The way I love you

33| RegalBeliever (Part 2)

"I don't wanna watch anymore...", Leo confessed, wiggling around on the sofa and without any focus anymore.

"You can play with Amèlie instead. She is not into it either.", Sean announced. "But I would like to finish, so please be quiet", he explained.

"Alright...", Leo answered, giving his mother's stomach a last little kiss before leaving them and Flynn in peace.

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Regina's Mansion

"Mommy? Can't you stay here with me today? Do you have to go to work?", Henry asked with a raspy voice, turning uncomfortably in his bed. His stomach turned violently in addition to a high fever that he developed.

"I know you want me here...", Regina sighed when she was once more faced with the struggles of a single parent. The meeting that took place today was very important and couldn't get delayed but on the other hand, her little prince was sick and didn't want her to go. Moments like these broke her heart into million pieces. How often has she been sick as a child with a mother that didn't pay much attention when she actually needed her. Only her father and maid would stay, even pamper her like Cora used to call it.

"I promise that I will return home straight after that meeting, okay? It will take like 2 hours. If you close your eyes and sleep a bit longer you will not even realize that I have been gone, okay?", she smiled, giving him a last kiss on his sweaty forehead before reaching for the door handle.

"But who is going to take care of me, mommy? I don't want anyone else but you!", he started crying, getting up from bed to hold on to Regina's legs as fast as he could. "I need you.", he sobbed, cleaning his nose on her suit, as children do.

"I know. I know but I have to go.", she said kissing his temple, before carrying him back to bed. "You need to rest, so your fever will go down, okay? And Graham will be here for the two hours. You like him, don't you?", she smiled, softly stroking over his temple. She gently took his son's hand, breathing a kiss on his little fingers. "Now close your eyes. I will tell you a little story before I go.", she smiled, taking a deep breath.

"The story of the princess, please!!", Henry said straight away, making Regina chuckle since he, indeed, asked all the time for the same one. A story that sounded like a fairytale but was, unfortunately, the hidden truth for some.

"Alright.", she smiled, gently petting over his head again, a gesture to calm her nervous self down a little. "Once upon a time there lived a happy little princess in a beautiful and big castle. Her favorite thing was going on long-distance rides with her father, crossing rivers and forests until they arrived at their favorite spot, where a lot of apple trees were growing.", she chuckled.

"Yeah!", Henry smiled. "And her daddy and she picked one little tree up and carried it all the way to their castle to plant it together!", he said excitingly.

"That's right. But unfortunately, the mother of the girl wasn't as pleased when she came back home all muddy and dirty, so she used her magic to make the girl look like a princess again. Something the little one definitely didn't want to be.", Regina sighed quietly, looking down at the motions of her hand before kind of losing herself in her own story.

"All she ever wanted... Was to be free.", she confessed. "She wanted to see the world, ride through fields and discover the beauty of all those different lands. She didn't care about gold or jewelry... No... All she wanted to do was find a person to spend her life with, someone she could love... Someone that would love her. And far... Far away from her mother's magic.", she finished, almost so quietly that Henry couldn't properly understand the words.