as she had been doing over the past months, she dreamt. It was a beautiful dream... More of a memory than a dream. A memory of their good time together in Fortia. The fun they had, the bliss that they felt and the little secrets they shared.

One of the many secrets in that memory was one he shared with her in front of the statue of Kitana Alnar. The secret of the Lepron shield.

When she woke from that dream, she was convinced that her husband was in support of her plans and that was why he brought that to her reminder in her dreams.

When he had told her about the Lepron shield, to be honest, she didn’t understand how it worked, but now she needed something as strong as it to help her hide her baby so she was willing to try to get it.

The next day, when she was visited by her mother-in-law, using the Lie that she needed something to protect her child on her long voyage to Avelah, she asked Rakavi about the Lepron shield.

At first the queen had not given her a favorable answer, but when Neriah had teared up and explained that she just wanted to protect her child because no one could predict the waves of water. She pleaded saying the seas could be harsh, and she feared many hazards that could occur inside a ship when a pregnant woman was on such a long voyage.

After much persuasion, Rakavi agreed to ask their priest to make the Lepron shield for her.

And with those words of assurance, Neriah’s plan was set in motion.

It was a simple plan... First was to escape from the boat that was to take her to Avelah without anyone noticing she was gone. Then she would make her way to the address Lyle’s man who was imprisoned in the palace had told her. There, she would send a message to Lyle on where to meet her.

She already knew the perfect place to meet him...

Bampo.

The suburb where her husband’s wedding ring was found... The place where he was last seen... The place where he died.

She would take Lyle’s life in the place her husband died and then she would kill herself there, so she could be with Barak forever.

No one would come between them again. And she would ask for his forgiveness when she meets him in the afterlife.

Simple plan.

...

"Be sure to take good care of yourself. Do not plague yourself by listening to news from Trago. Just focus on yourself and your baby." Raku said.

"Aye. Don’t think about anything at all." Raki also spoke up, "B_brother wouldn’t want you thinking about anything bad." He added in a lower voice.

Neriah smiled at the twins and gently ruffled both their heads. It was to be the last time she would see them.

She was making the right decision. She wasn’t about to change her mind now.

"Aye, do not worry about the thing with the orcs either." Neriah turned her head to the direction the voice had come from. It was Raknar. "We will be sure to get to the bottom of it and find who is actually responsible." He assures her.

He was one of the many people who didn’t believe in her innocence, but it seemed at some point, he had also decided to believe her.

"Here you go my dear." Rakavi took Neriah’s right hand in her own and placed a pouch. "It is what you asked for." She said and smiled.

"A little sip is enough to last you three days. That bag contains a month’s supply, so you and your baby will be fine." Said the queen with eyes that looked half sad and half worried.

"Please take care, my child, and remember what we talked about." Bashan said and Neriah nodded.

No one could see beneath her acting, no one could tell that she had no plans to do what either of them was asking of her. Maybe Rakavi could sense something, she just didn’t know what.

"T_this shall not be our last time seeing each other, right?" It was Barni who finally spoke up.

Neriah smiled at him and lied, "Of course not. This is home. I will surely return." They were lies... sweet lies.

But they were what the young prince wanted to hear, so she told them to him.

"Fine, then I shall wait for your return. Do write me, I shall be sure to write back. And take care of Riri for me too. And my nephew or niece and yourself." He said and ran off as tears had filled his eyes as he spoke.

Any more words and he would cry, so he ran off instead.

After a few more goodbyes, Neriah, Aria and Riri left for Avelah.