"Hello ma'am, how are you feeling today? Are you going to continue the story today as well?"
[Of course dear. Where was I? Ah, right. The empress spent her days like that. Then on one fateful day, with the help of her handmaids and midwives, the crown prince was born. With her golden hair and his ruby eyes he was a perfect mix of the empress and her beloved spirit.]
[The child was special from the moment he was born. His gem like eyes sparkling as he watched the world around him from his tiny crib. But the child looked too much like him. As she watched her child she couldn't help but long for her beloved.]
[She asked the water spirit for help again. Maybe if he heard his child was born he would come to visit again. Maybe he would find him interesting enough to watch. Maybe he would stay this time. For them.]
[The water spirit couldn't refuse her desperation, again. But as she flew through the forest in search of the high spirit she couldn't help but notice that the forest had lost its former luster. She passed through the ancient trees, now a shell of their former glory. It wasn't supposed to be like that, even when he was helping the humans the high spirit would regularly come back to maintain his forest.]
[The water spirit flew through the forest faster and faster as she searched for him but no matter where she looked, the high spirit wasn't there. She asked the other spirits in the forest but all of their answers were the same. A while after he came back from helping the humans, the high spirit left for somewhere and hadn't come back since.]
"Oof, where did he go again?"
[Who knows dear, I never learned the answer to that question, even after everything. That was the day the high spirit of the ancient forest disappeared, never to return...]
A tear rolled down her cheek as the old lady continued telling her story. She took advantage of the fact that her caretaker was working on cleaning the room with his back turned to her, and secretly wiped her tear.
[Other spirits promised to tell him the water spirit's message so all she could do was dejectedly return to the empire.]
[Empress, waiting for her beloved's return, didn't take the news very well. But she still believed that he would return to the forest, hear the news and come back one day. So her days of waiting began.]
[As the years passed and the young prince grew so did the empress's longing for the high spirit. The young prince grew up while listening to his mother constantly talk about him. He had to be ready when he finally came back. He had to be perfect. He had to make him proud and interested enough to stay so that his poor mother could finally be happy with her beloved. And since he was a good boy, he had to listen to his mother. Right?]
[Even though years continued to pass the high spirit didn't come back. Empress constantly sent the water spirit to check but there was nothing she could do. No matter where she looked, the high spirit was gone. She could only watch her as young girl she raised slowly turned into a shell of her former self.]
[As her condition slowly deteriorated she slowly pulled away from her empires affairs. Her childhood friend and current chancellor took over the state affairs, hoping one day she would be back to her former glory.]
"Damn they really must have been good friends, anyone else in that situation would probably just overthrow the empress."
[Right, dear? I think so too. But he didn't. The Grand Duke was such a great and honorable man. He simply did everything she was supposed to do while silently waiting for his good friend's recovery.]
[As the young prince grew, he watched his mother spend her days in front of the portrait of the man with the same ruby eyes as his, and something began to shift in him. Why wasn't he here? Why did he leave his mother? Were they not good enough for him? These were the first seeds of hatred towards the high spirit in his heart. And they only continued to grow.]
[More the young prince grew, more he looked like him. He was perfect in everything he did and with his spirit genes, even though he wasn't as powerful as the high spirit's, he could control the elements as well. Everyone thought with such a person as the emperor, everything would be better. So they pushed for it.]
[He was barely close to being an adult but the parliament didn't care. All they saw in the boy was someone who could take over after the broken empress, not even a shadow of her former glory. So they pushed, and they succeeded. The empress gave up her throne and passed her crown to the young prince, now he was the emperor.]
[The queen took his portrait with her and retired to her summer villa.the same one she watched the celebrations from the balcony with him. And she never left that place until the end.]
"What happened to the prince after that? He was still a teenager now forced to rule an entire nation, right? What happened to him?"
[I will tell you that next time, dear. Because I'm almost certain that you are a little late to cleaning the next room, aren't you?]
The caretaker quickly checked the time.
"Oh no! You're correct! I have to go, can't wait for next week! I hope the prince ends up okay!"
As the caretaker hastily took his stuff and ran to the next room as old lady watched him with a smile.
[I wished that too, dear. But I was too late.]