I Choose A New Life Chapter 06
But he had every right to be.
Though he was born to ordinary parents, he worked hard to become Prime Minister.
William trusted him more than anyone until his death.
Things changed later on, though.
That exact same man eventually ended up on his knees at my feet, crying, his voice raw. “I was wrong. Punish me.
“Just… please don’t shut me out.”
***
Sebastian died during my tenth year as Queen Dowager.
He drank a glass of poisoned wine.
As he lay quietly in my arms, I touched his face and whispered, “If we could do this all over again, I’d have your children. We could just live a quiet life together.”
He looked at me in silence.
He might have managed a faint smile, though I couldn’t be sure.
Finally, he said, “That’s a promise.”
I never expected us to actually get a second chance.
Glancing up at the heavy sky, I leaned against the doorframe.
“Since you won’t take the umbrella, do you want to come inside and wait out the rain?”
Everything was playing out exactly like our previous life.
After taking the throne, William started pulling up capable men from common backgrounds.
If things followed the old script, Sebastian would join the cabinet and become William’s right-hand man.
That was exactly how it went last time; by the time William died, Sebastian was Prime Minister, practically running the country.
This time, though, he caught everyone off guard.
Sebastian politely turned down the promotion, asking instead to compile records in the Royal Archives.
William, who hated seeing talent go to waste, was deeply disappointed. “You’ve studied hard for over a decade. Are you really content with some unimportant job? Don’t you want a place at court?”
“I have other goals,” Sebastian replied.
William sighed, “Fine. I’ll make you a court scholar. You can live in the palace so we can discuss poetry and literature.”
I spent three quiet months just resting in Mooncrest Palace.
I even faked being sick so I could get out of the selection process for the King’s new consorts.
Because Anna was in the picture, most of the beautiful, high-society women from our previous life probably wouldn’t bother coming to the palace this time around.
Still, the women they did pick were a force to be reckoned with.
With me pretending to be sick, running the royal household naturally fell to Anna.
She tried hard to do well and win people’s respect.
But having been raised by an uneducated mistress, she had no clue how to run a massive estate or handle the other women at court.
As a result, the household was a constant mess.
Anna was wildly ambitious. Having been the king’s sole favorite for so long, she could not stand any rivals.
News spread that a woman became pregnant after staying with the king for one night.
Anna went crying to William, playing the victim, and demanded the right to raise the child herself.
The pregnant woman was so stressed by the news that she miscarried.
When Marie found out, she stripped Anna of her title. “How dare a commoner try to meddle with the upbringing of a royal heir?”
Life had been a breeze for Anna since she got to the palace; she’d never faced that kind of harsh treatment before.
She spent her days shut in her room, crying and complaining.
Marie called William in and scolded him. “I warned you she didn’t have the character for this.
“She was always going to bring trouble to this family. If Isabella were running things, none of this would have happened.”
Three whole months passed before William finally returned to my rooms.