'I shouldn't have stayed silent...' Claire thought as the words escaped from her mouth, "If I was going to refute his actions, I should've done from the start..."
Just thinking of it made her feel tremendous liability. If she had just told him to not search for his women...
'That is just too cruel...'
On one side, she couldn't bear to see him suffer, but on the other, if she allowed having the fruit of his illicit affairs here, the one who would be most affected is herself.
She found herself at a loss on what to do anymore.
*Knock knock!~*
Claire didn't even turn to look at the door, she just unsealed it with a wave of her hands and answered, "Come in..."
She didn't even bother to wipe her tears.
The door opened and a figure emerged until it came beside her.
Claire just felt too tired. She unsealed the door thinking that Evelynn could console her a bit. Being lost, all she needed was a little bit of courage from a close person.
"Eve..." The words that came out of Claire's mouth got stuck when she realized who the figure was...
It was none other than Logan.
Claire instantly sat up, looking at him incredulously while Logan gazed at her with an awkward smile.
Meanwhile, Evelynn who was standing outside was trembling with nervousness, 'Ahh, both of them are in the same room, I hope they don't fight...'
When she saw Logan heading inside and after the door had opened, her heart skipped a beat as she felt worried.
Everything could possibly go wrong if they were to quarrel at each other now. This was a time where her loved one was not present and she felt the need to somehow stop them from fighting with each other.
But in a few minutes, she released that her worries were rather unfounded.
It was not even past 5 minutes when she saw both of them coming out, holding each other's hands.
Evelynn's jaw dropped, 'Am I imagining things?'
Logan and Claire held each other's hand affectionately but when they saw Evelynn's reaction, both of them turned a little embarrassed.
"Don't worry yourself, Daughter-in-law, we've... reconciled," Logan uttered in a joyful tone.
Evelynn couldn't believe it, she turned to look back at Claire, when the latter nodded her head.
'Five minutes? Five minutes was all it took to console and change her mind!?' Evelynn thought that she was close to the Empress, but now she realized that she didn't even come close to their close relationship.
Although she knew that she was being a little exaggerative, she really thought that way.
However, she quickly came to her senses and replied, "Ah, I guess there's no need to worry then, I won't disturb you two anymore..."
She quickly tried to find an excuse to escape that she even forget about etiquette. Just when she took a step away from them, someone grasped her hands.
Evelynn stood startled.
She turned to glance at Claire who was holding her back from leaving.
Claire smiled elegantly, "It was thanks to you that things didn't go wrong... I... We both feel grateful to you!"
Saying so, she bowed to Evelynn while Logan also did the same.
Evelynn was stunned once again.
She confusedly reasoned to herself, 'Did I do anything to warrant their gratefulness?'
Looking at her reaction, both Logan and Claire smiled. They didn't mention anything but rather looked at each other in a profound light as if they found their love for each other after a long time.
Logan suddenly spoke, "Dear, I have some..."
"I understand..." Claire instantly replied causing Logan to feel warm and fuzzy inside his heart. He felt extremely blessed to have such a magnanimous wife.
He nodded and left with a straight back, walking in great strides while humming a tune. Fortunately, his decisions earned him the forgiveness of his wife.
Evelynn could see that he was ecstatic and then when she turned her gaze back to Claire, the latter smiled back at her in a joyful manner.
"What happened, Mother?" Evelynn felt their reconciliation was rather fake.
How could they have regained their love for each other in a few minutes? She felt that it was rather farfetched.
"As I said, we've reconciled..." Claire spoke, "If I hadn't remembered your words during our conversation, I might've taken another path for all I know..."
"My words?" Evelynn was flabbergasted.
What words could have possibly change Claire's mind? She didn't think that she could influence people's lives, so this came as a surprise to her.
"'It's fine, no matter what, don't you still love him?' Is what you said at that time when you broke through..."
"Ah... that..." Evelynn blushed as she recalled.
Did she utter such an embarrassing line?
Looks like she did!
"So, does that mean that Mother is no longer bothered about the Emperor's... harem?" Evelynn considered for a moment before articulating her words.
Now that the Emperor has married those 6 women at the same time, they were officially in the emperor's harem and no amount of watering down the words could change that fact.
She needed Claire to recognize that fact or else, their reconciliation could be said to be superficial or temporary at best.
As she expected, Claire's face changed as she gave off a sigh.
"I haven't still considered about them but as long as they don't bother me and him much, it won't be a problem..."
Evelynn didn't speak but just nodded her head. She had considered all these problems in her heart ever since Davis left.
What if he came back with a woman and a child in his arms? Taking a step back, what if he came back while having an affair with one or more women?
Even if she was magnanimous and forgiving, wouldn't it still mean nothing if she didn't accept their existences?
Those 6 women were the source of their problems and not considering them into their reconciliation meant that this matter could blow up later for all she knew.
Evelynn's face withered into a worried smile as she could see that their reconciliation was only temporary even though it seemed like a permanent one to them.
