[√]Lady of the White Rose

55: A Different Path

VESPER

Even how busy I get, I still find time to visit the Temple and offer help even just for a few minutes. I am still Malaya's Saintess. Oo tanggap ko na. Buong-buo pa.

Tumulong ako minsan sa pag-gagamot sa mga mahihirap. Tho I'm mostly just within the Dukedom since there's still a lot of people who haven't seen a doctor or a healer their whole life. Pinagsasabay ko na lahat ng mga gawain ko. Siguro nasanay na rin ang katawan ko kaya hindi na ako masyadong pagod pagdating ng gabi.

I'm kept on receiving summons from the palace about the treason case, but I still have yet to give a reply. May reply na naman akong nakahanda, sadyang hindi ko pa naipapadala. Hindi naman kasi ako nagmamadali.

I'm only going to face them during the trial date and other than that, they won't be seeing my face. Istorbo sila sa mga gawain ko, at mas lalong hindi ko kailangan magpaliwanag at linisin ang sarili ko sa harap nila. Mga wala naman silang ambag sa buhay ko.

"Your Grace," aalis na sana ako ngunit bigla akong tinawag ni Aidan. Hinintay ko itong makalapit sa akin at may iniabot na panyo.

"You dropped this,"

Ah, "Thanks," it's the handkerchief Alfonso gave me. It has an initial K on the edge of it, not V for Vesper but K. I wonder why Alfonso gave me this, it's not even my initial embroidered into it.

And I'm also wondering why I'm still using it.

Nagkibit balikat na lamang ako bago nagtuloy-tuloy sa opisina. Kakagaling ko lang sa Temple at bago ako dumiretso dito ay dumaan muna ako sa isang village upang tignan ang mga sugatan. Seeing that they're healing steadily, I felt relief. I also saw how the people began building their destroyed homes again. I ask someone to provide whatever the people needed.

"I see, you're using that." Dumako ang mga mata ko sa tinitignan ni Alfonso, ang panyo.

"Why?" Nagsimula ako magperma ng mga papeles. "Who owned this, anyway? The embroidered letter isn't my initial."

Ngumiti ito ng malungkot. "It's from your mother."

Tuluyan akong natigilan dahil sa sinabi nito. First time hearing him open up about that person, about my mother. The person whose identity remained a mystery to me.

Isang imahe ng babae bigla ang pumasok sa isip ko. Isang babaeng buntis, nakaupo sa sopa habang nag e-embriodery ng panyo. The same person I saw when my skill brought me back to the past.

Napahawak ako sa ulo ko. "Is her name... Kait?"

This time, ito naman ang natigilan. "How did you know?"

"Am I not supposed to know?"

Hindi ito nakaimik.

"You know what? It's fine. If you all don't want to tell me anything about my mother, it's fine. Sino ba naman ako para malaman, hindi ba? Anak lang naman niya ako, kaya siguro wala akong karapatan, ano? Ayos lang, nabuhay naman ako ng halos dalawang dekado na walang nalalaman na kahit anong bagay tungkol sa kanya kaya ayos lang. Not a biggie," kibit balikat ko.

Ngunit nang sulyapan ko ng tingin si Alfonso ay tila na-g-guilty ang mukha nito. Mahina akong natawa because not long enough he started telling me things about my mother. Tho they were things nothing too important like her favorite color, what time she'll eat, her pets, clothes and etc, but those things lighten my mood.