The Great Wish Volume 1 Chapter 2 part3

Chapter 2: To Open One's Eyes
"Princess. Have you been well?"

"Countess, have you come back already?"

To be by her daughter's side while she gave birth, Beth had left for a long trip. However, she had returned to the Palace earlier than scheduled.

"Yes, I decided to return early."

"It has been a while since you've seen your daughter. You should have stayed longer and taken a well-deserved rest."

"It's almost your birthday, Princess. How could I miss it?"

"I appreciate your thoughts, but you must be sad. Is your grandchild healthy?"

"Yes. He's got a strong build, so I think he'll be a healthy child. Princess, I know it's not much, but I have a gift for you."

Beth brought out a small wooden box.

"It's the tea that you enjoy so much. My daughter roasted it herself."

"Thank you. I'll use it well."

"There's also someone I'd like you to meet. There's no other intention behind this. When I was on my way back here, I brought a distant relative of my son-in-law with me. I only brought her to help her find a good husband, but she has such great skill when it comes to brewing tea. I wanted you to try her tea, Princess."

Sienna laughed lightly.

"I will not misconstrue your goodwill, Countess. Bring her in."

"Yes, Princess."

The countess left the sitting room for a bit before coming back with a young lady. After seeing the face of the unfamiliar lady, Sienna's eyes widened. She was unfamiliar, but she also wasn't.

Beth introduced the lady, who was frozen stiff with anxiety.

"This is the girl, Princess. Emma, greet the Princess."

Sienna's wide eyes trembled.

"Greetings, Y-Your Highness. My name is E-Emma. Emma Dalton."

Emma.

The trembling woman had the same name as the woman in Sienna's dream. And that wasn't the only thing. The younger version of the dream woman who brewed the tea was standing right before her eyes.

'How can this be?'

Misunderstanding Sienna's reaction, Beth quickly pressed Emma.

"Emma, brew some tea for Her Highness. Don't be nervous, do it steadily. Like you always do."

"Yes...Yes, Countess."

Emma's hands, trembling as if they were freezing cold, stopped shaking altogether when she touched the teapot. She proceeded to boil the tea steadily before pouring it into a teacup.

As soon as Sienna took a sip of the tea, she was amazed. It was the most fragrant tea she had ever tasted. The sweetness was perfectly suited to her taste.

"Amazing. This is the best tea I've ever had."

"Thank you, Your Highness."

If this was the tea that the emperor drank in Sienna's dream, her compliments were not excessive praise. Also, the birthmark on dream Emma's nose was also on the young Emma's nose.

'They're the same person. There's no doubt about it.'

"Emma, may I call you by your name?"

"Y-yes, Princess."

Terrified, Emma replied. While many were nervous in front of Sienna, this was the first time she met someone who was so pale that they looked like they were going to faint. She seemed so timid, and Sienna liked that. She didn't seem like a person that would speak brazenly or gossip around.

"I would like to continue to drink your tea. Will you stay at the Palace for the time being and brew me your tea?"

The timid country girl Emma was overwhelmed by the vast Palace and froze up a bit.

Emma had been excited up until she had reached the capital with the countess. The glamorous capital was intimidating, and the countess's mansion made her feel out of place.

But to think that she'd stay at the Palace. To think that she'd see the Princess every day and serve her tea. She didn't care about finding a husband anymore and just wanted to go back to her hometown. Emma looked at the countess with pleading eyes. She spoke to the countess with her gaze, 'This is too much for me to handle.'

The countess didn't take Emma's side, and shy Emma couldn't refuse with her own lips.

"It's... an honor, Princess."

Sienna ordered a lady-in-waiting to prepare a room for Emma. Leaving with the lady-in-waiting, Emma's shoulders slumped in disappointment. At Emma's obvious reluctance, the countess was embarrassed.

"Princess, that child is only like that because she hasn't gotten used to the Palace."

"I understand. She will be living in an unfamiliar place where she doesn't know anyone. Countess, please check on her in the mornings and in the evenings to make sure she's doing well."

That night, Sienna was in bed as she went over what happened in her dreams. She had made no progress when it came to figuring out the identity of the emperor. The problem was the garden she saw when she looked over the balcony in her first dream.

These gardens, created using different themes of architecture, were created about seventy years ago. At that time, the Empire was ruled by her great-grandfather. After that, all the emperors up until her father were men.

"Emma..."

Even after she had received the tea leaves from the Emperor, Sienna wasn't completely sure. However, when she met the person that had appeared in her dreams...

'The emperor in my dreams is me...'

If that was the case, everything fell into place. Sienna's heart began to race. She felt like she was going to laugh.

'As I thought, it was a prophecy.'

A dream showing the future was truly a work of the gods.

'I saw my future.'

Everyone around her said that she would become the emperor. Sienna also thought this was a certainty. She had the bloodline as well as the skills to be one. But now she had even received a prophecy. The gods were telling her that she would definitely become the emperor. She had been acknowledged by the divine.

'If they were only going to show me my future, they wouldn't have made the dream so ambiguous. There must be some kind of message behind the dreams. I just have to find it.'

That night, Sienna had her third dream.

Chapter end